Mightiest Melee Magician

Chapter 32

There was a huge commotion as the students went to check the list of matches.

Who are we up against first?

Move out a bit! I cant see!

As they scrambled to see their first opponent, the group became unruly.

Some who were matched against relatively weak schools were rejoicing.

And the students who found complicated matchups were filled with despair.

Our academy was part of the second group.

D-damn it. From the start

The first opponent of the Ignit Magic Academy was

Its Oyota

It was the neighbouring sand kingdom, Oyota.

Oyota.

The ones known to break the students team morale before the competition even started.

They were even rumoured to play dirty during the competition too.

Hankus and the Michael Group became pale, as they had particularly bad memories about the Oyotas.

Ah of all things?

After having provoked us in the mana train before, they hadnt especially gone out of their way to mess with us again.

But these guys, against us

No.

I knew how they perceived me in particular well enough.

Was he Seta Malkiri?

The representative of Oyota, Seta Malkiri would often show his hostility out in the open when we passed by each other on the road.

That was still the same.

What? Its the Acadummies?

This is gonna be so easy starting from the first competition. Dont you agree?

I know, right? Keke.

After having confirmed that we were their first opponents, the Oyota students started snickering and provoked us.

Of course, in the center of it was Seta Malkiri.

For the first opponents to be these Acadummies. Its nice that itll be easy but its too bad that there won't be any tension going into such a big competition. Why do we need to face these weaklings that wont even be enough for warm-up? Augh, its so boring. So boring.

Seta Malkiri looked at us and started to publicly taunt us.

The effects of this minor taunt were quite significant.

Wow, Im jealous. It should have been us against the Acadummies. I wanted to advance easier.

Kek. I know, right?

Multiple people appeared that agreed with Seta Malkiris words.

Oyota started it.

And the students from other schools threw in their own insults.

As they grabbed the mood and drove it the way they wanted, it blew up beyond how it was initially.

Even the ones who had no thought of making fun of us had the image of Acadummy planted deep in their mind, and they would all belittle us.

Similarly to now.

Look at that. Theyre so scared, they arent doing anything.

What did you expect from those Acadummies?

The air became cold.

The mood changed.

Kekekeke.

Seta Malkiri snickered as if he were enjoying this situation, and I could only laugh dumbfoundedly at the situation.

Yeah.

I understood.

Watching the conflict was always the most fun part.

The taunt that Seta Malkiri threw at us was just an attraction to all the students gathered here.

A form of entertainment that appeared just in time to fill the boredom that was sweeping through before the competition started.

However

This was too obvious.

These spectators were now surrounding me and Seta in a circular formation and watched this one-sided provocation.

Well

Thats the representative of the Acadummies?

I think so

The hell? Have you seen him before?

To be precise, they were watching me, the representative of the Acadummies that they havent seen before.

They were asking me,

You were mocked in front of everyone in public. Are you going to take it, or will you fight back?

Be branded as a coward.

Or stand up and fight.

One of these two.

Whichever choice I picked, the spectators would find it amusing.

It felt as if I suddenly became a performer.

But naturally, I had no intention of performing for them.

I scratched the tip of my nose and walked toward Seta.

I was waiting as well.

At that, Seta Malkiri asked back, confused,

Waiting? For what?

This. Since the students from all 32 schools are gathered here, Ill properly introduce myself.

What? Introduce yourself?

Suddenly hearing I would give a self-introduction, Seta Malkiri furrowed his brow.

I could guess that he wanted to rile me up and properly mess with me, but he must have been confused as, rather than get angry, I just talked of introducing myself.

What are you scheming?

What scheme? I just want to greet everyone before the competition starts.

I lightly smiled and looked around, towards the spectators.

Its good to see everyone. My name is Ruin Ardell. As you said, I am the representative of the Acadummies.

Right.

An introduction.

It was time to officially introduce myself while all the school representatives were gathered together.

And with it,

Since Ive told you my name, Ill request just one thing.

A request to all of them

No.

Going forward, dont talk about Acadummies in front of me. Its quite unpleasant.

A warning to all of them.

What did you say?

Right.

This was a declaration of war in the disguise of a request.

W-what did that guy just say?

Did I hear him wrong? Saying its unpleasant, even though hes just an acadummy

Maybe it was because my tone was of a warning rather than a request.

Or was it because I said it was unpleasant while being just an acadummy?

It was probably both.

One thing was for certain.

We should call Acadummies Acadummies. What else would we call them?

I cast a stone at everyone gathered here.

And I warned them against the thought that the dumbest are the acadummies that was so deeply ingrained in their minds.

Right.

We at least wont take it lying down like before.

We wont be ignored forever.

No.

