บท 61: Results
Several ways to contact Bryson had come to mind. Just trying to directly talk to him, leaving behind notes, or getting someone else to say it for me.
However, I thought it would be better for me to get in contact with Nathan and see the results of how he handled Natan to see how it worked out for him. There was still a part of me that just wished Bryson was actually gone, but I felt that was unlikely.
More than that, I decided to focus on meditating.
I recalled the events of the game, which reminded me that I was supposed to challenge Natan after seeing the results of the test and being unsatisfied with that. Of course, I had no plans of actually doing that since it was basically pointless to involve us in that conflict.
And on top of that, it wouldn't fit the personality that I've crafted so far.
Hm. Well, it would just be more convenient if fewer problems arose, so there was no need to think about it too much.
With that in mind, I got off the carriage and made it to class.
Unlike most days, most of the seats had already been filled. Nathan, who was usually a little later than me, was actually here beforehand. I'm guessing he was a little traumatized by the fact Natan had taken over for a little while.
Shortly after, everyone was here.
It was at this point that Harold began speaking, but a little more solemnly than usual.
"I will now be reading out the rankings to you all for this test."
Only when he said that did I have a sudden realization. That this was a rather brutal way to show results to them, making it so that they had to compare with others directly. And the worst part is they don't even show the specific mark you got.
Yet, this was still understandable in the sense that it was probably not a tradition to hand out papers given their expense these days, and listing out the specific scores would take too long.
And perhaps most of all...
"The top of the class is Natan."
...was that they wanted to foster competition.
"What? How is a commoner supposed to be number one?"
Sam suddenly stood up, his blue hair flung around as though agreeing with his anger.
Huh, this guy said the line that I was supposed to say. Well, not exactly, as I was supposed to say something about being preposterous, but it had the same basic meaning. And besides, now that Nathan has his processed meat business, he basically isn't a commoner anymore.
Wait. Did this mean that Sam was going to challenge Natan instead?
Harold let out a long sigh and glared at Sam harshly.
"Sit down. The fact that the person at the top of the class is a commoner is not strange in any sense. What determines who is best at this school is not their wealth or status, but their capability. The lavish decorations are here to show that the school does not need to care about your wealth to run and is perfectly fine on its own."
Something was telling me that the last part was not the full truth, and may have been a belief that Harold forced himself into. That wasn't going to make me stop him though, as he had the right idea at least.
Sam let out what almost sounded like a low growling sound. It seemed that he was trying to contain his anger, but having a damn hard time doing it.
As though to add insult to injury, the next person called out was also a commoner.
"In second place is Cheryl."
That was one of the heroines in the story you could pursue, but we haven't really interacted with her at all.
"In third place is Charlotte."
Harold continued to list people off one after another, with those feeling prideful at first slowly turning to shame.
"In seventh place is Arianne."
If she didn't panic so much, she would have definitely been at least fourth.
"In eleventh place is Ela."
Huh. I don't remember her test results to be honest.
"In thirteenth place is Bryson."
Hm. Last I remembered, Bryson was supposed to get seventeenth place, so this was a decent improvement I guess.
"In fourteenth place is Raisa."
She did have a similar magical aptitude as me. It seemed my casting speed just barely let me stand on top. Raisa herself didn't seem to mind being below me though.
Not in a sexual way, if you were thinking that.
You probably weren't, but still.
"In twentieth place is Sam."
"What?"
Sam stood up immediately once more, clenching his fists tightly. Harold looked at him with a tired expression.
"You are twentieth place."
All things considered, in a classroom of twenty-three people, the twentieth place wasn't exactly the highest, but there were still three people under him.
But that clearly wasn't enough for him.
"This test is ridiculous! It doesn't truly capture what it means to be a mage!"
Harold raised an eyebrow as he glanced at him.
"So you claim that you are a better mage than Natan at this moment?"
Sam fell silent. It looked as though he was going to step down. But something flashed in his eyes as he aggressively stood his ground once more.
"Being a mage is more than just casting the spell the best! There still needs to be a test of practically when put into combat."
His arm swept outwards, before pointing to Natan.
"I challenge you to a duel next week! If I win, then my test rank should be placed at the top instead!"
Huh. I guess he did end up taking my place. It appears he isn't that different from Bryson, at least on the surface.
Harold narrowed his eyes.
"Sam. Do you really think that you are allowed to make the rules here?"
A smirk formed on Nathan's face.
"I don't see a problem with that, I'm willing to undergo this challenge."
Sam turned to the teacher with a confident expression, probably spurred on by Nathan supporting him.
