The longer Firefly stayed in Penacony, the deeper her understanding of the term "diversity of species" became.
This girl, who often set certain places ablaze, discovered for the first time so clearly that the differences between people could be this varied, and she gradually came to understand why a certain mature woman in the group liked teasing people.
Although the kind-hearted Knight still held to the belief that enemies should suffer less and battles should be ended quickly, she could not deny that she had also become interested in what kinds of reactions different opponents with different personalities would have.
But right now, the examiner was clearly very happy, astonished by Stelle's performance. She quickly looked toward Firefly and said, "So, although you're very disappointed, your companion is instead very excited. Now, young lady, you would say..."
Firefly froze for a moment. She had not expected it to be her turn so soon. According to the process just now, shouldn't they have asked Argenti first?
Caught off guard, Firefly frowned and thought about what to say, then squeezed the words out of her mouth without any emotion, "Th-that's great! I like this kind of... ex-exciting life!"
"Good, very good, very excited!"
The examiner gave this assessment. Although Firefly was clearly reading her lines in a monotone, this test was about the dialogue, and for this girl who completely fit the image of an amateur in her mind, being able to reach this level was already quite good. At the very least, she had actually said her lines.
Then she turned her head toward Argenti. "Red-haired gentleman, you look like an experienced hand in this field. If it were you, you would..."
The examiner did not finish before Argenti interrupted her.
At this moment, the tall knight wore a radiant smile and spoke in a calm, steady tone, "What are you talking about? Wasn't Anders excited enough?"
The examiner stared blankly at the smiling knight. Although she really wanted to say that the excitement shown by that mechanical gentleman was not the same kind of excitement she wanted to ask about this time, her instincts told her that it was best not to argue with the knights.
"Uh... yes! Excited... very excited."
The examiner forced her face into a stiff smile and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
No matter how you looked at it, that posture, as if he were about to go find the Clockmaker for a fight, couldn't be said to not count as excitement...
The examiner, who was very good at reading the room, awkwardly cleared her throat, seemingly trying to cover up her panic this way.
Then, as if in a hurry, she began talking about what would happen next, "Um... let's begin the next scene of the story. You found a job repairing the railway, but after working hard day and night, you became physically exhausted and eventually collapsed deep in the desert. Suddenly! Sweet rain descended from the sky, moistening your lips and awakening your fighting spirit."
The examiner looked toward the knights. This time, it should be the turn of the youngest-looking child, but...
Because of the examples set by the two knights before him, she did not really want to throw the question at Nero, so she looked toward Stelle once again, "Miss gray-haired lady, what kind of line would best express your surprise at this moment?"
Stelle blinked, then raised her head and let out a disdainful scoff, saying without any awe or gratitude, "Hah! Why don't you just let me die of thirst?"
"N-no... that's not really a very surprised line..." Firefly whispered beside Stelle. At times like this, the girl who could pilot a mecha became quite good at providing emotional support, as if she would never let any of Stelle's jokes fall flat.
The examiner was silent for a moment, then turned to Nero.
Nero looked at the examiner for two seconds and finally realized that she was dissatisfied with Stelle's answer and was inviting him to give an answer.
So he spoke honestly, "Isn't rain pretty normal?"
"Uh... no, that's not what I mean, child. You have to understand, this rain suddenly arrived when you were in a very difficult situation, like rain after a long drought."
"How could I possibly encounter that kind of situation?" Nero said quite seriously. "Leaving aside the fact that my luck has always been pretty good, even if I really reached the point where I needed rainwater, there's no way I'd just sit around waiting for it to rain."
"For the simplest example, I have three ways to make it rain immediately. I can call someone and use technology to create artificial rainfall. I can also use my powers to influence the humidity and temperature of the environment."
"Or I can directly control memoria to create a rainstorm. Anyway, the Asdana system has never been short of this stuff. And besides..."
Nero, who was still preparing to continue, stopped. He suddenly noticed that the examiner's expression was not quite right. Her shoulders were trembling, her face was scrunched up, and her lips were pressed together, looking as though she would cry if he kept going.
So the considerate Nero did not continue. Instead, he cooperatively said, "Wow! Penacony really is full of opportunities everywhere!"
Nero's cooperation made Miss Examiner squeeze a trace of a smile onto her face. Finally... finally, there was a normal person.
