Not long after Cecil brought Lucia into the infirmary, Eli, Fina, and Ainz rushed in frantically."How is she?" Fina asked, casting a worried look at her unconscious friend.
"She"s okay. Lucia"s only exhausted a fair bit of her mana."
"...the instructor said that its okay for you two to return after Lucia becomes conscious again. The ending announcement was postponed until tomorrow since the arena was... well, you know." Ainz said.
"Okay."
Cecil leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes, but then he felt a scorching gaze locked onto him.
When he opened his eyes he saw Eli staring back at him.
"...something wrong?"
"...nothing."
Cecil only looked back questioningly at her. After a brief moment, he shrugged and went back to meditate. Eli also turned away and walked back out the door after checking her friend"s condition.
"He was clearly the winner but..."
Eli couldn"t keep her mind off of the results. No matter how she looked at it, Cecil won by a landslide. There was no reason for him to go at Lucia"s pace so if he kept up with the same intensity as he did when they first started the match... then Cecil would have won.
"Cecil"s like that only because it"s Lucia..."
Eli could only conclude as such, but she could not be more wrong. Cecil did so out of respect for Lucia"s determination. Others couldn"t comprehend this and would only think that Cecil did it out of pity or affection.
It wasn"t a life or death battle anyway and the result wouldn"t affect him or Lucia in any way. So Cecil kept pace with her to determine and test her growth. From the results, Lucia pa.s.sed with flying colors and Cecil was very much satisfied with the outcome.
Lucia understood this as well. She knew that Cecil was testing her at the start of the match and no longer cared about the result, only the process. In the end, she won with Cecil voluntarily forfeiting, but on the bright side at least now she finally had a single win under her belt against Cecil and that"s all that mattered to her.
Ainz and Fina exited from the room after confirming Lucia"s condition. They would go out and get some lunch for the two.
Back in the room, Cecil was meditating and circulating his mana, but he couldn"t stop thinking about the outcome of their match. Thinking about Lucia"s progress brought a smile to his face, but it also caused him to frown.
"c.r.a.p, now that I think about it. The two of us almost went all out against each other... yesterday I just talked about conserving our strength and laying low instead and now we do this."
"Hypocrite", that"s what he labeled himself. All the talk about yesterday"s not wanting praise and such was thrown out the window the moment Cecil and Lucia"s fight began.
There were still plenty of techniques that they didn"t reveal to the spectators, but just from what they exposed in their fight, it was enough for them to be the hot topic of discussion around campus for the next period of time.
"How to resolve this... I"m expecting that by tomorrow the factions will probably begin making their move– heck, they might have already begun even– but our battle... should serve enough of a declaration to our standing... I hope."
Cecil could only sigh in worry. He really didn"t like the sound of joining a faction. Just thinking about the responsibilities he would have to shoulder gave him a headache. He hoped that their battle would serve as a clear-cut rejection to all the factions" eventual invitations.
"I just wanna train in peace..."
It"s what they came to do in the academy. If complications such as factions got in their way of training then it would have been better to just continue on as adventurers and train by themselves in the wild.
Cecil sighed and looked at the girl who was sleeping in the bed. He grasped her hand and began stimulating the mana in the air using his mana eyes.
Elsewhere around campus, the leaders of each faction were currently reading a report and watching a video on their MID containing the first years" magic combat a.s.sessment.
In particular, the videos were centered on the first years" S cla.s.s. Especially the video of Lucia and Cecil"s fight.
"What a spectacular fight!" Friedrich exclaimed, "These two have completely surpa.s.sed the standards a first year should have. They"re completely in a league of their own compared to the rest."
On a large screen inside the Royal Fox Faction"s meeting room was a video displaying Cecil"s and Lucia"s fight.
"Ohoho, I didn"t think your cousin would be this strong princess!" the fox girl, Delia said airily.
"..."
Aurellia Aurielle could only remain silent and stayed focus on watching the video. When it finally ended, she sighed helplessly.
"What"s wrong?"
"...don"t you think this is a declaration?"
"What is?" Friedrich asked.
"This video, you idiot!" Aurellia snapped back in annoyance.
