"Seriously?!"Miranda was grabbing Alicia"s shoulder while resisting the urge to shake her. Her junior grimaced, but managed an innocent look.
"What are you talking about, Senior Miranda?"
"What were you thinking?!" Miranda shouted, almost into Alicia"s face. "Kissing Richard in front of the whole school like that!? Even your father was there! And why him?! You have the pick of any guy in school, and you chose a loser?!"
"You do realize that this "loser" defeated me fair and square in a match, didn"t you?" Alicia replied stiffly. "Even if it"s you, Senior Miranda, I won"t forgive you if you continue to talk about Richard in that condescending manner."
"Well…his rank did go up considerably, especially after his victory over you," Miranda admitted with a sigh. "And even Troy views him highly. Even though he"s just a summoner, he has continued to prove himself."
"Why does everyone have something against summoners?" Alicia frowned, confused. "Richard has shown how summoning magic can be effective. By now, everyone should recognize that his victories aren"t just flukes! I mean, it"s not as if he has a perfect record, but he has done very well in most of his matches so far!"
"Yeah, he has quite the following, you know? Did you see his fan club? There aren"t many members, but the fact he has one is already impressive enough."
Elliot joined the conversation, surprising the two girls and causing them to jump. Miranda scowled as she turned on him.
"It"s rude to eavesdrop on other people!"
"Then perhaps you might want to have this conversation somewhere less…public." Nicholas joined Elliot, along with Jin Hao and Aoi. "We can hear you from way over there."
"Congratulations, Alicia!" Aoi reached out to grab her hands. "You did it!" she began to gush. "You actually confessed to Richard in front of the whole school! How romantic!" she glanced surrept.i.tiously at Jin Hao, who winced.
"Ah, ha ha ha…was it really a confession, though?"
"What else could it mean? Unless you don"t mind kissing anybody."
"No, no! Of course not! I really like him! It"s just that…I didn"t actually confess, did I?"
"I"m sure Richard is bright enough to understand your intentions," Jin Hao replied. "He"s not some stupid dense protagonist from a light novel. And he has no reason to pretend not to notice your feelings."
"I was sure they were already going out, though," Elliot pointed out, looking puzzled. "There were already rumors about the two of them dating after that match against the representatives from Crowley"s Academy. You know, when Cecilia demanded that Richard go out with her, but Alicia saunters in and drags him off?"
"Oh, that…yeah, I was just helping him out." Alicia looked a little embarra.s.sed. "If I didn"t do that, Cecilia wouldn"t give up easily."
"Yeah, that"s true," Nicholas conceded as he smiled in a teasing manner. "But it was pretty hot news over the Internet shortly afterward. You"re popular not just in Jing Tian Magic Academy, but also in other schools, you know?"
"But I guess it is official now?" Jin Hao snickered mischievously. Aoi elbowed him, then turned back to Alicia.
"I"m a little jealous," she moaned.
"Don"t be," Jin Hao a.s.sured her. Aoi made a face and turned away with a huff.
Miranda sulked when she realized she had been shoved out of the conversation. Not that I sympathized with her, given how she was talking bad about me behind my back. She had a prejudice against summoners.
She wasn"t alone, to be honest. Members like Lavender were worse off, openly holding grudges and conspiring to kill me. At least there wasn"t anyone else who made any attempt on my life after Lavender and her group were arrested and exiled.
Or at least that was what I naively believed.
*
"So are you convinced?"
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Feng Hai was speaking with the members of Holy Saints Society. To be precise, he was speaking to Lin Zhan Long and his cronies.
Even among Holy Saints Society – or perhaps it was especially because they were such a large society – there were factions, with the members split to several groups. On one side, you had those who followed the president, Harrison Reed, fiercely and loyally. On the other side, you had Lin Zhan Long, who was good at politics and secured himself a high rank in the society through scheming. Part of his plans as the ambitious guy rose to near the top was to recruit subordinates by offering them resources or statuses in return for their fealty.
And thus it was Lin Zhan Long"s group who found themselves called out by Feng Hai. To be fair, Lin Zhan Long was the one who complained about Ultimate Outcast receiving the quota for the training camp in Holy Saints" place after their defeat in the team battle, and so Feng Hai proposed the match between me and Alicia to convince him.
Consequently, my victory over her proved beyond a doubt that I was worthy of the extra slot in training camp. Not that I needed to convince Lin Zhan Long. I suspected Feng Hai had some other intentions in mind when he suggested the duel. Most likely he wanted to see more of my skills and magic spells.
Well, I hoped he enjoyed the show I put on for him.
"Since you"re the one who clamored for evidence, you should have no complaints about your slot being handed over to Ultimate Outcast, right?" Feng Hai smiled, but the expression seemed to Lin Zhan Long full of malevolent glee. "I"ve appraised your president, Harrison, and he has already agreed to it. You won"t ask for more evidence this time, would you?"