Yes, she really was about to cry.
She had originally thought this was nothing more than an ordinary audition, and there were even several people among the candidates who looked quite experienced. This audition should have gone very smoothly.
However, reality had dealt her a heavy blow... After several questions, she gradually realized this fact. Among the people before her, there was not a single person whose mentality, cognition, experience, and worldview were normal, or rather, not a single person whose situation in these areas was the same as that of an ordinary person.
According to the rules, she could actually declare this group of people unqualified.
But...
The Astral Express. These were distinguished guests personally invited by the Family.
The Knights of Beauty. These were distinguished guests personally received by the Family.
And then there was this white-haired child, who had been personally brought in by Miss Robin and Mr. Sunday, and was even someone the higher-ups had ordered her to pay special attention to. On top of that, she had previously been chatting and laughing with Mr. Aideen.
As a wage earner, the examiner naturally knew what she should and should not do.
Unspoken rules and backdoor connections were nothing unusual in the industry. After working for so long, she could understand even with her butt that these people before her were people she could not afford to offend.
They might even be the Family's specially selected candidates, with the championship already decided for them.
Thus, no matter what kind of answers these people gave, she had to grit her teeth and accept them with a smile.
And after being bombarded one after another by ridiculous answers, being able to encounter someone so cooperative was, to her, like rain after a long drought. She was moved beyond words.
What a considerate good child. No wonder that despite only arriving in Penacony recently, so many people within the Family already liked him.
"Sorry, that was rude of me. You're simply too outstanding. I don't know how to praise you." The examiner wiped away her moved tears in silence.
Amid the looks from the others that seemed to say, "You have good taste, you're one of us," she seemed to have become much younger all of a sudden."
"Then, the next part is, although you're extremely surprised, your companion instead looks up at the sky and closes their eyes. As the raindrops fall and their vision becomes blurred, they sadly say..."
"Letting you suffer such hardship was my failure." Before the examiner could choose someone, Argenti immediately answered.
Then the knight began reciting words of apology and prayers of repentance with a heartbroken expression.
The look on his face, as if he truly regretted everything and blamed himself for all his sins, made it seem as though Argenti had genuinely experienced what had happened in the story.
Because it looked nothing like acting, the examiner was completely stunned.
Then the examiner became excited and cried out, "Wonderful! Your command of your lines is truly profound!"
Miss Examiner felt that although this red-haired knight seemed to be somewhat mentally unsound, this final performance was genuinely incredible.
Especially the way he looked at the white-haired child and his touching tone, it was as if he were saying, 'if you don't forgive me, I'll smash my head against the wall right here.'
———
"Brothers, as for this part of the story, all I can say is that Nero is a good kid. As for everyone else, it's a little hard not to laugh. They were probably incited by that Joy reporter earlier."
Siberian Duck said this during his livestream, "Come on, come on, let's give our five actors a score for their performances this time. Full marks are one hundred."
[Aha's Emanator: Then I'll obviously give Nero a full score first. What? Nero almost made the examiner cry? What does that have to do with me? This is the treasure of our tavern, full marks, definitely full marks. Even if the Aeon of Elation himself came here, he'd still get full marks!]
[Invisible Emperor of Punklorde: I'll give Miss Samuel a passing score of sixty. Her monotone reading doesn't look acted.]
[I Use Pantene: I'll give myself ninety-nine points. Being this neurotic, it's obviously me. As for the remaining point, I'm not giving it because her acting has some issues. If I gave her full marks and she got proud, that wouldn't be good.]
[Glue Man: I don't know what to say. This Anders, as a Dead II player, I'm willing to give him a passing score. As for why I'm not giving him full marks, it's because he looks like he can not only fly, but also has a rear judgment.]
[So Handsome I Get Beaten Up on the Street: Good, good, good. So this is how you're scoring them? There are villagers here too.]
[Knight of Beauty: I must give Senior Argenti full marks, because anyone who believes in the Beauty knows that Senior Argenti wasn't acting at all. There was no technique involved, it was all genuine feeling.]
[Getting Bald by the Day: No more words. Start drawing!]
[My Pee Is Yellow: Hmph, hmph, all of you are rating them too highly. Like me, as someone who stands apart from the crowd, I won't give the same scores as you.]