"What"s that you wench?" Friedrich flared back in anger.
"Now calm down Fried boy~ listen to what Aurel has to say, though I do agree with her. This is a declaration."
"Tsk... so what"s this about a "declaration"?"
"...Lucia"s telling us and all the factions that she doesn"t need us."
"...What?"
"Just look at her. With those abilities she wouldn"t need a faction. Not to mention she partnered up with someone who"s even stronger than her."
"..."
"Those two are going down the path of Kings~" Delia added.
This caused Aurellia to groan and Friedrich to frown.
"So you"re saying we have no hopes in attracting those two into our faction?" Friedrich voiced out. His tone had a clear tinge of annoyance.
"Basically..."
"Haha... fools. Arrogant fools. Do they think that just relying on their puny abilities they can rival a faction"s power? Do they really think that the path of Kings is so easy to tread?"
"...Friedrich, lay off. You know for a fact that those two are also still concealing their abilities. Especially that Cecil, the kid wasn"t ruffled at all from Lucia"s all-out attack near the end."
"Don"t forget~ Lucia"s supposed to be in the mana core stage, but don"t you think that she only used up enough mana that only a mana sea stage expert would have~?"
This caused Aurellia to widen her eyes in surprise. She nearly missed this important detail.
"Those two... they really aren"t simple at all... at least we could still befriend them. Just make sure not to provoke them and get on their bad side. That goes for you especially! Friedrich!"
"Tch, lay off b.i.t.c.h. I don"t need to answer to your orders." With a snort, Friedrich got up and walked out of the conference room.
"... Quri."
"YES MA"AM?" Quri"el who was silent since the start of the meeting, stood up ramrod straight when Aurellia called out to him.
"Keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn"t do anything stupid."
"YES MA"AM!" After confirming her command, Quri"el sank into the floor and disappeared from his spot.
"Now... how will the others respond..." Aurellia leaned back into her chair and rested her head on her palm. She looked up and saw Delia smiling at her. "Del, relay my orders to the faction. Make sure we don"t provoke those two. Try to get a friendly relation going on with them."
"Okay Aurel~" After receiving her order, Delia floated and bounced out of the room.
"Hehe... the ones with the biggest headache ought to be that stupid and condescending student council... hehe." Aurellia chuckled mockingly.
Indeed, just as she predicted. The atmosphere in the student council"s conference room was heavy after watching the videos of the first years" magic combat a.s.sessment..
"...so what are we going to do president?" Alex said, clearly annoyed.
President Zephyr remained silent while rhythmically tapping his fingers on the armrest of his chair.
"Looks like we can only abandon those two... but take measures and make sure that they can"t interfere with our plans."
"...are you sure about that pres?"
"Why Alex? Do you find it unfortunate?"
"Of course man! I mean two talents like that... phew, they could aid us greatly you know!"
"...chess pieces that can"t be controlled are of no use to us on the chessboard."
Alex shrugged while shaking his head in regret.
"So what should we do then Zephyr?" asked a black scaled lizardkin who was seated at the right side of the table.
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"How about taking away some of the resources provided to them?"
"Idiot, then that will affect the other students of their year!"
"We can"t do much since they"re in S cla.s.s, but we could obstruct those two in the upcoming tournament stages."
"It"s not we "could", it"s we "must"!" the black scaled lizardkin emphasized.
Zephyr who had remained silent finally spoke up.
"It"s just like Eric said."
Eric was the black-scaled lizardkin who first spoke up. Zephyr stood up to walk out of the room.
"Make preparation for recruitment. Remember those two aren"t the only outstanding ones in this group of first years!"
"YES, PRESIDENT!" The rest stood up and saluted.
Alex was still sitting down with his feet on top of the table, he smiled carelessly and thought.
"They indeed aren"t the only outstanding ones, but those two are the only special ones."
Alex turned his gaze towards the large MID hanging in the room. Seeing the battle video replay made him smirk playfully. A peculiar glint flashed across his eyes upon seeing Lucia"s splendid display of swordsmanship.
He too stood up and walked cheerfully out of the room.