In the classroom, almost an hour into Aria's lecture on combat magic…

「…Aaand so, as I was saying, action beats reaction. However, this doesn't mean you should cast spells at random, just to be the first one to cast.」

Clackclackclackclack.

She says in a loud voice, tapping her scribbles that she previously explained on the blackboard with a pointing stick.

「Remember! It's better to be the second one to start casting the right spell, than to be the first one to start casting the wrong one! Some mages will tell you that『Spellshield』is never a wrong choice…」

The large-hatted woman places her fists on her hips, right where the side-slits in her robes begin, and she looks up at her students from beneath her hat's brim.

「…Well, there is a reason why none of them duel. Sure, it has a relatively short incantation. Shorter than most offensive spells… But I'd like you to picture this from your own point of view, and not of a high-class duelist like me.」

Aria says, and sits down on her desk, facing the class with her arms crossed.

「You cast it, your opponent casts it… Now what? Duels can be considered magic fencing. And now you've turned it into drunken boxing, plus magic. What if your opponent is simply an older mage?…」

She asks, and her eyes scan over each of the students' faces. With a slanted mouth on hers, she throws her hands up into a shrug before crossing them again, and slowly wanders away from her desk.

「…I don't want you to take it as an insult, when I say most of you have a very mediocre mana capacity. This can be changed by simply staying healthy and vigorously expending mana over many years…」

The teacher continues explaining, aimlessly walking around the area in front of the blackboard, perhaps to occupy herself with something while she talks.

「…But this doesn't change the fact, that if you are up against someone with larger mana capacity than yours, and you both cast Spellshield on yourselves, you will lose. You have my guarantee.」

Aria says, looking at her audience with a dead-serious expression. A student in the rear raises his hand, propping his cheek up on his fist while he's looking down at her.

「Yes?」

「Ms. Aria, but what are we supposed to do, then? If our opponent starts casting Spellshield, wouldn't casting something else put us at a disadvantage?」

He asks with his brows inquisitively furrowed, lowering his hand back onto the desk.

「Mirroring spells is what will put you at a disadvantage. Not only you will cast them with a delay, but you will not gain any advantage by doing that. The answer is rather simple, really…」

She scoffs as she replies, and walks back to the blackboard in a rushed step. She once again taps the pointing stick on her scribbles.

Clack clack clack.

「Once again! Action beats reaction! But nothing beats initiative! Be cautious, but never afraid! Be daring, not reckless! As a mage, you chance death with every spell! Focus on casting, and let your opponent focus on fear!…」

Aria loudly reminds the students, and slides the tip of her pointing stick to the top of the triangle she had drawn, the tip of which is labeled initiative. The crude illustration is meant to serve as a simple visual aid to put emphasis on mindfully acting first. Her gaze drifts off to a short-haired, handsome student sitting right at the window, longingly staring outside, and seemingly paying no attention to her lecture.

「…What I would do, is simply not let him cast. Dueling is not chess, we don't have to take turns. Certain spells with shortened incantations can be cast in the blink of an eye, Professor Wolfskopf will teach you more…」

The student continues gazing outside. His head is propped up by his loose fist on his cheek in a rather photogenic manner. Aria's voice trails off into silence to check if he will notice. He doesn't.

「…About it… Is there something interesting outside, Mr-!?」

She quietly, reluctantly finishes her previous sentence, still staring at him with a displeased expression and her fists on her hips. After a few seconds, she calls out to the distracted student in a loud question.

However, before she can call his name, a pea-sized ball of paper hits the student right in his pensive, pretty eye. Her jaw drops, and he winces from the pain, immediately tearing up and cautiously trying to open his eye back up through the pain to check if he can see. Outraged, Aria quickly lifts the brim of her hat up with both of her hands, and starts looking for the person responsible. Her eyes are immediately drawn across the class to Straf , who is cackling at his desk while turned towards the distracted student, and holding a drinking straw in his hand.

「Heheheheh… Man, I can't believe they put the protagonist in your class, Lia-」

Straf snickers, reloading his makeshift blowgun while the three girls surrounding him stare at him in a mix of confusion and surprise.

「Straf! Katastrof!」

Aria loudly enunciates, fuming. Straf's head snaps to her, slack-jawed. They stare at each other for a few silent seconds while he is frozen in process of rolling up another projectile ball in his fingers.

「…Yeah?」

He casually asks, and his face twists into a snide grin.

「Why, I was about to ask for a volunteer for a little demonstration, and it looks like you'll do perfect for the role! Get down here!」

She demands, angrily pointing her gloved finger at the ground next to her. He looks at Cycelia next to him, then at the two girls sitting next to them both.

「…But I'm not a student-」

He explains, slowly raising his hands palm-up.

「Matters not! Down! Now!」

Aria repeats herself, and her lip trembles with fury. Straf sighs, sets his bullying implements down, and with his hands in his pockets, he lazily shambles down the stairs amidst the desks to meet her in front of the blackboard.

