There was a huge crowd bustling at the edges of the main hall – to my surprise, it wasn't just the middle school students, but adults – ranging from the partic.i.p.ants' parents to n.o.bles or other friends and family members – were also present, chattering excitedly.

The practical examination for the middle school was conducted in a tournament format. Since the high school division had just been through the national tournament about a month before the exams, they decided to give us individual duels as the format instead, but the middle school was another matter altogether.

Consequently, there was great fanfare and excitement, and people from all over Flandor City would gather to watch this major yearly event. Mage fights had become pretty popular entertainment that generated immense amounts of revenue through broadcasting rights and video streaming websites, as well as drawing sponsors.

In the waiting rooms set aside for the middle school second year students, two figures had gathered to discuss their tactics for the upcoming match.

"We might not have the first match of today, and there may only be two of us. But we will be fine as long as we do what we usually do in training." Placing his hands on his hips, Adrian Stuart beamed confidently. "Let's show everyone what we are made of!"

"…can we really win, though?" In contrast, Melina Franklin was extremely anxious. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. "We're at a disadvantage when compared to other squads."

"Maybe, but we will win!" Adrian gripped her shoulder rea.s.suringly. "Don't forget, Brother Richard is the one who personally taught us! We can't afford to let him down, can we?"

"O…of course!" Melina steeled herself, clenching her fists. "We can't disappoint him, after all the faith he placed on us!"

"Exactly! As long as we do our best, everything will be fine!"

Well, not really. Reality was a lot crueler than that. Sometimes, even if you did your very best, the world would crush you mercilessly like an ant. I had been through a lot of demoralizing failures that I had lost count, my hard work mocked by the cosmos and my efforts ruthlessly pulverized by harsh truth. Sometimes…diligence and doing my best wasn't enough.

However, I couldn't tell them that. They would learn that of their own accord – and also that it was all right to fail. Even if you did your best and failed, it was okay – as long as you picked yourself up, refused to give up and try again. Living was not merely about success. It was also about standing up after failure, and learning to overcome the various challenges in your way, learning how to come to terms with failure and adjusting your expectations.

In other words, adaptation. Only one person could be number one – were the rest of us doomed to be losers, existing only to prop up the champion? Nope. Even the champion couldn't exist without the rest of us – he was just as reliant on us to maintain his rank as we were to survive. Coexistence was the most important thing. As long as everyone banded together and cooperated, we could get through anything.

I taught my two charges that, and hoped they wouldn't buy the whole "strong eat the weak" bulls.h.i.+t or "strength is everything" nonsense that most cultivation novels espoused. Do that in reality, and you would suffer retribution. Even the strongest person would fall to a mob of supposedly weaker people.

"Let's do our best!"

"We can do this!"

It wasn't just Adrian and Melina. Everyone was extremely motivated. I could literally taste the air of excitement emanating from the middle school students who were packed tightly into the waiting rooms, eagerly antic.i.p.ating their turn in the exam.

However – and I smirked when the thought crossed my mind – Adrian and Melina would be the ones who shone the brightest today.

We had spent all week – h.e.l.l, we spent a month training. At this stage, Melina could no longer be called the incompetent talented or whatever stupid nickname her schoolmates had for her. Seriously, what the f.u.c.k was "incompetent talented" supposed to mean? Who the h.e.l.l came up with such a cheesy nickname?

Adrian as well – like Melina, he will be stepping out of his cousin's shadow. Apparently no one had expected much of him, having always seen him as Cecilia's younger cousin. He had also neglected his wood magic, and his father had personally tasked me to raise him to a proper swordsman capable of wielding ultimate wood magic. During my training, I discovered that he had a much better affinity with wood magic than I ever had. As it should be. I was confident that he would surpa.s.s my wood magic with his Stuart swordsmans.h.i.+p in time.

I honestly looked forward to that.

Anyway, for today, they will both show the world what they were made of!

Smiling, I approached the both of them. When they caught sight of me, I waved in a friendly manner, hoping that would help them relax.

"Brother Richard!"

"Sensei!"

"How are you guys doing?" I asked, stopping right in front of them. Melina gulped, looking very pale.

"I suddenly realize that I have stage fright. Sensei…is there a technique for me to stand out as little as possible on the stage?"

"What the h.e.l.l?! Why are you suddenly losing your confidence for?! What happened to all that courage that I saw during training?!" I demanded, exasperated.

"But…but there are so many people watching us! I can't…do it!"

"You're kidding, right? This is an incredible opportunity for you to show off!"

"I…I don't think I'm up for it."

This was bad. Melina looked as if she was losing her confidence. Adrian gulped and stepped forward, trying to motivate her.

"Come on! Brother Richard personally taught us, remember? You said it so yourself, we can't disappoint him!"

"Ah, right…"

"Oh? If it isn't Melina?"

Before Melina could complete her sentence, an arrogant voice cut her off. The three of us turned around and spotted a familiar girl with pig-tails descending the stairs, her entourage behind her.

"What a good girl…to think that you'll show up as you promised."

