Five years later

"And congratulations on ranking first in the semester exam, by the way. That

was amazing. I know you were studying every day, but that's not a rank anyone

can obtain."

"...Thank you very much." Kyle thanked him shyly.

"But... I'm a little worried," William said with a somber look.

"What do you mean?

" I am worried that some of these jealous nobel kids might try to force sone weird acquisition on you."

"Well, yes."

"I know you're more than aware of this, but many of the students in this

academy are very competitive — they really hate to lose. When you combine

that with the perceptions of social standing peculiar to nobility, it gets very troublesome. For example, others might throw tantrums like James did

today."

"Other than early on in my enrollment, things had been peaceful up until

today," Kyle said with a small, strained smile.

"They probably provoked you out of curiosity at first, then got bored fairly

soon afterwards. That, and they saw you as clearly below them. They must have

said all kinds of things to you — you did well not giving in to them."

"I didn't want to add fuel to the fire with my reaction," Kyle replied with a

small shrug.

"Exactly. You shouldn't take on more than one predicament at a time. But this

time, the exams must've made all of them reconsider their perspective of you.

They'll see you as a threat to their position now. That's why you'll face even

greater troubles from here on," William said with a gloomy expression.

"Even so, I'll be all right. I'm already used to it," Kyle replied detachedly.

"But... noble bullying can get nasty, you know?" William had a worried look on

his face. Perhaps he was speaking from his own experience — that thought

passed through Kyle's mind.

"I've heard that you were an excellent student. Did you go through similar

issues, perhaps?"

"Well... human relationships can be complicated. I did receive some choice

words from a girl in belonging to same family as mine."

"Were they difficult to endure?"

"Absolutely not. I just ignored them all."

Kyle huffed a small laugh at William's blunt reply.

" But ,I definitely taught them a proper lesson afterwards."

"That's what I thought." Kyle said with a strained smile on his face.

Hey, it was still a big deal! Though in my case, I still had friends by my side, so

it turned out okay... The one I'm worried about is you!" William puffed out hia

cheeks.

"Then I'll be fine," Kyle said with a grin.

"...Why?" Had Kyle made friends somewhere he wasn't aware of? William

thought. But his assumption was slightly off from Kyle's answer.

"Because I have you as my friend," Kyle stated unabashedly.

William first blanked out for sometime but smiled happily after that. "Of course you have my support"

It seems William too was happy to become friends with Kyle afterall the relationships between nobility were mostly made upon intrests and they were like buisness transctions. So having a good friend was good.

Both of them chatted and laughed heartily after that. His days might have been repetitive, but they were also fulfilling, Kyle thought.

There was nothing special about them, yet they were irreplaceable. They were

something Kyle had lost long ago.

While the quietly burning desire for revenge wouldn't disappear from his

heart, just being able to laugh like this made his heart feel a bit lighter. Perhaps

that was why — Kyle thought. That was why he wanted these days to continue.

He knew they couldn't continue forever, but it'd be nice if they could continue

for a little longer. But despite Kyle's feelings, his days at the academy passed by

in the blink of an eye.

The results from his exam had caused the students' distaste for him to

intensify all at once, exactly as he had expected, and from there, several things

happened. Kyle discovered that while he could perform sorcery, his magic is really different from others. The way he activated his magic spells was also quite different from others. He didn't need to chant spells to activate his magic. While other students need to chant long magic spells for activating the magic he doesn't need to do that nor does he need to get magic spells in his body for performing that specific magic. His magic could even take different forms. He could creat water in any form he want with enough pratice. But for the sake of not standing out he kept it a secret. For other people he was only a student with average magic talent.

Noble daughters would confess

their feelings to him as he aged, but his refusals led to the spread of nasty rumors.

The bullying got exponentially worse than before.

Despite all of this, Kyle continued to move forward.

He couldn't afford to stop and stand still.

No — he was terrified of standing still.

He didn't know if he was truly moving forward or not, but it all felt easier

when he threw himself into something. Amidst such worries and uncertainties,

his teatime with William was the only occasion where he could laugh from the

bottom of his heart, making it feel both long and short.

Thus, five years passed by...

Once he had turned twelve, Kyle moved up into the sixth grade of the primary

division of the Royal Academy of Erugenia. Aside from a few core classes, the

senior years at the Academy were mostly comprised of electives, which the

students chose themselves and had to complete in order to acquire the

necessary credits to graduate.

Kyle was currently attending one of his elective courses: swordcraft. The senior

students were gathered at the Academy's proving grounds.

"All right, I have an announcement to make before we begin today's training.

As you may know, a tournament is held annually with the knights of our

kingdom... And this year's tournament is coming up." The students began to

buzz at the instructor's words.

The tournament between the Academy students and the knights of the

kingdom was nearly a festival-like event. Spectators were welcomed from

outside the Academy to watch the grand matches between student

representatives from the swordcraft course and the cream of the crop from the

kingdom's military. The participating knights were all renowned elites that the

students stood no chance against under normal circumstances — but they

purposefully did not fight too seriously in the tournament, which allowed

balanced matches to take place every year.