“Ah, this is the life!” I sighed happily as I leaned back against my chair. The stadium I was in was packed to the limit with mostly musclemancers. The area I was sitting in was reserved for the non-musclemancers, but there was an odd musclemancer or two screaming and cheering within the section. They were probably lost, but they didn’t care so they started flexing and screaming on the spot. The non-musclemancers were too intimidated by the gorilla-like attitudes of the tight-leather wearing sorcerers so nobody bothered to shoo off the lost musclemancers.

Lard coughed loudly, then asked, “How come you get that comfy chair while I, Vakasa of the Darkness, get to suffer on this rock-hard seat.”

“I’m a teacher. Meanwhile, you’re just an assistant so you have to sit on the stadium seat like everyone else,” I replied then turned to Kendra who was sitting next to me. “Hey, kid. Mind moving your zombi-... I mean Felixia out of my view?”

“Oh sorry, I was testing my commands…” Kendra said with a hushed tone. “Felixia, be my leg rest.”

Felixia stopped blanking out then dropped on all fours. Kendra didn’t even hesitate on placing her legs on top of her newly acquired zombie’s back, and I could feel the intensity of my student’s smugness.

“W-Why is Felixia following your orders? Wait, when did Felixia come back? Where was she the entire time?” Iova, sitting next to Kendra, asked.

“Never mind that, the competition’s about to start!” Kendra pointed out.

Two groups of people entered the playing field from opposite vomitoriums. They stood on their side of the field while the master of ceremonies sprinted towards the center of the stadium.

“Laaaadies and gentlemen! It’s me again! I mean… most of you don’t know me, but I was the master of ceremony of the last masters’ evaluation test! Anyway, enough chatter! Today is an auspicious day to start the yearly Interstate Sorcery Academia Games, and we have the audience’s favorite sport up first!” the MC announced.

“Knock-Out! Knock-Out! Knock-Out!” the musclemen chanted.

“That’s right! Knockout! The game’s rules are simple! Knock the opponents off the ring with any spell or trick up your sleeves! In this coooorneeeer… we have the apprentices from Cahalot!” the MC raised his hands towards four of my students who were quietly standing in a formation on their side of the ring.

The crowd cheered… or something. It was hard to tell the difference since half of the musclemen were gargling while the other half were howling.

“And in the other corner, we have the apprentices from the City of Yuhata!” the MC turned his hand to the other side of the ring.

There were four similarly dressed overly-bulked teenagers waving towards the crowd with huge grins on their faces. The crowd cheered louder, and it looked like the non-musclemancers, including me, were confused at the style of clothing of the four muscle-apprentices.

“Hey, ugh… Boss? Can I, Vakasa of the Darkness, have a word with you?” Lard whispered to me.

“What is it, Lard?”

“Listen. Thanks to my infinite knowledge and endless wit using my Eyes of Dimension-”

“Get to the point.”

“I think those guys are bad news,” Lard cut to the chase.

“Why?”

“You need to stop them, seriously. Just trust my infinite knowledge.”

“Just tell me-”

I was cut off when the MC suddenly raised his voice. “And that’s it for the rules! Any questions? No? THEN LET US BEGIN!”

Suddenly the entire area was blanketed in darkness. It seemed that someone covered the stadium in a barrier and used magic to darken the area.

“Boss, we need to act now!” Lard looked like he was distressed… but why?

The four muscle-apprentices were suddenly put on an artificial spotlight made with magic. The largest of the four took a step forward, then cleared his throat.

“We are here tooooo…” he began as he raised his yellow square hat.

“We are here tooooooooo…” the second one started singing with him.

“We are here toooooooooo….” the third one joined.

“We are here tooooooooooooo…” Finally, the fourth one chimed in with his extremely deep voice.

This is dangerous! Too dangerous!

I stood up, pointed at them, then screamed at my students, “END THEM!”

“We are here to win this roun- BLEURGH?!” All four were knocked out of the ring immediately thanks to a torrent of water, rock shards, icicles, lightning strikes, and explosion spells. The four quartet singers spun in the air (still singing in unison), then slammed hard onto the cold, stone ground (thankfully, they stopped).

The entire stadium went quiet. Nobody dared to move as the darkness lifted.

“Er… I guess Cahalot wins this round?” the MC announced.

*

*

*

The next few rounds ended up the same as long as Cahalot was on the playing field. My students would knock out their opponents within a few seconds, no matter what kind of move the enemy pulled. To be fair, my students were sort of playing a lethal of variant ‘Knock-Out’ just before they arrived to Compus, so this result was already expected from the beginning.

The rounds were so quick that the overly enthusiastic audience became quiet. Every muscleman was just sitting on the stadium seats with a displeased face, and nobody made a noise except for the MC, who tried to keep his cheery attitude up.

