The Social Graces of Competition
"Senior Ellie, your work is very well done, the details are..."
Lucien smiled and spoke quietly with the Ravenclaw senior.
The students who had already completed their events were secretly observing, trying to judge their opponents' performance based on Lucien's reactions, and thus estimate their own chances of winning.
Seeing Lucien's smiling face, everyone felt a sense of unease and some bad thoughts began to arise.
Riemann, who was also observing, felt a pang of bitterness. He felt that Professor Shafiq's decision was too hasty, simply handing over the assessment authority to a student so casually.
Apart from one Potions Professor was extremely "biased" towards his own students, the other professors were not prejudiced against any particular group, especially Professor Shafiq, who was practically unambitious and only interested in slacking off.
Therefore, the preliminary rounds were originally very fair, based purely on strength; whoever had the best Alchemy would get a spot.
Lucien, who could serve as the temporary examiner, is a student. What if he has a bias against Slytherin? Riemann knows very well that Slytherin House doesn't have a good reputation among other students. What if they get targeted...?
Riemann could accept losing because of inferior skills, but he couldn't let the examiner's prejudice cause him to miss an opportunity.
Looking at the clock, three hours had just elapsed. Lucien stood up and announced:
"The match is over. Everyone can stop now."
One student who hadn't finished the project was immediately frustrated; they were so close!
The students who finished their work almost on time excitedly carried their pieces to the stage, but they didn't have high hopes of making it into the finals or getting a spot, since they were behind others in time and their scores would likely be lower.
After carefully examining several submissions, Lucien reviewed the scoring results and finally settled on a name:
"Riemann Selwyn, with the highest score, has secured a spot in the Triwizard Tournament."
Upon suddenly hearing her own name, Riemann didn't immediately react, but her heart was instantly filled with joy!
He got a spot!
Lucien believed his alchemy skills were the best!
Suddenly, abrupt words rang out:
I disagree with the result!
A Slytherin student stepped forward, his voice loud enough to immediately draw everyone's attention.
"Professor Shafiq clearly didn't explain the specific requirements of the match. Grafton, how did you conduct the assessment? What were the standards? Announcing the result with just a few words is simply not convincing!"
Lucien raised an eyebrow, but before he could speak, Riemann, still overjoyed, stood up swiftly and reprimanded him:
"Travers! Grafton was handpicked by Professor Shafiq to be in charge of the assessment. You have an objection? Are you questioning the professor?!"
Riemann gave Lucien a confident look, then continued to verbally suppress the dissenting Slytherin student.
What college discrimination? Lucien isn't that narrow-minded at all!
Didn't you see that he had already made such a fair and just judgment?
Lucien glanced at the righteously indignant Riemann and found it quite amusing; the adage "where you sit determines where you think" applies in any country and era.
This senior looks like he has thick eyebrows and big eyes, haha, he's quite adept at putting hats on people.
"Thor Travers, the imbalance rate of wind and earth elements in your Elemental Balancer exceeds 0.8%, and the purification of Lions spine powder during the refining of the Water-and-Fire-Proof Robe did not employ the crystallization method..."
Lucien flipped through the scoreboard, listing the points deducted from the student who raised the objection one by one, his tone calm yet revealing an undeniable confidence and professionalism.
Ignoring Travers's increasingly grim expression, Lucien lowered his eyes and continued:
"None of the aforementioned problems appeared in Riemann Selwyn's work, and he was five minutes and forty-seven seconds faster than you, Travers. Do you still have any objections to the result?"
The classroom was completely silent. Although everyone present was an older student, they were all intimidated by Lucien's imposing presence.
Travers' face flushed red and then turned pale when his mistake was pointed out, but he couldn't refute it because Lucien was absolutely right!
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Travers felt incredibly embarrassed and hurriedly left the classroom without even packing his things.
Now that the results of the competition were in, the athletes saw no need to stay any longer and packed up their equipment to leave.
As the contestants gradually left the arena, Ellie approached Lucien, stared into his dark green eyes, and blinked her bright, large eyes.
Confused by what his senior had said, Lucien was about to ask.
But Ellie had already spoken:
"Selwyn has more knowledge of alchemy, so his victory is only natural. I wanted to talk to you about something else."
Hearing this, Lucien breathed a sigh of relief. It's great to have such a sensible senior sister. She won't question him about why he didn't consider the friendship between fellow students, blah blah blah.
The competition is designed to select individuals who possess more knowledge and can apply it skillfully; therefore, it should not be "tainted" by so-called personal relationships or social niceties.
"Lucien, you're going to Beauxbatons for an exchange tournament. Hmm, I heard the girls there are very beautiful, and they usually bathe in a special spring..."
Upon hearing this, Lucien's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. Was the magic of the Fountain of Fair Fortune really that powerful, or were all the girls simply interested in becoming more beautiful?
"Senior, I understand. Do you need me to bring some of the Fountain of Fair Fortune so you can study its magical effects?"
Ellie immediately beamed with joy. She hadn't expected Lucien to put it so "euphemistically," and her liking for this junior increased even more.
"Hey hey, thanks for your help. Best of luck in Beauxbatons!"