Chapter 181

181

“The combat evaluation is only a week away, isn’t it?”

After the battle class had ended, during the evening.

Kal, worn out, asked while trudging towards the large dormitory bath.

“Yeah.”

“Ah, really. Who do you think I’ll end up fighting?”

“Maybe we’ll end up facing each other.”

“Huh? I’d rather not?”

At Leo’s words, Kal hastily shook his head in panic.

A fight with the class representative—no matter who it was, Kal thought it was bad luck and clicked his tongue.

“Still, I didn’t expect you to actually complete the Bible?”

“It’s not done yet. I’m still far from the level I’m aiming for.”

“Still, you used Senior Toluah’s magic.”

Already, the entire school was abuzz with rumors about Leo’s magic.

“Hey, if this goes well, the Mage Tower might even want to research it, right?”

“There’s no way Lumeran would allow that.”

From the Mage Tower’s perspective, Leo’s Bible was undoubtedly something they wanted to study.

However, Lumeran would surely not allow it. To Lumeran, studying Leo would be akin to talent leakage.

Leo and Kal entered the bathhouse, washed their bodies, and submerged into the warm water.

“Kua-! The feeling after a tough session is just like being in heaven, you know?”

“You sound too much like an uncle.”

“Isn’t the uncliest guy in our class you?”

At Leo’s words, Kal muttered irritably.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Plop—

At that moment, Abad came and sat beside the two of them.

“What is it?”

“I’m curious about Leo’s magic. It’s natural for a wizard to be curious.”

Abad smiled faintly.

Afterward, Abad began asking Leo questions about the Bible.

“Hmm. If that’s the concept, it would essentially be your unique magic. But the spell structure itself is interesting. It might even be applicable to wind magic, wouldn’t it?”

“Could be.”

Leo nodded as he watched Abad muttering to himself while leaning on his chin.

The faces of the other male students nearby, who had been watching with interest, took on a strange expression.

“What are these two talking about?”

“Totally can’t understand.”

At Kal’s words, a nearby knight department student wore an expression of disbelief.

“Hey, aren’t you a wizard? What’s with saying something like that?”

“The wizard department isn’t all the same, you know?”

“Wow, what makes you so confident? Don’t you feel any self-contempt?”

“I’m not at a level where I even feel self-contempt. Would you feel self-contempt looking at Celia, Chen Sia, or Duran?”

“Guess not.”

Kal, chatting with the surrounding students, said.

“Anyway, Abad, who are you planning to choose as your combat evaluation opponent? You can fight anyone if you name them, right? Is it Leo, like always?”

At Kal’s question, Abad leaned on his chin.

“No.”

Watching Abad’s faint smile, Kal displayed a curious expression.

“Why?”

“Not really. It’s just interesting how you’re Chelsea’s brother.”

Abad, who always had a gentle smile like a spring breeze, and Chelsea, whose temperamental character was unpredictable — the Ruwalin siblings might have looked similar, but their personalities were exactly opposite.

Kal’s words made Abad giggle.

“If not Leo, maybe Celia?”

“I’d like to fight Celia too, but right now, there’s someone I really want to take down.”

“Who?”

“Warden.”

Surprisingly, Kal looked astonished at the unexpected opponent.

“Didn’t you and Warden really have much interaction?”

“Neither does Warden with anyone.”

Although Warden was the top-ranked student of the Summoning Department, he rarely interacted with other students.

He enjoyed solitude and spoke little.

What’s more, the imposing nature of his large figure further deterred other students from approaching him.

“But he’s definitely strong. Overwhelmingly so.”

Abad smiled.

“Would you say he’s the one you have to defeat before Leo or Celia?”

“Hmm… It’s hard to predict who’ll win.”

Kal also understood how strong Warden was.

Still, even then, Abad ranked first in magic combat skills if only combat prowess were considered.

It was indeed unpredictable.

“Leo, have you chosen your opponent? I heard there are some enthusiastic students who want to fight you.”

“Don’t remind me. They come to my class several times a day, don’t you know?”

Kal muttered.

The students that Abad mentioned as interested in a duel with Leo were Duran and Eliza.

Warden had nominated Leo too, but he hadn’t shown as much eagerness as Duran and Eliza.

“Still, they keep coming together, and they fight each other. Wouldn’t it be better if they just fought between themselves?”

As Kal muttered, Abad chuckled.

“Anyway, shall we discuss something about the magic department exam?”

Kal spoke seriously, and Abad nodded.

“Sounds good.”

“Let’s talk while we eat dinner. We might as well study a little together.”

Kal took the initiative.

For Kal, studying together with the top-ranked Abad of the magic department would be a tremendous help.

Abad readily agreed, seemingly not minding Kal’s enthusiasm.

Fact is, though Kal was very close to Chelsea, he had surprisingly little interaction with Abad.

Not only were they from different classes, but during magic class, Kal mostly hung out with Chloe.

‘If I get a little closer to Abad, maybe Chelsea will stop picking on me so much?’

Kal muttered to himself as he headed to the cafeteria.

As soon as they entered the dormitory cafeteria, the entire dormitory was surrounded by immense confusion and commotion.

They whispered among themselves, looking perplexed.

