Withstand the Pressure

Fran was still Fran, despite Iris's earlier reminder to attend more banquets, reveal her identity, and let everyone in the Floating City Floating City know that ' Lai ' had arrived.

Fran herself has a social obligation to participate in social activities, and she also needs to find a path to advancement to the third tier. Even if that's difficult to find, a path to advancement to the second tier is always necessary, right?

Fran's constitution stats haven't been fully improved yet, so she can still choose some second-tier Physical Profession.

Moreover, before this, she had originally planned to help Anna find a way to advance to the second tier.

However, after Fran attended the Felistin Family's banquet, she only went out once with Calista, who was on Iris's orders, and then she never went out again.

This was partly due to her desire to submit an article to the Hourglass Cup and the fact that she had convinced herself with sufficient reasons, and partly due to Fran's previous life habits.

After publishing two Paper and making initial progress on the Mana Communication System project, Fran had some time again, but she still had little interest in attending the banquet.

Furthermore, at the banquet, she only greeted people who interested her, without taking the initiative to learn more about others.

This was far from Iris's previous plan to make the name ' Lai ' somewhat famous in Number Nine Floating City to cover up her true identity.

At the same time, because Fran did not use the name ' Lai ', the Hourglass Cup Committee was unable to find any clues within two days despite mobilizing its resources.

This is partly due to Fran's past attendance at the Felistin Family banquets; almost all the committee members have now distanced themselves from the Felistin Family.

This makes it difficult for them to obtain information from relevant people, because they themselves wouldn't ask a monk who might know the information.

But that didn't matter. After learning from Roderick what good thing Fran had done, Iris excitedly ran to Fran's residence and waited there until nightfall.

After Fran finished her work at the Mana Communication System for the day, she returned to her residence alone.

As for why Philly wasn't brought back, it's naturally because Philly hadn't finished her work. Without finishing her work, she couldn't rest.

No matter, Philly is now living in the project's house, and I believe she will be able to complete the work Fran assigned her after she has rested.

Fran opened the door and the moment she stepped inside, she saw Iris sitting in the darkness.

As soon as the door opened, the entire room lit up.

Fran blinked slightly and asked:

"Society President, is there something you need at this hour?"

Fran probably doesn't think it's anything very important, because Fran still has an emergency Communication Device on her. If a very urgent situation arises, Iris will definitely use the Communication Device to contact her directly.

"Did you recently submit a Paper to a major competition?"

"No, I posted two articles, both of which happen to be related to the Alchemy School... Wasn't the identity you gave me last time from the Alchemy School?"

The fact is that apprentices who receive mage training at the Northern Lands Society can only choose the Alchemy School, and the Alliance can only accept Alchemy School trained there.

This is because the Northern Lands Society is completely controlled by Iris. When it applied to the Alliance to conduct mage education, other School strongly opposed it, believing that sending School education there would be revealing their knowledge to the Alchemy School.

Therefore, in the Northern Lands Society, local apprentices almost exclusively follow the Alchemy School.

Iris lowered her head slightly, not dwelling on how many Paper Fran had published, and slowly said:

"But I also reminded you not to associate with the Felistin Family, this..."

Iris paused, organizing her thoughts slightly.

"Although I estimate that you'll attract some extra attention in a few days because you brought along members of the Felistin Family..."

Even if Fran had achieved the Gold Hourglass Grade, her fame among mages would still have been limited. After all, mages who specialize in academics would only focus on the specific content of Paper, not on who wrote it.

However, with Fran's actions and the addition of a member of the Felistin Family, the situation became entirely different.

Almost everyone in the mage community knew that the Felistin Family was currently a sensitive issue, yet in the blink of an eye, someone had brought a Felistin to the competition's awards.

This will become the focus of discussion among the mages, and from then on, even if Fran doesn't attend any banquets, her name will still circulate among them.

"But are you prepared for how to deal with that extra attention?"

"I'm ready, Iris Society President." Fran's answer was without the slightest hesitation.

Iris sighed; before she came, she had a feeling that things would most likely not go smoothly.

Fran is usually so shrewd; how could she not have considered that another person's name is extremely sensitive right now?

