After hunting, Lupos and Fenrir made their way towards the classroom for their first lesson, theory of magic 101, when Lupos suddenly heard Jormugand talking to him in mindspeak "Luposssss the man called Mervyn hasss sent out two servantssss looking for the summoner from yesterday." 

Lupos paused then looked at Fenrir to confirm he'd heard what had been said. "Understood, good job Jormugand make sure to keep a low profile for today until things die down." Jormugand laughed "Assss you wish." 

Trying to look natural, Lupos and Fenrir walked into the classroom, only to see the headmaster standing at the front of the classroom. Time stopped as Lupos stared at the man who butchered his family. Clenching his fists so hard he drew blood Lupos walked past him and took his seat at the back of the classroom desperately trying to get his bloodlust under control. 

Unaware of Lupos' internal struggle Mervyn smiled warmly as the class entered. "Hello students," he started as the last of the students entered the room "as many of you may have noticed I am not the second elder. The reason I am here today is to talk about and teach you about the specifics of the upcoming inter-school competition. Even if you aren't competing this year, you may compete next year or the year after and that makes knowing this information imperative." 

Mervyn looked round the room. "Any questions so far?" The room stayed silent for a moment before Violet lifted her hand. Mervyn gestured towards her "yes my dear?" Violet paused a moment sounding hesitant "is it true people have died in the competition before?" 

The room sat still in shock as those who were previously daydreaming about the glory and fame that would come with winning were snapped back to the cruel reality of the situation. Mervyn looked at Violet thoughtfully "That's not quite right, people have died before, however, that was due to sabotage from other schools not from the competition itself." 

He paused a minute as he looked round his eyes setting on Lucio and Lupos "I see we have our top two competitors with us now. First things first participation is not mandatory and every year we have at least one student drop out because they feel they are not up to the task or are too worried about the danger being a competitor may bring. So these are all things to consider when deciding on whether to compete or not." 

At this point Lucio stood up confidently. "Of course I will still compete, I will prove that I am the most powerful first year and bring glory to the school!" the other nobles as well as the headmaster all looked impressed whereas Lupos just rolled his eyes at the arrogant statement.

"Do you think I should just stay quiet or would that just bring more attention to me?" asked Lupos to Fenrir in mindspeak. Fenrir paused to consider "say something too, you're meant to be enthusiastic, it would be more suspicious f you weren't." Nodding at Fenrir's reasoning, Lupos stood up to look at the class trying to avoid Mervyn's eyes "I will also compete for the glory of the school, though I cannot measure up to Lucio." 

Lucio looked approvingly at Lupos while Fenrir struggled to hide his laughter as he spoke to Lupos in mindspeak. "I...haha...cannot measure up to....hahaha Lucio...I'm dying that's too funny. Oh my God how are you keeping a straight face right now Lupos?" Sure enough, as Lupos returned to his seat the corners of his mouth were turned up as he thought of Lucio's clumsy lunges and ill thought out attacks.

Nodding in approval at his students supposed enthusiasm, Mervyn continued to speak "now the inter-school competition is very unlike our new students competition in the way that it actually has three stages; the first is usually some sort of survival of the fittest, used to weed out the weaker competitors. The second stage, is usually a team challenge and the final round, much like our new student competition, is one on one duels to determine the winner as well as the top ten." 

Pausing for a break, Mervyn looked around to check everyone was still following before he continued "now you might notice that I explained most of these activities with a maybe, this is because the events have been known to change in the past, the only exception being the final round duels."

"Now that I've told you all this I will talk to you about the reward. There is usually about five hundred first year students participating in the first round, this is because a school may only send three competitors, as such even getting to the third round is a momentous task. So for anyone who makes it that far they will receive 7 high grade magical cores. Anyone who makes it within the top ten will also receive a new weapon and I will personally take them on as a disciple. The overall winner of the tournament also gains the right to select one item from the royal families' treasury." 

Upon hearing this, the children chatted amongst each other excitedly, however, Lupos just sat there silently. Originally he had planned to kill Mervyn during the tournament but until he had more information and spirits it was an unrealistic feat. However, becoming Mervyn's apprentice would be the perfect opportunity to try and gather his weaknesses as well stopping suspicion against him once he did kill Mervyn.

Unfortunately for his plan to work, he would be required to help let Lucio win the competition so that he could continue to comfortably hide within his shadow until the time was right to strike. Smiling evilly Lupos started to prepare.

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Sorry for the short chapter I will try to make them longer but I wanted to out up another chapter for tonight. Hope you enjoyed it and please leave a comment below :)