[My Pee Is Yellow: I know that most of you will give Nero a very good score, but I'm sorry, this time I can only give Nero one point. Because the other two zeroes are me, hehehe~]
[Snow Burning Tea: Heh, I knew from the start Brother Yellow Pee was up to no good. These two zeroes of yours, could they be 'alive and vivid' and 'sweating buckets'?]
[My Pee Is Yellow: Hehe, once you see through it, don't say it out loud. If you put it so bluntly, what if Nero gets embarrassed?]
[Siberian Little Black Duck: Insane. Brother Yellow Pee isn't even human, he's practically an alien.]
———
Although the experiences earlier could not be called good, Argenti's final performance, which did not look acted at all, still moved the examiner deeply. She enthusiastically sent everyone toward the second testing site.
According to this examiner's introduction, the second testing site would test "body language," and this time the examiner was a man.
The examiner first introduced to everyone what exactly would be tested, "Here, everyone needs to use exquisite body language to interpret the story situation I describe."
After saying this, he pondered briefly before immediately beginning, "Picking up from last time, a heavy rain saved you after you collapsed in the desert."
"This rain extinguished the anger in your heart. You look at your companions beside you, who have already lost all fighting spirit, and want to comfort them. At this moment, what action should you take to make everyone laugh?"
As soon as the examiner said this, a confident, almost arrogant smile appeared on Stelle's face.
There was no doubt that this was absolutely her area of expertise. Stelle could say with complete responsibility that when it came to making people laugh by behaving in a neurotic way, no one on the Astral Express could compare with her.
So she naturally stepped forward without hesitation, preparing to be the first to start.
Noticing her movement, everyone's eyes gathered on her. Stelle stuck out her chest and raised her head, looking straight ahead, her face serious, her body straight, taking on a bold and imposing posture like a proud rooster.
Seeing her performance, the examiner's gaze gradually became expectant. However, in the next second, Stelle immediately lay down on the ground and began rolling around wildly, nearly making the examiner's eyes fall out of his head.
Yes, rolling around in the wet sand immediately after the rain was the action Stelle had decided to take, perfectly fitting her unconventional style.
"Ah... this..." Firefly stared at the scene in a daze, as if even she had been caught off guard by Stelle's sudden action. But soon, the girl let out a suppressed laugh.
The three people on the other side also smiled. Although Stelle's action was a little abstract, there was no doubt that this choice was effective.
After being frightened into stumbling by Stelle, the examiner regained his balance, rubbed his eyes, and marked Stelle as having passed.
After all, although this gray-haired girl's performance followed the style of a nonsensical comedy role and did not quite fit the acting style of a place like Penacony, there was no denying that the effect produced by her performance was obvious.
The examiner nodded with a smile, then continued, "Your companions watch you rolling around in the sand and remember all the hardships you experienced on this journey. Everyone can't help but laugh. Hope rekindles in their hearts, so you set off again."
"And after this touching incident, that heavy rain made you smell a business opportunity. You began entering the umbrella industry, but just as business started improving, your competitors began dumping large quantities of low-priced products and taking over the market."
"You had no choice but to sell your high-priced stock at a loss... This was no different from drinking poison to quench your thirst, dragging you to the edge of bankruptcy. At this moment, what action would the person among you who refuses to give up take?"
As he spoke, the examiner turned his gaze toward Nero.
The child could not help taking a step back. He looked at the examiner somewhat timidly and opened his mouth, but no words came out.
This question was obviously difficult for Nero to answer. If this were a hot-blooded anime, perhaps he would only need to say some chuuni lines, but this story clearly was not set up that way.
And he... although he really was doing business, the business he did was "business without capital." He had not put up a single bit of his own capital from beginning to end.
So... Nero found it hard to imagine what it would look like if he went bankrupt.
If he really had to examine it closely, even if the factory collapsed, Nero still had plenty of ways to make money. He could join the Interastral Peace Corporation at any time, he could also cooperate with Miss Herta of the Genius Society, and there was also the Everwinter Garden on the Xianzhou.
Besides, even if things reached the point where even a Nameless couldn't be bothered to work anymore, he could still stretch out his guilty little hand toward Jing Yuan.
In other words... He really couldn't answer.