A Magic Departnt professor, who had been passing by the thoroughfare where the Representative Battle was taking place, ended up being “kidnapped” by the freshn to serve as the official witness to the battle.
He proclaid loudly.
“The winner, Magnus Flare!”
That’s right.
Agion Morci had lost.
“…”
“…”
Thanks to the defensive magic cast by the professor, Agion suffered no harm from Magnus’s fla magic.
However.
His school uniform, which he had modishly personalized even though he had only just enrolled, and his proudly flowing hair did not entirely escape the flas unscathed.
Parts of his body were singed.
Especially the tips of his once-fluttering golden hair, now slightly burnt and frizzled.
Ceylon looked at him.
Agion Morci avoided eye contact.
“No, Agion…!”
In such a situation, a particularly stunned Ceylon let out a lant.
“I’m, I’m disgraced…”
In such a situation, a particularly disparaged Agion spoke dejectedly.
“After you raised our morale with such a glorious display, to then lose like this… What does that make us…! We’re in big trouble now!!! How can we show our faces at the academy after this!!! I might as well withdraw now!!!”
“Argh, my apologies… it was so close…! I should have finished gracefully…!”
At that mont, Ceylon, lost in deep thought, spoke seriously.
“Even if you had won by a hair’s breadth, wouldn’t that have been problematic?”
“Ah, is that so?”
Agion also returned to a serious deanor.
“Because of the grand start you gave us, Agion, it probably would have been…”
Ceylon continued with his characteristic cluelessness after his serious comnt.
“The picture would have only been complete with an overwhelming victory, wouldn’t it…?”
“Argh… my apologies… carried away by my desire to be the hero of the Representative Battle, I got too caught up in the atmosphere…!”
“The hero…? But surely you ant to direct the glory of victory to …”
“Ack…! Suddenly my whole body feels hot…! Could it be a burn…!? To the infirmary!!! I need to visit the infirmary!”
Agion awkwardly looked away and hastened off his spot.
Ceylon watched his retreating figure with a face filled with a sense of betrayal.
“These guys…”
“Our representative?”
And watching them were the Swordsmanship Departnt students, their expressions colder than before.
Of course.
Their cold gazes had a touch of jest mixed in.
“Huff… Huff… Huff…”
Magnus, too, was in tatters, almost as much as Agion had been.
The defensive magic from the professor ant he was unhard, but his new uniform was almost reduced to rags.
It had been a close call, as Agion had said.
Had Agion not revealed his Wind Spear technique prematurely before the start of the match?
Magnus would have had a very tough ti securing a victory over Agion.
Had Magnus’s mana sensitivity been anything less than significantly better than Agion’s?
Magnus might have lost to Agion.
Indeed, the Wind Spear’s focus on speed was potent against mages.
Yes.
In that sense, Magnus had conquered an opponent who was inherently disadvantaged against him.
A narrow victory, but a victory nonetheless.
“Is that the third seat…?”
“With Lebringer and Miss Hanahan as co-second rankers, he’s essentially fourth…”
“My goodness…”
However, the atmosphere in the Magic Departnt was uneasy.
Magnus, a skillful mage, had competed against Phibian, the top student, for the first seat.
He was the second most capable among the new Magic Departnt students.
Yet, this Magnus had struggled so much against Agion, who was fourth in the Swordsmanship Departnt.
Therein lay a point of contention.
“He subdued that Agion Morci so easily…?”
It was a story that had spread across the entire academy, primarily among the social circle of aristocrats.
Agion Morci.
Every ti there was a social gathering, the man from the Morci family who chard countless ladies had challenged the top student to a duel and suffered a miserable defeat.
The story that gave the n turned “squids” at the social gatherings sothing to gloat about.
The Magic Departnt freshn had also caught wind of the story without fail.
So when they first saw Ceylon, they thought:
Defeated by that clueless guy?
Agion Morci’s skill must be nothing special, they were sure.
But now, after the recent battle.
Agion Morci’s skill was far from negligible.
He was exceptional. Significantly so.
As Agion Morci himself said.
Had he taken the entrance exam at another ti, he might well have obtained the first seat.
Even Magnus, who had contended with Phibian, found him a challenging adversary.
