“Are you surprised?” Adel came up and sleepily asked.

“Mmm… His weird smile is gone.” I answered lightly. Well, it was true. His stupid grin was replaced with a serious expression that was not something you often saw on him. But what was annoying me was all the fangirls screaming his name. Like, does it help if you scream his name? Do you win an award for being the one to scream his name the loudest?

I will never understand it. Why do girls get all giddy over a boy or any kind of lover for that matter? Although I am a girl myself, I still do not understand it. I shook my head as I turned my attention back to Lance on stage. He was staring at Bill with a small smile on his lips. Once Bill gave the go ahead, Bill charged at Lance which was a surprise to me. This was the second time he had charged at someone. The first being me. Lance only slightly moved as he brought his sword to his side and stepped forward, and struck out.

Bill sidestepped and swung his sword to block. But…. “Wait! What the hell are you doing!? Why did you fake like you were off balance!? Instructor Bill, don’t be trying to throw the fight! Smash him hard! Knock him down a few times! Make him cry!”-.I watched as Lance stumbled over his own feet and loud laughter came from my side. I turned to see Adel, Grace, Sei, Sally, and even Sophie all laughing really hard. Was what I said really that funny? I tilted my head to the side, trying to think of what I said, but nothing seemed funny to me…. I mean, well… Okay the last part about making him cry, but I was just trying to get my point across.

But now, I am also getting a lot of death glares. But as I scanned the crowd, everyone quickly turned and looked away. But once my eyes left them, they glared at me again! At least do it openly! Feeling a bit annoyed, I released some of my magic on the crowd to make them stop staring. I already get stared at enough that I do not need some giddy girls glaring at me too.

At least the fight on stage was now proper. The two were exchanging blows properly instead of Bill trying to throw the match all because his opponent was the prince. For one, I doubt Lance would want such a thing. Especially with how he is smiling. Ugh… I just realized that the two of us have something in common. We love to fight! Maybe I should take up flower arrangement and knitting….

After almost fifteen minutes, the two finally came to a stop. Bill seems to realize he was already taking up too much time. Luckily if anyone got yelled at this time, it would not be my fault…. I hope….

Grace forfeited her match since she was not going to try out for the knight course. But now that I was thinking about it…. Did Lance need to take the exams? “Lance….”

“Yes, Faith? Were you impressed?” Lance asked with his usual stupid smile.“Ah… No, in fact, I was a little disappointed…. Anyway…. Ummm, are you not already in the academy? I could have sworn that you were…..” I asked… I was not sure that maybe I was hearing things, but I think I did recall him saying he was in the academy before.

“Hmmm? I just wanted to fight an instructor and show you my good side.” Lance replied with a smile.

“I see….” I only said these words before turning and walking towards the next testing area, not wanting to speak any more to Mr. Showoff. I heard a chuckle at my side, and as usual, Adel was laughing it up at Lance’s expense. I can understand where she is coming from because I used to tease my big brother too.

The reason I was going to the next testing area now was because I did not wish to watch any more of the matches.I already saw everyone else fighting. I just can’t believe that Lance went through all this trouble because he wanted to show off to me.

Testing for the second test began in the early evening. Standing up on a much large stage that had much more room for combat and many barriers surrounding it was a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. I did not need to ask who she was as Adel leaned over and whispered in my ear. “She is the Dean’s niece, Jasmine. And is the top mage of her generation.”

I nodded and was about to ask what kind of magic she was good at, but Jasmine began speaking. “Welcome to the second test. This will test your abilities as mages. Those who pass this test will be one step closer to joining the mage course. If you pass all the tests, you can take up both courses and work hard to become a magic knight. But remember, very few ever achieve this.

“Let me explain how this all works. Just like the knight course test, you will come up one at a time and battle me. You can use all your strongest attacks. Well, except for one person. Baroness Cyrilia! You have to hold back!”

I choked on air being called out like that. Did the Dean say something!? It’s not like I planned to use grand fall on her or something like that. I just planned to bombard her with a bunch of attacks. I pursed my lips as I locked eyes with the girl on stage. She only gave me a sly smile that said: I am watching you! Maybe I should just fling her out off the stage? My catapult magic would work well.

Would the Dean get mad if I sent his niece flying through the air like a bird? Well, now that I think about it, she can probably step on air as well. I guess I should come up with something else…. Maybe a catapult into a tornado? Is that too much? I will just need to see what everyone else does and go with that, I guess. I guess I can find an excuse to use it on Lance later, then blame it on Bell. Who would argue with Bell?

“Faith, you have this creepy smile on your face.” Adel’s voice broke my thoughts, causing me to accidently blurt out: “I was thinking of catapulting Lance later….”

“Oi!”