(Julius Argenti POV)
"Violet, James!"
Amina immediately exclaimed as she rushed toward them. They both stood out, with Violet's purple hair and James towering over everyone.
The other nobles turned around to see whoever interrupted them. Upon seeing Amina, they lowered their heads.
If it were any other noble they would've bullied them into submission. Nobles had egos bigger than the sun while most only had the ability of a peanut.
Violet immediately rushed over and hugged Amina, while me and James shook hands. I could feel the looks of disgust piercing into me.
These nobles who have had etiquette drilled into them since birth could easily tell that I was unfamiliar with how to act. This paired with the fact this was the first time seeing me meant that I was a 'commoner'.
But being extremely close with three prominent families made me untouchable. They could only grit their teeth and endure it.
We spoke for a bit and grabbed some food from the tables. After a while, I was getting bored staying inside a stuffy room filled with hateful glares, so I decided to check the battle court.
As soon as I went outside, it felt like a weight was lifted off of me. The mana disrupter didn't extend out here for obvious reasons.
Seeing us, everyone parted way as they let us through.
'Is this how those nobles feel whenever they go? Not gonna lie, it feels pretty good.'
The presence of James, Violet and Amina attracted everyone's attention. I was also recognised by a few since I placed first in the mage course this year.
Suddenly a man approached us. He had a pretty face with good body proportions. I could imagine the ladies swooning over him. He looked to be around 17 or 18 years old.
Though I could feel his attention a mile away. His lecherous gaze at Amina was obvious. If Umbra was here, his head would already be rolling.
"So you're the famous Amina Moria. I must say, you are extremely pretty. If you have the strength to back it up why don't you face me? If I win, you have to go out with me."
'The audacity of this guy. You good sir are extremely bold.'
If this was Violet, James would've stepped in like a shining knight and faced this person. But I wasn't into that and Amina wouldn't like being saved.
He didn't threaten her, so it didn't matter to me. Though he had lecherous intentions, Amina's love life was hers, and if she became this man's girlfriend, it wouldn't matter to me. Though I would caution her not to.
But if he forcefully tried to do something, then I would step in. I still cared for her as her best friend. But he wouldn't go that far if didn't want to endanger the relationship with their families.
"Sure."
Amina replied with a simple one-word answer and a smug look on her face.
"Careful, he's B rank as well. Don't underestimate him. He's also extremely talented."
I quietly warned Amina. Even though this was her own decision to fight, I still warned her.
"So? Is his mana capacity greater or mine?"
"Yours."
"Maximum?"
"Can't tell. If I had to guess, I would give the edge to him."
"Then it's fine. It's not like you to worry. I'll win."
Thanks to training my mana-sensing capabilities, I could now sense the maximum they had on their basic enhancement and reinforcement.
Maximum was more important than capacity. If I faced someone with 20 times my capacity, but only 0.75 of my maximum, I would 99 times out of 100.
Assuming our body types were the same, I would be 33% stronger, faster and tougher than them. One of those was bad enough, but all three combined would allow me to dominate them.
The only way for them to catch up would be to exceed their maximum. But this would result in them burning through all their mana, despite having a lot of it.
I sat on the benches as I waited for the match to commence. After searching through my memory, I remembered that the person Amina was facing was the Rank 1 second year.
His name was Maximillian Torres, coming from the Torres family. They were one of the 15 royals. They were categorised by having faces similar to Europeans.
It was extremely impressive to reach that rank at such a young age. Rebecca was renowned in the past for reaching B rank during the middle of the second year.
He achieved the same feat only half a year later. Though that didn't compare to us who reached B rank over 9 months prior.
I was confident in Amina's ability to defeat him. She had the pseudo-A rank evolution which increased her base strength by a massive degree.
Currently, on the court, two youngsters, around 12 or 13 years old seemed to be sparring. Their attacks looked pathetic to current me, though they were relatively good for their age.
James and Amina appeared next to me waiting for the match to start. Those two initially wanted to stop Maximillian, though I held them back.
"When are you going to tell her?"
Violet suddenly spoke up.
"Tell her what?"
"The truth about us. Our reincarnation."
"Hmm. I don't know."
I knew this question was coming eventually. I had considered it before, but I didn't know when was the perfect time. It was our deepest secret and could change our relationship.
I didn't want that to happen at all costs. I treasured my friendship with Amina.
"You should tell her soon."
"Maybe I could tell her after the match. But you two have come too. I don't want to break the news alone."
"We will."
James responded to my demand. I agreed to it so easily because I knew it would eventually happen. No point delaying it. It was better to bite the bullet.
"Anyhow, we'll discuss this later. The match is starting."