That Agion.
According to the rumor, had been utterly defeated in a duel with the Swordsmanship Departnt’s representative without even managing to draw a weapon, having apparently dropped it and then petulantly surrendered to the referee.
Their gaze turned to Ceylon.
‘Does it make sense?’
That clueless guy and the Agion Morci from before just didn’t fit the rumors they had heard.
“That was great! Let’s keep up this montum!”
It was then that Phibian shouted energetically.
It was as if a gentle breeze had co in and swept away the musty air.
“Are you all worried about those rumors?”
Phibian chuckled haughtily.
“Does that make sense? Surely, it’s just an exaggerated story spread by the Swordsmanship Departnt to glorify their top student.”
Definitely.
Phibian’s words seed more credible than the rumor of that clueless man playing around with Agion Morci.
The Magic Departnt freshn nodded at Phibian’s words.
Then, with satisfaction, Phibian shouted out.
“There’s a saying: Well begun is half done. We’ve already secured half the victory! Let’s continue this montum!”
Waaaaah!!!
The Magic Departnt erupted in another round of vigorous cheers.
Phibian rode the wave of morale and turned to Ceylon.
“Now, it’s your turn! Previously, we were the first to nominate, so this ti you go first!”
“Um, if I rember correctly?”
“Just shut it! Lakion!”
Phibian cut off Ceylon sharply, announcing her choice even as he opened his mouth to speak.
There stood a man with glasses and a buzz cut.
“…!”
Suddenly, from the Swordsmanship Departnt ranks, a large man boldly stepped forward.
It was lhen.
He eyed Lakion while speaking to Ceylon.
“Ceylon, may I go out?”
“Uh? You seem very eager? Were you stimulated by Agion’s match?”
“Well, there’s that, but—”
lhen grinned with a fighting spirit.
“That guy, he was sitting near during the entrance ceremony. Then, he got all excited and picked a fight with .”
“Ah! So there’s history!”
“When he spoke out of turn about you, I shut that guy’s mouth for good.”
lhen patted his chest, proud of the story.
That seed to tickle the mischievous side of Ceylon.
“Uh?”
Feigning deep thought, Ceylon spoke out.
“Huh, but now that I think about it, lhen was also—”
“…”
lhen once again shut the mouth of soone who had spoken out of turn about Ceylon.
It was himself.
His gaze swiftly avoided Ceylon.
“…”
“…”
The other freshn did the sa.
The Swordsmanship Departnt freshn who had also openly remarked about Ceylon during the entrance exams now awkwardly averted their eyes.
“Ha-ha-ha! Just joking! It’s just us Swordsmanship Departnt comrades teasing each other, right?”
With Ceylon’s charming bluster, they were finally able to look back at him.
Of course, his attitude had beco much more guarded than before.
*Ahem*… I’ll formally apologize for that matter later.”
lhen said, genuinely abashed, looking down.
“Ha-ha, don’t worry about it. By the way, wow, lhen. So all this enthusiasm you’re showing is really for ?”
Thump, thump.
Ceylon energetically spread his arms wide and patted the forearms of lhen, whose breadth seed almost twice that of an ordinary person.
“So sturdy! Whew, by the way, your forearms, they’re as big as my whole torso. How does one even build arms like this?”
lhen’s face bead with pride at Ceylon’s words.
He leaned in and whispered into Ceylon’s ear.
“There’s a secret thod passed down in my family for generations. Interested maybe?”
“Ooh…!”
Ceylon’s eyes sparkled in excitent.
lhen could tell they were sparkling, even though it was a bit hard to see his narrow eyes.
What man wouldn’t yearn for a robust body filled with muscles!
“Haha. That’s right. That’s the natural reaction. Ceylon, once this matter is over, I’ll share it with you.”
“What? Share? What exactly—?”
Ceylon was flustered by lhen’s words, thinking of the free personal training he anticipated.
‘Could it be…!?’
“Our family has passed down a secret elixir. Oh, don’t worry. Technically it’s not the potion itself, but the recipe. While the ingredients aren’t easy to co by, for a man like you, Ceylon, I would be willing to share. What do you think? Interested?”
