Chapter 177
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“No way! How are we supposed to beat the fifth-year seniors?”
“Professor Sedgen! I know our school motto is ‘Transcend Your Limits,’ but don’t you think this is a bit too much?”
The first-years cried out, clutching their heads.
The reality was that most first-years could barely even make eye contact with the second-years.
And now, out of the blue, they had to face the seemingly untouchable fifth-years in an exam?
From the first-years’ perspective, it was only natural to panic.
Even the ever-confident students like Celia, Duran, and Eliza wore expressions of utter bewilderment.
Looking at the first-years, Sedgen spoke.
“I never said you had to win.”
“Huh?”
“As I said before, the midterm is graded on a curve.”
Sedgen offered a gentle smile.
“The fifth-years may be intimidating, but simply showing your best effort will be enough to earn a good score on this exam.”
Hearing Sedgen’s words, the first-years regained their composure.
They had been scared stiff at the mention of facing fifth-years, but what Sedgen said was certainly true.
“R-Right. There’s no need to be scared.”
“We just have to do our best against the fifth-year seniors.”
“You know… Professor Sedgen really seems to be a considerate person.”
“Yeah. I feel much more at ease now.”
Smiling faintly at the first-years, who had once again returned to a cheerful atmosphere, Sedgen approached the fifth-years.
Then, he spoke mercilessly to the forty-seven of them.
“Crush them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Shall we stretch our legs for the first time in a while?”
The fifth-years began to warm up with smiles on their faces.
Sedgen returned to the first-years and said.
“As I mentioned, the second-semester midterm practical is graded on a curve. In addition, I will be adding a special condition.”
The first-years looked on with curiosity.
“The number of fifth-years will be limited to one.”
Bastera was a sport fundamentally played by eight people.
As such, it was an incredibly physically demanding game.
But no one felt relieved at the thought of an 8-on-1 match.
On the contrary, they broke out in a cold sweat.
‘Does that mean they’re really not going to hold back?’
‘Ugh! A fifth-year…!’
Lumerne had five hundred entering students.
Among them, only forty-seven remained as graduating students after five years of rigorous selection.
Over those five years, nearly ninety percent of the students had left the academy.
These were the true hero candidates in every sense of the word.
Any one of them could become a hero, and it wouldn’t be strange in the slightest.
For a fifth-year, facing eight first-years was clearly not much of a handicap.
“And if you’re not satisfied with the results, you can form a new team and challenge them as many times as you like until you demonstrate a satisfactory level of skill.”
At those words, the first-years began to murmur amongst themselves.
Just then, a student from the Magic Department cautiously raised his hand.
“Um… Professor. If we do that, won’t we be taking up too much of the fifth-year seniors’ time? They’re all very busy, aren’t they?”
They had seen the second, third, and fourth-years quite often during the first semester, but they had barely seen any of the fifth-years.
This was because all the fifth-years were leading extremely busy lives, juggling school classes and external missions.
For such seniors to be investing their time for them…
They didn’t know how to react, but at the same time, they wondered if it was really okay.
“You don’t need to worry about that. The graduating class is quite free at the moment. Are there any other questions?”
No other students had questions.
“Good. Then form your teams.”
The first-years began to move quickly to find the best possible teammates.
***
“First-years are so refreshingly green.”
Torua muttered as she observed the first-years, standing on her tiptoes with a hand shading her eyes.
“Tell me about it. They have a freshness you just can’t feel from some people anymore.”
“I know, right? The muscle-bound idiot from the Knight Department, who’s gotten so disgustingly huge he could pass for a middle-aged man, surprisingly knows his place.”
“I’m talking about you, you old woman.”
Torua and Jamua looked at each other and smiled brightly.
Watching them, Ulta spoke.
“You two. Graduation is just around the corner, so stop fighting. This is what’s left of our school days, isn’t it?”
Ulta spread his arms wide.
“Should we not protect these precious days by affirming our love for one another?”
“Ugh. Just hearing that makes my stomach turn.”
“I agree.”
Torua and Jamua grimaced at the same time.
Amidst it all, Lis was lost in his own thoughts.
