"Today, all of you will step out of the school gates and become a new force for the kingdom.
To the school, you are the most outstanding graduates. As the principal, I hope that you will become useful to the kingdom in the years to come. Regardless of whether you join the army, become a civil servant, a merchant, or a craftsman, you should all work hard. "
When the principal finally said, "Today, you will graduate from the school. The school will be proud of you in the future!"
After the long and boring graduation speech, the lecturers behind him started clapping. A few seconds later, the parents of the students reacted and started clapping as well. In the end, all the students started clapping unwillingly under the gaze of the lecturers and the parents of the graduates.
"I've always suspected that he doesn't change his speech every year. I think I heard the same speech last year," Borkal said after a few claps.
"I didn't even hear what he said. All I have to do is endure until the end, get my diploma, and leave," Welikro said.
"Look at Claude. He's spacing out again. Who knows what he's thinking about."
Claude was indeed spacing out. He was thinking about how to earn money and whether hunting alone was going to be a little slow.
For example, yesterday afternoon, he patrolled the forest for a long time but did not find any big game. In the end, he could only set up a series of traps in the bushes and grass nests. He planned to go back today to see if he could find anything.
It seemed that he would have to go to the mountains behind the wood if he wanted to hunt big game or wild beasts. Should he go to the forest and hills in the southern outskirts of town?
Last year, he had quite a good haul of pheasants and rabbits. Now that more than a year had passed, perhaps there would be more pheasants and rabbits waiting for him to hunt.
Well, as a transmigrator, relying on hunting to earn money was a little embarrassing.
Hunting depended on luck, after all. It wasn't unheard of for hunters in Whitestag to return empty-handed after staying in the mountains for a few days.
As Whitestag grew, most of the game in the nearby forests moved deeper into the mountains, away from human activity.
The reason Welikro's father was known as the top hunter of Whitestag was because he could venture deep into the mountains and return safely with his prey.
Hunting big game or beasts in the forest near Whitestag really depended on luck.
It was easy to catch pheasants and rabbits, but one had to consider the saturation of the market.
Even though Pjard said that he would take as much as he could get, Claude suspected that Pjard would refuse to buy thirty pheasants or rabbits. He wouldn't be able to sell them at the open market either. Honestly speaking, Pjard's offer was already the highest he could get.
Actually, he had many ideas on how to make money, but he didn't have the means to implement them.
This world was very different from his previous life. With his current age and family environment, it was impossible for him to convince his parents to pay for his creativity.
Not to mention anything else, just the social status of this kingdom was enough to render all of his efforts useless.
Perhaps in a decade or so, he would become a member of the kingdom's social class. Only then would he have the means to realize his dream of building a business empire.
But for now, it was better for him to just go to bed and stop dreaming. No matter how he looked at it, hunting in the forest with his gun would be more reliable. At the very least, he would be able to sell the game he hunted for some money.
There was no such thing as absolute fairness and justice in any world. That was something Claude learned from the auction of the niros crocodile he hunted last year.
That was when Morssen was the chief executive of Whitestag. The fathers of Welikro, Borkal and Eriksson were also quite popular in the town.
Yet, all of that was easily crushed by Sir Fux. He only spent four crowns to get the rights to the niros crocodile.
Sometimes, Claude wondered if he and his friends' fathers didn't have that bit of influence, Sir Fux wouldn't even have had to spend four crowns.
The upper class of Whitestag knew that it was an unfairly low price, but not a single one of them was willing to speak up.
However, Sir Fux was also someone to be bullied by Maria. When she said she wanted it, he had no choice but to hand it over obediently.
And that was only because Maria was kind enough to offer such a high price.
Had it been any other influential figure, Sir Fux might not have gotten anything out of it.
The big fish preyed on the small fish and the small fish preyed on the shrimps. That was an undeniable truth in any world.
The only fortunate thing was that a small shrimp like Claude still had a lot of room to maneuver in the pond. As long as he didn't get any prey that the big and small fishes would fight over, nobody would bother with him. Hunting, in the eyes of many, was a matter of risking one's life in order to reap rewards.
Claude had once thought about opening a small shop to sell the delicacies from his previous life. That should be a good business and he could earn some money.
For example, he could sell meat buns, fried pancakes, soy milk, tofu, or even bean sprouts in the winter. He believed that business would be good too.
However, Claude looked at the solemn expression on his father's face and gave up on the idea. His father would never allow his family to become a small shopkeeper. He believed that it was a disgrace to the family and House Ferd couldn't afford to lose face like that.
So, even if his parents were satisfied with the delicacies he made, his father would at most show them off in front of his colleagues and friends and wouldn't try to make money from them.
Claude had thought of ways to nurture an agent, but apart from his three friends, he couldn't find anyone else he could trust.
Borkal could be considered to be from a merchant family, but he didn't care much for small businesses like that, let alone for him to put in the effort to run them.
