Chapter 5: Harpist Academy (4)
==============================
The moment the masked woman with only her enchanting eyes exposed stepped onto the scene, the audience erupted in a collective chorus of boos.
Well, what can you expect? Her demonic characteristics were too obvious.
Even though half-demons exist (albeit quite rarely), any offspring with demonic bl**d would unmistakably have horn marks on their forehead.
But clearly, the woman didn’t have any such markings, which meant she wasn’t a demon at all.
Instead, she was just a regular foreign visitor.
This was peculiar because the harpist’s abilities were inherited from one of the Four Warriors, Casey. Without this inheritance, no one could master harpist skills.
So, what was this foreigner doing randomly crashing the assessment test? Was the Harpist Academy playing a prank on everyone?
The three teachers in charge of grading wore expressions of confusion as they glanced at Lisa.
If it weren’t for Lisa being a person of actual authority in the office, they would’ve probably yelled at her by now.
This was obviously a sign of disrespect for their work, and it might even cut into their off-duty time!
Amid the crowd, only Trissa and Adeline remained calm, filled with confidence in Lin Nan’s performance.
“Who is this masked woman, anyway?”
“Who knows? But I think I saw her being brought in by some academy teacher.”
“Wait, isn’t the admission test usually scheduled for late summer? Why is it so early this year?”
“Ha! Can’t you tell? She probably has connections and got dragged into the graduation assessment to show her who’s boss. That chubby teacher probably just wanted to avoid any hassle and thought letting her taste despair would be the best way to send her packing.”
“Good analysis! In that case, let’s all boo her together!”
Watching the drama unfold is always fun, and there were about three hundred spectators scattered around the testing area.
Under the lead of a few troublemakers, the arena quickly filled with boos.
“Oh, oh! What’s a foreign gal doing trying to qualify as our harpist!”
“Better scram back where you came from! You hear me?”
Surrounded by the jeers, Lin Nan didn’t panic as they expected, much to the crowd’s disappointment.
“Good grief, talk about a pig that isn’t afraid of boiling water!”
“Ha! No, no! It’s a case of not shedding tears until seeing a coffin! I bet she can’t even summon a four-stringed harp, let alone a real harp!”
Just when the surrounding noise started to fade, a sharp bell rang from above the testing ground.
That meant the next round of testing was about to begin.
“Hey there, do we need to explain the rules again?”
One of the judges, brows slightly furrowed, stood up and asked the newcomer.
Lin Nan shook her head.
“Then let’s get started.”
Finally, the testing area quieted down.
According to the rules, anyone who made loud noises during the test would be promptly shown the door, so even if a competitor looked like they had zero chance of passing, the spectators could only laugh until they were told she failed.
Though they all knew Lord Lin would never mess up, Trissa and Adeline couldn’t help but feel nervous, their palms growing sweaty.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Three white balls shot out from the wall almost simultaneously.
At this point, there wasn’t even a hint of a four-stringed harp in Lin Nan’s hands.
They thought the scenario would play out as they imagined—those three powder-coated balls would come crashing down on her. Sure, the balls had some bounce, but at high speed, they would still cause some damage to an ordinary person.
Unexpectedly, just a quarter of the way through their flight, the three white balls dropped to the ground with a “plop” and created a cloud of white smoke.
“Uh…uh…”
The laughter they’d swallowed back suddenly lodged in their throats, causing a moment of discomfort.
“What the heck?! This is insane! How could she, a foreigner, possibly…”
“Wait a second! She doesn’t have a harp!”
“Exactly! She never had a four-stringed harp! She wasn’t using harpist skills at all!”
“Cheating! This is disgraceful cheating!”
The crowd started shouting in unison.
Not just the spectators, even the judges caught on to the fact that she hadn’t summoned a harp.
“Very sorry! Although those three balls did explode, you did not operate with a harp, so we have to declare your performance as unqualified.”
Lisa shrugged. “I knew it… Let’s go, maybe you’ll find a fitting job somewhere else, but clearly, the Harpist Academy is not the place for you to skate by.”
Trissa panicked. “No, no, no! This isn’t how it should go. Lin… Ms. Lin, you must have forgotten…”
Maybe she just got too nervous and forgot to summon the four-stringed harp, instead relying on instinct to blast those incoming white balls away.
If only she could get another chance, she definitely wouldn’t mess up again.
“Lisa, can we give her one more shot? She was probably just anxious—I clearly saw she could summon a harp before!”
“Sorry, Trissa, we agreed—only one chance.”
Lisa waved at Lin Nan from afar. “Miss Lin, please leave the stage quickly so we don’t waste other people’s testing time, alright?”
Lin Nan didn’t budge.
The veil fluttered in the breeze, and her enchanting eyes were filled with disappointment and loss.
But the crowd couldn’t see that sadness reflected in her gaze; they were all too busy making a ruckus.
“Hey, what are you hanging around for? This isn’t your house!”
“Yeah, exactly!”
“Wanna be a harpist for our demon race? Better wait another hundred years to be reincarnated!”
“Ha! Right? You think just sticking around here will change anything? Get real!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk! Take off your veil; with your pretty face, maybe we’ll let you sample some sausages from the Empire!”
“Hahaha…”
Hearing the increasingly ridiculous remarks from the audience, a female judge suddenly slammed her hand on the table.
Suddenly, the entire place fell silent.
“Anything else you want to say? If not, please leave the stage immediately!”
Lin Nan sighed. “I can’t believe the Harpist Academy has lost even a tenth of the skills from back in the day. What a pity! How sad!”
