Challenge

Having shown his unmatched power, Libarius turns towards Gracia, paying no heed to the awed looks of the students.

“Gracia, you ought to assert yourself now.”

“Huh? You want me to go after you?”

“Won’t that solve your worry?”

“…Fine.”

Gracia looks to the remaining targets. She draws a line through them with her pointer finger. All of the targets are crushed, crumpling into themselves, by an unseen force. As she had expected, there is not nearly as strong a reaction as to Libarius’ fire. She’s somewhat dejected at the fact, though it’s as she expected.

“See, Libarius, they barely care after your spell.”

“Yet that was hardly something impressive on my part… Curious, you had said that they were underperformers, but is that truly enough for them to stand around clueless after such a simple spell?”

“Most people care more about the result than the spell you cast.”

“How strange. Do they think at all then? We must create another opportunity for you, then.” Before Gracia can respond, a deep, haughty voice interrupts them.

“Well, I was planning to have my students do a little practice, but it seems like you’ve already broken all the targets. To think, the lowest rung of the students of our esteemed institution would waste the training time for the greatest. In way of apology—” Libarius turns sharply and loudly clacks his cane against the ground. The voice belonged to a very muscular man, much taller than either Libarius or Gracia, twenty-odd students behind him.

“Silence, pissant. The opinions of weaklings hold no sway over me and we have a conversation to return to regardless. Leave us.”

“Brat, I was willing to let you off easy for what you and those other brats did, but don’t confuse my mercy for weakness. I’ll crush you.”

“And to you I offer that same reproach. So talentless are you that even with neither my spells nor my leg I could lay you flat.”

“Shall we put it to the test then?” The other man is growing angry. Gracia pulls softly on Libarius’ arm.

“Libarius, let’s just leave it and apologize.”

“The girl’s right, I can still forgive you, if one of you’s got sense.”

“Come now, Gracia, don’t doubt your eyes. Or are you suggesting that you’ve fallen for such a simple ruse? Surely not. Though he wears such a garish thing, he is still far too lacking to be of any note. Salvo Mitis, though a soldier through and through, has never allowed himself to inflate to such a degree, for he never once looked away from magic. To ignore magic is to lose it entirely; to devote so much to such a fruitless endeavor would of course have such a consequent. If you need a target so desperately, then again devote yourself to practice and go shoot blanks into the sky.” She pulls slightly harder, trying her best to separate the two, but Libarius will not budge.

“Libarius, let’s just go.” The man glares at the two of them.

“No. I won’t let you get away now. Your mockery has gone too far. I am Arro Assero, and I will not let you shame my name!” Libarius remains unfazed.

“Quoth the Grand Sage: ‘Where would I stand were I known by any other name, who would gather when I called—yet when I raise my hood and mask my face am I anything less than the Grand Sage?’ Contrarily, a weakling is weak no matter the name.”

“I’ll crush you!”

“You bore me. If you truly must be humbled by somebody, then I would rather it be the inept fools standing slack-jawed behind me. Farewell.”

“Hah! What, so none of you failures can cast a spell properly!” Neither Libarius’ expression nor voice change, but Arro feels a shiver down his spine regardless.

“Don’t you dare look down on us, you weakling pissant. Gracia, a spell.” Gracia shudders at the thought of what he’ll do with it.

“I refuse. Libarius, stop this.” Libarius sighs, then forces his cane down, leaving a clear scuff mark.

“Fine then, the students it shall be. In a single week’s time, they will be more than strong enough to deal with you.”

“Hah! How pathetic! Then let’s make it a contest between classes!”

“Very well.” Libarius turns and begins to walk. “Come. Let us hold a strategy meeting.” Gracia and the students follow after him, almost reluctantly, confused by what just happened. They return to the classroom. Once there, Gracia pulls Libarius to the side, speaking quietly to him.

“Why did you do that?”

“I refuse to bow my head to a weakling such as that.”

“But being that rude when we’re just starting out—on our first day—obviously it’ll end up poorly.”

“Then all we must do is distinguish ourselves without question. If great success is what is required of me so that I may return to my research, then so be it, a great success it shall be.” Libarius walks in front of the lectern and stands there. Callidus begins before Libarius can.

“Hey, if you’re so strong, then why didn’t you just blow that guy away?!” Libarius answers quickly.

“I cannot cast my spells, and there’s nothing interesting about breaking his legs.” Victoria interjects sternly, not speaking over Libarius.

“‘That guy’ is a war hero, Callidus.” Libarius responds to her comment.

“If he wished to be honored as one then he ought to have devoted his time to maintaining his strength rather than squander it in exchange for those vain muscles.” Libarius hits his cane against the floor as he shifts topics. “Now then, this ought to prove to be an uphill battle. If it were only the weakling, it would be simple enough. I would only need one of you, in truth, for such a simple task. However, if you are to face his class instead, then we’ll need to work quite hard. Firstly, they outnumber you by more than two to one.” Gracia interjects.

“No, the whole class is bigger than this. A lot of them seem to not have come for some reason.”

“I see. How deplorable, that such slackers would rather waste away than grasp an understanding of magic just beyond their fingertips. However, that gives a clear first step. Go out and retrieve those fools, by coercion or force, it does not matter.” Gracia doesn’t know how to respond to that. “And I promise now, I will make you strong.”