“Is this allowed?”

“Senior students won’t take this lying down, will they?”

“What’s going on?”

Kal tilted his head in puzzlement and approached a first-year student nearby.

“What’s the matter?”

“Kal, and… Leo?”

“Leo.”

“Leo?”

“Where, right here.”

Whoosh—

In an instant, the noisy cafeteria fell silent.

Everyone was fixated on Leo.

The gaze made Kal slightly uneasy.

“What is this? What’s going on?”

As Kal was perplexed, Selia cut through the crowd with a look of bewilderment and handed Leo the school newspaper.

Upon seeing it, Kal took a sharp intake of breath.

Abad’s eyes also widened conspicuously.

[First-Year Leo Flove! Candidate for Student Council President!]

Upon seeing the headline in bold print, Leo muttered.

“Wow, they really did it.”

“Did you know?”

“Heard from Senior Ris a while ago. Someone nominated me as the student council president.”

To this, the students were astonished.

“Whoever it is, does it make sense to announce it officially like this?”

“That’s right. We’ve also got Seniors Hark and Elina.”

“If we nominate someone else, we’ll just end up on the bad side of those two seniors.”

Students unaware of the details began chattering.

“Who nominated you for the student council presidency?”

At Selia’s question, Leo said while closing the post.

“Senior Elina.”

“What?”

“Senior Elina?”

All the students wore expressions of shock.

If true, Leo was someone supported by the person known as the Queen of Lumeran.

“Leo, what are you going to do?”

Kal swallowed dryly.

First-year student council president?

An unprecedented event in Lumeran’s history.

‘Honestly, isn’t this a poisoned chalice?’

Even if he refused, Leo was certain to be targeted by the upperclassmen.

And if he accepted, it was clear that it would be difficult for Leo to become the student council president.

At Kal’s question, Leo chuckled faintly.

“What am I going to do? Become the student council president, obviously.”

Senior Ris’s announcement unleashed a massive storm in the school.

It wasn’t just within Lumeran; even outside, everyone was on high alert upon receiving the news, monitoring the situation closely.

It wouldn’t have been strange if the whole school had been in utter pandemonium.

However, the atmosphere in Lumeran was unexpectedly calm.

Most of the fourth years, who should’ve protested the most strongly, chose to cautiously observe the situation.

As for the third years, Elina had them fully under control.

The second years, who didn’t want to act first while the third and fourth years remained silent, were similarly hesitant.

Only the first years, among all the students, were aware of the upperclassmen’s opinions, and amidst this, the first-year combat evaluation began.

Originally, the first-year combat evaluation, like the mid-term exam’s familiar relay from the first semester, had a festive atmosphere.

The first years had significantly improved their skills compared to the time of their enrollment.

Because of this, there were often cases where the current known abilities were flipped during spars.

Students who didn’t stand out in the first semester rose sharply as dark horses.

Sometimes even top-tier students lost to lower-tier ones.

It was indeed a completely unpredictable process, yielding some very entertaining results.

Hence, students from the higher grades also attended to watch the skills of their juniors.

However, due to an excessive number of people wanting to observe this year’s evaluation, it was held in the central training yard, Erek, of the school.

Due to this overwhelming crowd, the first-year participants were more tense than usual.

“Now, let’s start the nomination for the combat evaluation!”

A fifth-year student began to emcee, holding a sound-amplifying magic device.

Such tasks were usually handled by professors, but this time it was taken up by a fifth-year student.

The reason was simple.

Because it was the graduation year and Cheira, feeling idle, had volunteered.

‘Look at that! That was predictable!’

‘Hey! Someone pull her back!’

Just as other professors rushed to intervene as she started losing control, something happened.

“Cheira Siku. It seems you’d like to have a chat with me?”

“Hiiik?”

At Halind, known as Lumeran’s “Wall of Lament,” who spoke mid-sentence as a warning, Cheira panicked.

Halind, who could induce the “expulsion” of anyone, graduate or not, struck terror in everyone’s heart.

In an instant, Cheira regained her senses and, with a trembling voice, hurriedly approached Leo.

“So, uh… Starting with year representative, Leo Flove, to nominate!”

Hiding from Halind’s gaze as much as possible, Cheira moved stiffly to where Leo was.

“Leo, is there anyone you’d like to fight?”

“Yes.”

“Ooo! The representative of the first year, everyone’s curious who you want to fight! Go ahead, point it out with your finger!”

At Leo’s raised hand, the older years watched him with disapproval. Leo, recently mentioned for the student council presidency, was being eyed as a bother.

‘Let’s see how he performs. Doesn’t matter who he picks; he’s still a first-year.’

Most of them weren’t pleased with the fact of having a first-year as a student council president candidate.

Leo didn’t point at the first-year gathered training ground but rather extended his finger to the spectators beyond.

Staring at where Leo’s finger pointed, everyone was astonished to see him accurately point at a fifth-year student.

“Eh… So… Eh…”

Cheira, with a confused tone, looked back and forth between Leo and his target before cautiously asking.

“You want to fight Ris?”

“Yes.”

Leo smiled.

“Nowhere did it say I had to choose from the first-year students, right?”