I had never conceived myself as a person who gets human humour. I did understand what they found funny though which was in stark contrast to what I saw inside a circular, large room which I could only describe as a coliseum with a roof.
Munching on Norcpop, white sweets crunching under each bite, I watched with great interest how two mages fought each other to death. Or rather, simulated death.
The arena below us was apparently very special as it protected everyone from serious harm and blocked off any stray shots. Thus, everyone could experience the boring fights down below.
At the moment, there were two combatants of similar age inside, facing each other warily. The girl wore a large hat and had a few strange red orbs floating around her while the boy … he had a staff. Nothing fancy there.
The battle already went on for several minutes with everyone watching intensely. Except me.
I was bored out of my mind after one minute of watching this. Sure, I did understand they were mages and more back line oriented but still. None of them moved much since they started. It was as if they had grown roots since the very beginning with the girl merely throwing a few fireballs at him, or hurling the floating balls across the battlefield where they exploded and the boy casting a few blue arrows here and there.
At first my guess was that this was intended as a show fight for the freshmen but then, I overheard a few other students claiming the combatants were in top form.
Sure, throwing a fireball at the opponent who then used a shield to block was magical combat, but it measured nothing else than level and mana capacity. From a tactical standpoint, this battle was shit and yet the overseeing teacher praised them for their moves.
Well, at least the Norcpop was good, so there was that. Just as I finished up my bowl, the fight ended just as expected. The girl shouted out the name of the attack and a fireball flew over towards the boy who started to panic for some stupid reason.
Once again, he was protected by some kind of shiny barrier, but this time, it was of a different colour. The magical circles beneath the arena must have set in to protect the heavily panting teenager.
“And the shiny flame wins once again!” The teacher in charge spoke out loudly. Looking down into my very deep bowl, I grumbled unhappily and just wanted to stand up as the next challenger was announced. “The next on the list to try his luck is a complete newcomer! Will he be able to beat the undefeated queen of magical combat?” The teacher certainly had fun announcing an idiot. If she was that unbeatable, why even hype up the competition who was obviously less experienced?
In any case, my mouth opened a little bit as I noticed who stepped into the arena. Black hairs, black clothing and a smile I could only describe as victorious walked with steady steps towards the opponent and let his gaze wander through the near empty arena.
“Heey! Lucy!” Schwarz. The guy who got stomped fighting against the guild master waved towards me and directed everyone’s attention to me. For several seconds, I met his gaze until I looked away.
“Do you know him?” Louis asked me concerned.
“No … not really?” I refused to know Schwarz I’m that situation. Seriously, my reputation would crumble just by being acquaintances with him and so, I could only look away awkwardly.
“Are you sure?” Luna asked and grabbed my hand as I was standing up.
“Yeah? Let’s go to the … laboratories?” I asked awkwardly and noticed that everyone was staring at me. It had probably been not the best decision to get out of there as fast as possible.
“Hey, Lucy! Why are you going away?” Schwarz shouted through the whole arena towards me.
“Because I do not want to see you fight.” I claimed and pulled my hand out of Luna’s. A few seconds later, I wanted to make my first step as Schwarz spoke up once more.
“You are worried about a loss? How about you encourage me by sharing your timetable with me? Mister, I am ready.” He didn’t even give me time to answer but rather went into combat position right away. At last, the gazes of the onlookers went back to the arena where the girl also prepared herself.
“Are you sure you can fight?” Schwarz asked, his voice strangely turned up in volume by some magic.
“I don’t need much mana for a freshman.” The girl claimed cockily and conjured these orbs back around her.
The only missing item in this battle was Schwarz’s sword for some reason. But still, he held his hands high in front of him as a sign of readiness and laughed about the girl’s comment, even though he was at fault for overestimating ones own chances of success as well.
“You may begin.” And so they did. Unexpectedly, Schwarz let his guard down completely as smiled cockily.
“I don’t hurt girls.” And for that statement alone, I could have rammed three and a half daggers into him. Luckily, his opponent felt the same. She merely pointed towards him angrily and flung all the balls in his direction.
Schwarz made no attempt to dodge these dangerous balls in any way, which signalled me that he already won this battle. Just as I expected, the balls exploded just like before and flames engulfed the general area he was standing in. The girl was sure of her victory already, but that sentiment was short lived.
Schwarz appeared out of the diminishing flames exactly where he started, patting his shoulders as if there was dirt on it.
“That was a bunch of hot air.” There was simply no chance for him to lose since the very beginning and he knew that. The level difference was just too large for any meaningful combat. “But for a level 36, I guess that was alright. Do you give up?”
The girl must have realised Schwarz didn’t even defend against her attack and rather took it head on.