「Okay, class! Mr. Straf Katastrof has graciously volunteered to demonstrate what's it like to react in a magic duel. Watch closely, so you do not repeat this mistake.」

She announces to the students, looking at Straf's slanted mouth with a smug, self-satisfied smirk on her face.

「Now!… Stand over here.」

The teacher points to a specific spot on the ground, and he slothfully complies, toeing the invisible line on the ground. He looks at her, and she walks the other way to the windows.

「Now. I am going to cast first, and you are to react, Straf. I am very curious to see for myself if there's something special about you.」

The frustrated woman explains, smiling disdainfully at Straf from across the room, who stands lax and uncaring with his hands in his pockets. He glances at Cycelia, and she is staring down at him from above with her brows furrowed.

「Don't worry, I have a very fine control of my mana, and I'm not going to hit you with anything that dangerous. I'll just knock you on your ass. You are free to cast your own spells in return, of course.」

She declares, spreading her arms with a shrug of her shoulders.

「Mowihanmawa Iha-asectowa!「『Forcebolt』!」」

With a cold glare and nary a warning, she points two of her fingers at Straf's chest, and shouts out a short incantation. A whirling, purple conical shape pointed at Straf' envelops her gloved fingers. The same moment, it shoots across the classroom, crossing half of it before most of the students are even aware that this is in fact Aria's incantation. Straf's looks on with a bored, tight-lipped expression the whole time. As it flies, the cone grows in size to roughly the size of a man's whole fist.

Before it has even the slightest hope of coming into contact with Straf's torso, a wave of shimmering air bursts out from the space in front of him, and quickly stretches forward to engulf Aria as well. The purple projectile is violently blown away by the shimmer, like a cloud of colorful smoke in a sudden gust of tempestuous wind, and disappears into nothing.

《New spell memorized.》

A monotone female voice announces in Straf's head, as he continues staring at Aria with the same bored expression as before. Her jaw drops and she blinks a few times in sheer shock, trying to quickly piece together what has occurred.

《Silent casting?… No, that can't be right, his mouth didn't move… That's not possible.》

Aria thinks, staring at his slanted mouth. Her eyes widen when a realization dawns on her… She is wearing an expression of astonishment on her face.

《Shit. I can't show myself to them like this…》

She quickly tilts her head towards the class, hiding her face beneath her gigantic hat, still glaring at Straf.

《How did he do that!? This should have been impossible to react to!- Never mind that, I need to save my lecture!》

「Ahum. As you can see, class, Straf here has aptly chosen to cast『Disrupt Mana』instead of attempting to conjure a shield…」

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Smiling at her audience, Aria lifts her hat's brim up with her gloved hand, and points her other one to Straf across the room.

「…This goes very well with today's topic of initiative beating action and reaction. It appears Straf was attentively listening to the lecture, unlike some genuine students here…」

She knowingly side-glances at Straf, glaring at him with a smile.

「…Maybe you should get a smaller hat.」

He mockingly suggests, grinning at her with his hands in his pockets from across the classroom.

「Khrkh!…」

She seethes through her teeth, and quickly rotates her hand, palm facing Straf.

「Astfirburbri! Lemyentayomi! Sca-Astosewi! Shayofubeir! Lethbeno!…」

Aria shouts out, and Straf lightly tilts his head out of confusion.

「『Fireball』!」

《New spell memorized.》

She growls out, and clenches her teeth in fury. A chaotic flame forms in front of her palm, rapidly swelling in size until it resembles a basketball. The students in the front seats jump up to their feet in panic, trying to shuffle away, but before they can make it any appreciable distance away, the fireball takes off and roars through the air towards Straf. The air shimmers again, and the ball of flame harmlessly dissolves into a rainbow dust, which bounces off Straf and dissolves into nothing in the mirage-like magic spectacle.

Breathing heavily, Aria is staring stupefied at him. She quickly glances at the terrified students scattered at the front, and her face gains a very troubled expression. A needle-thin ray of light impacts her hat and knocks it off of her head as if someone just roughly punched it.

「Hhuuuuuuuuurk!…」

She gasps for air in shock, completely frozen in disbelief as the hat lands on the ground with a pathetic, loud pfwap.

「…Cool. Can I go sit down yet?」

Straf nonchalantly asks, shrugging his shoulders.

「Yes, you may return.」

Aria nods her suddenly hatless head, and waves him up the stairs with a manufactured smile. He shrugs, and proceeds to return to his seat while Cycelia and the two late students sitting with her stare at him in awe. She shamefully picks her hat back up, and places it back on her black, silky head.

《Act like nothing happened. Act like nothing happened. Act like nothing happened. Act like nothing happened…》

「Ahem. As you can see, initiative always wins. Straf cheated, however… An astute student may have noticed, that he performed something that we call silent casting!…」

She explains, pointing her gloved hand towards Straf as he takes his seat.

