"At last, I want you all to prepare thoroughly for the competition one year later. Remember, there are only five quotas available, and if you miss it, you will miss it for the rest of your life."
At the carefully crafted podium, adorned with intricate designs and dragon sculptures, a middle-aged man concluded his speech with encouragement, signaling its end.
Although thunderous applause showed him respect, many in the audience were secretly yawning, tired of hearing every teacher repeat the same speech.
"Finally, the speech is over."
"Yeah! I almost fell asleep halfway through."
"But don't you think the quota is too low? Thousands of Knights, but only five places?"
"Hah, what can we do? You should be content they even gave us this chance. Besides, not everyone is here for the quota. Wizard fate is a distant dream; the real benefit lies in the empire."
One person said with a smile. Many Knights like him had traveled from afar, not for the elusive Wizardry, but for the connections.
You see, Ashford was an empire, not a kingdom. For most Knights, a simple connection to the Imperial Academy was something to brag about.
Who knows? You might catch the attention of a big shot. In fact, such things happen often.
Even the Veilstrider family would scout potential Knights and recruit them into their fold if necessary.
"Yeah! You're right. To hell with Wizards and all."
"Haha!"
Ian looked at the large number of people around him, talking and joking, making the area bustling with activity. Although their attire, fields of study, and teaching styles were different, Ian found them oddly similar to people from his previous life.
'Just the power system is broken,' Ian thought in a good mood.
He had arrived late and didn't have to endure the nonsense speech like the others.
"Ian!"
Suddenly, he heard someone calling him from behind. Ian stopped and looked back to see Lyra waving at him from one of the corners.
However, his attention was elsewhere, just behind Lyra.
'Heh, sure enough. He's with Lyra.'
He smiled and walked slowly toward Lyra, navigating through the crowd.
"When did you arrive? I tried searching for you, but the crowd was too dense."
Ian walked up to Lyra and asked, completely ignoring Carl, who stood behind her, trying to make his presence known.
If he had been his predecessor, Ian knew he would have confronted Lyra angrily upon seeing her close to the other guy—even though she wasn't actually close to him.
After all, his previous obsession was no joke. It was still affecting him, though his control was improving.
Sometimes, he even wondered if there was something special about Lyra, as he had never felt such emotions toward anyone else.
"I arrived on time. It's you who are late. You treat the Imperial Academy like your home, coming and going as you please."
Lyra scolded him with a smile, clearly in a good mood after seeing him.
"Um... Lyra, what do you think of my earlier request? I believe we can learn from each other."
Seeing that neither of them paid him any attention, Carl couldn't sit still.
He spoke to Lyra ambiguously, trying to show off his closeness to her, and then turned to Ian with a friendly smile.
"Hi! I'm Carl. Are you a friend of Lyra?"
He extended his hand for a handshake, trying to appear amiable.
Ian watched the protagonist's act with amusement and finally gave him a closer look.
'Well, nothing special,' he thought, quickly losing interest.
Then he turned to Lyra, completely ignoring Carl's outstretched hand, and asked,
"Do you know him?"
Lyra broke into a cold sweat when Carl addressed Ian like that. Based on Ian's past behavior, she feared he might get angry and create a scene.
But she was surprised to see his calm demeanor and sighed in relief. However, upon hearing his question, she quickly explained to avoid any misunderstandings.
"I met him once at the training ground. He just asked if I wanted to practice sword training with him."
Afraid Ian might still misunderstand, she hurriedly added,
"I turned down his request, but he keeps insisting."
Lyra almost sounded aggrieved while Carl stood dumbfounded on the side.
He had planned to provoke Ian and show off in front of Lyra, but she instead directly sold him.
"Oh? Is he pestering you?"
Ian looked at Carl with interest as the latter's hand dropped awkwardly.
"Well, don't worry, I'm not pestering you. I just invited you to practice together so we could both improve. If Miss Lyra thought I was wrong, I humbly apologize."
Seeing that Lyra's impression of him was worsening, Carl quickly retreated and apologized.
He thought Ian in front of him might be jealous of his closeness to Lyra and thought he could leverage that later. But for now, he chose to withdraw.
Lyra nodded in relief, seeing that Ian didn't seem bothered.
However, Ian had no intention of letting Carl go so easily. The main reason he joined the Academy was to meet the protagonist and change his fate as a passerby villain.
Although it might seem he avoided the plot by his calm and collected demeanor instead of fighting abruptly, there was no prompt from the system.
That meant it wasn't enough.
Ian looked at Carl's apologetic figure and purposed.
"Well if you want to practice, why not practice with me? I'd like to see how strong you are."
He gestured toward the arena at the center where fighting was taking place.
It was a venue temporarily created by the Academy to ignite the competitive spirit of the Knights students and add an interesting flavor to the otherwise boring welcome ceremony.