“Aaaand we got Cahalot as the winner again, folks! I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise! Anyway, we’ll have a fifteen minutes break before the next round starts!” the MC announced.

I stood up then stretched before announcing to my students, “Alright, kids. You have a few minutes to go to the toilet or buy snacks from the local protein shop.”

“Who even wants to buy snacks from the protein shop?” Kendra retorted.

Just then, there were some disturbance within the non-musclemancer section of the stadium. The crowds of foreign officials and tourists made way as a large robed figure approached towards me. Even the musclemancers made their quick escape as soon as the massive figure passed by them.

He approached, gurgling, “Ah… Ah… Ah..”

He balled his hand into a fist, then shouted, “Ahem! What ho, Boss! Quite a cheery day we have ‘ere, ain’t it?”

“Rook! How’s your research going on?” I said as I bumped his fist against mine.

“Boss, it’s great news!” Rook, the giant undead abomination, took a seat (actually a row of it) then continued, “I believe that, with my research notes, I would be able to get my PhD. I’ll have to head back to the Vallen Empire to complete my study.”

“That’s great! It’s sad to see you go, but one of my juniors figured out a way to communicate. I’ve asked her to make some copies of her magic tool,” I said as I handed a bag of skulls to Rook.

“My word! Are these skulls authentic?” Rook asked.

“No. They’re made out of space dust. Just pour blood on the top and it’ll open up communication. You might as well study it on the way back to Vallen,” I explained.

“Lovely! I suppose I’m tasked with handing these skulls out to any companions I find on the way back to the Vallen Empire?” Rook asked.

“Of course. It’s much more efficient that way since you’ll have to pass by some other cities on the way back,” I answered with a shrug. “Then off you go, Rook! Go get your degree and get back to me as fast as you can. I want to take tons of pictures of your degree with my light orb.”

“Before that, Boss, I am happy to inform you that Sarjay is currently here in Compus. He’s asked me to escort you to him.”

“Sarjay, huh?” I turned to the students then announced, “You all go ahead. I got some business to attend to. Kendra and Felixia, you’re going with me.”

“Alright, High Overboss!” Felixia said while still on all fours.

“Well, better than sitting here, I guess,” Kendra sighed.

As Rook escorted us into the inner stadium, he talked to me about his various research regarding musclemancy. He told me that there were possibilities that I could emulate it by taking muscles and sticking them onto my bony body.

“That’s a very interesting theory,” I muttered.

“I would need to experiment ton confirm this. But if you do try it out yourself, I implore you to send some notes to me if possible,” Rook replied.

“Of course.” I nodded.

“Hey, this guy is one of your minions, right?” Kendra interjected as she pointed at Rook.

“Yes, what of it?” I asked.

“What is he? Is he some kind of undead gorilla-man?”

“Rook’s a… How should I put this plainly…” I pondered out loud. “He’s a resurrected pile of rotting food.”

“Excuse me?” Kendra asked with a smile, as if she just heard a ridiculous joke.

“He’s a literal walking pile of rotten food.”

Kendra’s smile crashed as her face turned blank. “I know that necromancers could resurrect the dead, but to resurrect your long-rotted dinner…”

“If it’s dead, it could be raised. Remember that adage, Kendra,” I taught her. “Anyway, I want to know if you’re getting used to Flexia.”

“Oh! Oh! Me! I’m here, High Overboss!” Flexia suddenly butted in.

“How come you call him High Overboss?” Kendra asked with an annoyed tone.

Flexia shrugged then answered, “Well, Kendra, High Overboss said so!”

“Then call me Boss,” Kendra ordered with sparkling eyes.

“Yes, Boss!” came the reply.

I coughed loudly then reminded, “There’s only one Boss around here. Don’t forget that!”

“Master, can’t you see? I’m a Boss, but you’re a Higher Boss. Doesn’t that make it sound more superior?”

“Ho… that does sound very good. I see! I approve!” I answered with a thumbs up.

“We’re here,” Rook declared when he stopped in front of a private room. The door was flanked by two knights in full black armor, but for some reason, one of the knights was wearing a farmer’s hat.

Rook opened the door and ushered us in. In the room, there was a little girl with red, medium-sized hair sipping tea from a cup elegantly. She placed the cup down onto the plate she was holding, turned to me with a gentle smile, then asked, “If it isn’t Boss. If you don’t mind me asking, is there anyone else with you?”

“Only Kendra. You’re acquaintances, I think. She’s my direct apprentice,” I said.

The little girl threw the cup behind her back, placed her foot on the table in front of her, then leaned back. “Oh thank the Goddess! You can’t believe what grandpapa is putting me through, Uncle!”

“Uncle?”

