As a reward for earning enough points to make it into the ranks of the top fifty, Cadmus was now allowed to withdraw five-hundred units of laurite from the national treasury, and he was allowed access all the way up to the fourth floor of the library. This didn’t seem like much until one remembered that each floor of the library was massive enough to fit the main hall inside of it, and what the library had to offer got progressively rarer as you climbed higher and higher.

As for the laurite… well, five-hundred units was indeed a lot for a single individual, but not nearly enough for Cadmus’ purposes. Still, it wasn’t like he was going to say no to free laurite.

Thus, after the match with Randall Crawford, the only time anyone saw Cadmus was in class. He spent the rest of his time in the library, perusing through all the books that he could, and experimenting with new magic circle formulas in his dorm room.

To be completely honest, he was severely tempted to skip his boring classes as well, however, Alice had forbidden it. Ever since his duel with Randall Crawford, she had been completely silent, as though in deep thought; so when she did speak to insist he go to class, he decided to just suck it up and listen to her.

Such remained the case, until one day, as he was heading to the library again after the last class of the day, Oliver called out to him,

“Cadmus, wait!”

Cadmus did so, letting the other boy catch up to him.

“Are you sure you should be going to the library right now?” Oliver asked.

Cadmus raised an eyebrow as they walked along the hallways,

“Yes. Why?”

Oliver looked surprised, “You mean you don’t know?”

“Know what?” Cadmus asked. And now that his mind had been turned away from his research for a second, he noticed something, “Also, is it just me, or are people staring at me?”

Oliver gave him a look, “People have been staring at you ever since your battle with Randall. Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed until now…”

Cadmus shook his head as they exited the main building and trekked through the campus grounds, “I hadn’t. Why’re they staring at me?”

“It’s because your popularity has gone up,” Oliver said, “In a good way and a bad way. More people know your name now, but more people also think you’re some sort of cold, unfeeling monster. To be honest, I don’t blame them.”

Well, that was a bit harsh.

“I see.”

They entered the library, and Oliver shook his head,

“But that’s not important right now! You—”

“Mr. Guiles.”

The librarian, Mrs. Lea Theca called, interrupting Oliver.

Mrs. Theca was a short woman with roughly cut straight black hair, and a perpetually lazy expression on her face.

“Your access to the fourth floor has been revoked,” she said unenthusiastically, as though she were reading lines off a book, “If you try to force your way up there, the guards will stop you.”

Cadmus stilled as he felt a rare pulse of irritation. What? Why? He had earned that access.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Oliver said with a sigh, “Follow me.”

Oliver led him to the main hall, and gestured at the ranking board.

52nd: Cadmus Guiles—1,532 points

“I’ve been bumped down two places?” Cadmus said, “Why?”

“Look at nineteenth place and twenty-first place,” Oliver said.

Cadmus did so.

19th: Ardea Regis—1,994 points

21st: Camelot (Guild)—1,852 points

“After you won in your duel against Randall, the Dragon Princess challenged everyone she could,” Oliver explained, “Everyday she had multiple duels, one after another. Usually, people don’t like to schedule more than one duel per day because a duel is tiring, and no one knows how long a duel will take. If a duel takes too long and you miss your next one, then you basically forfeit all the points you bet there. But the Dragon Princess didn’t care about any of that and went from one duel to the next like she knew she would win every single one on time.”

“And I assume that’s exactly what happened?” Cadmus said.

Oliver nodded, shivering a little, “Yeah… it was insane. No one stood a chance against her. She dominated every single fight as though she was just playing with children. However, since her reputation was already so large before coming to this Academy, no one bet all their points like Randall did against you.”

Cadmus clicked his tongue in annoyance. To think Ardea would surpass him so quickly…

“And what about twenty-first place?” He asked, “Why’d you tell me to look at them?”

“That’s Arthur Pendragon’s guild,” Oliver revealed, “After seeing you and the Dragon Princess, no one wanted to try facing another first year with a crazy reputation, so not many people accepted Pendragon’s challenges. However, alongside his friends, he still managed to duel enough people to surpass you in the rankings.”

Cadmus hummed in consideration. What should he do now? Try to find more people to challenge so that he could make it back into the top fifty?

But that was a waste of time, wasn’t it? He wasn’t just aiming for the top fifty, he was aiming for first place. Was there any way to quickly jump over everyone and just land at the top?

“Oliver, are there any ways to earn points besides duelling?” Cadmus asked.

Oliver nodded, “Yeah, but the teachers will tell you when an opportunity to earn points is coming up, so right now, duelling’s the only method you’ve got.”

“Duelling’s the only method I’ve got, huh…?” Cadmus murmured to himself.

And then it struck him. He was being needlessly idiotic. Honestly, he really needed to adapt to this Academy’s system faster…

“Oliver, I need to find one person in particular,” Cadmus said, “But he’s not in our year. Do you think you can help me?”

Oliver looked curious,

“Depends on the person.”

Rex Optime, a handsome, well-built fourth-year student with spiky red hair, stretched as he walked out of Professor Sellae’s class. There were a few points from today’s enchanting class that he had wanted to clarify, but perhaps he had questioned his professor for too long. He was honestly feeling a little guilty because Professor Sellae always looked so tired, what with those black bags underneath his eyes. Professor Sellae was probably tremendously annoyed at Rex right now for wasting so much of his time on something Rex could have brushed up on in the library anyway.

The hallways were still active with students walking about, talking about all kinds of things, bringing a smile to Rex’s face. He always liked the sounds of activity. He was about to make his way to the canteen to get a bite to eat, before suddenly, a distant yelling greeted his ears,

“Are you serious? That was just his last class! He’s probably not even there anymore!” The source of the voice steadily made its way closer, “And besides, what do you even want with him? Don’t tell me you’re actually going to…”

The boy’s voice died a feeble death when he and his friend came to a stop in front of Rex. Rex didn’t know who that yelling boy was, but he clearly recognized his friend.

