As I expected, the headmaster and the arch-mage showed up right in front of me using teleportation. And, the two are wearing the same firm expressions.
"First of all, let me congratulate you for beating my son."
The arch-mage nodded at me in respect, so I nodded back.
"One of these days, someone needs to remind him that there is always a scarier wolf."
"I agree… And I thank you for it."
The arch-mage then turned to face the headmaster, and the headmaster nodded at him. The arch-mage then stepped forward and glared at me pretty seriously.
"Rize. The two of us have a request."
Their faces look quite serious. So it seems like this is pretty serious too.
As I expected… they are not here to just congratulate me.
I let out a sigh and turned away.
"Let's hear it."
The arch-mage turned to the headmaster one last time before finally asking.
"Can you... marry Arfius?"
"No."
"T-That was a really quick reply!"
The two then glared at each other confusingly, while I facepalmed.
Turns out it wasn't that important…
"Rize... Someone with your calibre, if you become a member of the Xyphon kingdom, you can obtain a really high position! Hell, you can even be the next arch-mage!!"
The arch-mage tried to explain, but I simply shook my head.
"If that's what this is all about, then why ask me to marry that guy?"
"Grekkekk... I thought maybe I could kill two birds with one stone..."
I let out a sigh and looked away.
"Sorry to say, but I'm not interested in men."
The two then looked quite shocked.
"W-Well... I didn't know you were... Okay then. I respect that. But, I do have that request about becoming a member of Xyphon's mages."
"... What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that there is… a possibility of you becoming the next arch-mage."
W-Wow…
Arch-mage… the most powerful person of the kingdom.
But is it… really what I wanted?
The magic king Julius waited for a while as I gave it a thought. But after pondering, I made the decision.
I shook my head, and surprised both of them.
"Thank you for the offer. But, I am already Mazino's adventurer."
"Rize... Adventurers merely kill monsters and adventures around. If you become a mage from Xyphon, you can continue your study in magic. No, you can become the arch-mage!!"
Noticing that I was declining his request, the headmaster quickly jumped in and helped out.
The headmaster is always one to talk realistically with reason, so I can't really say anything reasonable to him, because he will always find a way to talk back.
However, there is one way…
"That's true. But, I can do that, even by becoming an adventurer.
Plus, it's more fun."
The two became rather frozen by that last sentence that I said. It didn't take long until Veneo started laughing.
They forgot that I am still young and liked to have a life for myself.
True, I'm not ready to devote myself to anything that important. I don't think I will ever be ready, because I probably won't want to. I want to be free, adventuring and doing stuff that I like.
I do like studying, but I don't want to be cooped up inside a library forever and study magic when I can't even use the magic to fight anything.
And clearly… I do not wish to have any high rank or some sort. I rejected a White rank promotion from Valon a long time ago, and being the arch-mage is no different.
I do not want responsibilities… and I don't like being in the spotlight all of the time.
So, there is no point for me to become a Xyphon mage or an arch-mage.
But, with the two of them being here in such a mood for negotiation, perhaps I can suggest a thing or two.
"Well... if you guys are willing to let me see and borrow Xyphon's storage of books that was known as the 'Royal Library', I can do a thing or two for you."
I sent out a bargain at the two, and they all quickly turned bright.
The Royal Library was known to be Xyphon's most important library, located in the middle island where the royal family lived.
It's a place where Xyphon kept all of their secrets, past histories, even research notes from their hidden research center.
For a knowledge-based kingdom like Xyphon, that library is very important. And these two are probably the most high-ranking individuals in the kingdom, therefore they are the right people to talk to if I want a chance of stepping into that library.
"R-Really, in that case..."
The two then turned to each other and nodded again. Do they have some sort of telepathic abilities? What is going on here?
"We have two requests. One from me, and another from Julius."
… Fair. That library was pretty important, after all.
"Let me hear them."
"First, from me. I want you to babysit Arfius until you graduate from the academy."
Hearing that from the arch-mage made me quite confused. Babysitting? Excuse me?
"W-What?"
"Y-You see... Arfius is the biggest candidate for the future arch-mage... And he has quite the... Personality...
Though I admit, he does have more talent than me. In a few years, he will probably pass me. But, he is still spoiled.
