Contrary to Fen's expectations, they weren't given any time. As soon as he finished reading the list, he pulled the entire class from the comfiness of their place in the garden into the busy streets. The great festival starting soon already filled the roads with crowds, enjoying the products offered from the stalls, dancing and even just drinking for the sake of doing so.
"We don't really have the time to do it otherwise. Since the guests will be arriving a bit earlier than usual, unless we want to make them wait, we need to finish the positioning today."
Rushing the entire class through the bustling streets, Stiel excused his actions. After all, for a calm and composed teacher of theirs to hurry like that could be even considered to be startling!
"So we will have a fight with the people that we were just paired with?"
It seemed as if Fen's promise worked wonders on Kaisha. Despite stopping what she was doing before, this girl was full of smiles and energy. Every step she made while rushing through the streets was filled with joy, making her nearly float above the surface instead of walking on it.
Seeing her in such state was both great and painful. From one side, Fen wasn't oblivious enough to ignore what happened a moment ago and what was happening now. No man could feel bad about making such a great girl feel like that about themselves. After all, she had absolutely all the qualities one would dream off!
And it only made it even worse when looking at her through the lens of her loyalty. Unless something big would happen, or if surprisingly nothing endangering would come Fen's way during the tournament, then the most likely future would be about the two of them standing at the opposite sides of the clash.
"Yes. In general, the rank that we put you on is nothing but the private evaluation of the teacher and a bit of strategic thinking. Since each of the teachers knows a bit of the other classes, everyone would usually scheme to position his students properly… As if getting more slots mattered all that much…"
Finally bringing them towards the less crowded part of the city, Stiel shook his head with sudden angst.
"That's just wasteful. Let's just put the best out of the best."
Only thanks to how close Fen was towards his teacher, did the young man manages to hear Stiel's slight murmur. For some reason, it was just enough to improve the young arcanist's opinion of this already sympathetic man.
'It will be quite sad to disappoint him…'
Picturing the scenario that was likely to happen soon, Fen could imagine the broken face of his teacher. After all of their small interactions, all the times when this middle-aged man managed to either teach something interesting or just brighten the young man's mood… All of it, would most likely soon turn into the feeling of betrayal, engulfing Stiel's eyes.
"Anyway, we are here. To make things as quick as efficient, we will be starting from the top of the list all the way to its bottom. Those awaiting your test, just take a seat somewhere. Gavel? Would you mind?"
Pointing his piercing stare at Fen's classmate that was unlucky enough to be on the top of the list, Stiel quickly made him come towards the open space in the middle of the huge chamber they were in.
With their entire class standing in the shadow of the room, it seemed as if the only bright spot in this whole place was the testing area. Spanning only about ten meters each side, it formed a perfect square on the ground, devoid of any potential obstacles.
On the other side of the bright spot, hints of other figures could be seen. Most likely, it was the other class, second grade, that was standing here. Soon, the mystery unravelled itself as one of its students stepped forward, meeting with Fen's classmate in the middle of the spot.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Let's have a fair match!"
At this point, to say that Fen was surprised would be a huge understatement. With how Stiel presented those fights as nothing but a game between the teachers to prove who is better, just the first fight alone managed to change the young man's mindset!
"Sure, let's have…"
Reaching forward with his hand, Gavel attempted to accept the handshake of the other party, only for the sudden change of gravity to stuck Fen's classmate words back in his mouth.
Clash.
Using the advantage of the initiative, grade two student threw Gavel on the ground, forcing all the air to escape from Fen's classmate lungs.
"Always be prepared for a fight!"
Shouting those words, Gavel's opponent instantly drew Fen's attention. Looking him in the eyes, the young man couldn't help but shiver as the slightly mad look in second-grade student's eyes paralyzed his senses.
It wasn't as if that person was vile or callus to fight like that. He was just devoid of any hesitations from taking the steps necessary to achieve his goals! It was his devotion and determination that pushed him to win the fight without carrying for any aspect of saving one's face!
"Okay, next then."
With a low-pitched voice coming from the other side of the bright spot, the second-grade student smiled at the class of his opponents, before moving out from the scene, quickly replaced by a fellow classmate of his.
But as dreadful as this situation would look like seeing how the enemy class got rid of the top spot on Fen's class's list, there was one thing that puzzled the young arcanist apprentice the most.
Why everything was happening so slowly?
Watching over as the second number from his class's list made his way towards the arena without even Stiel calling him out, Fen was so stunned that he could only observe as their participant ignored his opponent, opting to help bring out Gavel from the scene.
Yet, as if there weren't enough surprises today, instead of following the steps of his classmate, the new second-grade student only watched the proceedings of the event.
The situation was tense, but Fen was completely immune to it. As if all the emotions were instantly filtered out from the images he was seeing. He didn't feel anything when the fight began. He felt nothing once his classmate somehow wiped the fighting grounds with his opponents.
"Fen…"
Noticing that something strange was happening to him, Kaisha placed her hand on Fen's shoulder before attempting to shake his daze off.
"Next participants!"
There was no denying it. As far as Fen could say from the lesson that he didn't really listen to, it was his turn now. Not willing to let his victorious classmate outshine him in terms of courage by having the Stiel call him out, Fen simply placed his hand on top of Kaisha's palm before tightening his fingers for a moment in an encouraging gesture.
But why was Fen, who was going to fight with a tough opponent right now, encouraging Kaisha?
Moving up in one instant, the young man instantly marched forward, still in his half-conscious state. And he could allow himself to do so, as no matter how he looked at today's events so far, then those people failed to achieve the levels of agility that he reached even before becoming an arcanist apprentice!
Even without all of his fancy techniques and abilities that the young man strived to develop over the past few days, it would take a great effort for the other class participants so far, to force Fen into actually using any of his new, real prowess!
"Listen up, boy. You are kind of our wild card. Don't expect your opponent to be any worse than the people so far."
Passing by his teacher, Fen heard those startling words.
Apparently, Stiel wasn't as free from the competitive spirit of the teachers trying to make their class be perceived as the best as he claimed to be!
But it actually made sense. Starting off with the potentially strongest participants was the obvious method to secure some points in the beginning while forcing the enemy to reveal his cards as well. Yet, there was one important element that one had to take into account in the current situation.
Each of the teachers didn't really know his students all that well!
With only about a month of time given to them before the tournament started, there was a huge chance that some of the students will only start discovering their talents right now! Given the high-pressure atmosphere of the tournament, as long as one had the proper foundation in his training, achieving greater heights would be entirely possible!
But it didn't change the fact, that at times, one couldn't really be sure of what his students were capable off!
And that's when Fen apparently came. Stiel never heard a thing about the great majority of the young man's exploits, yet this middle-aged man still managed to perceive a huge talent in him to place the young man so high on the ladder.
Looking at the man in front of him, Fen had to hold his chuckle back. Given the standards that his experiences with monsters, Draconis or even Firo made him develop, Fen couldn't help but pity the man that he was pitted again. After all, the disparity of the skill and talent here was as great as between a local cook and the veteran Fen fought with before!