“Oi, Asha! Just because Boss is here, it doesn’t mean you can act like an uncouth barbarian! You’re nobility, act like one!” a black knight appeared from the shadows of the corner of the room and chided the red-haired girl.

“But, Grandpapa Sarjay! Uncle probably doesn’t mind! Right, Uncle?” Asha turned then gave me a niece-like smile.

Wait, what’s a niece-like smile? Who cares! I like the sound of ‘Uncle’!

“Of course!”

“Boss!” Sarjay protested.

“I have made up my mind!”

“Urk. Fine. Just this once,” Sarjay groaned then gave up.

Asha hopped off from her seat then snapped her fingers. In an instant, her normal-looking crown burst into white flames. I twitched from trauma, but calmed down almost immediately.

“It’s cool, isn’t it? I’ve been diligently learning true fire,” Asha boasted.

“I suppose. You are Sarjay’s descendant, after all,” I confirmed.

“Speaking of grandpapa, he said that I needed to come here for building up foreign relationships, but he just wanted to see you, so if you want, Kendra and I can go in the other corner of the room to give you two some time alone,” Asha offered.

“What? No, I’m not happy! It’s just been only a few seconds after seeing him, and I’m already getting a headache!” Sarjay argued.

“Don’t be shy, grandpapa! Come on, Kendra. Let’s go talk about other stuff,” Asha told Kendra.

“So you’re a princess, huh? I thought you were just a blacksmith…” Kendra said as the two little girls moved to a corner of the room.

Left with Sarjay, I tilted my body, spread my arms, then shouted, “It is I! The Ultimate High Overboss!”

Sarjay facepalmed then groaned, “What has that chubby boy been teaching you?”

“Nothing good.” I fished a skull from my robes then handed it to him. “Here. It’s made out of space dust. Put blood on the top of the skull and you can use it to talk to me.”

“I’m as much of a skeleton as you are,” Sarjay pointed out as he examined the skull.

“Anyone’s blood would work, apparently. How’s your kingdom anyway?”

“It’s been doing well, given that we stole the dwarves’ locomotive technology,” Sarjay said with a shrug.

“What was that about stealing from the dwarves?” a dangerous voice interjected. A small woman in an expensive-looking black dress materialized out of my shadow, then placed a fan to cover her mouth. “You steal from the dwarves, you’re stealing from the Queen of the United Fortresses, Ellysa - me!”

“Oh, ho. It’s the brat that thinks she’s a queen,” Sarjay sneered.

“I am a queen. I’ve been a queen for five hundred years. Five hundred is quite a good number unlike someone whose bloodline lost theirs a long time ago,” Ellysa jabbed back with a mocking laugh.

“Didn’t your bloodsucking mentors taught you manners? You should respect your seniors, brat,” Sarjay said.

“Hmpf. It doesn’t matter! I may be lower than you in the current hierarchy, but you should’ve realized that we’re in the same hierarchy!” Ellysa pointed out.

“Wait. You’re subordinated to Boss?” Sarjay glared at me, wordlessly asking me for an explanation.

“Well, she said she could become a Vampire Matriarch,” I answered.

“Indeed! Once I get uplifted into a Vampire Matriarch, I will be higher in the hierarchy! Ho ho ho ho!” Ellysa laughed.

“What? How can you become a Vampire Matriarch?” Sarjay asked.

“Something to do with the Undead Republic. I’m heading over there once the Games are done. I’ll be bringing Ellysa and Kendra with me and spend a few months there,” I replied.

“Undead Republic of Gravia? I see, I was planning on sending Asha there…” Sarjay muttered while running his hand against his chin.

“What was that? I’m going to Gravia? Yes, please! I heard there’s some kind of undying flame there! Rumors say that it’s a green fire, so I want to see it!” Asha popped out of nowhere from behind and interjected.

“But the kingdom…”

“Argos is the King of Angolia, so he can act like it for a bit longer. I want to go to Gravia!” Asha insisted. “If you really want, you can also stay in Angolia while Uncle escorts me to Gravia.”

Sarjay sighed then waved his hand. “Do whatever.”

“What’s this about Gravia?” Kendra asked.

“You’re heading there with me. I brought here to ask you if you want to come with me to-”

“Yeah sure.” Kendra shrugged and added, “Why not? But how are we going to get to Gravia? It’s a sea’s away from the Sorcerer City-States.”

I sat on a couch then leaned back. “Yeah, I guess that’s a problem. Hey, Sarjay, can Alph act as a boat?”

“Alph is a demon tortoise, not a demon turtle,” Sarjay answered.

“Right…” I murmured, then snapped my fingers as an idea materialized in my head. “I remember there’s a pirate port under Cahalot! We’ll find a ship there!”