I'm a Immortal Tavernkeeper, But My S-Rank Daughter Doesn't Know That!

The other candidates after Jonas and Bel were very brave in volunteering to fight the orcs, but none of them performed impressively. In fact, only seven of the candidates managed to kill the orcs, and four more performed well before being defeated.

The Order of Knights didn’t expect everyone to pass, of course not, otherwise they would have a platoon ready for war, so they didn’t even make it a requirement to kill the orcs. However, the fact that only eleven out of over forty candidates made it to the second stage was surprising.

On top of that, Jonas’ coach from Lamía was right. The last test was much easier than the previous one and even easier than the first one, and even the chaperones weren’t allowed to watch it, as it was an essay test on general knowledge. There were more than two hundred questions in this test, and most of the candidates who thought that being a knight only meant knowing how to use a sword failed.

Late in the afternoon, Victor Shieldman and Gracela Selvarum waited outside at the instructors’ request, watching the stream of candidates leaves the testing ground.

The sun was beginning to hide on the horizon, but since it was no longer above the clouds, it illuminated everything with its direct, orange light, while a light winter breeze blew past them, causing Gracela to pull her cloak tighter around her body.

The candidates who hadn’t passed the last stage paraded along the gravel path one by one. Most of them wore expressions of discouragement, anger, and frustration. Some of them whispered to each other, exchanging words of comfort or discussing the mistakes they had made. The majority, however, walked in silence, heads bowed, unable to hide their disappointment. It was a rather melancholy scene, and even Victor felt sorry for these young people.

Gracela kept her eyes fixed on the gravel path, anxious for any sign of Bel. With each passing minute, her anxiety grew. She bit her lip and her hands trembled slightly, a mixture of cold and nervousness.

Victor, noticing her condition, tried to cheer her up.

"Don’t worry so much," he said. "I’m sure he did well in the exam."

"I know, Victor," Gracela replied, without taking her eyes off the road. "But I can’t help worrying. He’s dreamed of it since he was a child, so he never cared much for formal studies, believing he didn’t need them to become a knight."

"But Bel had a good basic education and studied at a prestigious academy. I’m sure he did well."

"Maybe you’re right..." Gracela took a deep breath and looked back at the gate, trying to calm herself.

The snow began to fall gently, covering the ground in a delicate white layer. The surrounding trees, stripped of their leaves, accumulated small piles of snow on their branches, creating an almost magical scene.

The faint sound of footsteps on the snow mingled with the inaudible murmur of the waiting companions. One by one, the place began to empty, and the excitement of before turned into a desolate emptiness.

Time passed slowly, and each snowflake seemed to increase Gracela’s anxiety.

Finally, when it was almost dark and most of the companions had left, leaving only a few who shared the same anxious wait, Gracela saw a figure running along the gravel path. Thanks to the early evening darkness, it was only an indistinct silhouette, but as the figure drew closer, Gracela’s heart began to beat faster.

"Victor, look!" Gracela exclaimed, her face lighting up for the first time that afternoon. "It’s him! It’s Bel!"

Bel was running toward them, his knight’s uniform pinned to his chest. It was a black jogging suit with gold buttons and a small flowing blue cloak on the back, but it symbolized his conquest.

Victor smiled at the sight of his student. "He did it."

Bel was visibly exhausted, but the expression on his face was one of pure joy and relief. When he reached them, he stopped to catch his breath, put his hands on his knees and kept a broad smile on his face.

"I did it!" Bel said between gasps. "I passed! I... I’m a knight now!"

Gracela couldn’t hold back her tears and hugged Bel tightly, as if she never wanted to let go, to hide her face.

"I knew you’d make it, Bel," she said, her voice full of emotion. "I’m so proud of you."

Bel was a little confused because Gracela never seemed to care enough about him to make him cry. However, he gladly returned the hug, realizing that this hug was much more important to Gracela than it was to him.

Victor walked over and patted Bel on the back after Gracela let him go.

"Well done. I knew you had it in you." Victor said, then held out his right hand.

Bel looked at Victor’s right hand, got serious, and instead of greeting him politely, he bowed his torso completely and shouted:

"Thank you, Master Shieldman! Without your teachings and lessons, I would still be chasing my tail like a street dog, and I would not have evolved at all in the past few weeks! Thanks to your training, I have become stronger, learned to control my emotions, and most importantly, understood how weak I am! For this reason, I promise that I will train hard, dedicate myself to the utmost, and one day I will be your strongest student!"

This speech surprised Victor, so he withdrew his right hand and bowed his head slightly in respect.

After they raised their heads and looked into each other’s eyes, Victor put his right hand on his chin and said:

"Will you become my strongest student? I want to see what Wanda will say when I tell her about it."

Bel swallowed, worried about that too, but raised her fist confidently. "She’ll have to be very careful, because I’m sure I’ll outdo her!"

"Right, I believe in you. Concentrate on this goal now."

"So how did it go in there, Bel?" asked Gracela excitedly. "Tell us everything." Bel sighed.

Bel sighed. "To tell you the truth, in the middle of the essay exam, I wanted to go to the bathroom so badly, I almost shit myself..."

"...? What?" Gracela took a few steps to the right, away from Bel.

So, the exam for the Order of Athína was finally over, and with excellent news. However, these quiet times of winter were about to end with the festive week, and the Selvarum had no idea that they were being closely watched by the figures of the night.