Chapter 40: A problem
After 30 minutes of walking, they arrived in front of a huge mansion, with Astin leading the way.
They were stopped by a few black-clad bodyguards checking their student cards before they let them in.
The inside was bustling with activities as students, all wearing different school uniforms and masks in the massive banquet hall, were socializing. However, it was clearly distinctive that each one of the four academies was trying not to engage with each other.
Ryan slipped away from Astin; he was about to slide into a corner when he paused and decided to go look for Jacob instead.
'Corners in a banquet are the most unsafe places; all important people go there hiding,' Ryan thought of the many experiences he had. 'Let's just find Jacob as a shield; that guy can do all the talking.'
The banquet was only for first years; the second ended two days ago as they arrived earlier.
Overwhelmed by the crowd, and couldn't find Jacob. He found himself out of nowhere in front of a full table; the wafting smell of food made him realize he was hungry.
He wanted to take a strawberry cake, but it was snatched before he could even reach it.
Munch— munch-
"..." Blink.
"...gulp."
Two pairs of eyes looked at each other as someone stuffed himself with the whole cake.
He was very embarrassed after realizing he had stolen someone else's cake.
"I'm sorry," he said with a full mouth.
Ryan blinked and said, "It's okay; it wasn't mine anyway," he put on a very stressful tone, from the smell alone that was the last strawberry cake here.
"You can have this one," the guy said, scratching his head, "It's my hometown specialty."
Ryan accepted the almond cake and started nibbling on it, walking away.
"Hey- hey hey, where are you going?" The guy stopped Ryan in a hurry before realizing that was rude and apologized, scratching his hair, "I'm sorry; you're the first one from Erou that didn't ignore me."
"It's okay," Being stopped didn't bother Ryan as he simply nodded, "You are from Tamil, right?"
"That's right; I'm from Soma Academy; hehe." The guy grinned, showing his dimples, pointing at his green uniform.
"Oh," Ryan exclaimed unenthusiastically, "The relationship between Marcoos and Tamil isn't that good."
"Is that why none of Erou Students wanted to be my friend," He pouted, "I offered them a cake, and they didn't take it."
'This table isn't yours, and neither is the cake,' Ryan sighed, "I have to go now."
"Wait a minute," He stopped him, "We should be friends now."
"..." Ryan, by any chance did WC give me, 'I want to be your friend Halo.'
"If we become friends, it would be the first step for more Erou and Soma Academy's students to get to know each other," the guy said with passion.
"N---"
"You must be a handsome guy; if you do be my friend, then surely your fans will be the first to follow." His aura was brimming with life as he found a solution to world peace, "Both Erou and Soma can become friends."
'This plot armor is burdensome,' Ryan, as someone who enjoyed staying alone, being around extroverts, is a mentally exhausting task.
Ryan nodded his head nonetheless, "Yes," this guy probably going to annoy him to death if he didn't agree.
"I'm Leo by the way," he grinned.
"Slumbering Crown," Ryan nodded and introduced himself.
Leo's eyes widened, and realization dawned on him as he looked around, relieved no one heard him, "Oh, oh, we aren't supposed to tell our true names, I forgot. Hahaha."
"Don't worry, I forgot you said that."
"Sure enough, you're a nice guy, since you took my cake," he said happily.
"..." Forget it, regret has no medicine.
"Ah, My name is Majestic Thunder Dragon," he said proudly.
"Huh?" Ryan sighed inwardly, 'I think I'm too old-fashioned.'
He always put the pretense in front of his co-workers and the company's business partners in his past life, giving only what was needed to keep a facade of superficial kindness. But not in front of these kids, too energetic for him to keep up.
"Well, umm, Majestic Thunder Dragon, I need to go look for my friends," Ryan said awkwardly, trying to excuse himself.
"I'll go with you," Leo said, "I lost my friends too."
"Ryan," A shrill scream was heard from a very familiar voice.
If time could be rewound, Ryan would definitely hide in a corner.
Turning around to meet Tracy's raging aura, Ryan was taken aback by her body falling into his embrace, pushing him a few steps back.
