Cæ stared at her with a hint of confusion in his gray eyes.

"Have I not made myself clear?" she spoke with a drawn-out drawl, raising an eyebrow. "Perhaps my proficiency in the Elendir dialect is failing me?"

"…I understood your words clearly," Cæ replied with a puzzled tone. "What I was confused by was that you are so eager to help someone you were just defeated by."

"I thought I made my intentions rather clear," she remarked with a formal tone, folding her arms. "My family's honor and prestige is at stake. The fact that I haven't made it to the finals is bad enough. But if you fail to perform, then that will reflect even worse on me. Now that I have lost to you, I cannot allow you to lose to anybody!"

Her eyes flared with a fiery determination.

"I will make you the strongest in this magicademy!"

Cæ frowned at her bizarre words. "…you will what?"

"Are you hard of hearing?" she tilted her head with irritation. "I said I. Will. Make. You. The. Strongest. You have no choice but to win the Vertir Combat Competition now!"

Cæ just stared at the young lady speechlessly as the noise of departing students excitedly gossiping with each other about the outcomes of the selection tournament filled the air. The bright light of the afternoon Sun illuminated the entire facility, making for an uncomfortably warm atmosphere.

Cæ heaved a sigh, shaking his head.

"Don't waste my time. Go away."

Cæ got up, walking away from her as he too evacuated.

"Hey, wait!" Serulia gritted her teeth, following him. "You're going to join me as we review all available intelligence on your six competitors! Don't you want to get all the information that you possibly can?"

Cæ paused before slowly turning around with a hint of intrigue.

"You… you truly have information on all of them?"

A proud smile emerged on her face as she raised her chin. "Of course, the Virtra Family has a powerful intelligence force that can gather all sorts of information. Even without that, getting this kind of information is possible with money, thanks to information brokers. Although the information that I have collected is more complete than anything you could easily get your hands on."

Cæ's expression grew serious as he gave it some consideration.

If what she was saying was true, then he had no reason to refuse.

'The biggest issue is that I don't know if I can trust her,' Cæ's eyes sharpened. 'She just lost to me and was deprived of being the victor of our block. It is possible that she harbors resentment and hostility to me for stealing her spot and wishes to sabotage me, but…'

He directed a glance at her, sizing her up.

'…I'm not sensing any hostility from her.'

This was hardly a reliable estimate, but he had an intuition for sensing hostility. Most people could not hide it very well, doing too little or too much to hide it. Of course, in her place, given her highly affluent background, it was likely that she was trained in such matters, so he couldn't be certain of his evaluation.

"I'd like to see the intelligence package on me," Cæ remarked. "Bring that along, and I will at least hear you out regarding what you have to offer."

Her smile grew smug. "Very well. Then, let us meet in my dorm room late tonight."

"No, you come to my room," Cæ replied with an apathetic tone. "This is your desire. I'm not going to go out of my way to tend to your needs when you're the one who wants something out of me."

"Hey, you are also getting valuable information as well, are you not?" she folded her arms. "You are also benefiting."

A small, uncharacteristic smile of amusement emerged on his face for a brief moment. "But it appears that you care more about the honor of your family than I care about winning tomorrow's battle."

"Wha—" she stared at him with a stunned expression. "You say that like you do not care all that much about the Magic Contest at all, then!"

"To be entirely honest with you, I don't," Cæ replied, stunning her even more. "It is helpful, and winning it will be very good for me. But in the long run, I don't know how much of an impact it will have on my objectives. And there are circumstances and scenarios where it might prove to be extremely negative."

In particular, Cæ was not fond of the excessive attention and fame that would come of it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Yes, it would help with his business ventures, but it could also expose him to dangerous attention, considering his existing hostile relationship with the affluent families of Colohen City. Although it wasn't to the level that he needed to look over his shoulder, especially since he had already gotten out of the way of the political battle, it was still something that he was unnerved about.

Ideally, he would have liked to have kept his head low for a while, but the benefits of the Magic Contest outweighed his paranoia, even if it didn't erase it.

"You…" Her tone softened with a hint of confusion. "You are a strange man."

Cæ raised an eyebrow.

"The first slum-borne student in the history of the Elendir Institute of Magic at the age of twenty-four, who also started a business on the side, completed the Apprentice Program in a year, and is also a combat genius…"

Her expression stiffened. "…to the extent that you managed to defeat me in combat despite having only learned magic for a year."

When she put it that way, it really summed up just how divergent Cæ was from the norm. Nothing about his development was conventional, even for the elite talents of the Elendir Institute of Magic.

"Whatever, just make sure that you have everything ready when you come to my dorm room tonight," Cæ replied. "Make sure that you're there well before the curfew rules so that we have plenty of time."

Her expression stiffened with a hint of embarrassment. "…Fine."

"Cæ! Cæ!"

Excited calls from familiar voices drew his attention as he turned to find Kelton and Natana drawing towards him from the departing crowd of students. Behind the two of them was Melia, who looked equally amazed and excited.