“I … surrender.” It must have taken her a great deal of swallowing her own pride to realise the right choice. Which was coincidentally also a choice Schwarz wouldn’t take.
Without further ado, he turned around, ran towards the edge of the arena and jumped on top of the grandstand. It took mere seconds for him to arrive at the empty row in front of me and smile brightly towards me.
“Wasn’t that impressive?” Surely not. He just stood there showing off his level to everyone, but especially me.
“Sure …” I mumbled quietly and noticed my friends looking at me concerned.
“Great! Do you tell me your courses now?” He asked and leaned forwards a little. He really wanted to get on my nerves, that was for sure.
“Why should I do that?” I asked seemingly bored in an attempt to show him that I wasn’t interested.
“You agreed to our terms by staying here.” He claimed and smiled brightly.
“That’s not how it works.” I said and shook my head fiercely. There wasn’t any rule like that. I looked up the rules of the academy beforehand.
“It is.” He said nonetheless.
“It’s not.” I repeated a bit angrily.
“It is two times more than you say no.” He said happily.
“Four times.” I wasn’t willing to lose whatever this challenge was supposed to be.
“Unlimited.” He really played a children’s game with me, didn’t he?
“Mirror.” I commended dryly.
“Mirror times two.” I wasn’t entirely sure about the rules of this shitty game, but I seriously doubted one could multiply a mirror in this context.
“You’re not quitting, are you?” I grumbled unhappily.
“No.” He stated as simply as he possibly could.
“How about you leave her alone?” Surprisingly, Louis chimed I’m in support of me. Sadly, it had quite the opposite effect on Schwarz as he looked at him strangely and didn’t back off. I immediately rolled my eyes as I noticed the development happening in between them. The moment they gazed upon each other, they started to form a rivalry simply because Louis didn’t like Schwarz´s attempt to impress me.
“And who are you?” Schwarz asked and squinted his eyes dangerously close.
“Louis. Can’t you see you are bothering Lucy?” said the prince without realising that he wouldn’t be able to convince this airhead in any way.
“I would never do that.” Oh, Schwarz would bother me, that was for sure. It was just questionable if he was capable of realizing said fact or he didn’t want to.
“You are making a scene.” Louis said and looked all around us. Everyone still had their gazes upon us, including Schwarz´s opponent who still struggled to get on terms with the fact she lost so easily.
“And why should I care?” Schwarz said completely devoid of any shame.
“Because Lucy certainly doesn’t like the attention. I guess she doesn’t want to be seen as the girl an idiot with a superiority complex has a crush on.” My initial thought was that Louis went a bit too far and just as I expected Schwarz to burst out in anger, he calmed down and closed his eyes.
“Her reputation will be damaged more if she sticks around you, am I not right?” Schwarz said and smiled amused. He was strangely knowledgeable about Louis family situation and how he was viewed by other nobles which wasn’t that good thanks to his … unfortunate mother. Louis didn’t answer Schwarz´s provocation at all, and rather shrank back a little. I had hoped for a little fight, but it didn’t seem as I would be granted this spectacle. It would have been interesting to watch.
“Schwarz, I am thankful for your consideration but I can befriend whoever I like. Position or family don´t matter in this institution which you are benefiting from as well, no? And besides, I truly don’t want that much attention on myself just like Louis claimed. Unlike what he said though, I don’t mind having you around … as long as you restrain yourself a little bit.”
“So you will tell me your timetable?” He wasn’t even trying to hide the fact he did develop a little crush on me, nor that he wanted to woo me.
“No. But I can assure you I will take magical combat taught by my sister.” I said and smiled a little bit which seemed to do the trick as he finally backed off a little.
“Hmm … I guess I have to live with that.” He would have to as I certainly didn’t want to see him in the history classes I had with Luna. And I also highly doubted I could deal with him for too long if Hannah wasn’t around to restrain him. “Lucy, Luna and my dear Ellie, it was nice to meet you.” He said and bowed a little bit before turning around and strolling back towards the middle of the arena where he bowed to a confused audience and then left through the same tunnel he arrived in.
“Where does he know our names from?” Luna asked a bit amazed while I only stared at Schwarz’s back.
“My guess is on appraisal.” Surprisingly it was Ellie who answered her and not me. I raised my eyebrows a little bit and looked at the cat girl who had an overly sharp intuition or knew more about skills than a normal person.
“I second this … shall we get out of here before I turn into cheese from all these people staring at us?” I asked and stood up slowly from the bench and waited for the rest of the group to do so as well.
We left quite quickly afterwards, right as the teacher revealed the next matchup we wouldn’t be watching. We already had enough attention because of Schwarz, the freshman who easily defeated one of the best fighters of this academy.
Purely because he had a higher level.