Ive been in last place for so long, Im kinda tired of it. So, Im thinking of not getting last place, but first.

We will definitely win.

* * *

* * *

As soon as the word first left my mouth, the spectators started to mutter amongst themselves.

First? What is he talking about?

Hes insane.

Seta Malkiri looked dumbfounded as well and muttered,

Hes a retard.

Then, someone asked me,

What? First? Hah! Do you think this is some small-town festival? Youre just an acadummy. Dont spout nonsense. What are you? Huh? Who do you think you are!

Me?

As I was about to answer

My eyes rested on someone.

Just a bit ago.

The representative of Seiki Womens Residential College I met at the antique shop.

Irene Prius.

She was looking at me with a gaze full of curiosity.

I snuck a peek at the girl and answered while laughing,

a secret weapon.

* * *

The Grand Festival.

If, over the course of about 15 days, the hundreds of genius magicians whove been living a good life had to meet at this small and cramped Altein, it was natural that there would be some friction between them.

Having unleashed a bunch of curious puppies into one area, why wouldnt they fight for territory?

Large and small conflicts of ego happened all the way through the competition.

And

Today, the day before the competition officially began,

Woah The reveal of our academys secret weapon! Everyone saw it, right? The look in Ruins eyes just then was

Shut up.

After self-identifying as our academys secret weapon, I had become the common enemy of all the students who were entering the competition.

Hah

I couldve just let things resolve smoothly.

I got too hasty, and instead of just taunting, I had fully large area taunted.

There wasnt really a need to create enemies.

Hoo, this temper of mine.

But seemingly finding this situation funny, Jason said while snickering,

Nah. Im not making fun of you. It was really cool. When that skinny guy asked you, First? Hah! Stop talking nonsense. Who do you think you are? while looking really confused, and you replied while looking like a true warrior, a secret weapon. Kuh! It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it You see this? I actually got goosebumps.

Jason.

Kekekek. Sorry.

Jason exaggerated my moment to make me seem like some hero in a bards tale.

Every student in the inn knew about the story.

And I heard the same story at least three times.

I was sick and tired of hearing it.

The academys secret weapon.

Well, thanks to Jason, Id probably be made fun of for the next 3 years.

But it wasnt like I gained nothing.

The greatest gain of them all was

Ruin was honestly pretty cool back then.

I know, right? It was honestly pretty refreshing. He said what I wanted to say for a long time.

Well, that secret weapon part was a bit cringe

mhm.

The satisfaction of my peers.

Would it have been better if I removed the part about being the secret weapon?

No.

That was the finishing touch!

Anyways. Thanks to this, my peers who were discouraged because of the hostile gazes from the other schools regained their confidence.

Hoo. Lets really focus up. We cant afford to lose to those Oyota guys in the first competition.

It was as if we regained our desire to desperately fight.

Since we publicly announced our challenge, we needed to follow through with our actions.

With this, it was enough to call it a meaningful introduction.

Ruin, do you think we can do it?

Of course, we needed to prove that the challenge wasnt thrown with bravado alone.

We needed to prove our skills.

Tomorrow too.

We can.

The group competitions of the Grand Festival were divided into two main categories.

Group competitions where the school representative joined.

And ones where only the group members participated.

The group competition held tomorrow was the latter.

Meaning,

We dont even have you, Ruin What can we do by ourselves?

I wouldnt be participating.

Dont worry. I already made our strategies.

Y-yea?

I rubbed the artifact, the Ring of Invulnerability, that had nested itself on my middle finger.

It fit firmly, as if it was made for me.

Alright! If youre done making fun of me lets start our strategy meeting.

* * *

Seta Malkiri.

The Oyota representative was making an uncharacteristically uncomfortable expression.

Ruin Ardell. That bastard. Just what does he do? Have you found anything?

At that, a student who was sitting next to him spoke up.

Yeah. I looked into him. It looked like he was nearly a dropout before.

a dropout? How could a dropout become a school representative?

I dont know the details, but they say he suddenly turned from a practical dropout into a monster who aced the first semesters tests.

Aced the tests? Is that true?

Yeah. He said it himself before. That hes been last place for so long, hell get first this time. I think he was telling the truth.

Seta Malkiri furrowed his brow.

The words Professor Malcolm said to him at the beginning came to his mind.

To be careful since he wasnt a normal guy.

Damn it. Why am I worried over some Acadummy punks?

Seta Malkiri spat on the ground and stood up.

He then walked out of his inn and wandered through the Altein commercial district.

The direction he headed was none other than near the lodging of the Ignit Magic Academy.

He looked up and down the inn.

These arrogant punks. I need to teach them a lesson.

Scaring them before the competition even started.

This was the school tradition that the sand kingdom of Oyota prided themselves in.