"..." Respect yourself a bit, little lady.
"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, failing to peel her away from him, noticing her aura turning from raging to indignant, "Did something happen?"
"..." Tracy only buried her head deeper, clearly upset.
"Emm, I know that isn't a time since you must be worried about your girlfriend, but she just announced your true name in front of everyone," Leo whispered.
'This wasn't planned for.' Raising his head, the banquet hall turned silent as everyone wanted to gossip, people's eyes fell on him.
A young man wearing a beige uniform, a representative of Yaden Academy, from the Empire Dorigan, said in arrogance, "So this is your boyfriend. He's average."
'She's not my girlfriend.' Ryan wanted to deny it.
"My name is Josh di Catart. A duke's son from the Great Dorigan."
'What happened to never giving your real name to anyone rule?' Ryan wanted to laugh a bit, 'This nobility complex.'
"I hereby challenge you to an honorable duel, for the lady in your arms to be my fiancée and future wife," he said as if victory was in hand.
'If I could give her to you, I would.' Ryan thought, 'Besides, why did your taste been downgraded? Shouldn't you have fallen for Lisa instead of Tracy?'
Josh di Catart was a mob character that played a not-so-important role in the novel, lusting after and annoying Lisa to no end, eventually being beaten half-dead by Astin.
"What, did the cat get your tongue? Are you scared?" Josh said, trying to provoke Ryan.
'Not only that, but you should be provoking Astin instead of me.' Ryan thought, 'I'm actually choking not scared, someone peels this girl off me.'
As if his prayer was being answered, he saw Jacob dragging Tracy with ease and familiarity. Finally freed.
'Time no see,' Ryan looked gratefully at Jacob, ignoring Josh.
"What happened?" he asked again.
The trio separated before the festival; Jacob wanted to check the magic books, so he went to the mages' gathering place, Amanda dragged Tracy to play before she could suggest a date with Ryan, while he went to check the food.
"I just helped him get his necklace back stolen by a two-tailed cat," Tracy said in absolute annoyance.
'How annoying must you have been for Tracy to dislike you.' Ryan thought shooting Josh a look, 'Just like the novel, it's just that Tracy stole Lisa's role.'
"That wasn't any necklace," Josh spat indignantly, "The family heirloom isn't something any average woman can hold."
'The necklace must have already recognized Tracy as the other owner then.' Ryan's eyes shone, 'This could be his chance to get rid of her.'
Tracy has played a not-too-important role in the original script; she only served to be an annoyance and a burden on Hiro.
"Do you accept the challenge?" Josh said, clearly annoyed that Ryan continued to ignore him.
'Refusing would be an insult to one's honor, even if I can use the 'I'm not a Dorigan person' card.' Ryan wanted to refuse so bad, 'Should I say yes, then lose not so badly?'
Tracy pulled at his sleeves pitifully mouthing, "I'm sorry. Please don't lose."
"..." Ryan felt at a loss, 'Why did Astin feel obliged to wake him up? He didn't intend on being involved in any drama.'
The crowd looked expectantly at Ryan while students from Erou started cheering him on. Ryan weighed his options and nodded his head, accepting the challenge; they cleared an area for them to compete.
"The first to fall will lose," Josh declared.
Standing in the center of the banquet, Ryan dashed there with full speed; his kick met up with a ready-made hard Mana shield, being pushed back.
"Fireball." Josh fired a spell.
Ryan retained his footing; the fire didn't leave a scratch as he turned it back at the opponent, much stronger, barely leaving a mark on Josh's Shield.
But that was just a distraction as he appeared behind Josh, smacking him to the floor, and using radiation to tie him down.
"I won," Ryan said.
The fight just like that ended quickly.
Mages have this disadvantage against Ability users; the time they waste to launch a spell is long, and Josh needs to be faster to win.
Josh got up, his head lowered, "I lost. But I'm not going to give up 'Forest Fairy' shall be my lady," He stormed out, "I will get you at the tournament, mark my words."
The crowd lost interest and went back to their conversations.