Vol 7. Chapter 29: The Emerald Dragon’s Tear

The next morning, the candidates had gathered early in Principal Wilson’s office to await the third stage of the evaluation.

As usual, Beren was trying to strike up conversation with Isha—but as usual, Isha responded with cold indifference.

To this, Leon could only think: Brother Beren, you’ve set your sights on the wrong woman. She’s a firm believer in never marrying.

Not long after, Principal Wilson entered with two academy staff members.

The staff were carrying something heavy, completely concealed beneath an opaque black cloth. Leon and the others couldn’t make out what it was.

"All right, place it here. Thank you both for your work."

With that, the two bowed, set the object down, and left.

Principal Wilson turned to the candidates.

"Welcome, everyone. Good morning. How did you spend your evening? Are you adjusting well to the academy lodging?"

"If you have any feedback, feel free to share it with us anytime."

"Well then, let’s skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point. Today—"

Before Wilson could finish, one of the candidates interrupted him.

"Principal Wilson, why are we jumping straight to the third round? We haven’t even done the second round yet."

"Exactly, Principal. You said last night that today would be the third round, so we all assumed the second round’s simulated field test would happen sometime overnight. But it never did. We didn’t encounter any kind of evaluation at all. Was this an oversight by the academy?"

Another Dragon King voiced his doubts.

Beren opened his mouth too, but instinctively glanced at Isha.

She didn’t seem inclined to question anything. In fact, quite the opposite—she sat composed and orderly, showing no sign of confusion. She was completely calm.

When Beren looked over to Leon and Claudia, he saw the same expressions.

At that, he closed his mouth again.

Trying to recall the events after the first written exam yesterday evening, Beren realized—there really hadn’t been anything you could clearly call a “simulated field test”—

And then suddenly, a jolt shot through his chest.

A flash of insight lit up his mind.

He remembered—a student from the Youth Dragon Division had approached him yesterday.

Said some students were fighting, asked if he could come help settle it.

But at the time, he had just been snubbed by Isha and exhausted from six hours of written exams, both mentally and physically. So he declined.

Could it be...

Facing the other two Dragon Kings’ confusion, Principal Wilson smiled faintly and said leisurely:

"Before I answer that question, let me first ask all of you distinguished candidates—did any students approach you last night after the first-round exam, asking for help?"

"Students asking for help?"

The first questioning Dragon King replied immediately:

"Yes, one of them asked if I could help with a spell they were learning. But I refused. It was just a minor fire spell. A few more practice attempts and they’d get it. No need for me to step in."

"Huh, now that you mention it, I remember—two students came to me, said they saw an unregistered dangerous beast near the academy’s back mountain. They thought it might be a rare type and were too scared to act rashly. Asked me to take a look."

The second Dragon King added, "But I thought it was just students playing a prank, so I ignored them..."

Then he looked toward Beren.

"You get approached too, Beren?"

Beren opened his mouth. Of course—they’d figured it out too.

Unfortunately, too late.

"I did, but just like you, I didn’t help."

The tone in Beren’s voice carried a subtle regret. And with Wilson’s pointed question now out in the open, and the elusive “simulated test” made clear...

After a moment of silent realization, the three finally pieced it together.

"So last night’s requests were the second round of testing?"

"That’s completely unfair! You didn’t even tell us what the evaluation was!"

"Excuse me..."

One of them crossed his arms, clearly still dissatisfied.

"Situations like that happen all the time at a place like this. How were we supposed to know that was part of the evaluation?"

"If I’d known from the start that it was a test, of course I would’ve helped. It’s no big deal, right?"

"Exactly!"

The two grumbled back and forth, voicing clear displeasure with the design of the second-round evaluation.

Only Beren, who had truly grasped the real point of the second round, remained silent.

Once the three had finally quieted down, Principal Wilson spoke again, calm and steady.

"Judging from your responses, it seems that even if you had chosen to help those students, it would have been because you were told it was an evaluation—not because you genuinely wanted to."

At that, the two Dragon Kings froze, exchanging awkward glances.