"Nirvana…" Melina whispered nervously, hugging herself. Adrian quickly stepped in front of her, as if to s.h.i.+eld her.

"Is there something you need?" he asked. I didn't tell him that his question was pointless. There was only one reason why Nirvana was here. She and her squadron were Adrian and Melina's opponents today. Noticing her smug smirk, I scowled. I wouldn't be surprised if Nirvana had used her family's influence to pull some strings and arranged for her squad to be Melina��s very first opponents in the practical examination.

It was clear what her motive was.

"Are you all right, though?" Nirvana's voice was filled with mock concern. "You look very pale."

"But of course, Lady Nirvana!" one of her teammates giggled, her laughter full of scorn. "In a moment, she will have to embarra.s.s herself in front of so many people!"

"Ha ha, indeed!"

"You'll be the ones who will embarra.s.s yourselves!" Adrian yelled.

"Silence. I'm not talking to you." Nirvana then turned to cast a disdainful look at the girl cowering behind him. "Hey, Melina. Are you going to hide in one corner of the field like this as well? In that case, at least dance for the audience, to entertain them. Don't waste their time. Perform ballet on the stage. That's an order."

"…I refuse." Melina's grip tightened.

"Your family has come to spectate as well, right?" Nirvana continued, as if she hadn't heard Melina reject her. ���What would they think, I wonder? While everyone around is pointing and laughing at you. How would they feel? Do you have any idea?"

She then giggled maliciously.

"In fact, I wonder why someone as useless as you is still attending this school? Are you planning to leech off the prestige of Saint Teresa Academy? How about you just drop out already…?"

"How about you just shut up already, you b.i.t.c.h?" I interrupted before she could finish her tirade. "You've been screeching on and on like a monkey this entire time, and my ears are about to fall off."

"W…what did you say?" Nirvana cried, caught off guard, but Adrian joined in, inspired by me.

"You heard Brother Richard!" He guffawed. "You're a monkey! All of you are monkeys!" He then paused for a moment, tilting his head to the side. "Oh, right. Of course you wouldn't understand human language. My apologies." Turning to Melina, he gestured. "Let's go. We're wasting our time listening to monekys screeching away."

"Excuse me!?" Nirvana shrieked. Beside her, her entourage was so outraged that they were speechless. "Who are you calling monkeys?"

"See? She can't understand human language."

Nirvana simmered for a second, forcing herself to calm down. She glared at Adrian.

"I know you. You're the failure of the Stuart family." She then laughed, and her friends joined her in sharing the condescending noise. "The failure of the Stuart family and the failure of the Franklin family. The two of you are made for each other! No wonder you're in the same squad. But…there's only the two of you – n.o.body dares to join your squadron – what can just the two of you do in this tournament? You'll only embarra.s.s yourselves."

She then rounded on me.

"As for you…I don't know what tricks you used during the national tournament, but even a lowly commoner like you should understand that it was a fluke. But I guess the Franklin and Stuart families are desperate enough to hire a fraud like you…then again, no one else would be stupid enough to try and teach a couple of failures and ruin their reputation. Not that you have any reputation to lose…"

"Enough."

To everyone's surprise, it was Melina who issued that cold, chilling order. The atmosphere seemed to freeze as her killing intent emanated. She glared at Nirvana, her ruby eyes blazing fiercely, and her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"I won't allow you to make fun of Sensei and Adrian."

"Oh? Don't allow me to make fun of those two, you say? And how do you propose to do that?"

"Sensei…has been the best teacher I ever had. And Adrian is the only person who believes in me and is willing to form a squad with me. They are very precious to me…I won't allow you to make fun of them." Melina was repeating her declaration vehemently. Stepping in front of us, she jabbed a finger at Nirvana. "I'll see you on stage, and crush you. It doesn't matter how many people you have. Five, ten, fifteen. Adrian and I will be more than enough to destroy you in front of everybody."

For a moment, Nirvana was taken aback by Melina's challenge. Then she threw her head back and laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha! Very good! I would like to see you try! It seems that you have finally gone crazy, you incompetent talented girl! You've lost your sanity to the point where you're deluding yourself!"

"Laugh all you want, but we'll prove it through actions, not words. See you on the battlefield."

With that, Melina stalked off. Nirvana and her group continued to laugh.

"Did…did you hear that? She really thinks she can defeat our group of five with just the two of them!"

"She has lost it…she has really lost it…"

"Why can't they accept that it's impossible for them to win?"

"Why not?" Adrian smirked before he turned to follow Melina. "You're just a bunch of monkeys. What can you do?"

"What…what…what…?"

"See? More screeching. Sorry, but you'll have to speak human language if you want us to understand you. But I'm not going to wait for you to learn. Melina and I have more important things to do with our time. You can continue your circus act on stage later – maybe I'll bring a comb of bananas for you guys. Ciao."

I watched my two charges depart, and shook my head in amazement before going after them. They were growing up really quickly, and pretty soon they wouldn't need me to protect them any longer.

h.e.l.l, Adrian had gotten a lot better at mocking people than me. I wondered where he learned that from.

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