After all, it was his father who was in charge of his family's business. It didn't matter if it was a small quarrel between the younger generation, but if it really involved interests, it was hard to say whether or not his father would swallow it whole when the small business grew to a large scale …
Many businesses were like that. When it was small, no one cared about it. But when it grew, it didn't bring with it a bright future. Instead, it attracted greedy eyes and greedy hands. That was the reality.
Claude knew that his small body wouldn't be able to withstand such a huge wave.
So, after some thought, he felt that hunting for money was the most suitable method for him. At the very least, it would save him a lot of trouble. Given his skills and spells, he didn't have to fear the beasts in the forest. He was confident about that.
Borkal nudged him and snapped him out of his thoughts. "What are you doing?"
Borkal pouted. "Your name is being called. Why aren't you going up? Wero is already up there."
It was only then that Claude realized what was going on and hurriedly squeezed his way to the front.
Not all graduates needed to go up on stage to receive their diplomas. Only the top ten students in the liberal arts and physical sciences would be called up to the stage, and the principal would present them with their diplomas in front of everyone. It was also an honor for graduates with excellent grades.
Compared to the students who had to receive their diplomas from their homeroom teachers, the parents of the students who could go up to the stage were all smiles and felt proud of their children.
Below the stage, however, Morssen forced a smile and looked at the graduation ceremony absent-mindedly.
There were a total of eleven students who went up to the stage. Claude and Welikro were tied for first place.
Strictly speaking, Claude's overall score was one point behind Welikro's in the physical sciences graduation exam. In fact, he should've only been able to get second place.
It couldn't be helped. Welikro had a huge advantage in terms of his physique. He was tall and strong and was unbeatable in wrestling, wrestling, and boxing.
However, Claude's results in swordsmanship and horsemanship were among the top. As for the other shooting and crossbow events, he was on par with Welikro.
The two of them were only separated by one point. Under such circumstances, Morssen's position as the town's chief executive came into play and the principal believed that they were tied for first place.
Everyone only remembered the name of first place. It would be too much of a waste to be forgotten for being second place with a difference of one point.
In fact, Welikro also believed that Claude's ranking as first in the physical sciences wasn't just for show. He only had a huge advantage because of his strength.
If he had the same build and strength as Claude, there was no way he would've been a match for him.
Claude was able to keep a cool head during the competition, which was something he admitted he couldn't do himself.
Standing on the stage was a very boring thing to do, especially when he had to face the envious gazes from the audience. There was also the principal who stood in front of everyone with a kind expression on his face.
It had been two years since Claude transmigrated to this world and he had been a student of the academy for two years. Yet, he had never seen the principal give a single lesson in those two years.
Now, he was giving the graduates their diplomas like a teacher, patting them on the shoulders from time to time and saying a few words of encouragement, as though everyone on the stage was his favorite student.
After the humanities graduates' diplomas were given out, it was time for the physical sciences to line up.
Claude stood at the front of the line with a straight face and an expressionless face.
The principal came over and patted him on the shoulder amiably and said a few words of encouragement. Claude bowed slightly to show his respect and received his diploma without a word.
No matter how displeased he was, he wouldn't give the old man any face.
Welikro, on the other hand, looked very emotional as he received the diploma from the principal and yelled, "Thank you, principal! I won't let you down!"
His voice was so loud that it startled the principal so much that he dropped a few diplomas in his hands.
Claude really wanted to dig his ears. Welikro, aren't you screaming a little too loudly? My ears are about to go deaf from the noise!
It's just a diploma, isn't it? Why are you so excited?
He bent down to pick up the diplomas on the ground in front of him and handed them to the principal with both hands.
The principal took the diplomas and patted Claude on the shoulder happily. "Not bad, not bad at all."
After that, the old man went on to hand out the graduation certificate to the second best physical science student. He didn't even bother to look at the excited Welikro, which left Welikro feeling a little awkward. He wanted to apologize a little more, but he didn't.
He turned to Claude and asked, "Did I do something wrong?"
Claude looked at the sky at a 45-degree angle and rolled his eyes without replying. What's the rush on stage? We can talk about it later. There's close to a thousand people watching us.
When the ceremony finally ended, the old principal gave a speech to the first and second year students, calling on them to learn from the twenty-one outstanding graduates on the stage. They should learn from them and strive to graduate with even better results …
After the graduation ceremony ended, the school held a grand celebration banquet as usual.
However, it had nothing to do with the ordinary graduates.
Those who were qualified to attend the banquet were the instructors and civil servants of the town hall. The other 21 outstanding graduates from the humanities and physical sciences were also invited.
Claude wasn't interested in the banquet and didn't want to entertain the instructors anymore. He found an opening and slipped out of the banquet. His father, Morssen, was held back by the principal and the instructors and didn't have the time to care about his son.