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Chapter 161: In the Bath… (2)
While Mariana focused on getting dinner ready, Mira and Creos sat on a couch while he related the updates on the Academy’s students.
According to Creos, thanks to the Magic Bomb Sealing Stones and the strengthening equipment Mira left them, the students had a much easier time forming their first contracts, and there was an influx of new students as well. On top of that, a large number of students that had dropped out and given up returned as well, reinvigorating the classrooms even halfway through the school year.
「I see, I see, that’s good to know.」
The interest in becoming a summoner was rising steadily, and it was only a matter of time before some students stood out above the crowd, which should eventually dispel the bad name summoning had gained over the years. It would still take some time, but Mira was pleased knowing an important first step had been taken.
「With more students another problem has sparked though…」
Creos sighed saying that. This was the main point of his report, and the new issue summoners were facing. There were largely two different types of lessons in the Academy, general studies and the various spellcasting classes.
Students were given a certain number of classes of each depending on their individual performance. Sometimes students were given two years of middle-level general studies, and one year of high-level magic studies too.
Because of the state of summoners before, and the influx of students, the ages of the first-year students varied greatly, some being children while others were already adults.
While age helped with general studies, learning spells was a different story, but there were so many students lumped together that often adults would have inferior results to the children, highlighting their difference in talent. That sparked various small conflicts, and now the students were starting to form factions between themselves.
Creos, the summoner instructor Hinata, and the few students in higher years were all at a loss trying to find a way to deal with that problem.
Though other classes of spellcasters also encountered such issues. But those had existed for so long that their conflicts were far less pronounced, and they had gotten used to tolerating each other over time.
Meanwhile this was the first time it happened amongst summoners, and they were even more aggressive because of that.
「There’s also this one girl with a bit of an attitude…」
After broadly explaining the issue, Creos mentioned one specific student. She was also one of the students that joined after the school year started, the daughter of a noble in Ozstein. Now she was the leader of a faction of summoners.
「A noble’s daughter, huh….」
Hearing the word noble, Mira recalled the noble that once attacked her. But Creos grimaced, knowing that was a different story.
「While annoying to deal with, I wish her conflict was confined amongst summoners. Hinata and I would be able to deal with it internally, and we wouldn’t need to be so watchful.」
Her family was rather influential, but apparently social ranking was not the reason for conflict there. Instead, that girl insisted on picking fights with other classes of spellcasters, and very constantly.
「So she likes fanning flames, huh. That does sound annoying. Though I can’t imagine someone in their first year having the power to offer much of a fight, it sounds a bit reckless, in fact.」
「Yes, I know. So far they don’t take her seriously and let her off easy, she’s going after more mature groups, so they know not to cause a scene. I’m just afraid of what will happen once she gains enough power to actually pose a threat.」
Creos sighed as he said that, knowing it would not take much longer before it reached that point. That rowdy daughter of a noble just so happened to possess talent that made her stand out of the pack.
Just one week after obtaining her first summon, she completely mastered the ability to designate the summoning spot, and her spell construction and speed were incredibly high, which was something Creos was happy about.
「Ohh, that’s rather commendable, yes.」
Summoning was second nature to Mira now, but she still remembered her struggles when she first started. Hearing that girl’s quick progress made Mira think of her as a prodigy as well.
She held enough promise that one day she might even have the skills necessary to carry on the legacy of summoners. But that was another reason why she kept confident in inciting fights so often.
「She’ll always run off trying to pick fights with students of other classes, and Hinata is having to scold her almost daily now.」
Hinata was the summoner instructor. Now that there were more students, she was also training hard herself to become a proper role-model. But with all the incidents popping up, she was hardly finding enough time to learn more herself.
「That sounds rough… But I guess she holds pride in her talent, and that’s why she’s causing so many issues?」
Mira felt like it was common amongst talented individuals to get an inflated pride, to their detriment. Creos just shook his head, replying, 「It’d be much easier if that was the case.」
「She actually has a rather caring side as well actually, she’s always working hard and learning as best she can. That permeates into the other students as well, which I appreciate, if only that was all she did…」
「Oh. I had a completely different first impression of her. That actually sounds like a good girl…」
A talented daughter of a noble. That combination usually brewed someone with a really foul personality, but she seemed to have a kind side. Somehow she still kept picking fights with other students though.
Mira tilted her head, the information sounding a bit contradictory. Creos had a bit more to say, though he struggled a bit to find the right words.
「Actually… how do I put this… apparently she’s a big fan of Danbulf. The faction she formed is essentially composed by students that share that passion too. I guess it’s more like… a fanclub of sorts. She also says that she’s only fighting those who make fun of Danbulf, or summoners, so… I realize I should tell her off, but at the same time deep in my heart I want to cheer her on, making it hard to really do that…」
He sounded bothered, but there was a smile hiding in his face. That was everything he had to say. He knew he had to do something about that situation, but he was unsure of what, so he wanted Mira’s advice.
「I can’t blame her then. It’s not our fault she’s like that, but the other side’s, they’re the ones who should be scolded. They shouldn’t badmouth summoning or me. That’s the solution. She’s not guilty!」
Mira felt much better about the whole thing after learning of the existence of her fanclub, and loudly announced a solution that would benefit her the most. At first she disliked that student, hearing she was talented and a noble’s daughter, but now she supported the student wholeheartedly.
On top of that, Mira was already thinking of showing up during the next spell examination in the Academy, bringing with her a summon of the highest level to fully dispel any remaining doubt on summoners.
Maybe she would even let Isenfald break a hole through the ceiling of the event center, or even blast the entire roof off, after all, 「It’ll only make rainy days a bit troublesome anyway.」
「I appreciate the thought, but we’ve finally managed to get more students, so please avoid doing anything that would paint a target on us.」
Creos tried to restrain Mira from her reckless ideas. That would only cause a lot of other issues.
If Mira, a wiseman, went all-out there with her summoning, the audience would be left terrified, and might even start fearing summoners instead of appreciating them. That would make a lot of things worse for them.
Still, Creos felt that doing so would lose its meaning. He believed that the students had to be the ones changing the minds of others.
Luckily for him, the rules for the spell examination had been revised. After Mira’s appearance there, they decided to go over the rules again, making sure the spell examination focused on students’ abilities, and how much they had improved. They were trying to make the event inviting for new students as well. contemporary romance
「Hmm, I guess I’ll have to let the new generation handle it then. I’m looking forward to that.」
Mira was quickly convinced to let go of the idea, and instead she began to dream about the Tower of Summoning full of people again, which brought a smile to her lips.
「I know, I feel the same. Things will be rough for a while longer, but I’m sure things will get better if we keep working hard.」
If the students also showed excellence with summons, that should be enough to stop others from belittling them, which should cull down the conflicts as well. But it would take them some time to reach that point, and during that time the noble’s daughter was likely going to get into many more fights. Still, Creos thought even that made their outlook fun.
Some days later there was a meeting in the Academy as well, and the instructors agreed to be more watchful over their students. They knew the reason for the conflicts were students belittling each other, so it was not fair if the noble’s daughter was the only one being penalized.
Once that was agreed, an instructor of the so-called strongest class of magicians did something rather uncommon. Siegfried, the magic instructor, apologized profusely to Hinata, since it was only thanks to her efforts that the conflicts had never escalated out of control.
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