Too Late

Hiro and Miwa were walking side by side. As he didn't know where the school was, he had to follow her steps.

He didn't know what to say, so he had to start a random topic, "Miwa, how you got into the cave? You said that someone betrayed you, is that true?"

It seems that this matter was complicated, since she hesitated, "Ah, they indeed betrayed me, I almost forgot it."

Hiro hesitated, but he asked nonetheless, "And who betrayed you?"

Sighing while shaking her head, Miwa was somewhat disappointed, "They were my friends, or so I thought. For some reasons, they decided to kill me, but I am stronger than them, so they had to use another method to kill me, and it was locking me up in a place no one would ever find."

"That cave, huh? Don't worry, as your protector, I will avenge you."

"You don't need to. I can take care of them easily."

Seeing her eyes blazing, Hiro was convinced.

After walking for half of an hour, they came to the school's gate.

"Why is this place empty? This is a school, where's the crowd?"

Miwa saw that something was wrong too.

"It's seven in the morning, where are the students?" Miwa had no clue what is the reason for all the missing students.

"There's someone besides the gate, let's ask him."

The gatekeeper was looking at them with a strange look. Before the two of them could go near, the gatekeeper said, "Why are you two still here? The ceremony already started."

Miwa was thinking about something after hearing the gatekeeper.

"Ceremony about what? I thought that the school year already started."

After a few seconds, Miwa widened her eyes and said, "Not... the school year, it's the ceremony to nominate the top students!"

The gatekeeper, after looking at them, recognized Miwa, "Are not you minister Klagberg' daughter?! You are late, the ceremony started ten minutes ago, but I think you can enter."

"Thank you. Hiro, let's run, we need to get there as soon as we can!"

Pulling Hiro by his arms, Miwa seemed desperate.

"Is this so important?"

"Of course it is! If I'm not there, I can't be nominated. I have confidence in myself, I will certainly be one of the top students."

Running like a madman, Miwa and Hiro went to the ceremonial plaza.

Arriving in front of a big door, they could hear someone talking on the other side.

"Damn it, it already started!"

"Just open it, Miwa. Usually, these ceremonies have a lot of introduction, they are probably still talking about useless stuff."

"I guess you are right. I'm going in."

The door was big, it needed, at least, two people to open it. Hiro helped her open the door. They didn't want to make any trouble entering the plaza, but the door made a lot of noise.

People who were closer could hear them before they opened the door.

CREAAK---

The man speaking on the stage was suddenly interrupted. Everyone stopped and looked at the door.

Hiro was making little effort to open the door, so when it opened, he could see that everybody was looking at him and Miwa.

"Miwa... I think we will be in trouble..."

Unlike Hiro, Miwa was good at magic, not physical strenght. "Why are you saying this..."

When she was using her strenght to open the door, she closed her eyes. Opening it, she saw a lot of people looking at them.

"Ehmm... Am I late?"

The man on the stage was not angry, but the people listening to him were.

"He was on the most important part!"

"Professor Lurk was going to start the nomination of the top mage students!"

Seeing that it was going to be troublesome, Professor Lurk, who was on the stage, interfered.

"It's okay, let them in. It's Ms. Klagberg, she may be on the list for nomination."

It seems that Professor Lurk had great influence, he silenced all the students with few words.

"Hmm? And who is the one besides you, Ms. Miwa?"

Everybody looked at an embarrassed Hiro.

"I want to hide somewhere..."

Seeing that she was allowed to enter, she felt relieved. "This is my friend and a student, we met each other on the way."

"I see, strangely, I've never saw him in the academy."

"That's because he is a new student."

Professor Lurk was a mysterious man, no one knows his past, where he lives, if he has a family. Apart of all this, he was a good professor.

"Okay, then. You two can sit over there, I will continue the ceremony."

Pulling Hiro by his sleeves, Miwa brought him to sit beside her.

At this moment, Hiro sensed someone looking at them. It was a guy with golden hair and a narcissistic look. Beside him, there were two girls and another guy.

"Miwa, look there, are they your 'friends'? They are looking at us, probably at you, with hostility."

Turning her head, Miwa saw the four people who tried to kill her.

"Ahh, it's them. The one in the front is called Klein, the two girls are Lilian and Vivian, they are twins. The other guy with rock face is Drud."

"Wait, those two girls are twins? They don't look alike."

"That's what I know, they say that they are twins, who are we to deny it?"

Ignoring the hostile and provocative looks, both of them turned their head to listen Professor Lurk speak.

"Saying all of this, we will now start the nomination for the best top ten students, these ten students will then receive permission to study in the King's library. We all know that the King's Library is full of hidden knowledge, so an opportunity to enter the library is highly precious, especially for students like you."

In fact, the King's library was really a treasure, the students who enter into that place can explosively rise in power, just with the power of knowledge.

But, of the thousands of students here, only ten would enter. A lot of them knew they weren't going to be nominated, so, the only thought they had right now was, "Who is going to be nominated?"

"Now, I will say the ten names, from the tenth to the first. The judgment came from all the professors, so it is reliable."

Breathing deeply, Professor Lurk started, "In the tenth place, Klein Ykarg!"

The plaza was full of praise.

"Oh, Klein! You did it!"

"That's my Klein!"

After a few seconds, the plaza was silent again.

"Now, in the ninth place, Mana Fir!"

...

...

...

"We are finally in the top three! In third place, Luda Nana!"

A young girl was trying to hide from the public, but there were people who knew her.

"NIce, Nana!"

"Congratulations, Na!"

"He...he, thank you..."

Looking at the girl, Hiro thought, "She is the shy type, huh?"

"The second place will go to... Miwa Klagberg!"

Hiro started to clap his hands, but he didn't hear anyone else doing it.

What's going on? This sudden change...

"Go away, Zaion princess!"

"Foreigners are not allowed here!"

Hearing all this, Miwa was silent.

Listening to all the insults, Hiro frowned. 'Is this why Haugust told me to protect her? Just looking at those people, it's clear that they are hostile to her.'

Hiro applauded a little while sitting. Seeing that everyone was not going to clap, he decided to be a bit bolder.

Standing up, he started to clap harder and louder, so that everyone could hear.

"Congratulations, Miwa! You deserved it!"

As he was at level 15 in the system, his body was stronger than your average man. His claps were so loud that it was like little bombs exploding in the ears of those people.