I had never conceived myself as a person who gets human humour. I did understand what they found funny though which was in stark contrast to what I saw inside a circular, large room which I could only describe as a coliseum with a roof.
Munching on Norcpop, white sweets crunching under each bite, I watched with great interest how two mages fought each other to death. Or rather, simulated death.
The arena below us was apparently very special as it protected everyone from serious harm and blocked off any stray shots. Thus, everyone could experience the boring fights down below.
At the moment, there were two combatants of similar age inside, facing each other warily. The girl wore a large hat and had a few strange red orbs floating around her while the boy … he had a staff. Nothing fancy there.
The battle already went on for several minutes with everyone watching intensely. Except me.
I was bored out of my mind after one minute of watching this. Sure, I did understand they were mages and more back line oriented but still. None of them moved much since they started. It was as if they had grown roots since the very beginning with the girl merely throwing a few fireballs at him, or hurling the floating balls across the battlefield where they exploded and the boy casting a few blue arrows here and there.
At first my guess was that this was intended as a show fight for the freshmen but then, I overheard a few other students claiming the combatants were in top form.
Sure, throwing a fireball at the opponent who then used a shield to block was magical combat, but it measured nothing else than level and mana capacity. From a tactical standpoint, this battle was shit and yet the overseeing teacher praised them for their moves.
Well, at least the Norcpop was good, so there was that. Just as I finished up my bowl, the fight ended just as expected. The girl shouted out the name of the attack and a fireball flew over towards the boy who started to panic for some stupid reason.
Once again, he was protected by some kind of shiny barrier, but this time, it was of a different colour. The magical circles beneath the arena must have set in to protect the heavily panting teenager.
“And the shiny flame wins once again!” The teacher in charge spoke out loudly. Looking down into my very deep bowl, I grumbled unhappily and just wanted to stand up as the next challenger was announced. “The next on the list to try his luck is a complete newcomer! Will he be able to beat the undefeated queen of magical combat?” The teacher certainly had fun announcing an idiot. If she was that unbeatable, why even hype up the competition who was obviously less experienced?
In any case, my mouth opened a little bit as I noticed who stepped into the arena. Black hairs, black clothing and a smile I could only describe as victorious walked with steady steps towards the opponent and let his gaze wander through the near empty arena.
“Heey! Lucy!” Schwarz. The guy who got stomped fighting against the guild master waved towards me and directed everyone’s attention to me. For several seconds, I met his gaze until I looked away.
“Do you know him?” Louis asked me concerned.
“No … not really?” I refused to know Schwarz I’m that situation. Seriously, my reputation would crumble just by being acquaintances with him and so, I could only look away awkwardly.
“Are you sure?” Luna asked and grabbed my hand as I was standing up.
“Yeah? Let’s go to the … laboratories?” I asked awkwardly and noticed that everyone was staring at me. It had probably been not the best decision to get out of there as fast as possible.
“Hey, Lucy! Why are you going away?” Schwarz shouted through the whole arena towards me.
“Because I do not want to see you fight.” I claimed and pulled my hand out of Luna’s. A few seconds later, I wanted to make my first step as Schwarz spoke up once more.
“You are worried about a loss? How about you encourage me by sharing your timetable with me? Mister, I am ready.” He didn’t even give me time to answer but rather went into combat position right away. At last, the gazes of the onlookers went back to the arena where the girl also prepared herself.
“Are you sure you can fight?” Schwarz asked, his voice strangely turned up in volume by some magic.
“I don’t need much mana for a freshman.” The girl claimed cockily and conjured these orbs back around her.
The only missing item in this battle was Schwarz’s sword for some reason. But still, he held his hands high in front of him as a sign of readiness and laughed about the girl’s comment, even though he was at fault for overestimating ones own chances of success as well.
“You may begin.” And so they did. Unexpectedly, Schwarz let his guard down completely as smiled cockily.
“I don’t hurt girls.” And for that statement alone, I could have rammed three and a half daggers into him. Luckily, his opponent felt the same. She merely pointed towards him angrily and flung all the balls in his direction.
Schwarz made no attempt to dodge these dangerous balls in any way, which signalled me that he already won this battle. Just as I expected, the balls exploded just like before and flames engulfed the general area he was standing in. The girl was sure of her victory already, but that sentiment was short lived.
Schwarz appeared out of the diminishing flames exactly where he started, patting his shoulders as if there was dirt on it.
“That was a bunch of hot air.” There was simply no chance for him to lose since the very beginning and he knew that. The level difference was just too large for any meaningful combat. “But for a level 36, I guess that was alright. Do you give up?”
The girl must have realised Schwarz didn’t even defend against her attack and rather took it head on.
