Emilia couldn’t believe what had just happened, Mercury always came back begging no matter what she did.
" Mxm." She clicked her tongue, " He’ll come back, I know he will, he always does." She was pretty confident.
" Does he really think threatening me with annulment will work, when he comes back, I won’t forgive him until he begs me to on his knees."
After her rampage she felt a bit better, before she knew it she was already standing in front of her dormitory.
She unlocked the door and went, the room was dark. "Ray of everglow, bring light and cast away the shadows."
She cast a spell and the room lit up, Emilia had light attributes, it’s how she was able to get into the academy.
When the room lit up, she saw a handsome man sitting on her sofa with his legs folded drinking a glass of red wine.
" You’re back, where have you been?" Marcus asked trying his best to hide the jealousy in his voice.
" I went to see Mercury." Emilia answered him honestly.
" Why? Do you still care about that worthless mutt?" Asked Marcus.
" Not at all but he’s trying too hard to impress me thinking I’ll get back to him, I had to set the record straight.
That way, even if he kills himself, nobody will say I led him on but that bastard just won’t stop, now he’s pretending not to care." Said Emilia with rage.
Marcus stood up and approached her, he leaned his forehead on hers, " Don’t worry, you’re mine now, nobody would dare say anything to you."
He leaned in to kiss her, she kissed him back but when he tried to push things further she pushed him away.
" Sorry Marcus but I cannot take that step until the night of my wedding, you’ll have to wait until then."
Marcus smiled, " Of course, I’ll take my leave now, it’s a big day tomorrow." As soon as he left her room his kind face twisted with rage and contempt.
Morning came, it was finally the day all the students had been waiting for. Mercury arrived before everybody.
He checked which group he was on but he couldn’t find his name. ’ Strange, I’m sure the deacon signed me up.’
Mercury continued looking through the groups starting from the first year class which he technically belonged to.
Since he couldn’t cast anything above F grade, he never graduated beyond the first year class.
He checked the second year and his name was not there, ’ They couldn’t have put me in the third year right?’
He checked the third year and his name was also not there, finally he checked the first year class.
Right on top, placed above all other names was his, ’ Oooh this is going to piss a lot of people off.’
The students were placed based on their strength, him being placed first was bound to make all the other students dissatisfied.
Just as he thought that, somebody grabbed him and shoved him against the wall, " Can I help you?" Mercury asked.
" How? How did a weak worm like you get to be placed first? You think using your family name makes you a big short?"
Asked the young man with gritted teeth, Mercury could feel deep killing intent from him.
He sighed, " I don’t know why you’re asking me man, you should ask the deacon, I didn’t even sign up for this stupid tournament." Said Mercury.
" LIES!" Shouted the other guy.
" Let him go, students are forbidden from fighting outside the rings, if you have any dissatisfactions, solve them in the ring." The deacon approached them from behind.
The young man removed his hands from Mercury’s chest, " Pray you don’t meet me in the ring." He turned and walked away with a huff.
Mercury genuinely didn’t understand these noble scions, it wasn’t like there were any rewards for being placed first on this list.
" Dealing with these prideful sons of bitches is tiresome." Mercury felt exhausted by it all and chose to leave.
That was a good decision on his part because soon after, more students were looking for him.
All were dissatisfied by the ranking and when they asked the deacon, he told them to prove the ranking wrong during the tournament.
It was obvious his intentions was to get them to beat Mercury up during the tournament and the students were too stupid to see it.
When Emilia saw the rankings she grinded her teeth with rage, " That fool, does he intend to get himself killed just to draw my attention?"
She too joined the other students searching for Mercury but for a different reason, she was trying to convince him to quit before he got himself hurt.
Time passed and the tournament officially started. " All participants, please take your stations within the next five minutes."
Everybody within the academy grounds heard the announcement. Mercury went to his position without a rush.
The participants sat around the ring, their positions arranged based on the ranking list, Mercury naturally got the best seat.
He could feel the eyes of the other students burrowing into his back, ’ Man they are pissed.’
It wasn’t just the participants though, the audiences were also looking at him, some with anger and others with curiosity.
He could hear their whispering voices, some mocking, some curious. The tournament officially began.
The first year students went first, their battles were boring to say the least but to him, they were something wondrous.
Even with the memories of this world’s Mercury, Mercury came from a world without magic.
Watching two people exchange spells was still fantastical to him, his peers seemed to misunderstand his excitement.
" Mxm, why is he impressed by something like this?" One of them asked with contempt, the others were of the same sentiment.
Mercury ignored them and continued watching, his excitement didn’t die off even as more battles were fought.
Eventually the first year battles ended and the second year battles followed. They were even more impressive.
Their champion was even able to cast an E rank spell which seemed to amaze the others.
’ Strange, shouldn’t everybody above first year be able to cast E rank spells?’ Mercury wondered because that’s the reason he never graduated his class.
Third year battles came and E rank spells were still rare even amongst them confusing him even more.
’ Could they be holding back?’ Mercury wondered but it didn’t seem that way. Mercury had been frowning ever since the first E rank spell was used, this led to another misunderstanding,
" I told you didn’t I? He’s so amazed by E rank spells he can’t even stop frowning."
" Maybe he’s just scared." Mercury heard mocking voices behind him.
Finally it was time for fourth year battles.
" Announcement, this is a message to the participants, do not take these battles lightly, those deemed too weak by the academy will be expelled.
We’re training future warriors and mages of the empire here, if after so long your performance is still subpar, you will be removed to open space for others, that is all.
Now, for the first battle, Jonathan Vestile VS Mercury Al’Karl!" Shouted the announcer.