"It is only fair! The truly better mage is the one that can use it in battle!"
Harold furrowed his brows rather intensely, but Sam was doing it even harder. It seemed that something flipped within him, making him rather unrelenting for whatever reason. Eventually, Harold let out a long sigh.
"If you truly wish to undergo this, then under the condition that you lose, you are no longer allowed to question my decisions. Should you break the rule despite losing, I will have you expelled immediately."
Sam smiled after hearing that.
"I'll take those terms."
Though, after that Nathan spoke up while rubbing his chin in thought.
"But naturally, there should be something for me if I win, no?"
Sam turned to look at him with a grim expression.
"What is it? Money? Say your price."
Nathan leaned back in a chair as a cocky smile formed on his face.
"No, no, not money. Instead, I would like that stone you have on your belt. It is called a crystallized spell, no?"
Sam's expression froze.
Ah, I didn't actually remember that he had that. As you might expect, the crystallized spell is basically just a spell scroll but instead of paper, it's made of something called iridescent stone. Also, it has a few uses before the thing breaks.
I have no idea how much it costs, but what I do know is that it's very hard to buy since apparently, they are a pain to make. So even if you have the money, you need to be of noble status to be qualified to purchase it.
In a sense, selling it was a way for a magician to make ties with other nobles.
To put it simply, it was something quite worthwhile. That made Sam hesitate.
Nathan let out a sigh and held out his hands helplessly.
"Well, if you really think you are going to lose, then we'll just have to call it off then."
A vein popped from Sam's forehead. He clearly was angry, but more than that he was very aware that there was a good chance he was going to lose.
After all, it's basically the top student facing off against someone near the bottom.
But after Sam slammed his fist onto the desk, hanging his head low, he muttered.
"I agree to the stakes."
Nathan exaggeratedly put his hand up to his ear as though he couldn't hear him.
"Ah, sorry, what was that?"
Sam yelled right after.
"I said I agree to the ridiculous stakes!"
A smile formed on Nathan's face.
"All of you heard that, right? We can agree on that now."
Harold let out a long sigh. He had one palm on his forehead.
"This time is an exception. I will not be permitting any more private duels after this. If I accede to every request, then I'll never be able to actually teach you magic, what you've enrolled here for."
Nathan nodded.
"Of course, teacher."
From there, Harold began teaching us more about spells, but the entire time there was a rather heavy atmosphere, making it feel somewhat stifling. Most people were probably still thinking about this duel that was happening.
As for me, I wasn't holding my breath. Other than me and Nathan, all the others were basically absolute noobs in combat. We've already figured out countless different strategies, whether they were no-hit runs, or speedrunning the battles.
Of course, it was a little different now that it was in 3D, but even in that scenario, we definitely had more experience with regular combat than these guys.
For no particular reason.
This atmosphere continued on into Math class, but after Karin had announced there would be a test, it was quickly shaken off with people focusing up. Of course, the test was incredibly easy for me and Nathan.
We were able to finish it in less than a minute.
It was somewhat expected, but some people still looked at us with incredulity when we raised our hands to indicate we finished. Lunch was fairly normal as well, though I called out Nathan and handed my book to Raisa for safekeeping once more.
Upon feeling my back rest against the wall, I spoke.
"How have things been with Natan so far?"
Nathan smiled bitterly. He crossed his arms and looked off to the side.
"It's honestly a little hard to communicate with him, but I've explained some things to him a little more clearly and set some rules. While allowing him to go out while I'm asleep, I made it required for him to record everything he does as he does so. He complained about the price for paper, but I was able to convince him eventually."
I gave a few nods.
"Although I haven't explicitly seen Bryson do anything yet, I imagine he'll be up to something. Do you think he can be reasoned with?"
Nathan narrowed his eyes ever so slightly before shaking his head.
"Even in the chance that he is, we should take preparations in the case that he isn't. We should set up some stuff on our trip to the forest. If he's anything like Natan, then he's already seen enough to get a gist of what's going on. I'll try to explain it to him directly."
I gave a quick nod.
"Oh yeah, I also met the mirror freak."
Nathan sucked in a cold breath.
"Thank god that wasn't me. Ah, right. I also got one of your servants to send that meat everyone's freaking out about to your place."
I rolled my eyes.
"Thanks, I'll treat it as emotional damage fees."
We promptly returned to class.
Which was boring.
But that's nothing new.
Then, came time for gym class. Once we had all filed in, she raised her hand high into the air.
"Alright, form groups of four everyone! Today, you will be fighting in groups!"
Hm. Sounds interesting.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
Disgrace
Disgrace At least it's not a group project.
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