“I … surrender.” It must have taken her a great deal of swallowing her own pride to realise the right choice. Which was coincidentally also a choice Schwarz wouldn’t take.
Without further ado, he turned around, ran towards the edge of the arena and jumped on top of the grandstand. It took mere seconds for him to arrive at the empty row in front of me and smile brightly towards me.
“Wasn’t that impressive?” Surely not. He just stood there showing off his level to everyone, but especially me.
“Sure …” I mumbled quietly and noticed my friends looking at me concerned.
“Great! Do you tell me your courses now?” He asked and leaned forwards a little. He really wanted to get on my nerves, that was for sure.
“Why should I do that?” I asked seemingly bored in an attempt to show him that I wasn’t interested.
“You agreed to our terms by staying here.” He claimed and smiled brightly.
“That’s not how it works.” I said and shook my head fiercely. There wasn’t any rule like that. I looked up the rules of the academy beforehand.
“It is.” He said nonetheless.
“It’s not.” I repeated a bit angrily.
“It is two times more than you say no.” He said happily.
“Four times.” I wasn’t willing to lose whatever this challenge was supposed to be.
“Unlimited.” He really played a children’s game with me, didn’t he?
“Mirror.” I commended dryly.
“Mirror times two.” I wasn’t entirely sure about the rules of this shitty game, but I seriously doubted one could multiply a mirror in this context.
“You’re not quitting, are you?” I grumbled unhappily.
“No.” He stated as simply as he possibly could.
“How about you leave her alone?” Surprisingly, Louis chimed I’m in support of me. Sadly, it had quite the opposite effect on Schwarz as he looked at him strangely and didn’t back off. I immediately rolled my eyes as I noticed the development happening in between them. The moment they gazed upon each other, they started to form a rivalry simply because Louis didn’t like Schwarz´s attempt to impress me.
“And who are you?” Schwarz asked and squinted his eyes dangerously close.
“Louis. Can’t you see you are bothering Lucy?” said the prince without realising that he wouldn’t be able to convince this airhead in any way.
“I would never do that.” Oh, Schwarz would bother me, that was for sure. It was just questionable if he was capable of realizing said fact or he didn’t want to.
“You are making a scene.” Louis said and looked all around us. Everyone still had their gazes upon us, including Schwarz´s opponent who still struggled to get on terms with the fact she lost so easily.
“And why should I care?” Schwarz said completely devoid of any shame.
“Because Lucy certainly doesn’t like the attention. I guess she doesn’t want to be seen as the girl an idiot with a superiority complex has a crush on.” My initial thought was that Louis went a bit too far and just as I expected Schwarz to burst out in anger, he calmed down and closed his eyes.
“Her reputation will be damaged more if she sticks around you, am I not right?” Schwarz said and smiled amused. He was strangely knowledgeable about Louis family situation and how he was viewed by other nobles which wasn’t that good thanks to his … unfortunate mother. Louis didn’t answer Schwarz´s provocation at all, and rather shrank back a little. I had hoped for a little fight, but it didn’t seem as I would be granted this spectacle. It would have been interesting to watch.
“Schwarz, I am thankful for your consideration but I can befriend whoever I like. Position or family don´t matter in this institution which you are benefiting from as well, no? And besides, I truly don’t want that much attention on myself just like Louis claimed. Unlike what he said though, I don’t mind having you around … as long as you restrain yourself a little bit.”
“So you will tell me your timetable?” He wasn’t even trying to hide the fact he did develop a little crush on me, nor that he wanted to woo me.
“No. But I can assure you I will take magical combat taught by my sister.” I said and smiled a little bit which seemed to do the trick as he finally backed off a little.
“Hmm … I guess I have to live with that.” He would have to as I certainly didn’t want to see him in the history classes I had with Luna. And I also highly doubted I could deal with him for too long if Hannah wasn’t around to restrain him. “Lucy, Luna and my dear Ellie, it was nice to meet you.” He said and bowed a little bit before turning around and strolling back towards the middle of the arena where he bowed to a confused audience and then left through the same tunnel he arrived in.
“Where does he know our names from?” Luna asked a bit amazed while I only stared at Schwarz’s back.
“My guess is on appraisal.” Surprisingly it was Ellie who answered her and not me. I raised my eyebrows a little bit and looked at the cat girl who had an overly sharp intuition or knew more about skills than a normal person.
“I second this … shall we get out of here before I turn into cheese from all these people staring at us?” I asked and stood up slowly from the bench and waited for the rest of the group to do so as well.
We left quite quickly afterwards, right as the teacher revealed the next matchup we wouldn’t be watching. We already had enough attention because of Schwarz, the freshman who easily defeated one of the best fighters of this academy.
Purely because he had a higher level.
