Evin stood before the important-looking blonde boy of nobility, not really sure what was happening to him. He had just come from the bathroom, and was listening to Arza mention that he missed something pretty cool, and at the time, Evin didn't really think much about it. But then his name was mentioned by someone on the stage and he was practically dragged to the stage by some people who were dressed as high-class servants.
"Are you Evin?" the handsome, blonde boy asked.
"I am?" Evin replied.
Weirdly, even though he was in front of so many people, he was taking all this much more calmly than he would've anticipated from himself.
"Why the questioning tone? Are you Evin or not? Son of Edmund the blacksmith."
"I am… But," Evin began, but couldn't quite continue.
"Speak up, boy. You're a mage now. Not some simple citizen playing around with hammers and metals."
Evin was a bit riled up, to be called a boy someone of his own age, but something in him was saying that he probably shouldn't act rudely towards this person.
"I'm just… a bit confused, is all," he managed to mutter out.
"Have you not heard me perform and speak a moment ago?"
"No, sorry. I was away from the, uhh, the arena, so I must've missed your… performance."
The answer seemed to irk the boy, as he harrumphed and started explaining.
"I heard about your talent of casting magic using your imagination, even though you're not someone of noble origins. Is that true?"
<Seems like Leanne's been a bit too talkative…> the voice said with a sigh, <As for his little speech, just play dumb. Say that you thought it was natural or something.>
He didn't feel very good about it, but the recent events made him trust in the voice's advice much more. But it was still a hard thing to accept completely. Since the voice was a thorn on his side for such a long time, Evin still sometimes struggled to wholeheartedly believe its words.
"I just tried it and I was successful… I didn't think it was such a big deal."
The answer seemed to irk the noble even more, but he didn't make it obvious and just pointed towards two shiny rocks left on a table. Evin quickly realized that the thing was filled with mana.
"I want you to prove that to everyone here, so people will realize that Imagination Casting is something that's accessible to everyone in the country, not just the nobles. I want to challenge you to a Duel of Efficiency."
"A Duel?"
"It's nothing violent. We'll just try to create magic that's better than the others with an equal amount of mana."
Evin wanted to ask what was the point of the duel if he just had to prove his abilities, but the blonde boy continued on with his explanation.
"This here is what's called a Mana Lodestone. Do you know about it? No? Because of its ability to suck the surrounding air of its mana and contain it within itself, it's something that's desired by many mages across the world. As you can probably sense, all the mana in the surroundings have gathered inside these two stones."
Now that the boy mentioned it, Evin could feel that the amount of mana in the surroundings had dropped considerably.
<I guess those two lodestones contain the same amount of mana, and you have to try and outdo your opponent somehow,> the voice sighed, <Just lose. It's not worth getting on this asshole's bad books.>
"We'll hold each in our hands and cast our spell. And if you manage to win, I'll give you two Elemental World Shards. What do you say?" the boy said and threw one of the lodestones towards Evin.
Evin caught it, and felt the lodestone sucking the mana out of his body.
<Oh? Two Shards?> the voice seemed a bit interested now, just like Evin himself.
“I…”
<Eh, the two shards are nice to get, but it’s too much trouble. There's no need to invite useless drama into our daily lives,> the voice decided after thinking a bit.
Evin really felt the same.
“I refuse,” he replied.
“…”
The blonde glared at Evin, but there was a sense of accomplishment and superiority in his eyes. He was practically screaming: ‘That’s right. You’re only worth that. Stay in your place.’
<Don’t worry, though. I’ll make sure to kill him eventually.>
Evin ignored the Voice’s casually spoken death threat and tried to walk away.
"If Evin manages to win, he'll be accepted into the Imagination Casting classes, and he'll also receive one Shard for a Conceptual World."
Shocked, Evin looked over to see a neatly dressed man speaking from the podium that the Chairman of the Academy was previously speaking from. But compared to the scholarly looking middle-aged man, this newcomer was gigantic. Evin thought his father was gigantic, but he would probably look like a teenage boy next to this freak of nature. But the other thing that Evin couldn't help but notice the pair of magnificent bull-like horn that was protruding from the man's head.
'A Northerner,' Evin thought in his head.
But although Evin was shocked, even more surprised was the blonde boy next to him.
"Vice-chair? What do you mean? You don't even have the right to decide who learns in that class and who doesn't."
"Chairman Kent teaches the class, and he instructed me to say this in case something like this happened," the bulky man explained.
"And where is Chairman Kent himself? He was here a minute ago, why can't he say so himself?"
"The Chairman is bit… indisposed at the moment," the man said and seemed to glance towards a certain spot, "Regardless, this is his will.”
"His will, eh?” The noble sneered. “Then what about us? We too possess the right to deny entry for certain students, don’t we? What will happen if all of us refuse?”
“Ah. Anyone who goes against his will… shall not be able to receive The Chairman’s lessons, I’m afraid.”
<I really don't like this,> the voice hissed.
Evin didn't like where this was going either, but something told him that he needed to remain silent.
The boy raged on.
"He doesn't have the right to refuse us!"
"Young Earl, you jest,” the giant chuckled. “The chairman is a High-mage of the kingdom. It's in his full rights to refuse to teach a Duke, let alone you. You should be happy a man of such stature is here teaching in the first place. I can confidently say that Ankelite is the only city where a High-Mage teaches the first grade students.”
The blonde boy really seemed to want to say something in retort, but he managed to stop himself. However, his ire did not disappear, it only switched targets.
“Be that as it may, it doesn’t change the fact that the boy does not want to Duel. A cowardly decision, but what can he do? Some people are destined to scurry away from the spotlight.”
<Ah, I’m really gonna kill him someday… Do you think I don’t appear in front of you because I don’t want to…?>
Evin felt like he should definitely not fight now… Just the reason was different.
<Tell him you want two more Conceptual World Shards if you win,> the voice suddenly ordered.
‘No!’ he wanted to hiss to himself, but with so many people watching, he really couldn’t afford to.
<These fuckers all have some shitty agendas running in their heads and for whatever reason, we're part of it. Something tells me that even if we run from this duel, they’ll find another excuse anyway. Instead of worrying about their next move, I’d prefer to deal with the problem here and now.>
‘How are you even going to deal with the problem!’
Evin had only just become a mage while the person in front of him was a noble! He probably grew up drinking Ivelisi World Shards instead of his mother’s milk!
<Stop being a bitch!> the voice roared. <We’re not fighting to the death here!>
‘Exactly! But you’re trying to kill someone anyway!’
‘Also, why does it feel like you can read my mind?!’
<Bah! Just ask! Honestly, you could ask for four and we'd probably get them! And besides, do you really think this will all end if we keep silent?>
Evin sighed, and cleared his voice.
"I want to receive two more Conceptual World Shards if I win."
He didn't know why, but he felt very proud after he said this line. So effortlessly and confidently. He didn't stutter like he half expected himself to, and his voice didn't die out in the end like it usually did when he tried to speak to his father.
'Seriously, how am I so calm now?'
