Special Chapter VI - Speech (part 1)

I replied to her declaration with a grin, and she smiled back.

But the curl on her mouth is somewhat unhappy. It looks more to an annoyed grin rather than a satisfied one.

I accepted her rivalry with a grin, as if I knew that she would never be able to pass me. Knowing that I looked down on her, obviously she felt challenged and annoyed.

Valencia, the underdog of Xyphon. 

Between her and Arfius, it's not even a question on who is the strongest. Despite being a shut-in, her movements were so fast, that it took time until my eyes adjusted itself to her moves. 

And I don't even want to talk about how instant her ice creation was… that was so much faster than anything I could have done with shadow magic…

The only downside to her is her lack of experience. Her fighting techniques are incredible, but she used them in such a linear and predictable way. She can easily become the next arch-mage if she wanted to…

Meh, knowing her, she definitely wouldn't want it.

Heh, I totally did not guess today would be so exciting.

Valencia... I'll keep you in mind.

I walked out of the door and waved my hand at her before flying away with my shadow wings. On the door, Valencia whistled when she saw me flying away. 

She excitedly went back inside the house and immediately went to the kitchen to eat.

.

Back at the academy, I immediately went to my dorm room.

Arriving in my dorm room, I did not waste any time taking off my messy jacket and jumped straight to bed.

That was exhausting… but meeting Valencia was quite refreshing.

Still. It can't justify my whole day of stress from talking to people.

I was so used to being hidden, that I can't help but get annoyed whenever I meet new people. At least I met a few that weren't too unfamiliar, like the trio senior from the Dealan family.

After resting for a bit, I stood back up and studied my condition. I noticed that my jacket is now covered in blood and holes from my fight with Valencia, which means I have to get a new one.

Perk of being a student council member is that I can get an infinite amount of these jackets. I just need to have a good reason for a replacement.

I spent the rest of the Sunday just being in my dorm room and reading books I borrowed from the library. Jericho and Manda came to visit at night, asking why I haven't shown my face the entire day. 

I ended up telling them the story of my horrible and exciting day to them, and they were quite surprised knowing I got beaten up by some random heir from one of the great families. As expected, they had no idea someone like Val existed.

At midnight, they left and let me rest. The next day, class started once again. As usual, I skipped them.

Letters started to come from the families that I visited to Veneo's office, which gets Veneo very confused as to why they all came so early. Veneo had no idea that I left the academy on the Sunday until I told him.

He was… speechless.

"Y-You… Stupid! R-Rash! Tomato!!"

Okay, maybe not completely speechless.

And did he just call me--

I explained to him how it went, and he let out a sigh.

"You were very lucky none of the family heads were present… If they do, who would have known what they would have done to you."

"Exactly how afraid am I supposed to be?"

"This is not a matter of strength… It's political. You should have sent someone more known, like Arfius. If they found out that a mere adventurer like you came to look for them without any notice… How angry do you think they'll be?

They could secretly spy on you, and even take you down! Do you realize how powerful and dangerous the great families are!? They could easily start a war if they don't like you!"

Ah… shit.

Hearing Veneo this angry simply means that he is very worried about the great families. If only he still had his other arm, he would have facepalmed with both palms.

After being shouted at by Veneo, we started opening the letters. All the families had agreed that there should be a direct relation between the academy and the mage corps, mostly because they wanted more capable mages in the future.

With the future mages a.k.a. students being supervised directly by the current mages even for just a short while, it can create a large effect on their capabilities in the future as the kingdom's mage. It can also give them experience on what becoming a kingdom mage is like, and experience is very important for such a dangerous role.

After confirming, the rest is up to Veneo. For the next few days, he spent an entire week outside the academy, dealing with everything on the mage corps as well as on the academy.

I bet he is enjoying his job right now.

The next week, on another Monday, Veneo called me to his office very early in the morning. He seemed to have finished everything on his end, and simply wanted to reconfirm everything with me.

But when I saw him in his office, he didn't look too good.

He got bags under his eyes, his skin looked much brighter and pale, and I bet he also lost weight.

When I entered, he grabbed a document and slammed them on his desk.

"I did my part!"

He declared loudly, but the grin on his face looked more annoyed rather than happy.

"Ah… okay."

I walked to his desk while he sat back down on his chair. I opened the document that he slammed, and read the content.

There's a single paper in it, and from the colors, anyone can tell that this paper is official.

In fact, it was issued by the royal family.

"A joint relationship project between the magic academy of Xyphon and the mage corps of Xyphon… I am very certain that you guys can come up with a much shorter name than this."

"Do you even see my face right now?"

"… understandable."

He was talking about his condition. His… sleep deprived condition.

I placed my hand on my chin while pondering. A name that should be catchy to everyone, that way they won't forget this important event.

"How about… Magic Internship Tour? You can shorten it as M.I.T. to make it sound catchy."

"Call it whatever you want, you're the lead organizer."

Veneo leaned his back deeper into his chair and let out a long breath before asking me something.

"Can I… ask you for a favor…?"

.

Just like every Monday, there will be a ceremony held by the academy.

Mostly, the ceremony is only for announcements or for some pep talk by the teachers. It is still a custom to praise the kingdom, but people rarely care for the customs anyway. Everyone is only here because of the announcements or pep talks.

Everyone was expecting a huge announcement today, because the rumors have been going around, after all. They were expecting the headmaster himself to announce this, and yet… the one standing on the podium is me.

This is probably the third time I have stood here. The first was when I was first transferred here, and I challenged the entire academy. The second was my ascendance to Vice President of the student council, and that was a really hot day.

And today, I will make my speech again.