The Necromancer, Cadmus Guiles.

“Hello,” Rex greeted confidently. It was clear they were here to talk to him, “My name is Rex Optime. I know who you are, Cadmus Guiles, but you are?” He looked at the other boy.

The boy flinched at that.

“O-Oliver Vinari,” he said nervously.

“Pleasure to meet you both,” Rex grinned. He held out his hand for them to shake.

Cadmus Guiles politely shook it, but Oliver trembled in awe, and barely managed to shake it once before quickly letting go. He stared at his hand after that, as though he had managed to touch a sacred relic of some sort.

“Rex Optime, I am here to challenge you to a duel,” Cadmus Guiles said with zero hesitation. The students milling around them all went silent. “I wish to bet all of my points against all of yours.”

Rex chuckled. Cadmus Guiles had decided to take the quickest path to first place and just decided to challenge him, eh? What a surprisingly bold person.

However…

“I have about two-thousand more points than you though. Do you have anything else you want to bet?”

To be honest, that was just an excuse. Countless people challenged him all the time, and he didn’t have the time nor the energy to face every single one. Once he had made it to first place, he had resolved to only face worthy opponents.

And, well, Cadmus Guiles had potential… but right now he wasn’t even ranked among the top fifty in terms of points.

Cadmus nodded, “That is fair. I can add Alice as a reward as well. As the first homunculus in history, Alice is one of the most valuable existences in the world.”

Rex froze, and he noticed that Alice, who was currently in Cadmus’ breast pocket, was looking up at him with an expression of fear and betrayal on her face.

“C-Cadmus…?” She asked pitifully.

However, Cadmus Guiles only had eyes for him.

Despicable. How absolutely despicable…

Rex felt his insides burn with righteous anger.

“No.” He said decisively, his voice as frigid as ice, “I will never face you in a duel. You’re not worthy enough to face me.”

Cadmus Guiles merely tilted his head curiously, “Why not?”

Did he… did he truly not understand? Was he really asking such a question?

“Someone who gambles with the life of his friend will never be worthy enough to face me.” He said sharply, “That’s my final answer. Now leave me be.”

Cadmus Guiles looked even more confused, which only infuriated Rex. He turned to leave, but Cadmus Guiles spoke again,

“I haven’t gambled with the life of my friend though?”

And with that, Rex’s blood boiled as his anger hit the roof. He turned back sharply and glared at Cadmus Guiles, “How dare you? You just used your friend Alice’s life as a gamble! Just because she’s a homunculus—!”

“It seems you’ve misunderstood something,” Cadmus Guiles said, looking as sincere as ever, “I haven’t gambled with Alice’s life at all.”

Rex narrowed his eyes, but Cadmus Guiles remained unfazed,

“Because I will not lose.”

Rex blinked, his tremendous fury all just vanishing into thin air. Those words weren’t an excuse. He could see that clearly in Cadmus Guiles’ narrow green eyes now.

The way he looked at Rex…

To him, Rex was nothing but an obstacle. Just something blocking the path that he had to kick aside. Cadmus Guiles truly believed that getting Rex to agree to a match would be the harder, and more annoying, challenge.

To him, his victory was already assured.

And suddenly, laughter bubbled inside his throat. He tried to hold it back, but it spilled out of his mouth, and soon, he was guffawing loudly enough for his voice to echo down the hall.

Guiles patiently waited for his laughter to die down, while the other students looked at him as though he had gone crazy. Rex took a moment to catch his breath before speaking.

“Here, take this,” He said, tossing two tickets at Guiles.

Guiles fumbled a bit in catching them, but he caught them all the same. He took a look,

“Tickets?”

Rex grinned, “I’m about to face someone worthy tomorrow at six. Why don’t you come watch before you end up making a huge mistake?”

“No thanks,” Guiles instantly responded, “I would rather just face you myself.”

Rex chuckled again and rolled his eyes, “Just come.”

He turned and walked away. As he did so, he heard Vinari say to Guiles,

“You’re… surprisingly arrogant, aren’t you?”

Boy, wasn’t that the truth?

Cadmus let out a frustrated sigh once he finally got to his dorm room. He had really been hoping that Rex Optime would accept his challenge…

After carefully taking his uniform robe off and setting it down on the bed, Cadmus flopped onto the bed himself. This was taking too long—all of this. He was tired of focusing on stupid school stuff. He just wanted to get back to his research.

Alice climbed out of his breast pocket and leaned against Cadmus’ forehead,

“Hey, Cadmus… what you said to Rex Optime… you weren’t lying right?” She asked, her voice wavering a little.

Cadmus closed his eyes, what kind of strange question was that?

“Obviously. There’s nothing more precious to me in this world than you. I have no intention of losing you.”

Cadmus heard a sniffle, and then came the sounds of muffled crying.

“Sorry…” She said, her voice watery, “I’m sorry for not talking to you these past few days… I just… I just felt so useless. If only I would have been able to help more, you wouldn’t have had to use such a cruel method to defeat Randall… B-but I…”

She trailed off.

“You’re weak,” Cadmus guessed, “Is that what you want to say?”

Alice nodded slowly.

Cadmus picked Alice up and deposited her onto his chest. She looked down at him with tearful blue eyes.

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?” Cadmus asked with a sigh, “I could easily talk about all the other talents you have that are fit for other situations, but honestly, the very fact that you exist makes you more valuable than combat abilities ever could. You’re life, Alice—life that I created! To me, there’s nothing more wondrous than you!”

He gave her a gentle hug, and her crying slowly died away.

“…Thanks,” Alice said, her voice muffled.

“Anytime.”