"Could you please tell me why you felt compelled to include this name in the list?"

Fran rolled her eyes and said without changing her expression.

"My Paper was greatly inspired by her... and she also gave me a lot of help... so of course I should include her name in the list."

Iris looked at Fran and said those words without even taking a breath, her face showing some hesitation.

Now that things had come to this, she was almost embarrassed to voice Roderick's request.

The monks also pursue academic ethics, including not omitting the contributions of any monk.

Although it is difficult—there are tens of thousands of academic disputes in the Alliance every year—it is precisely because of this that mages are even more committed to academic ethics.

It might be procedurally possible to get Fran to remove Felistin's name from the Paper, since it was most likely submitted and written Fran Fran, and she would have the right to make changes.

However, just because you can do it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

Iris felt like she was now the villain, using a threatening tone to destroy the efforts of a mage, while Fran was the hero who was defending justice.

She didn't know exactly how much work Philly had done, but judging from Fran's resolute expression and her words just now, Philly must have made a significant contribution, right?

Iris was completely speechless, not because of mental turmoil, nor because she couldn't find the answer to the question.

She was struggling with whether or not to say it, and from a normal perspective, she also felt that it was wrong.

In this matter, is it more worthwhile to uphold justice and suffer certain losses, or to betray justice and break the trust of others...? Thinking about this, Iris couldn't make up her mind.

Fran stared intently at Iris, her expression still resolute.

Just now, she had considered the best solution to this matter: to clothe herself in a moral guise, which would at least resolve the issue of her motives.

Otherwise, if Fran were to say that adding Philly's name was to get Philly to participate in the Champion Mage Challenge, Fran would probably make Iris want to have her head checked on the spot.

Few people would want to see justice overridden by other things; at least, it's hard for social beings to say it out loud.

In the Alliance, where there is a relatively complete set of laws among mages, no one would easily say 'justice is unimportant'.

At least within the bounds of the law, justice is indisputable.

In Fran's presence, Iris was completely unable to offer a solution to this situation.

As the Society President of the Northern Lands Society, she was naturally pleased to see her mages or the disciples of her old friends filled with a sense of justice.

Furthermore, this doesn't mean that upholding justice necessarily means death; it just means paying a price.

Iris sighed deeply, then slowly said:

"It seems you're not planning to back down."

Fran smiled and nodded; she knew she had convinced Iris.

"Then you'll have to be careful afterwards. Remember to talk to Calista before attending any banquets, otherwise those mages will naturally clash with you..."

"Don't worry about the Gold Alchemy Award. This conflict won't escalate to the judging panel. Your chances are about the same as before..."

Iris gave Fran a few words of advice, then stood up from her chair and left Fran's house.

She didn't even mention the Hourglass Cup Committee's solution.

Fran breathed a sigh of relief as she looked at the closed door; it seemed there was no doubt that she would participate in the Champion Mage Challenge Preliminaries.

Even Iris got the news and came to her, which means that one of her two Paper must have reached the Gold Hourglass level.

Only at this level would Iris go to such lengths to discuss this matter with her.

Otherwise, what if Felistin gets the Bronze Hourglass or Silver Hourglass? As long as it's not the Gold Hourglass that attracts most attention, it's fine.

"The results of the Hourglass Cup will be announced in five days. At that time, you'll receive the award certificate, which you can then take to the Registration Point for the Preliminaries..."

"What? She disagrees, and says someone is vouching for the Paper."

When Gregory, the person in charge of the Hourglass Cup, received the reply, he was completely dumbfounded and could not imagine what had happened.

Isn't the target now the Felistin Family? Why are there still people vouching for them?

Moreover, does the Felistin Family really have that much power? They've only managed to cultivate relationships with a few Third Order Mage in Number Nine Floating City; how could they possibly interfere with decisions made above?

But no matter what, that's the situation; he's now in a dilemma.

We need to both reduce the Felistin Family's influence in this matter and follow the arrangements made above, ensuring that the Paper is submitted to the Gold Hourglass Grade according to procedure.

"Are you kidding me?"

Gregory smashed a crystal to the ground, and it shattered into pieces on the spot.

"Um, I have a new suggestion." It was Rost's voice.