Chapter CVII - Tiering Up with Everyone (part 2)

"For the love of... next time, please warn me before teleporting."

"Sorry about that. But, I still need to hear your explanation."

I turned my gaze to him angrily at his table, but then I noticed his concerned expression. 

I understood why he was worried, and I simply nodded.

"… Fine."

I sat down at the sofa and explained to Veneo what that was all about. I told him I was able to tier up thanks to the teacher, and that I somehow lost control in outputting the magic.

"I mean, it was very different from the previous tier. So, I got quite taken aback by the sudden change as well. Though, I managed to stop it before it became any bigger."

"I… see..."

Seeing his expression, I'm guessing this is nothing good.

"... What is it?"

"Rize... If anything, what just happened only supports teacher Fergulus' argument."

I recalled what the practical class teacher said the last time I was in this room. About how I could somehow cause an accident to the students and hurt them… possibly killing them.

"It's true... But, was kicking me out really the answer?"

"I agree…."

"Well, I do have healing magic, that--"

"You have healing magic??"

He suddenly brightened up from his expression, which confuses me.

"Y-Yeah... why?"

"Then that changes the story differently. If you somehow injure a student, you can heal them. Problem solved."

"That's… exactly what I thought."

The headmaster laughed at how stupid he was for overthinking.

"Anyway, then I guess we can forget that. Oh, and from that class... How did you manage to suddenly tier up? Not everyone can tier up that instantly."

"I know. But, I received a tip from the teacher, and I was able to understand tiering up more."

"I see. And, were you the only one who was able to tier up?"

"No. Besides me, there's four other students who managed to do it."

"F-Four students tiered up in a single session!?"

"Hey, don't forget me."

"Five!?!"

This really is a great feat. Maybe I should throw the teacher to take the credit.

"Yeah. It's all thanks to the teacher. She made us walk into the back court and trained us."

"W-Wow…"

The headmaster sat back down. He was pretty shocked when he heard and suddenly stood up. It was funny seeing him like that, and his elf ears are twitching as his expression shows nothing but astonishment.

"All right, then. I can accept it. But, please... Next time you tier up, try not to hit anyone? A King tier fire magic could actually decimate an entire person whole if you are not careful, to the point where it's unhealable."

"Gotcha. It is indeed the perfect way to hide a murder."

It was a very clear joke, but a death glare was still directed at me.

"Kidding. Geez..."

I touched the door's knob and left the headmaster's room. After leaving, I headed back to the dorms immediately and took an afternoon shower.

The air is very cold here, hence the water is also cold. If I bathed at night, without a doubt I would get hypothermia.

After showering, I jumped to my bed and opened the book I was really eager to read. 

The shadow element book.

Now that I know I have a second element, I can master it and use it in battle. Plus, the shadow element focuses more on defence. If anything, that's perfect for me who is incredibly rash on my defenses.

I kept on reading for a few hours until my stomach started to get hungry. Then, I closed the book and headed out to the canteen to grab something.

The canteen is always open, all the way until midnight around ten in the evening. Right now this afternoon, it's still open. I went in there and bought myself a cooked chicken, but with a little bit more sauce this time since my hunger doesn't let me come back without enough sauce. As usual, I ordered it on the go, since I do not want to sit anywhere in the canteen.

But, I didn't go back to my room.

Instead, I leaped to the top of the class building, and then sat down on top of it.

This building is the nearest building to the kingdom, which means I can see the night view of the capital city from here. The towers around the kingdom, the floating island covered by the clouds… I can see most of the things in the kingdom from here.

I started feasting on my meal up here. It was quite chill eating silently with this view.

"You seemed to be enjoying your meal."

A voice came behind me, and I recognized who it was. 

It's the student council president, Milly.

She seemed to look okay, despite the fact that she got beaten quite badly by me. So I guess we are still cool.

"How are you holding up?"

"... Fantastic. Now, everyone looks down on me because you beated me so one-sidedly. 

A lot of them challenged me to a battle today during class, but not a single one managed to defeat me."

"Hahah, I guess that was bound to happen."

I took another bite of my meal, then I looked at her and showed her my chicken.

"Want some?"

"N-No, thanks... I'm full."

All right then. I thought this could be a romantic thing. Not that I'm into her, but you know…

Got to take any chances, right?

"I heard the explosion today. It was very loud."

She suddenly said, and I nearly choked from my meal.

"Y-Yeah… Sorry about that."

She turned her gaze back at me.

"You know, ever since you came, things seemed to have started to escalate."

"You're very much welcome."

I said as I took another bite. Seeing me like this made her laugh so hard. Wow, she is breaking character.

"I'm sorry… It's just things have been very interesting… And to think it was all caused by the person eating chicken next to me is… bizarre."

"Well, what can I say? I tend to attract attention... despite me not wanting to."

"That part was definitely obvious. The headmaster must have kept an eye on you now."

"Oh. I just met him like hours ago."

She immediately got taken aback from that answer.

"I… should not be surprised by that, and yet I did."

"Just keep expecting the unexpected from me."

"Agree to that."

I laughed from that, and she somewhat laughed too. She started telling how her day went after I asked. As I expected, she is in her third year here, and pretty soon she will be replaced by another student council president.

But,

"I want you to replace me as the student council president."

Milly suddenly uttered, and I turned to her with a very concerned face.

"... Why?"

"You know why. You're strong. Interesting. Creative."

"And antisocial. I'm not sure if you remember, but I made an enemy out of everyone on my first day."

"True. But, is that really going to stay the same forever?"

Milly's words started to make some sense, but I'm still declining to believe.

"That's too much. I can't handle that."

"Is it 'You' who can't handle it? Or is it your 'Desires'?"

"What's wrong with following my desires...? Forget it, I'm just not suited to be a leader."

"Hmm… We'll see about that."

For the rest of the night, she told me about what it means being a student council president. It was quite the long night since her stories are actually interesting. And after seeing her clock, we decided to end the night and headed to the dorm.

Arriving in my dorm room, I jumped into the bed with my uniform still being worn. I stared at the ceiling for a long time, all while being very deep in my thoughts.

Today… was rather bizarre indeed…

I battled Milly, who is just almost as strong as a White ranked adventurer… 

I made friends, Jericho and Manda… 

I zinged the 'test' that was supposed to be difficult, as well as teaching everybody about it…

And then the magic aptitude class.

Class E was… weird. They are supposed to be the weakest, lamest, basically the incompetent fools among the students. And yet, in that class, four other students aside from me were able to tier up just from my teaching…

Four… people… in a single session.

That is by no means a small amount. And yet, I'm sure that it could have been larger if only we had more chances.

That class was very short. It only lasts for about an hour.

What if… we were given more time? What if… we held the class by ourselves...?

What if we trained?

The simple thought of making people strong makes my bones shivers. I know the path to make myself become stronger, and I know the feeling when someone else close to me becomes better as well. 

Like that time when I trained with the team. Cony was my very first student, and she was very quick to learn. I was very happy when she learned how to fly…

What if…

Despite the long and tiring day, my body managed to find energy at the last moments of the evening. I got up from my bed and didn't even bother to change outfits.

Instead, I opened the window of my room... and I jumped out of the window.

The fun in this academy has only just begun.