「…Silent casting is an advanced technique. A mage whispers, or otherwise utters out the incantation very quietly to trick his opponent. Losing focus may be deadly!… Very impressive! As expected of a bodyguard!」

Aria says, briefly pausing to see if the students are buying her explanation. The front desk students are slowly shuffling back to their seats after their panicked flight, and she briefly lowers her head to gulp nervously.

「…But regardless of how impressive it is, Straf has cheated. He has started casting before me, contrary to what I instructed him to do. That is fine, it was just a little demonstration after all…」

She spreads her arms, and raises her index finger as she continues explaining herself ot the class. She begins idly pacing around the space before the blackboard.

「It demonstrated two vital points. Initiative beats all, and duel rules are not always respected! A mage must always be mindful of his opponent cheating in a rule-based duel! Your life is at stake, after all!…」

The teacher cautions the unnerved students, and they glance at each other with wary eyes.

「Ahem… I have a question for the students in the front rows… Why were you running? Did I not say, that I have fine mana control?…」

《Please let my class be full of drooling morons that will actually buy that!》

Aria asks, nervously smiling at the frontmost students. The front rows erupt into a nervous laughter, and they glance at each other again with unnerved grins.

Gonnnnggggg…. Donggg…. Gongggg…

A bell loudly tolls from somewhere above, loud enough to make the walls shake. Aria lets out a relieved sigh, and waves the students to the door.

「Okay! That's it for today, we'll be seeing each other tomorrow! Next up, magic duels in the context of small scale battles! Self-study, please! Don't make me babysit you! Especially you, Neela, Tisha!」

Aria shouts over the loud shuffling and mumbling of the students as they head for the door. She briefly addresses the two girls that sat next to Straf and Cycelia, while all four descend the stairs.

「Straf!… A moment!… Again!…」

Just as Straf is about to walk out into the hallway, the professor calls his name out, causing him to throw his head back in frustration.

「…Go on, Lia. I'll find you whenever this hag is done talking.」

He gestures Cycelia with his head, while the two girls look at them both, stopping with them.

「Um. Okay?… I suppose I'll head back to the room…」

Cycelia nods, and heads out with Tisha and Neela. The two immediately latch onto her, and begin excitedly talking about something. The last student out closes the door behind him, and Straf stops looking over his shoulder, facing Aria and her angry grimace.

「I have many questions, Straf… But first things first… You said you accept any duel challenge, correct?」

She asks with her arms crossed, and her mouth lightly pulled to the side in anger.

「Yup.」

He nonchalantly shrugs, looking past her at the windows.

「Good… Because you have a lot of them. Your first one is scheduled first thing in the morning tomorrow. The challenger has already informed his teacher that he will be dueling during the class.」

「Cool.」

He shrugs again, and Aria lets out a peeved scoff.

「The second one is the day after that, during the break. And now I have a few questions for you…」

「Shoot. Just not a fireball, that was kind of annoying.」

Straf briefly pulls his hands out of his pockets to shrug with them, returning his eyes to Aria to add emphasis to his annoyed, slanted mouth.

「First… Have you at any point introduced yourself to anybody as Nonoyo?」

She asks, shifting her stance around and inquisitively tilting her head.

「What's it to you?」

「Answer me.」

The professor demands with an angry glare.

「Tsk…」

Straf clicks his tongue, and sighs as he briefly looks away. He spreads his arms, and they limply drop at his sides, patting his legs.

「Maybe? I don't know, I don't remember. I might have. Why?」

He asks, and Aria knowingly nods her head. She lets out a deep, disappointed sigh.

「…Because a son of a certain nobleman had his head forced into a toilet by a tall, strong, broad-shouldered man in the Academy's uniform, who then activated its water rune a few times, nearly drowning him.」

She explains, with a deeply frustrated tight-lipped grimace.

「Oh come on, nobody ever died from a swirlie…」

「So it was you…」

Aria's mouth scrunches heavily to the side, and she lets out another angry scoff.

「Next question… What was the meaning of that!? How dare you knock my hat off of my head!?」

She shouts angrily in his face, taking a step closer and nearly pressing her decently-sized breasts into him.

「Hey, you said we're doing a duel, and I was like, alright…」

Straf leans back a little, spreading his hands while he looks aside with an amused smirk.

「…But is it a crime if I confuse the genres a little, and steal a cliche or two from a spaghetti western?」

He turns his snide grin to her, and adds a little shrug of his shoulders to his spread hands.

「What!?… Do you have any idea of the mortal disrespect that you casually inflicted on me!? Do you accept duel challenges from professors too!? I won't be satisfied with anything but a duel to the death!」

「I wouldn't do that if I were you…」

「You have the headmaster's backing, and you're a little good, and now you think you can just go around and do anything!? Is that it!?…」

Straf chuckles in Aria's face while she continues shouting in his. The back and forth continues fruitlessly for at least half an hour longer…