“Very well, Ms. Azoth! Let’s start with why I chose to pit the three of you against me. Why did I do that?”
“The obvious reason was that you saw my conflict with the noble was threatening to undermine us or even the whole class. You wanted to make us learn to work together even if we hate each other’s guts.”
He nodded.
“Well, that’s certainly part of it! But not nearly all of it. You see, I have knowledge of your backgrounds from your applications to the academy, so we had profiles on every student. Meeting you in person only solidified my decision, though I did not expect the lot of you to succeed at all. I had actually expected this class to end catastrophically, and that is because the three of you in particular had critical flaws that I needed to iron out as quickly as possible;” He said, turning to Nisos.
“Starting with you, Mr. Iphitus. You have incredible talent for tactics, but your abilities are undermined by your lacking self-confidence and people skills. I paired you in particular with these two to compel you to think on how you can beat an overwhelmingly superior foe with numbers, and, more importantly, learn to get difficult people to work with you in seizing the chance for victory that you managed to see.”
“And what a show that was! Not only did you manage to seize the high ground from me, but you also completely boxed me in between two ranged attackers at that! And you did that by exploiting the fact that I was trying to bait the other two, making use of what should have been a critical disadvantage! This plan was so effective that none of you were forced to use much of your abilities. Simply brilliant! Of the three of you, you have preformed most admirably!” he said jovially, clapping loudly.
“And you, Lady Sept! You did much better than I expected!”
Judging by the noble’s expression, she did not seem to know whether to be happy with the praise or offended by the low expectations.
“Forgive me for being so blunt, but in my experience the upper echelons of nobility, especially those from the most hierarchical society on the continent, tend to insist on matter of propriety at the expense of everything else. Your background in particular has put you on a collision course with Ms. Azoth’s, and I wanted to put you in a situation where you had to put aside your pride to obey a superior, follow the leadership of a commoner, and work with your rival.”
The girl scoffed.
“I don’t know who you think I am, instructor, but I am neither an arrogant fool nor a spoiled child.”
“Indeed, and your restraint showed the moment I scolded you before the fight. Well done. I had honestly expected you to be indignant, and thankfully, I was wrong.”
He then turned to me.
“And now, arguably our most problematic child. Likely the youngest as well, so that makes sense. If Mr. Iphitus’s flaw was his confidence and Lady Sept’s was pride, then yours is ego, Ms. Azoth.”
“Despite your young age, it isn’t an exaggeration to say that you likely faced the most dangerous trials and possess the most battle experience in this class. Coupled with your background and your personality, that earned you the problem that is directly the opposite of Mr. Iphitus.”
He put his hands behind his back and paid me his full attention.
“You have likely come out of your trials and accomplished great feats with your own two hands, and as such, you deeply believe in yourself and cannot bear to risk anything on anyone else’s shoulders. Even when you knew I was trying to get a rise out of you so openly, you saw fit to rush at me alone through a severe terrain disadvantage, treating your teammates as if they were burdens.”
He closed his eyes, and a hint of a grief showed on his face before it quickly disappeared.
“If left unchecked, your ego was going to get you killed one day fighting an opponent you had no business messing with alone, so I made sure to embarrass you as much as I can to force you to choose between your indignation and the practical choices. Thankfully, you chose the latter, but I was prepared to throw you in solitary confinement if you had chosen to lash out at your teammates or continue to attack me after the fight has ended.”
The three of us kept quiet for a moment as we took in his words, but the bell’s ringing interrupted us.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Well, it seems that’s it for today’s class! Next class, we’ll go over the recordings of the fights that you guys showed today!”
***
The rest of the day went by quickly; We had a history and geography class, a wilderness survival and dungeoneering class, and a magic theory fundamentals class. All of them today were spent on making sure everyone is on the same playing field, so they included things I already knew, and the day ended.
I had checked to see if any of my classes from the Hall were held today, but it seems that none of them were. I met up with Durreg, and we went back home to get lessons from mom on Draconic society and etiquette. Apparently, although mom was the successor to the Aqua Dragon as the leader of water-attributed dragons, that title was transferred based on the power of its holder and wasn’t hereditary. That means I am not a noble either; at least not yet. The same went for Durreg. Still, mom insisted that we needed to learn these things since members of our society care about these things, all know each other, and are pretty damn old.
***
Four months have passed since I began attending the academy, and my days in school went about as I expected. I had enrolled in the blunt weapons and melee casting classes in the Hall of the Elites, as the more advanced magic classes were a little beyond me. Not that I could attend them in any case, being barred from theory classes. I couldn’t make any friends in the classes I did attend since everyone kept to themselves and were too old to be friends with me anyway. I got to know Jezibel, Ati, and Nisos a bit better but I’d say we’re more than acquaintances and less than friends. The noble and I just ignored each other, a cold and unspoken truce held between us.
I slowly expanded my repertoire of pure mana spells and even learned a few force spells, though spending my time in the academy meant that I couldn’t get much in the way of experience from killing monsters.
Eventually, the first term ended, and the second one began. Unlike the first one, where we spent it learning things in a classroom, the second term consisted of being placed in an adventuring party and applying what we learned in class. Our party needs to reach the silver rank at minimum before the four months end, or else we will not be able to take the graduation exam for the House of Aspirants. Since adventurer parties are assigned the rank of their lowest ranking member, that means all of us need to be silver-ranked adventurers. I went to the headmaster to ask her to take the theory exam and spare myself the time and the headache since she said I could, but the results were less productive than I had hoped.
“While that was indeed the case, I’ve decided to temporarily suspend your right to a premature examination.” She said, a cup of tea in hand.
“But why?! I already finished the academic term and passed the exam for the Hall, let alone the combat portion of the House’s graduation exam!” I exclaimed, upset at this abrupt change.
“That’s because it became apparent to me that you were much younger than I had anticipated, and thus lacking in world experience that we generally expect from any graduate. It also helps that the team you’ve been assigned to is a rather interesting one, and that it would be a shame to let you miss this opportunity; both for your and your teammates’ growth. Beings of your rank have plenty of time to spare, so these few months shouldn’t be a big hindrance to you anyway.”
She put her cup down and sighed contentedly, then looked to me.
“Unlike everyone else, you just need to go through the four months, then I’ll let you take the written exam.”
“…Aren’t you worried about me just leaving my party to rot and focusing on my own advances? Getting to silver rank on my own isn’t difficult.” I asked.
“Not really. You don’t strike me as the kind of person who shirks responsibilities just because she wouldn’t face consequences for it. Besides, the bonds of an adventuring team who face death together tend to be much stronger than that. It’s a good opportunity for you to make life-long friends, which is a department you seem to be sorely lacking in.”
Urk.
As I was busy wheezing from the emotional damage dealt by that low blow, the headmaster carried on.
“Tomorrow morning, you should go to your batch’s lobby in the House of Aspirants and look to the bulletin board to see who your teammates are and who your team is going to report to. Do you have any more questions? Splendid! Now, if you will excuse me, I’ve got a busy schedule.” She said as she kicked me out of her office in the same breath.
That woman is definitely a sadist.
***
The next day, in a sense of déjà vu, I found myself staring at the same bulletin board from my first day in the academy away from the crowd; this time looking to see who my team members are and who our supervisor will be.
…
Party #12
Supervisor:
Glaukos Adelphius
Party Leader:
Nisos Iphitus
Members:
Kiara Azoth
Jezibel Hiram
Ati Amasis
Nicotris Sept
Party #13
…
After staring at the board for a while, only one thought crossed my mind. Curiously, I heard the noble girl whispering something similar to herself as she stood not too far from me.
"Amn take me..."