"You...Are the most talented fire mage I have ever seen!"

What?

He was the...What?

"Professor, are you okay?"

Bob looked at the professor, who looked like he was on the verge of having a heart attack.

"I...You...I want you to become my apprentice!"

Bob frowned.

"Really?...Are you drunk?"

"What? What? No! Of course not! I am very generous and am willing to accept you as my personal apprentice!"

"You should be grateful!"

"Wha..Of course I am! Wait, no, I mean, what do you...What...No, no, no, of course I am grateful to... I am willing to become your apprentice!"

Bob's brain failed to come up with a response that would make him seem like anything more than a blubbering idiot.

"Good, we will have the apprentice ceremony tomorrow! As for now, now you can go and win the tournament!"

...Win the tournament? Wasn't that a little too much?

"Okay..."

"May I ask for the rules of the tournament first though?"

The professor sighed.

"All you have to do is go on the stage when your name is called and beat everyone else. Is that clear?"

"Yes, master."

Bob was the one to sigh this time.

Why didn't he think before asking that stupid question?

"When does the tournament take place?"

The professor glanced at his pocket watch.

"Now."

* * *

The rules of the tournament were pretty simple; Half of the would-be mages fought with the other half, then the remaining half would split into half and they would then fight each other, and so on.

The higher one placed, the more one would be rewarded.

Whoever placed first would naturally have the greatest prize.

However, most people who attended the tournament were from rich families, and they weren't participating for a prize, but for attention instead. They wanted to gain some exposition through the tournament, so that some professors at the acadamy might recognise them for their talent and accept them as their apprentices.

Bob, on the other hand, was here because his master sent him.

"Hello, I'm Bob, what's your name?"

Bob spoke to the first person he found upon arriving at the crowd of would-be magi.

"Shut up, it's starting!"

All the would-be magi around Bob shushed him as someone with blu hair began speaking.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Soanso, and it's time to get this tournament started!"

"Now, I'm sure that all of you are ready for this, because if you weren't, you wouldn't be here, now would you?"

Soanso paused and looked around.

"I see that a lot of you are growing impatient, so I'll just announce for the tournament to begin now!"

"The first match is..."

Soanso looked around again.

"Drumroll please..."

No drumroll sounded.

". . ."

"I repeat, drumroll please..."

Once again, no drumroll sounded.

". . ."

"Forget it."

Soanso sighed and shook his head.

"The first match is..."

Not suprisingly, no drumroll sounded.

"Bub Shmichi against Rorark Hellohowyadoin!"

Bob cleared his throat.

"It's Bob Something, sir."

Soanso frowned.

"And who might you be?"

"Bob Something."

"I called for Bub Shmichi, not Bob Something."

"Yes, sir, I think you read my name wrong."

"Maybe..."

Both of them looked at the stage, where two people were waiting for Soanso to tell them to start fighting.

"Oh."