Chapter 32

There was a huge commotion as the students went to check the list of matches.

"Who are we up against first?"

"Move out a bit! I can't see!"

As they scrambled to see their first opponent, the group became unruly.

Some who were matched against relatively weak schools were rejoicing.

And the students who found complicated matchups were filled with despair.

Our academy was part of the second group.

"D-damn it. From the start…"

The first opponent of the Ignit Magic Academy was…

"It's Oyota…"

It was the neighbouring sand kingdom, Oyota.

Oyota.

The ones known to break the student's team morale before the competition even started.

They were even rumoured to play dirty during the competition too.

Hankus and the Michael Group became pale, as they had particularly bad memories about the Oyotas.

"Ah… of all things?"

"..."

After having provoked us in the mana train before, they hadn't especially gone out of their way to mess with us again.

But these guys, against us…

No.

I knew how they perceived me in particular well enough.

'Was he Seta Malkiri?'

The representative of Oyota, Seta Malkiri would often show his hostility out in the open when we passed by each other on the road.

That was still the same.

"What? It's the Acadummies?"

"This is gonna be so easy starting from the first competition. Don't you agree?"

"I know, right? Keke."

"..."

After having confirmed that we were their first opponents, the Oyota students started snickering and provoked us.

Of course, in the center of it was Seta Malkiri.

"For the first opponents to be these Acadummies. It's nice that it'll be easy… but it's too bad that there won't be any tension going into such a big competition. Why do we need to face these weaklings that won't even be enough for warm-up…? Augh, it's so boring. So boring."

Seta Malkiri looked at us and started to publicly taunt us.

The effects of this minor taunt were quite significant.

"Wow, I'm jealous. It should have been us against the Acadummies. I wanted to advance easier."

"Kek. I know, right?"

"..."

Multiple people appeared that agreed with Seta Malkiri's words.

Oyota started it.

And the students from other schools threw in their own insults.

As they grabbed the mood and drove it the way they wanted, it blew up beyond how it was initially.

Even the ones who had no thought of making fun of us had the image of 'Acadummy' planted deep in their mind, and they would all belittle us.

Similarly to now.

"Look at that. They're so scared, they aren't doing anything."

"What did you expect from those Acadummies?"

"..."

The air became cold.

The mood changed.

"Kekekeke."

Seta Malkiri snickered as if he were enjoying this situation, and I could only laugh dumbfoundedly at the situation.

Yeah.

I understood.

Watching the conflict was always the most fun part.

The 'taunt' that Seta Malkiri threw at us was just an attraction to all the students gathered here.

A form of entertainment that appeared just in time to fill the boredom that was sweeping through before the competition started.

However…

This was too obvious.

These spectators were now surrounding me and Seta in a circular formation and watched this one-sided provocation.

Well…

"That's the representative of the Acadummies?"

"I think so…"

"The hell? Have you seen him before?"

"..."

To be precise, they were watching me, the representative of the 'Acadummies' that they haven't seen before.

They were asking me,

'You were mocked in front of everyone in public. Are you going to take it, or will you fight back?'

Be branded as a coward.

Or stand up and fight.

One of these two.

Whichever choice I picked, the spectators would find it amusing.

It felt as if I suddenly became a performer.

But naturally, I had no intention of performing for them.

I scratched the tip of my nose and walked toward Seta.

"I was waiting as well."

At that, Seta Malkiri asked back, confused,

"Waiting? For what?"

"This. Since the students from all 32 schools are gathered here, I'll properly introduce myself."

"…What? Introduce yourself?"

Suddenly hearing I would give a self-introduction, Seta Malkiri furrowed his brow.

I could guess that he wanted to rile me up and properly mess with me, but he must have been confused as, rather than get angry, I just talked of introducing myself.

"…What are you scheming?"

"What scheme? I just want to greet everyone before the competition starts."

I lightly smiled and looked around, towards the spectators.

"It's good to see everyone. My name is Ruin Ardell. As you said, I am the representative of the Acadummies."

Right.

An introduction.

It was time to officially introduce myself while all the school representatives were gathered together.

And with it,

"Since I've told you my name, I'll request just one thing."

A request to all of them…

No.

"Going forward, don't talk about 'Acadummies' in front of me. It's quite unpleasant."

"..."

A warning to all of them.

"…What did you say?"

Right.

This was a declaration of war in the disguise of a request.

"W-what did that guy just say?"

"Did I hear him wrong…? Saying it's unpleasant, even though he's just an acadummy…"

Maybe it was because my tone was of a warning rather than a request.

Or was it because I said it was unpleasant while being 'just an acadummy'?

It was probably both.

One thing was for certain.

"We should call Acadummies Acadummies. What else would we call them?"

"..."

I cast a stone at everyone gathered here.

And I warned them against the thought that 'the dumbest are the acadummies' that was so deeply ingrained in their minds.

Right.

We at least won't take it lying down like before.

We won't be ignored forever.

No.

