After the first day of competition ended, Victor and the other professors from Tris Magic Academy, who had been waiting at the inn, were finally summoned by King Auston along with Dean Devis.
The three boys who had finished the first day undefeated were in high spirits, too, and celebrated a little at the tavern beside the inn.
When the tavern was at its busiest, the owner began loudly urging the patrons to place bets on the next day's matches.
Although the Imperial Arena could hold a hundred thousand spectators, most of the millions of residents in the vast Koennas City had no chance to attend in person.
So, to help everyone decide who to bet on, the tavern owner produced an official-looking list of the tournament's Top Ten Experts, the ink still wet. It named ten contenders with a shot at the title, along with their provinces, fighting styles, and odds.
Two of the three boys from Tris Province, Roger and Wesley, were prominently featured on the list.
Roger was ranked eighth. His entry read: "Peak Squire. Impressive techniques, balanced offense and defense, no obvious weaknesses, consistent performance."
Wesley's name appeared at the very bottom. His entry summed him up as: "Intermediate Magic Apprentice. Dual wind and wood elements. Unorthodox tactics, skilled at dirty tricks. Dark horse."
"Why am I ranked below Roger?" Wesley glanced at the list and scoffed.
"The ranking doesn't matter. We have the same odds, one to four," Roger said consolingly.
Donald pulled his gaze from the list and grinned at Wesley. "They described you pretty accurately. Whoever wrote this list knows their stuff."
"Donald, tell me first: are you going to use that Magic Staff or not? If you are, I'll go ask what your odds are later and bet everything on you." Wesley seemed to have found a chance to make a fortune.
"Right! I'll bet everything on you, too," Roger chimed in.
"Forget it. I'm keeping it for self-defense. If too many people see it, it won't catch anyone by surprise later," Donald replied casually, taking a sip of fruit wine.
"Ah, I thought we were friends. And now you won't even help me when I finally have a chance to get rich." Wesley pretended to look heartbroken.
"You've gotten addicted to acting, haven't you? Honestly, I don't think poetry suits you. With your talent, you'd have a much brighter future as an actor." Donald teased Wesley, then turned to Roger. "The top three on the list sound formidable. Have you seen them in previous years?"
"Last year's champion, Pedro from Greenland Province, isn't on the list this year. He must have aged out. The second- and third-place finishers last year are the top two on this list: Quisar and Mino. You saw them compete today; they've both just advanced to Formal Knight. As for the third-ranked contestant, Pas, the High-level Magic Apprentice, I saw him for the first time today, too. Someone as strong as him shouldn't be unknown. He probably didn't enter last year."
"Unless something unexpected happens, those two Formal Knights will probably take first and second place. By the way, if you had to face Pas, would you be confident you could beat him?"
"No." Roger shook his head without hesitation.
"Shouldn't a Squire have a big advantage over a Magic Apprentice?" Donald asked.
"That's a misconception. On the tournament grounds, Squires are almost always higher in rank than Magic Apprentices. Look, every Knight Academy graduates a few peak Squires, but across all the Magic Academies in the Empire's provinces, they're lucky to have one or two High-level Magic Apprentices. Magical talent is much rarer than knightly talent." Roger explained carefully.
As he listened to Roger, Donald silently assessed his actual combat strength.
Donald's earth, wood, and wind Divine Elements were still at 180 units each, while his water and fire elements had reached 480. Like Wesley, he was an Intermediate Magic Apprentice in two elements; his other three had yet to reach 300 units. But compared to Wesley, Donald's Divine Elements were absolutely pure and flawless, so the same spell cast by Donald had several times the power.
By that measure, Donald was considerably stronger than Wesley. He wasn't on the Top Ten Experts list because his opponent that day had been too weak to force him to reveal his true strength.
However, Donald had his own weaknesses. He had advanced too recently and had learned too few types of magic. He had only mastered the first six tiers of basic attack magic, and his basic defensive magic was limited to the most fundamental twelve tiers. Apart from using it with his Magic Gun, he rarely had a chance to use his self-created Exploding Ice Bead in actual combat. As for the only Intermediate Magic Apprentice spell he had just learned, Blazing Meteor, he hadn't tried it yet and had no idea how powerful it was.
Taking everything into account, Donald thought that if Pas had enough combat experience and a good combination of spells, the outcome of a fight between them would be hard to predict. As for the two Formal Knights, Quisar and Mino, Donald stood no chance against them without using his Magic Gun.
In other words, if Donald had to give himself a place on this list, he would put himself around fourth or fifth.
Of course, if he used his Magic Gun without restraint, that would be another story.
But unless he had no other choice, he preferred to keep a low profile. He wouldn't use the Magic Gun lightly, saving it as his trump card for survival.