As an arch-mage and as a father, I can't pass down my rank to him if he is like that…
Y-You understand!"
Apparently the arch-mage is a really worried person. At least I know that he is being a good father, so...
All right… But...
"... And you ask me to babysit him, how?"
"You are the only one who is at the same age as him that is much more talented than him. There isn't anyone else that I know of who is better than him at anything, which is why he will probably listen to you more than me."
"You really think so?"
"I believe so. After today, he will definitely regard you as his lifetime rival."
Ah… that might be true...
Well, it is still worth it. Centuries worth of knowledge in the form of a library, all for babysitting a spoiled child. I guess it shouldn't hurt.
"Alright then. I want infinite and free access to the libraries and storage books."
"Deal! And now from Veneo."
The arch-mage turned to the headmaster and let him speak. The headmaster let out a cough before speaking.
"I want you to become the student counci-"
"Nope, denied."
"W-Wait, this is important!!"
"How is it important? I don't want to babysit the whole academy."
"I-I'm saying the vice! Not the head!"
That's still a heavy position. Plus, I'm still a first year student. And I clearly stated that I didn't want to have responsibilities, so it does confuse me why he still wants me to do it.
"... Still a no."
"Rize. There are plenty of things you can do as a vice president. And I'm sure you have heard this from Milly, but you can skip classes."
"... That is a good perk."
"You also get paid every month. And we definitely paid you handsomely."
"... Go on."
"You get to beat up students that break the rules freely."
"Hmm..."
I turned my gaze away and pondered for a while.
Vice president… What does the VP do, exactly?
Because in a school, most of the official stuff is mostly done by the President, while the VP is only there just in case the Pres couldn't make it.
That, and various other jobs. But VP has the least work in the council.
Plus, I have Milly as a friend of mine. She can teach me a lot of things.
This… can be profitable.
It didn't take long for me to make that decision, so I turned my gaze back at him.
"Fine, then. I'll be the vice president. But who will be the president?"
"A council member from the second year. You will meet him later. For now, can you become the vice president? With you as the VP, I'm sure the academy will be seeing… lots… of changes."
"Hmm, I'm not sure… I do have plenty of 'ideas', but we shall see."
Ideas, indeed… more like copy and paste concepts from my previous world... Heheh.
"But, if I get sick of the council, I'll leave."
"Deal."
I nodded at the headmaster, and he turned to Julius to leave.
After that long discussion with them, I left towards the exit and met up with everyone else from class E. Seeing how my clothes got ripped slightly, I took out a robe from my space ring and wore it, only to cover the opened skin.
Everyone praised me for defeating the godlike Arfius, but I simply chuckled.
It was barely even a fight. Arfius got completely shut down by me. But, I wouldn't tell them that.
We all left the large arena and headed back to the academy, where we will go and feast at the canteen together.
Yep, this is the peaceful life I wanted.
Not some cramping up on a library, studying for my whole life.
.
Days go by, and the second semester has started.
The class has been rolled based on the rankings, and everyone is sitting down on their classes right now.
There are fifteen students from class E that managed to make it into class A, while everyone else got placed in class B.
The big names from class E, like Maneil, Elmone, Jericho, and Manda obviously entered class A. While the bottom ranks from class E like Jelmond didn't make it and entered class B with everyone else.
The rankings and classes listing was announced two days before class started on Monday. And it shows... quite the ranking.
Especially the top 10.
Rize Violet (Class E -> Class A)Arfius Polaris (Class A -> Class A)Jericho Ammanoel (Class E -> Class A)
AldenManeil[Class A student][Class A student][Class A student]BonzieManda
With this, my mission is complete.
Most of the students from class E have moved on to class A, while the rest moved to class B. No one stayed at class E, or moved to class C or below. We all either went to class A or B.
And I placed the top ranking, and it actually felt great. I was second place for my whole high school years, and I am pretty pissed about it. And to become first place here felt... nice.
The second place curse… has finally ended.
And look at that, Manda got top 10, even though she met Arfius pretty early in the round of 16. Her written test scores must've helped her.
On the first day of class in the second semester, I got called into the headmasters office right after the class ended.
Looks like it is starting.