‘Is announcing Leo as a candidate for student council president really the right path?’
Lis was struggling with how to handle the recommendation of Leo for the position.
Personally, he would be satisfied if Leo became the student council president.
‘But can Leo handle that burden?’
Just becoming a candidate as a first-year would put him under considerable pressure.
‘If, by some chance, he becomes president, the burden will be immense. But even if he doesn’t, his school life will get complicated all the same.’
The school life of an underclassman who had fallen out of favor with his seniors was never going to be smooth.
That was true even if Leo’s maternal family was the Jerdingers.
Escalating a matter between students into a family affair was not a good thing.
‘If I were still at the academy, I might have been able to mediate somehow… but I’m in the graduating class this year.’
Lis couldn’t help but worry about his cousin after he left the academy.
It was then that Ulta approached him.
“Lis, what troubles you?”
“Ulta.”
Lis let out a small laugh as he saw Ulta approach.
“It’s nothing.”
At that, Ulta sighed.
“Lis. You haven’t changed a bit since our first year.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Especially the part where you keep your worries bottled up inside.”
Ulta crossed his arms.
“Lis. Before being rivals who have competed for five years, I’d like to think we are friends who can confide in each other, no?”
“Friends, huh? You’re right about that.”
Lis nodded.
And so, he confided in the man who had been his fierce rival for the position of class representative for five years.
Listening to Lis, Ulta stroked his chin.
“Hmm. A complicated matter, indeed.”
“Right?”
“In that case, isn’t there only one conclusion?”
Ulta grinned.
“Don’t we just have to prove that Leo is a vessel worthy of being the student council president?”
“That’s true, but Leo is still a first-year.”
Lis sighed.
“He’s still lacking to take on the role of president.”
“And who decided that?”
“What?”
Ulta looked at the bewildered Lis and said.
“I asked who decided that a first-year is not fit to be the student council president, Lis.”
Ulta smiled faintly.
“Lis, it seems you’ve forgotten the motto we’ve heard for five long years.”
Ulta spread his arms.
“Transcend your limits. We have overcome our limits time and time again. We have made what was deemed impossible, possible.”
He was always spouting strange things about love.
But right now, he was serious.
“Lis. Your cousin is already a worthy vessel for the student council presidency.”
Lis was surprised by Ulta’s words.
‘To think Ulta rated Leo so highly.’
Ulta Legdition.
Undeniably one of the strongest summoners currently at Lumerne.
Though considered a bit strange, he was famous for never making empty claims.
Lis, too, knew his friend’s character well.
“Besides, the timing isn’t good right now. Lumerne is being shaken, both from the outside and within. No, cracks are forming in the peace of the entire world.”
Ulta looked toward Leo.
“At a time like this, I believe the academy needs a firm leader to guide it.”
“And you’re saying that leader is Leo?”
“Yes.”
Ulta’s lips curled into a smile.
“So, Lis. You’d better watch closely today.”
Ulta crossed his arms elegantly.
“Because today, you will see Leo’s true worth.”
***
The practical exam began.
The first-years who had formed teams courageously challenged the fifth-years.
“Hup.”
Thwack—!
“Keuk!”
Karl was sent flying after a ball thrown by a female fifth-year from the Knight Department struck him in the abdomen.
“We’re ahead on points! Hold on! If we can just hold on, something might happen!”
Iliana shouted urgently.
“Well, of course you’d be ahead on points. I wasn’t particularly interested in defense or offense.”
She gave a kind, gentle smile.
“But listen here, first-years. Remember this. Bastera is also a game you can win by ‘annihilating the opponent.’ Your strategy to distract my vision wasn’t bad. But your ability to prepare for a more fundamental problem is lacking.”
The team composed of Class 5’s aces, excluding Leo and Chelsea, was defeated just three minutes into the game.
The other students who saw it were shocked.
The Class 5 combination, led by Nella, Iliana, and Tiede, with the support-oriented Karl backing them up, was well-balanced and flawless in anyone’s eyes.
Yet that team had been wiped out so easily.
As everyone broke into a cold sweat, screams erupted from other parts of the field.
With many Bastera teams of fifth-years and first-years, matches were proceeding simultaneously in several locations.