As for the tournament's top three earning commoners noble status outright, Donald didn't care much. As long as he meditated steadily every day, he could advance to Formal Magician within a year. By then, obtaining noble status would surely be much easier.
Devis and Victor's group had indeed been rewarded by King Auston for their role in suppressing the rebellion. Each of them was promoted by one noble rank.
During the audience, the king never mentioned the Magic Academy of Tris Province's dismal results in recent years. Instead, he praised the faculty and students of the emperor's alma mater for their steadfast stance during the rebellion, and promised Dean Devis that he would increase the academy's Magic Crystal Quota.
For mages, who already held a lofty status, a higher noble rank meant little. An increased Magic Crystal Quota for their academy mattered far more.
King Auston's sudden confidence about allocating magic crystals came from the assurance Natia Vida had given him after Donald successfully enrolled: beginning next year, the Empire's Magic Crystal Quota would increase by a full three percentage points. Compared to that, the additional crystals allocated to Tris Magic Academy were insignificant.
Late that night, half-asleep, Donald vaguely heard the professors return to the inn. He thought he could hear them laughing and joking, but assumed he was imagining it. He rolled over and burrowed back under the covers.
The next day, the Martial Magic Tournament entered its crucial final day.
In the third-round draw, the three students from Tris Magic Academy all got favorable matchups. They remained undefeated and advanced together to the round of sixteen.
Mino, ranked second on the experts list, defeated the ninth-ranked contestant, a rare Triple-element Magic Apprentice.
Pas, ranked third, trapped the fourth-ranked contestant, a peak Squire, with the high-level earth spell Quicksand Trap. Then he overwhelmed his opponent with dozens of high-level Stone Spikes.
Quisar, ranked first, faced a contestant who wasn't on the list. Not long after the match began, he punched the opponent's helmet. His fist, imbued with Battle Qi, still knocked the man unconscious through the helmet.
In the fourth round—the eight matches of the round of sixteen—contestants from the same province were still kept apart. Roger drew the sixth-ranked Squire, while Wesley and Donald were both unlucky: Wesley drew Quisar, and Donald was matched against Pas.
Roger fought hard for twenty minutes but eventually lost by a narrow margin, ending his run in the round of sixteen.
Wesley pulled another stunt. When he appeared on the field, the stands erupted in laughter. He had actually borrowed Roger's helmet and put it on.
When the referee questioned him, Wesley replied that as a handsome man, he had a duty to protect his face. Besides, his opponent had a history of going for people's faces.
The audience burst into laughter again. Those who were paying attention could recall that Quisar had won several matches by striking his opponents in the head.
In the end, the referee could do nothing about Wesley and had to let him compete with the helmet on.
As soon as the match began, Wesley repeatedly cast Thorn Spell to slow Quisar's charge. Then he unleashed a barrage of intermediate Wind Blades, Whirlwind Techniques, and other attack spells at him.
When Quisar finally charged out of the dense thorns and was about to reach him, Wesley suddenly announced that he was surrendering.
Only then did the audience realize that he had never planned to fight Quisar head-on. He had decided from the start to provoke him and then surrender.
The stands filled with boos. Quisar looked bewildered, while Wesley, helmet and all, walked off the field without a change in expression.
With both his teammates eliminated, Donald, who had been quite relaxed before, suddenly felt the pressure.
"Dean Devis, it looks like your team will be wiped out again this year. Not a single one of you will make the Top Eight." The professor with the neatly trimmed beard spoke up again.
Devis smiled faintly and didn't respond. But Wesley, who had just walked off after surrendering, couldn't keep quiet.
"Hey, ma'am, why are you so interested in our academy?" Halfway through, he stopped. After a pause, he continued, this time talking to himself. "Wait, you're an old man. Why do you talk in such a weird, high-pitched voice—and stick your nose into everyone's business?"
"You!" The bearded professor pointed at Wesley and snapped.
"Me? I once had a dog. It wouldn't guard its own home and kept running into other people's yards to cause trouble. It barked especially loudly, too. Then we had it neutered, and all its bad habits disappeared."
The professor's face flushed red, but he didn't dare attack a student in front of the king and so many people. Besides, he knew that if he actually fought Devis, he wouldn't stand a chance.
Realizing he couldn't trade insults with a student, the professor turned away and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Don't go easy on him in the next match. At the Martial Magic Tournament, it doesn't matter if you accidentally kill someone."
The student nodded respectfully.
On the field, Mino won another match.
Donald stood up, ready to take the field. The student who had just received the bearded professor's warning stood up at the same time.
That's right. He was Donald's opponent this round: Pas, the High-level Magic Apprentice.
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