"Big bro Cæ!" Kelton grinned. "You nailed it! Way to go! You're such a badass!"

"Your magic is so incredible!" Natana gasped. "I can't believe that you started learning magic at the same time as us. I just recently began learning how to fly!"

"As expected," Melia nodded with a hint of pride. "You might very well win tomorrow's battle."

Cæ's expression softened as his stormy gray eyes thawed. "Well, thanks. It's not going to be easy, though."

Kelton shifted, eying the woman behind him.

"This… this is the woman you just beat black and blue in the final round."

"My, how rude," Serulia's eyes sharpened as she folded her arms. "I did not get beaten black and blue; it was a rather close battle, I will have you know. If I hadn't taken more damage than him in my previous rounds, I might very well have won!"

Cæ couldn't be bothered to even push back against that, but alas, his young friends were unable to let that stand.

"Hah? Kelton's eyebrows furrowed with a hint of anger. "What kind of a sore loser says that kind of stuff? You lost fair and square. So that's on you entirely! Don't blame your previous opponents for your defeat!"

Serulia's expression, with light blue eyes, grew frosty.

"What was that?"

Her tone grew dangerous.

The air tingled with a hint of tension as Serulia glared at Kelton.

Even though she conducted herself with a measure of grace, she was clearly still pissed off at the outcome of the fourth round. After all, it would be one thing if this were said to her after she had time to process her emotions, but to rub it in her face when the wound was still very much fresh was undoubtedly not going to lead to any good outcomes.

"Did I say anything wrong?" Kelton grunted. "You lost. And now you're trying to me it on your wounds that you yourself let happen."

"Both of you faced the same number of students," Melia's tone was more formal, but her eyes flashed with a hint of disapproval. "The fact that you came to the fourth round with more wounds than Cæ is simply proof that you're not as good as him. At the end of the day, no matter how you look at it, these are all your shortcomings."

"L-Let's calm down…" Natana tried to mediate with a nervous stammer.

"You brats." Serulia's expression crumpled with anger. "My opponents were stronger than his! That Merun boy's alchemy would likely have wiped out almost all the students in this magicademy aside from the top ten! If I hadn't faced him and faced someone more like what Cæ did, I would have been the victor in our battle!"

Cæ simply stared at her silently.

One of the reasons he didn't offer any pushback was that his battle with Serulia truly made him feel inadequate. He came close to defeat, and he needed to rely on her making a mistake in her condition that ultimately let him win.

That was not exactly the most domineering way to win.

Of course, he also knew that a victory was a victory.

Whether it was by an overwhelming gap or even a combatant slipping on a banana peel and falling out of the combat arena, they were both victories nonetheless. And in that regard, he knew that Serulia was hardly handling it in the most mature manner. Rather than blaming her wounds, she should focus more on the fact that Cæ's strategy completely negated her greatest advantage and equalized the playing field.

Although it was a reckless strategy, it was still one that was effective to a concerning degree. If he were her, he would immediately begin mastering some divination magic of the light element, rather than complain about the exact cause of her loss.

Regardless, the argument only continued growing louder as more and more students gathered around them at a distance instead of straightforwardly departing. They sensed some fun drama to spice up their magicademy life on top of the exciting Magic Contest and the ongoing selections.

"Look… it's Cæ and Serulia…"

"Do you think this is an after-battle fight…?"

"Hehehe… this is so fun!"

A growing wave of murmurs formed as the students metaphorically ate popcorn, watching the two sides argue with each other.

"…and so ultimately, Cæ outsmarted you and then beat you with your own mistake!" Kelton barked at her.

"Hmph, I do not care to indulge in talking with an oaf who does not understand the differences in causality," Serulia raised her chin at him, looking down on him.

"I think you are the one being oafish here, Miss Serulia." Melia's tone was unfriendly, even if a bit formal. "Please leave if you're going to do nothing but be a sore loser!"

"That's enough!"

An authoritative voice cut through the arguing, drawing everybody's attention. The small crowd of students that had formed around them parted as President Mileila and Vice President Virlyd Mir emerged through.

Her sharp golden eyes shifted across all of them.

"Do not continue this anymore," her tone was firm. "Miss Serulia, the outcome is what it is. Now, please disperse. Cæ…"

She turned towards him with a firm gaze. "You are a member of the student council. You are supposed to uphold the rules and norms of the magicademy, not simply watch."

Cæ lowered his head lightly. "I apologize, Mileila. I was exhausted. I will ensure that I am not found lacking next time."

She nodded, turning to Miss Serulia. "Please return to your dorm room."

"I am afraid I cannot do that," Miss Serulia spoke with a drawn-out drawl. "After all…"

She turned towards Cæ with a serious gaze.

"I will be joining Cæ in his dorm room today for some… private activities with just the two of us. Private activities that cannot be spoken out loud."

"…"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.