Chapter 153: Sometimes I Worry

In a gigantic hall, Edward’s fight against the S-ranked fighter from the Russian Academy was being projected.

The students of the Hero Academy were all observing it, and Aurora was also one of them.

The fighter was muscular, and the strength of his fists was undoubtedly terrifying.

However, when the battle began, lightning surrounded Edward, slightly changing the weather as if a storm was beginning.

With flashing eyes and surrounded by dozens of lightning bolts, Edward faced his opponent and won an excellent victory.

“Awesome, I can’t get enough of it!” Niels exclaimed, and replayed the projection again.

“Yes, he is strong as ever,” Gregorio commented solemnly.

“Too awesome,” murmured Rachael in a slightly fascinated voice.

The other students present nodded and gave their animated comments, laughing amongst themselves.

“That’s enough. It was only our first battle,” Interrupted Edward, giving an exhausted look at so much flattery.

All the Hero Academy students and the support group were present in the hotel room.

The authorities allowed them to use this room so that the academy members could relax or plan what their next steps would be.

Aurora gave a smile, realizing that Edward was slightly embarrassed by so much flattery.

“Let it go, leader. This was a landslide victory. We should be happy!” remarked Frank, smiling encouragingly.

He was happy and encouraged, but mostly he wanted to tease Edward along with Niels, who replayed the video.

“Yes, we can be happy, but not for long. We still have a long way to go,” Edward said, and putting on a serious expression, he pointed out. “We have only matched the Beast Tamers Academy. We have a long way to go to take a lead.”

In the fourth group where they were, they had the first place, being followed by Aetherium Academy with 23 points.

In the fifth group, Paladin Academy took first place, leaving Zerzura Academy in second.

Overall, Cernunnos Academy, with its 24 points, was now equal with Heroes Academy and both were fighting for the lead.

Following them was the Aetherium Academy with its 23 points.

But the others were not far behind.

Adventurer Academy, Merlin Academy, and Paladin Academy had 22 points each.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Druid Academy had 21 points and with 20 points were the Zerzura Academy and the Priestly Academy.

They were in the lead, but being the first round, they could actually always overtake and beat them.

“We have lost only one match,” Edward said and looking at the young swordsman who lost, precise. “Cristian, don’t feel bad about that. It could have happened to any of us.”

Being the only one to lose among all his companions was undoubtedly a hard blow, which was increased by the thought of not having had a perfect round.

However, everyone else nodded at the thought.

Any one of them could have been defeated in their individual bout, as not all of them crushed their opponents like in the A-Rank group.

There was the occasional tough battle.

“I’m sorry. I assure you that I will try to improve,” Cristian replied, lowering his head slightly.

“Don’t make light of it. I think we all need to train during this break,” Jordan said in a calm tone and with an amused laugh, he commented. “We’re not all as scary as our peers.”

One could tell that Jordan was one of the individuals who were most interested in winning the award because of not having been able to ascend for years.

Still, he let it show that his emotions did not affect his judgment and did not change his personality.

This was a tournament in which they were facing important academies and it was normal to lose or even have hectic fights.

At least, it was more normal than winning overwhelmingly.

Alexey, Marc, or simply Leslie... They showed superior strength even among the same individuals of their rank.

“Now that we’re talking about the break, we need to get everything organized,” Edward showed, and looking at those present, he detailed. “Next to follow are the non-combatant side tournaments and they have their own personal battle, so we have to be attentive.”

After the first round, the tournament section of those who were non-combatants was kicking off.

Healing, alchemy, craftsmanship, computer science, and criminalistics... Those five were the defined tournaments and each of them had different modalities.

And the most incredible thing that in each of those tournaments they won five points, and it wasn’t like it was all over directly once it happened.

There were different ‘modalities’ that the five students would have to adapt to in order to win, and that would develop over the course of the international tournament.

“We have received the report from the authorities on the different modalities of each profession and this first round,” Edward reported and then projected them for all to see.

In the healing modality, