I Reincarnated as the Bastard Prince? Well, At least I'm OP!-Chapter 22: Forming Party

The girl stiffened, her eyes widening in shock. "What?!"

I didn’t give her time to recover. "I saw her destroy the undead summoner."

A hush fell over the group as everyone gazed at her in awe.

They couldn’t imagine her being that powerful.

"Well, what do you know," one of the adults, a middle-aged man with an eye patch stepped forward, rubbing his chin. "We have ourselves a prodigy."

The girl shot me a sharp glare. "What do you think you’re doing?" She hissed under her breath.

I closed the distance between us and whispered to her ears. "If you don’t tell anyone what you saw, I’ll teach you everything I know."

Her eyes gleamed with interest and I could see she was taken by the idea. This girl was no fool. She understood the value she would be getting in return.

"Fine," she whispered back. "I accept."

"You are one fine brave young girl," the eye patched man said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "What’s your name?"

The girl tugged the brim of her hat lower, shadowing her face. "I-I am Raven."

The eye patch man leaned closer to her. "The name is Dawken. You did us a great service bringing down that summoner. Thanks to you, we were able to pass the first trial. We owe you."

Raven looked away, her voice low and uneasy. "It’s nothing."

My guts twisted with guilt.

I felt bad forcing her to take the credit for something she didn’t do. But I couldn’t afford to reveal my true strength to these people. Not yet.

"Dawken," a beastkin, approached him, his fur matted with blood. "We’ve suffered high casualties. There are only twenty of us left. The others were killed by the undead."

The survivors caught their breath sharply.

It was so unfortunate. We were over seventy candidates who entered the portal.

Now, our numbers have been reduced to twenty in just the first trial alone.

Two-thirds were wiped out.

No wonder Elysia warned us about this exam.

Dawken chuckled, looking amused. "Interesting. The academy are getting serious this year. I’ve never seen anything like it."

Others turned to him, surprised.

"You’ve taken the selection exam before?" A boy blurted.

"As a matter of fact, yes I have," Dawken responded with a grin. "But I failed during the third phase. The third phase is usually the toughest but we suffered no casualties."

He paused to explain deeper. "Back then, we faced mostly goblins and low-level creatures. I think the academy is raising the stakes more brutally this year because they want the strongest."

"I can’t do this anymore," a teen girl slumped against the wall, her entire body shaking like a leaf. "It was stupid to come here. I shouldn’t have followed the others if I knew we were actually going to be killed for real."

Dawken grimaced at her. "Oi, nobody forced you to be here. The counselor warned us some of us wouldn’t make it out alive and yet you came."

"That’s because I thought it was just a scare tactic," she cried, tears streaming down her face. "Those undead killed my friend. I couldn’t do a thing. I couldn’t save her. She was slaughtered like a cow. How am I supposed to keep going after?" ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

Her feverish panic began to spread among the others like wildfire.

The mood in the room darkened as others shared her sentiment.

A loud murmur erupted filled with doubts and despair.

"The girl is right, we are ruined."

"I thought the councellor was joking. This is too much."

"We are going to die. I don’t want to die."

While the others lamented their room, Dawken moved.

He strode to the girl, his eyes glinting. Then without warning, he slapped her.

CRACK!

The sound was so loud it sent chills down everyone’s spine, bringing silence to the courtroom.

"Get a hold of yourself, you little rat," he barked at her. "If you’re too weak to carry on, then take your own life. From here on, the journey will only get worse."

He unsheathed his sword and pointed the edge of the blade to her throat. "If you destroy the morale of the other candidates who fought to survive, I won’t hesitate to cut you down myself."

Everyone exchanged glances, shocked at Dawken’s words.

The girl recoiled, her eyes wide with horror. "Y-You wouldn’t."

"Oh, but I would, sweetheart," he said, grinning coldly. "You heard the chancellor. There are no rules in this exam. Only the strongest would be accepted into the academy. I plan to pass this exam and come out on top. And if anyone gets in my way, I will eliminate them—starting with you."

The girl gulped in raw fear.

At that moment, she feared Dawken more than feared the undead.

Oddly enough, the other candidates seemed to be drawn to Dawken’s strong personality.

His harshness and unshakeable resolve gave them a sense of direction. They began to flock around him like sheeps.

Dawken knew this and he capitalized on the opportunity. He turned to the address everyone.

"Listen, candidates," he began. "Soon, another gates would open, leading to the second stage of the exam. It’s going to be a lot tougher than this one. We must stick together if we must survive."

Dawken reached out, grabbed Raven by her wrist, and raised her arm up for all to see.

"This girl right here, is the strongest among us. She will protect and guide us through while we navigate the second trial. I will need more capable mages to strength our defenses and back her up."

Raven looked startled. "Wha... wait, What?"

Before I knew it, the crowd surged to Dawken, clamouring to be among his party.

I frowned.

I didn’t like what Dawken was doing, not because of the teamwork.

I mean, teaming is good and all. I highly recommend, but he wasn’t trying to build a team—he was building a hierarchy.

He plans to isolate the weak from the strong.

And that’s exactly what he did.

He began to screen each candidates, learning about their abilities and how useful they could be in his party.

Raven pushed herself from the crowd and walked up to me. "This is all your fault," she whispered.

I rubbed the back of my head and smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to make this hard on you."

She sighed. "Well, aren’t you going to join Dawken’s party? With you around, I can be confident we will survive."

I glanced back at Dawken as he shoved a boy away saying, "Beat it, lad. You’re not fit to be in my party."

The boy scurried away looking defeated and scared.

"I’m ten years old," I said to Raven. "Dawken doesn’t seem inclined in picking children except you."

Raven frowned. "Then tell him the truth. Why do you have to hide your strength."

I smiled at her. "I’ll explain later. I will team up with the others. You follow Dawken. Those mages would protect you."

Just then, a silver coloured Portal appeared before us.

Dawken faced us, pointing at the portal. "That portal leads to the second stage of the exam. We have to move now. The others who are not on my party, you can form your own group and survive. Good luck to you, you will need it."

Then he turned to Raven and beckoned to her. "It’s time to go, Raven. You lead will lead us."

This guy.

He’s trying to inflate her ego so that she could join them at the lead.

Raven glanced at me, then back at Dawken. "I’m not joining your party!"