Chapter 65: An Exaggerated Rumor [Bonus - ]
"This is getting annoying," Renelle muttered as she and Adrian walked towards their classroom.
It has been only two days after that sparring session and the rumors that had spread were.... exaggerated, to say the least.
"Some even say he beat her with only thirty percent of his full strength," a random student said as he walked with his friend, not even noticing that the one they were speaking about had just passed by.
"Thirty percent?" The friend responded, "I heard that he wasn’t even trying to win."
"Do you think he’s an S-rank?"
"Probably higher, maybe even the rumored SSS-rank."
"Like the founder?"
"Exactly."
Yeah, the rumors had already passed the exaggeration stage, but that wasn’t what annoyed Renelle.
This was what annoyed her.
"Um, excuse me," a voice suddenly called out from behind causing them to stop.
An action which Renelle immediately regretted when she noticed the look on the girl’s, who had called out to them, face.
"I-I’m Serin from class four," She introduced, "a-and I was wondering if you were free this weekend."
The girl had completely ignored Renelle’s presence, turning fully to Adrian with a blush on her face.
"No," Renelle was the one who replied, "my butler will be busy attending to my needs even during the week ends."
"I-I s-see," Serin said, "t-then whenever you’re —"
Before she could complete her words, Renelle turned around and said to Adrian, "let’s go."
Without another word, she started walking away and Adrian followed suit, leaving behind a disappointed Serin.
But the moment they were out of sight, she turned around, her expression completely changing as she muttered, "this will be a lot difficult than I initially thought."
"No matter," she added, "I should be promoting soon."
***
[Are you jealous, my lady?] Adrian mentally asked as he kept up with Renelle even though she seemed to want to avoid him.
[Of course not,] she denied, [it’s just annoying that we’ll be stopped every second.]
[I see,] he nodded, [I’m sure the rumor will be forgotten about in a few days.]
It wasn’t like he enjoyed the attention the rumors brought either, he very much preferred a quiet academy life with his lady,
But whilst sparring with Tess, he had been having so much fun that he had forgotten the goal was to lose in a less embarrassing way, not win.
And now, he had to deal with these rumors.
Whilst conversing mentally, the two walked into their classroom, and the moment Adrian stepped in,
"SUPRISE ATTA— huh?" A certain red haired idiot tried catching him off guard, only to find himself upside down and falling towards the floor.
BANG!
Darius crashed head first into the floor, with no idea of what just happened.
One moment he had planned the perfect surprise attack that would definitely catch Adrian off guard, and the next, he was on the floor.
"What idiot shouts out a surprise attack before actually attacking?" a voice lazily echoed from the side.
A few students snickered, while others outright laughed.
Darius groaned as he pushed himself off the ground, rubbing his head as he glared in the direction of the voice.
The bored student, Caius, hadn’t even bothered looking at him, his chin resting on his palm as he stared out the window.
But before Darius could say anything , the door was suddenly pushed open and in walked professor Leon and with just a glance from him, Darius immediately walked to his seat.
Leon walked to the front, tapping the board with his magic tool and the previous writings vanished, replaced with a new heading.
FIRST YEAR ADMISSION TRIALS.
He then turned towards the class and started.
"Due to the ’shortage’ of staff in the biggest academy in Avera," Leon said, though he sounded sarcastic, "you have been assigned to assist the instructors with the upcoming admission trials."
"Each of you will be assigned to a specific section of the trials," Leon went on, "your role is to observe the candidates, assess their abilities, and ensure that no one dies unnecessarily."
"Unnecessarily?" a student asked with a raised a brow.
Leon looked at him.
"If someone ignores warnings and pushes beyond their limits," he said calmly, "that is their responsibility, not yours."
That shut him up and classroom fell quiet again.
"The trials will begin in five days," Leon continued, "you will receive your assignments a day prior."
"Questions?" he asked.
"Yeah," Darius raised his hand, "can we fight the applicants?"
"No."
"...What if they start it?"
"No."
"...What if—"
"No."
Darius clicked his tongue and leaned back in his chair.
"If there are no more meaningful questions," he said, "then that will be all for today’s announcement."
He paused before adding,
"Prepare yourselves."
And with that, he turned back to the board, beginning to write what lesson they had for the day.
Whilst he wrote, Adrian had a small frown on his face.
Rather than it being a shortage of staff, the headmistress was the one that had deliberately planned this because of what she ’saw’.
Of course something would go wrong during the admission test, after all, the protagonists had been present there.
The only problem was, he had completely removed the danger that was supposed to happen then and yet the headmistress had made the same call.
Did that mean the plot was still in progress and nothing had changed?
Or maybe —
[Adrian,] Renelle’s voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts, causing him to look towards her as she added, [something’s wrong.]
She had lived through this once before and had seen that Adrian had removed..or rather, adopted the problem, so this event shouldn’t have been happening.
[Yes,] he nodded in agreement, [it seems the future hasn’t quite changed yet.]
[What do you intend to do?] She asked.
[Push her awakening forward,] he answered, [that’s the only way I can get the headmistress interested enough in her to accept her as a student.]
At least, then he could be assured that the cult wouldn’t get their hands on her.
[I see,] Renelle nodded.
[After our classes today, may I request a few hours off?] Adrian suddenly asked, but given the context, she understood the reason for that request.
[No,] she answered, [I’m coming with you.]