"I've been in last place for so long, I'm kinda tired of it. So, I'm thinking of not getting last place, but first."

We will definitely win.

As soon as the word 'first' left my mouth, the spectators started to mutter amongst themselves.

"First? What is he talking about?"

"…He's insane."

Seta Malkiri looked dumbfounded as well and muttered,

"He's a retard."

Then, someone asked me,

"What? First? Hah! Do you think this is some small-town festival? You're just an acadummy. Don't spout nonsense. What are you? Huh? Who do you think you are!"

"Me…?"

As I was about to answer…

My eyes rested on someone.

Just a bit ago.

The representative of Seiki Women's Residential College I met at the antique shop.

Irene Prius.

She was looking at me with a gaze full of curiosity.

"..."

I snuck a peek at the girl and answered while laughing,

"…a secret weapon."

* * *

The Grand Festival.

If, over the course of about 15 days, the hundreds of genius magicians who've been living a good life had to meet at this small and cramped 'Altein', it was natural that there would be some friction between them.

Having unleashed a bunch of curious puppies into one area, why wouldn't they fight for territory?

Large and small conflicts of ego happened all the way through the competition.

And…

Today, the day before the competition officially began,

"Woah… The reveal of our academy's secret weapon! Everyone saw it, right? The look in Ruin's eyes just then was…"

"…Shut up."

After self-identifying as our academy's secret weapon, I had become the common enemy of all the students who were entering the competition.

Hah...

I could've just let things resolve smoothly.

I got too hasty, and instead of just taunting, I had fully 'large area taunted'.

There wasn't really a need to create enemies.

Hoo, this temper of mine.

But seemingly finding this situation funny, Jason said while snickering,

"Nah. I'm not making fun of you. It was really cool. When that skinny guy asked you, 'First? Hah! Stop talking nonsense. Who do you think you are?' while looking really confused, and you replied while looking like a true warrior, '…a secret weapon.' Kuh! It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it… You see this? I actually got goosebumps."

"...Jason."

"Kekekek. Sorry."

Jason exaggerated my moment to make me seem like some hero in a bard's tale.

Every student in the inn knew about the story.

And I heard the same story at least three times.

I was sick and tired of hearing it.

The academy's secret weapon.

Well, thanks to Jason, I'd probably be made fun of for the next 3 years.

But it wasn't like I gained nothing.

The greatest gain of them all was…

"Ruin was honestly pretty cool back then."

"I know, right? It was honestly pretty refreshing. He said what I wanted to say for a long time."

"Well, that secret weapon part was a bit cringe…"

"…mhm."

The satisfaction of my peers.

Would it have been better if I removed the part about being the secret weapon…?

No.

That was the finishing touch!

Anyways. Thanks to this, my peers who were discouraged because of the hostile gazes from the other schools regained their confidence.

"Hoo. Let's really focus up. We can't afford to lose to those Oyota guys in the first competition."

It was as if we regained our desire to desperately fight.

Since we publicly announced our challenge, we needed to follow through with our actions.

With this, it was enough to call it a meaningful 'introduction'.

"…Ruin, do you think we can do it?"

Of course, we needed to prove that the challenge wasn't thrown with bravado alone.

We needed to prove our skills.

Tomorrow too.

"We can."

The group competitions of the Grand Festival were divided into two main categories.

Group competitions where the school representative joined.

And ones where only the group members participated.

The group competition held tomorrow was the latter.

Meaning,

"We don't even have you, Ruin… What can we do by ourselves…?"

I wouldn't be participating.

"Don't worry. I already made our strategies."

"Y-yea?"

I rubbed the artifact, the Ring of Invulnerability, that had nested itself on my middle finger.

It fit firmly, as if it was made for me.

"Alright! If you're done making fun of me… let's start our strategy meeting."

* * *

Seta Malkiri.

The Oyota representative was making an uncharacteristically uncomfortable expression.

"Ruin Ardell. That bastard. Just what does he do? Have you found anything?"

At that, a student who was sitting next to him spoke up.

"Yeah. I looked into him. It looked like he was nearly a dropout before."

"…a dropout? How could a dropout become a school representative?"

"I don't know the details, but they say he suddenly turned from a practical dropout into a monster who aced the first semester's tests."

"…Aced the tests? Is that true?"

"Yeah. He said it himself before. That he's been last place for so long, he'll get first this time. I think he was telling the truth."

"..."

Seta Malkiri furrowed his brow.

The words Professor Malcolm said to him at the beginning came to his mind.

To be careful since he wasn't a normal guy.

"Damn it. Why am I worried over some Acadummy punks?"

Seta Malkiri spat on the ground and stood up.

He then walked out of his inn and wandered through the Altein commercial district.

The direction he headed was none other than near the lodging of the Ignit Magic Academy.

He looked up and down the inn.

"These arrogant punks. I need to teach them a lesson."

Scaring them before the competition even started.

This was the school tradition that the sand kingdom of Oyota prided themselves in.

——