Chapter 181
“Only a week left until the sparring evaluation, huh.”
Evening, after combat class ended.
Carr trudged wearily toward the dormitory’s large bathhouse with his battered body and asked.
“Yeah.”
“Ah~ seriously. I wonder who I’ll end up fighting?”
“Maybe it’ll be the two of us.”
“Ugh? No thanks.”
Carr flinched at Leo’s words and shook his head.
To fight the class representative?
No matter who it was, it would be bad luck. Carr clicked his tongue.
“By the way, I didn’t expect you to actually complete the Bible.”
“I haven’t completed it. I’m still far from the level I’m aiming for.”
“Still. You used Torua-senior’s magic, right?”
The entire school was already abuzz with rumors about Leo’s magic.
“Hey, if this keeps up, won’t the Magic Tower want to study it or something?”
“Lumene would never allow that.”
From the Magic Tower’s perspective, Leo’s Bible would surely be a subject of research.
But Lumene would never permit it.
From Lumene’s perspective, letting someone study Leo would be no different from losing a valuable talent.
Leo and Carr entered the bathhouse, washed up, and sank into the hot water.
“Ahh~! A bath after something that tough really feels like heaven.”
“You sound like an old man.”
“You’re the biggest old man among the first-years, you know?”
Carr grumbled at Leo’s remark.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Splash—
Just then, Abad sat beside them.
“What is it?”
“I’m just curious about Leo’s magic. It’s only natural for a mage to be intrigued.”
Abad smiled faintly.
He began asking Leo questions about the Bible.
“Hmm. If that’s the concept, then it’s truly your original magic. But the structure of the spell is fascinating. I think it could even be applied to wind magic.”
“I figured.”
Leo nodded as Abad mumbled with his chin resting on his hand.
The nearby male students watching them with interest had peculiar expressions.
“What language are they speaking?”
“I can’t understand a word.”
At Carr’s comment, a nearby student from the Knights Department looked dumbfounded.
“Hey, how can someone from the Magic Department say that?”
“Not all Magic students are the same, you know?”
“Wow, you’re really saying that proudly? Doesn’t it make you feel pathetic?”
“I’m not even at the level to feel pathetic. Do you feel pathetic looking at Celia, Chen Xia, or Duran?”
“Not at all.”
Carr, still chatting with the nearby students, asked,
“By the way, Abad, who are you picking for your sparring evaluation opponent? You can choose someone, and if they accept, you get to fight, right? Is it Leo?”
Abad rested his chin on his hand.
“No.”
Carr gave him a curious look at his faint smile.
“Why not?”
“It’s just…”
“You know, I find it fascinating that you’re Chelsea’s brother.”
Abad, who always had a spring-like smile, and Chelsea, whose temper was like an unpredictable storm—despite their similar appearances, their personalities were polar opposites.
Carr’s words made Abad chuckle.
“If not Leo, then Celia?”
“I’d love to fight Celia too, but right now there’s someone I absolutely want to defeat.”
“Who?”
“Walden.”
Carr blinked in confusion at the unexpected answer.
“You don’t really have any connection to Walden, do you?”
“Walden doesn’t have connections with anyone.”
Even though he was the top student in the Summoning Department, Walden hardly interacted with others.
He preferred being alone and rarely spoke.
On top of that, his large build gave off such an intimidating aura that most students found it difficult to approach him.
“But he’s definitely strong. Overwhelmingly so.”
Abad smiled.
“Let’s just say… I want to defeat him before I take on Leo or Celia.”
“Hmm. I can’t even imagine who’d win that one.”
Carr was also aware of how powerful Walden was.
Still, when it came to combat ability, Abad was also the top of the Magic Department.
It was impossible to predict.
“Leo, have you chosen your opponent? I know there are plenty of students who are dying to fight you.”
“Don’t even get me started. Do you know how many times a day they come to my class?”
Carr grumbled.
The students Abad referred to were Duran and Eliza.
Walden also selected Leo as his desired opponent, but he wasn’t as aggressive about it as Duran and Eliza.
“But every time those two come together, they start fighting. Honestly, it’d be better if they just fought each other.”
Carr grumbled, and Abad burst into laughter.
“Anyway, should we talk about the Magic Department exam too?”
Carr said seriously, and Abad nodded.
“Sure.”
“Let’s talk while we eat dinner. Might as well study a bit together too.”
Carr took the initiative.