Sedgen was floating in the air, grading the first-years.
‘Their teamwork isn’t bad. But the details are a bit lacking.’
Click—
He clicked his pen and scribbled an evaluation on the paper.
At a glance, it might have seemed like he was grading carelessly, but there was a reason Sedgen was called Lumerne’s top professor.
He surveyed the training grounds, not missing a single one of the simultaneous matches.
He checked off the students’ strengths and weaknesses, grading them perfectly.
On Sedgen’s orders, the fifth-years showed no mercy.
The first-years, who had held a slightly complacent attitude due to being told they could challenge multiple times, became tense upon seeing the fifth-years’ different class of skill.
‘Lis and Ulta haven’t stepped up yet.’
Sedgen nodded as he watched the two who were observing the situation without participating in the matches.
Excluding those two, the most conspicuous were, of course, Torua and Jamua.
Torua rested her chin on her hand and waved her other hand lightly.
Wham—!
“Gah?”
“G-Gravity magic?”
“Yep. But if you react after getting hit, it’s too late.”
Torua, who had incapacitated the entire opposing team within five seconds of the match starting, shook her head.
“Hahaha. Let’s see just how tough you are.”
“Huh? Tough…? Kehek!”
A student was sent flying by a ball thrown by Jamua.
“Tsk. You haven’t been training your stamina enough. To be knocked out by a ball without even any aura in it.”
“B-But I’m a mage. And I even put up a shield…!”
“Hmph. There are times when overwhelming physical power surpasses magic. Remember that.”
“N-No way.”
Jamua, who was simply pushing through with raw strength without using aura.
After wiping out the first-years, Jamua licked his lips.
“Well, well. I had high hopes, but this is rather disappointing. Weren’t you all supposed to be the best of your year?”
Jamua provoked the first-years.
But they couldn’t retort.
There was no way they could argue back in a situation where they were helplessly annihilated by someone not even using aura.
‘Oops. Did I crush their spirits too much?’
Just as Jamua was scratching his cheek.
“You can start having high hopes from now on.”
Thump—!
Someone stepped in front of Jamua.
Celia, with a ball tucked under her arm, smiled brightly at him.
“Things will be a little different from now on.”
“Hoh, Celia.”
Jamua’s lips curled up as he looked at the students besides Celia.
‘Chen Xia, Duran, Howl.’
The junior knights he had been keeping an eye on had all come out.
The only slight disappointment was that Leo wasn’t there.
‘Where is that kid?’
Turning his head, Jamua spotted Leo on an adjacent court.
There, with Leo at the forefront, stood Chloe, Chelsea, and Abad.
“Tch. That Leo Flove. Siding with the Magic Department.”
“It’s a betrayal.”
Duran clicked his tongue, and Chen Xia pouted.
“Yeah. It’s a betrayal.”
Jamua clicked his tongue as well.
Meanwhile, Torua looked at Leo with a satisfied expression.
“Mm! Mm! Leo. You’ve finally found your path. Yes. Magic is the best, after all.”
“…I’m still an All-Classer, though.”
“My, my, Leo. It seems that taking knight and summoning classes has made you unable to think logically.”
It was Torua herself who was speaking in a way that seemed to have no relation to logic, but Leo handled her antics with practiced ease.
“Well, anyway, I’m here today to teach you first-years that the world is a wide place.”
Torua, closing her eyes coyly, raised a finger.
Snap—!
“Hup!”
With that, the first-years standing before Torua staggered under the gravity pressing down on their bodies and fell to their knees.
“Just fall down quietly.”
Torua, who opened her eyes after casting her spell, widened them in surprise.
While all the other first-years were either on their knees or prostrate on the ground, Leo stood without batting an eye.
‘Dispel? No, that’s not it. How on earth is he standing?’
Sensing that her magic was active, Torua’s eyes sparkled.
“What kind of magic did you use? Did you perhaps dispel my spell formula?”
“No.”
Leo shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m just enduring the gravity with sheer strength.”
“With strength?”
“Yes.”
Leo grinned.
“There are times when overwhelming physical power can beat magic, right?”