“R-Roider…!”
“Hm? Roider? What’s that?”
“Ahem. Ah, nothing at all. Anyway, let’s continue this conversation later. lhen, I’m counting on you.”
Ceylon heartily patted his back, ostensibly as encouragent.
It certainly wasn’t out of fear lhen might try to feed him so suspicious concoction.
“Aha! Just rely on ! Such a weakling can’t stand up to !”
lhen strapped the shield, which felt rather small compared to his physique, onto his right arm and stepped forward.
“You sure take a while to talk. What, did you ask him to tell you a fairy tale to muster so courage?”
Lakion sneered at him with disdain.
lhen returned an intimidating smile, unphased.
“So we et like this, you weakling.”
“Hm? Ah! Now I rember. You were that orc.”
“Not rembering a man of my stature. Perhaps all your blustering about intellect is compensation for a lack thereof.”
Kekeke. “Isn’t it overrated, that unwieldy, oversized body of yours?”
“…!”
lhen’s eyes widened at the word ‘unwieldy, oversized body.’
He slicked back his hair, cut almost to baldness, and spoke to the officiating professor.
“Professor, please start.”
lhen’s eyes were red with the veins popping, nearly ready to spring into action at any mont, so quickly, Lakion was coated with a protective spell.
The professor, having cast protective magic on lhen too, started the countdown.
The mont the duel began.
“Aaaaargh!!!”
lhen let go of his reason that he had barely been holding onto.
Shield first, he charged at Lakion like a madman.
“You’re even less than an orc!”
Lakion adjusted his glasses and flung his arm.
A multitude of mana-made arrows zipped past lhen’s shield and struck him directly.
Top of the head.
Nape of the neck.
Knees.
Each one hit a critical point.
“Aaaaargh!!!”
But lhen didn’t flinch at all.
“What…!”
Lakion wondered if the professor had mistakenly cast the wrong defensive spell on lhen and himself.
Not the duel-appropriate magic that perfectly absorbs damage while delivering the pain but regular defensive magic that absorbs both damage and pain.
What’s more, being hit in vital spots by mana arrows, lhen was expected to feel pain as if being pierced by actual arrows.
Even if he didn’t collapse in a scream, he should have at least staggered from the pain.
Yet, there was no hint of hesitance in his charge.
“Urgh…!”
The impact of lhen’s heavy assault shattered the mana barrier, striking Lakion’s body directly.
Lakion was flung against the wall of a building, and though he sustained no injury thanks to the defensive spell, he couldn’t withstand the pain as lhen could.
Lakion toppled over backwards, eyes rolling back as he fainted.
“Aaaaargh!”
Bang bang bang bang!
lhen pounded on his shield and roared, filled with fury.
Inside, Ceylon was privately aghast at the display lhen had just presented.
‘Is that mad? How is that considered a tank?’
To his recollection, in the ga that lhen was unmistakably supposed to be a tank.
At any rate, he resolved firmly to himself.
He must never off-handedly comnt on lhen’s hellish physique.
‘Anyway—’
Ceylon looked toward Phibian.
“Urgh…!”
She was shaking with frustration, having lost her hard-earned points all for nothing.
But he was not the one to miss this opportunity.
“We’re all tied up now, aren’t we, Phibian? Your turn.”
“Contact your side first this ti!”
Content with her quick reaction, Ceylon pondered before selecting the na of soone.
“Then, I’ll choose Adryn.”
“Waaaaah!!! Aweso—… Eh?”
Adryn, ranked thirteenth in the final entrance examination results, never expected to be among the top ten and had approached the event rely as a spectator. She let out an incredulous noise at the unexpected nomination.
“????? !?!?!?”
With wide-open eyes, Adryn pointed at herself in disbelief.
Ceylon grinned and playfully gestured toward her.
“Yes, you, Miss Adryn.”
“…”
Adryn’s spirit couldn’t accept the situation and seed to flee her body.
Next to her, Mizu looked up at her and said,
“Wow~ Full confidence from the top student.”
Adryn!
Adryn!
Adryn!
The Swordsmanship Departnt students, riding the montum, chanted her na.
“Ha, haha…”
Adryn wanted to faint.
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