"N…no. I"m more than convinced." Lin Zhan Long swallowed. Even though he wasn"t among the strongest in Holy Saints, he was still one of the craftiest. He recognized that he would be pus.h.i.+ng his luck if he insisted on getting in my way. Furthermore, he understood that Feng Hai was looking for an opportunity to humiliate him further. If the vice-president of Holy Saints wasn"t mistaken, he knew that if he insisted on having more proof, Feng Hai would counter by asking him to provide him evidence of his own strength.
No, he had to give up here, surrender his slot and eat humble pie. Tactical withdrawal was a necessary move sometimes, to avoid total destruction.
Besides, he was confident that he would be able to have more opportunities for revenge in future.
"But only one slot, right?" Lin Zhan Long asked. "Only mine, right? It will be unfair if the other members of Holy Saints are ordered to give up their quota."
"That"s right." Feng Hai nodded in agreement. "Terence and Adam will have their chances, if that"s what you"re worried about."
Behind Lin Zhan Long, the two big guys sighed in relief. Both Terence and Adam were part of Lin Zhan Long"s faction. They would be the first casualties if Feng Hai decided to target Holy Saints for culling.
"But whether they will be able to avoid dropping out and be selected for the team representatives is entirely up to their own efforts."
With a casual wave, Feng Hai turned and left the three Holy Saints members behind. Lin Zhan Long fumed as he watched the alumnus depart.
"Arrogant p.r.i.c.k," he snarled.
"What do we do now, boss?" Terence asked worriedly. Lin Zhan Long snorted and glanced at him, his gaze full of scorn.
"What do you mean, what do we do now?"
"We"re not going to let Ultimate Outcast get away with this, are we?" this time it was Adam who instigated him. Lin Zhan Long rolled his eyes and suppressed a heavy sigh.
"And what do you propose we do? Challenge them to another match and have our a.s.ses handed to us again?"
"Uh, no, that"s not…"
"Just go attend the training camp in my place." Lin Zhan Long huffed and spun away. He clenched his fists. "As much as I hate to admit it, I probably wouldn"t be selected for the representative team anyway. I know I"m not that strong."
For someone with immense pride, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
However, Lin Zhan Long grinned.
"That doesn"t mean I intend to let Ultimate Outcast get away with this, however." He chuckled and swept his gaze from Adam and Terence. "When there"s an opportunity, strike."
Both of his cronies brightened up and nodded fervently.
"Yes, sir!"
*
"You really did it, you scoundrel!"
Dong Fang Yue Chu was staring at me in wonder. He threw an arm around my neck, and caused me to almost double over.
"How did you do it?!"
"What are you talking about?" I spluttered as I fought to maintain my balance. Dong Fang Yue Chu tightened his grip.
"Don"t pretend! You know what I"m talking about!" he leaned in closer. "How did you win the G.o.ddess"s heart?!"
"Is it really that surprising?" Harvey asked from a distance, sounding genuinely bewildered. "I thought it was obvious that President Alicia likes Vice-president Richard. There were rumors that they were going out for a long time now."
"Those rumors are definitely false," I declared somewhat defensively. For some reason, this whole thing was making me feel awkward. I wished they would stop talking about this, but guys apparently enjoyed gossiping about romance as much as girls. Trying to find a way to change the subject, I checked my smartphone. "Hmm…by the way, my rank jumped to 300+."
"That"s impressive…to jump over two hundred ranks…" Stan thought for a bit. "But that"s to be expected. President Alicia is ranked among the top ten."
"She definitely was a formidable opponent," I agreed as I remembered being almost cornered by her. If I had just made a single mistake, she would have riddled me with holes. "But she probably went easy on me, if I were to be honest."
Everyone stared at me. Harvey and w.a.n.g Fei shrugged while Dong Fang Yue Chu snorted, as if it was obvious.
"Weren"t you holding back as well?" Stan pointed out. I scratched my head, not sure how I should answer. The truth was that I still had a bunch of trump cards I kept hidden, but Alicia was by no means a pushover. I couldn"t let my guard down at all.
"Regardless of holding back or not, the fact remains that Vice-president Richard won!" Harvey insisted. "Does it really matter?"
"No, I suppose it doesn"t," w.a.n.g Fei admitted after pondering for a few seconds.
Dong Fang Yue Chu rolled his eyes. "You guys…"
"Anyway, shouldn"t we decide who gets to partic.i.p.ate in the training camp?" I asked, finding another subject to switch to. "We only have two quotas, but there are five of us…"
The first-year students s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably.
"Isn"t it obvious?" Harvey replied. "You and the President. You"re the strongest out of the five of us."
"As much as I hate to admit it, I think President Yue Chu should take the second spot." Stan then narrowed his eyes before I could say anything. "And obviously you should be our first choice. Don"t even think of escaping this. You"re the one who won both the team and individual matches."
"No, that honestly never crossed my mind," I a.s.sured it.
"It"s decided then!"
The five of us jumped and spun around, catching sight of Feng Hai striding toward us. He raised a hand in a friendly wave.
"I"m here to inform you about the details of the training camp." He swept his predatory gaze from me to Dong Fang Yue Chu. "Get ready, you two. We"ll be training in Sen Lin Forest, starting next week."