For him, just studying with the top Magic Department student like Abad was an incredible opportunity.
Abad seemed to have no problem with Carr’s enthusiasm and readily agreed.
Though Carr was very close with Chelsea, he hadn’t really had any connection with Abad.
They were in different classes, and even during magic classes, Carr mostly hung out with Chloe.
‘If I get closer to Abad, maybe Chelsea’ll nag me less too.’
Carr mumbled to himself as he headed toward the cafeteria.
But as they entered the dormitory cafeteria, the entire place was in chaos.
Everyone was murmuring and whispering in shock.
“Is this even allowed?”
“The upperclassmen won’t stand for this.”
“Did something happen?”
Carr tilted his head and approached a nearby first-year.
“What’s going on?”
“Carr, and… Leo?”
“It’s Leo.”
“Leo?”
“Where? Where is he?”
Whoosh—
In an instant, the noisy cafeteria fell silent.
Everyone was staring at Leo.
Carr looked slightly taken aback by the sudden attention.
“What? What’s going on?”
Just then—
Step, step—
Celia came through the crowd with a confused expression and handed Leo the school newspaper.
Carr gasped when he saw it.
Abad’s eyes widened as well.
[First-Year Leo Plov Nominated for Student Council President!]
Leo muttered as he read the bold headline splashed across the front page.
“They actually did it?”
“You knew?”
“Rhys told me a few days ago that someone nominated me.”
The students around them were shocked.
“Even so, how can they just go ahead and announce it like that?”
“Yeah. We still have Hark-senior and Elena-senior, right?”
“If someone else gets nominated, won’t they just get blacklisted by the two of them?”
The students, unaware of the full story, began to whisper.
“Who nominated you?”
Celia asked, and Leo folded the paper and replied.
“Elena-senior.”
“What?”
“Elena-senior?”
Every student was stunned.
If what Leo said was true, then he was being backed by the person known as the Queen of Lumene.
“Leo, what are you going to do?”
Carr gulped and asked.
A first-year student council president?
It had never happened before in Lumene’s entire history.
‘No, this is basically a poisoned chalice, isn’t it?’
Even if he refused, Leo was already probably on the upperclassmen’s radar.
Even if he accepted, becoming the president would be a monumental challenge.
Leo smirked at Carr’s question.
“What else? I’m going to become the student council president.”
—
“Wait, what? Are you kidding me?”
“No matter what, this isn’t right! A first-year as student council president?!”
The second-year dormitory was in an uproar after hearing the news.
“Hey! Lily! You’re the class rep—have you heard anything?”
A Summoning Department student asked Lily urgently.
Lily stared at the article with a serious face, then broke into a wide smile.
“Thank goodness. This means I won’t have to become the student council president, right?”
“Hey! This isn’t the time to be saying that!”
“B-but! If someone as plain as me became president, it’d bring shame to Lumene’s name…!”
“When are you going to fix that timid personality! You’d totally qualify once you’re in fifth year!”
“F-fifth year…?”
Lily looked conflicted, then made a teary face.
“Can’t we just hand it over to Leo?”
“Argh! Seriously! Do you realize how embarrassing it is for a whole year to not produce a single candidate!”
“I-I’m sorry.”
The entire second-year class clutched their heads in frustration at their timid representative.
* * *
“Elena!”
“Check the paper!”
“Rhys-senior…!”
Over in the third-year dorm cafeteria, Elena wrinkled her brows at the sight of her classmates storming toward her.
She wiped her mouth with a napkin and glared.
“What’s all the fuss about?”
Everyone went quiet, nervous about angering Elena, the real power behind the school.
“Elena, look. Rhys-senior nominated Leo Plov for student council president.”
The vice-leader of the Blue Moon Party, third-year Knight Department’s Takon, handed her the paper.
Elena’s eyes widened as she reached for it and read.
“Hmm? Looks like the president made his decision.”
Creak— Elena stood up, and the third-years shouted.
“This is insane! He only nominated him because he’s his cousin!”
“Rhys-senior would never do that!”
“E-even so…”
“Isn’t it just because Hark-senior doesn’t want the job, so they’re setting up a puppet?”
“No way they’d actually make a first-year president, right? The fourth-years are going to blow up.”
As her classmates panicked and argued, Elena spoke calmly.
“Everyone, settle down.”
“This isn’t something to settle down about, Elena. No matter how powerful the president is, this is clearly disrespecting you.”
