"Why isn't Assistant He Xi here? Did they replace him?"
"I don't know, but the one up front... she doesn't look easy to mess with."
"Look at the staff behind her—the gem at the staff head." One student spoke with certainty. "That kind of mana fluctuation is definitely high-end enchanted equipment, not something an ordinary apprentice could afford."
"You sure?"
"Obviously. My family's been reselling magical materials for twenty years. I can tell whether something's a treasure."
Amid the whispered chatter, Lionel flipped through the notebook in his hands.
"Lidona, third-year, Evocation School."
He deliberately leaned closer to the student beside him.
"When Alser's Steps opened last time, she led a team all the way to the end of the first level. You might not have a sense of what that means."
"Put it this way: when normal third-years go in for the first time, they'll be out in under ten minutes."
"If her luck hadn't been so bad at the end—running into an armored ogre warrior and getting overtaken in points by a fourth-year team—she might already be in the top hundred."
The student beside him was half-convinced, half-doubtful. "How do you know such confidential results so well?"
"My sister was on her team at the time." Lionel calmly closed his notebook. "I've met Senior Lidona. During last year's break, my sister took me—"
Before he could finish.
An image suddenly flashed through Lionel's mind.
When school had first started and he had just met He Xi, he seemed to have used this exact tone to boast about his connection to Her Highness Aislin.
Then, when he had actually come face-to-face with that princess, he had been so tongue-tied he could barely speak. He Xi had seen every bit of that humiliating spectacle.
*Damn it... why couldn't I keep