"This..."

Wilson continued:

"I understand where you're coming from. Some of you are reigning Dragon Kings, others heirs to powerful clans. Your tribes are among the elite of dragonkind. Naturally, you don’t concern yourselves with trivial matters. Just like one of you said earlier: a low-tier spell can be learned with practice. No need to help. But what you’ve overlooked is something far more important... You’re candidates for the position of vice principal at Saint Heath Academy. For you, the future isn’t just about enemies, politicians, or rivals.

It’s about children.

If you don’t devote your heart and energy to them—if, even when it takes nothing more than lifting a finger, you won’t help a student in need... Then perhaps you think the academy is being dramatic. Maybe you even feel morally coerced. But like I said before, becoming vice principal of Saint Heath isn’t just about holding a title. It’s about taking on responsibility. A real responsibility—for the students, and for the children entrusted to your care."

At that, Wilson’s eyes swept across the three of them. His gaze was rarely so stern.

"You overlooked that. And if your mindset is that helping children is merely a way to pass the evaluation, then that attitude alone will cost you heavily in your final assessment."

Wilson was right. But to the candidates, it still felt harsh.

These were Dragon Kings, not ordinary job-seekers.

So if it was already clear their final score would be penalized, there was no need to argue further. One of them replied frankly:

"This kind of evaluation may have a valid purpose, but the method is still unreasonable. No one could possibly pass this kind of test."

Wilson raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Hmph, Principal Wilson. You said it yourself—we’re leaders of our respective tribes. We don’t care about petty student troubles. You clearly designed the test to exploit that weakness. Of course no one would pass it."

Even now, this candidate clung firmly to his "Dragon King" mindset.

Wilson could only sigh lightly and shake his head.

"In principle, I shouldn’t disclose this, but since the academy’s test design is under such heavy suspicion, I feel it necessary to clarify."

He raised an arm, palm up, pointing toward three people at the table.

"Prince of the Silver Dragons, the Red Dragon King, and the Sea Dragon Princess—these three passed yesterday’s second-round simulated evaluation, and their performance was exceptional. Six candidates total. Three passed. That alone proves the evaluation design is not flawed."

Hearing Principal Wilson’s formal announcement, the three dumbstruck candidates exchanged glances.

"You really guessed it, brother-in-law," Isha muttered under her breath.

"Not hard to guess," Leon replied. "Principal Wilson even went out of his way to flip expectations—he had kids we know well act as the ‘examiners.’ So of course, we’d assume they were just playing around, not conducting a test. If Aurora hadn’t slipped and mentioned ‘Principal Wilson,’ we probably wouldn’t have realized what was going on until today."

Isha nodded.

Claudia folded her arms and crossed her legs, letting out a chuckle.

"Seems the kids did very well too—kept their mouths shut right to the end."

At that, General Leon puffed out his chest with pride.

"Of course! My kids? /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Top tier~"

From the looks on their faces and the casual way they spoke, it was obvious they genuinely liked kids.

That was the fundamental difference between them and the other three candidates.

And it was their natural advantage in this vice principal selection.

Wilson wasn’t wrong: this wasn’t just a position—it was a duty. A real, weighty duty to the children.

If anyone was to blame, it was the three traditionalist Dragon Kings for being a little too traditional.

Beren and the others could only fall silent.

After all, they really hadn’t considered things from that angle—and when it came to caring for students, they simply couldn’t compare to Leon’s group.

Dragon Kings may be conservative, but when it’s time to admit defeat, they’ll admit it.

They knew when to hold, and when to fold.

"Since there are no further questions, let’s begin the third round."

With that, the vice principal lifted the black cloth from the mysterious object.

Everyone turned their attention to the stand.

Upon a lavish and finely crafted platform sat a lifelike dragon head sculpture.

Beneath the dragon’s chin rested a transparent, oval-shaped vessel, about the size of half a palm.

Inside the vessel was a glowing green liquid.

Claudia recognized it at once.

"The Emerald Dragon’s Tear..."