Chapter CIV - Canteen (part 1)

Everyone went ahead and glared at the crater on the wall, and they could see the council president sticking there unconscious.

 

Plauren headed out and checked the situation for himself. Then, he announced the winner.

 

"The winner. Rize!"

 

Nobody cheered, not after seeing the council president in this state. Her clothes aren't damaged, thanks to the roots protecting her. But, the concussion from the explosion, as well as crashing to the wall must've rendered her unconscious.

 

I leaped forward and landed next to her. I picked her up and placed her on my shoulder.

 

"H-Hey! What are you doing--"

 

"I'm taking her to the infirmary."

 

One of the seniors around me quickly asked as soon as I placed her on my back. And after answering him, I immediately leaped away. Plauren also didn't stop me, and I'm guessing he already knows that I will do exactly what I said.

 

But, that was a lie. 

I didn't go to the infirmary. Instead, I went to my dorm room.

 

Thank god the window is large enough for me to enter. Entering the dorm from the lobby seems like a hassle, considering I'm carrying an unconscious council president.

 

I placed Milly on the bed and casted healing magic on her. The healing magic works like a charm since it can heal physical stuff like a concussion. She slowly woke up and lifted her upper body.

 

"Ugh… What happened…?"

She said as soon as she opened her eyes and slowly lifted her body up.

"Well, you lost. And you… got knocked out, somehow. I'm sorry about that."

I explained to Milly what happened, and she understood the reality she woke up to.

 

"I… I see. Where am I?"

 

She looked around and realized this is my room.

 

"I told the others I would bring you to the infirmary as an excuse to get away… But I lied and brought you here."

 

"W-Why did you bring me here?"

 

"So I can heal you myself."

 

I conjured the healing magic on my hand to show her. She immediately remembered and nodded.

 

"If you had healed me on the spot, the others would know about your healing magic."

 

"Glad you can understand."

 

Milly understood what my intentions were straight away, and I'm glad that she is incredibly smart. I was indeed hiding my abilities so no one can know about it, because sharing those things will only bring me problems.

She turned her eyes down and checked her clothes. She even went to the mirror to see the back side, but her clothes weren't really damaged, just slightly dirty. Though her face does have a slight dust on it.

 

"The roots that were on your body… They protected you."

 

"Yes. The roots work like a pet. They protected me from any attacks, while also becoming one of my weapons."

 

She explained as she created a root from her hand. It's weird seeing how she can just create a wood from her own body, but a human body is made out of nature. She can technically conjure wood from her skin, which is surprisingly weird to look at.

"What tier is your... nature magic?" 

I tried asking her since we never really got a chance to talk about it, and she turned those roots until they all faced me.

"Knight tier. I'm very slow at levelling it up."

Milly revealed, and I only became rather surprised.

Knight tier is by no means weak. So far, only one person I know ever got a King tier, and Knight tier is just right below it. And those who reached the Knight tier will always achieve great things, like Hod or Fran with their respective magic elements. I think Cane also had his light magic at Knight tier, and he was deadly.

"That's crazy. My fire magic is still at the Intermediate tier."

I revealed to Milly, and she laughed as she remembered.

"Yeah, I noticed. But, I can assure you that you'll learn it in no time. Those who come to this academy, they always start out at the Beginner tier and graduate with a Knight tier. And the ones who came with the Intermediate tier can sometimes leave at the King tier. You have three years to learn, Rize."

Milly explained while taking away her nature magic roots from her hand, and I realized that she is just rooting for me. I smiled softly at her words, because I am also very confident that I can grow stronger here.

"Thanks. And speaking of which..."

 

I took out a flower pot from my magic ring. I bought this long ago before I left the kingdom, but then confused as to what I should be putting inside it.

 

"Please make a plant on this pot!"

 

"Eh...?"

 

And just like that, she casted her magic on top of the soil I placed on the pot. Nature magic quickly summoned a root from the soil, and the root slowly turned into a stem, and then at the top it turned into a flower.

 

It's only natural for a room to have at least one vegetation. And for a girls room, it could be a flower.

 

I placed the pot on top of the table as another form of decoration. And now, I have three pieces of decorations.

 

"Hmm. That's cute."

 

"It sure is."

 

"Well, I should return. You probably have class after this, right?"

 

She turned around and headed to the door.

 

"Yep. What about you?"

 

"My class ended before I came to the arena."

 

"That early??"

 

"No, actually I ran away from the class. Council president's perks and all. You should become one and feel it yourself."

 

She said as she closed the door. I chuckled as I thought about what would happen if I ended up becoming a council president.

 

While I was thinking that, I realized that after nearly a hundred battles from yesterday, I finally broke a sweat after fighting Milly. And thanks to that, I bathed.

 

After cleaning up my training clothes, I put on my school uniform and look at the time. There's still around thirty minutes until class, so maybe I should go to the canteen.

 

I visited the canteen twice yesterday, for lunch and dinner. The canteen isn't much. It's just a bunch of stalls offering multiple types of high quality food. It is located in the class building.

 

The canteen is as big as two classes together. The food stalls are placed in the middle, while around them are the tables for the students to eat. And since the room is very large, there are a ton of tables here too.

 

Plus, the food is kind of free. Expensive school and all.

 

I never really eat at the canteen. I only ordered them on the go and ate them in my room. And since I don't have anyone to eat with, I have no reason to eat there.

 

I approached the same food stall as the one I ordered from yesterday. They offered cooked chicken, which is my normal daily food already. I'm pretty sure any more chicken for the next five years will turn me into one, since I basically only eat chicken.

 

And since there's no payment for the meals, I simply grabbed the meal and walked away. But then a person called out to me from the left side of the tables in the room.

 

"R-Rize!"

 

It's the short black haired girl with a pair of round glasses from before, the second student that I taught. And next to her is the orange haired one, Jericho. The two are sitting down on the table to the left of the room, and it seems like there's only the two of them.