Takon’s words made Elena smile faintly.
“The president wasn’t disrespecting me.”
“Then what is it?”
“It was me who nominated Leo Plov as student council president.”
“……”
“……”
Everyone froze with dumb expressions.
“You should’ve seen the look on the president’s face when I said it. I’ve known him a long time, but I’ve never seen that kind of dumbfounded expression. Too bad you all missed it.”
As Elena laughed joyfully, Takon massaged his temples.
“Hold on. Elena… You’re saying you nominated Leo Plov? Why?”
“Because I wanted to.”
All the third-years looked dazed.
All their efforts to help Elena become the next president now felt pointless.
‘Well… she said she wanted to do it on her own, and we helped… but still.’
‘Even so…’
“So.”
Elena smiled brightly.
And in that smile was the tyrannical flair of the woman often called the Witch of Lumene.
“Any objections to what I want to do?”
Unlike the chaos among second and third-years, the fourth-years were surprisingly calm.
“What is the president even thinking?”
“Right? I respected him for four years and now he pulls this right at the end.”
They glanced over at Hark, who was sleeping face-down at the table, and sighed.
“Honestly, seeing him like that… maybe a first-year president wouldn’t be so bad after all.”
“Agreed.”
Half the fourth-years had already given up on the student council race.
* * *
Rhys’ announcement created massive shock throughout the academy.
And not just at Lumene.
Even outside the school, people were watching Lumene closely, unable to believe the news.
Normally, an uproar this big would shake the entire school.
But the atmosphere at Lumene was surprisingly calm.
Most of the backlash should have come from the fourth-years, but they were mostly choosing to wait and see.
The third-years were being completely managed by Elena.
And the second-years weren’t willing to act first when the upperclassmen were staying silent.
Only the first-years, feeling the pressure from their seniors… quietly began their sparring evaluations.
The first-year sparring evaluations were usually a festive event, much like the Summoning test’s relay.
Over the semester, students had trained hard and were no longer the same as when they first enrolled.
As such, surprising upsets often occurred.
Unnoticed students suddenly became dark horses.
Top-tier students were defeated by lower-ranked ones.
It was unpredictable, which made it very entertaining.
Even upperclassmen often came to spectate and observe their juniors.
But this time, the number of spectators had grown so much that the event was moved to the central grand training ground, Erek.
The first-years were visibly more nervous under the largest crowd ever.
[We will now begin the sparring evaluation nominations!]
A fifth-year student holding a voice amplification magic tool took the lead.
Normally, a professor would handle this, but this time, a fifth-year volunteered.
The reason was simple.
As a senior close to graduation, Chiera had fewer responsibilities and volunteered because she was bored.
[As you all know, this year’s evaluation is a bit different! The first match will proceed by ‘nomination’! Isn’t that exciting? We get to find out which students view each other as rivals! Ah~ I’m so excited! If only we had done this when we were first-years too!]
Chiera from the Knights Department, known for being talkative, was completely fired up.
‘I knew she’d act like that!’
‘Someone, get her off the stage!’
Just as the other professors scrambled to stop her—
[Chiera Sikhun. Would you like to have a little chat with me later?]
[Eek?]
Lumene’s Wailing Wall, Professor Harrid, gave her a warning mid-announcement.
Professor Harrid.
If he wanted to, he could have even a graduating senior expelled—he was a terrifying professor.
Chiera snapped to her senses and quickly approached Leo, her voice trembling.
[T-then! Let’s start with Leo Plov, the class representative!]
Doing her best to avoid Harrid’s gaze, Chiera stiffly walked up to Leo.
[Leo. Do you have someone you’d like to challenge?]
“Yes.”
[Ooh! Who could it be? Let’s see! Point to your opponent with your finger.]
Leo raised his hand.
The upperclassmen scowled, clearly displeased about the student council announcement involving Leo.
‘Let’s see how good this kid actually is.’
‘He’s just a first-year anyway.’
Most of them were unhappy that a first-year had even been nominated.
But Leo pointed not toward the first-year group gathered on the field—but beyond that, toward the spectator stands.
Everyone gasped in surprise as Leo’s finger clearly singled out a fifth-year student.
[Uh… so… um…]
Chiera looked between Leo and his chosen opponent in confusion and cautiously asked.
[You want to fight Rhys?]
“Yes.”
Leo smiled.
“You never said I had to pick a first-year, did you?”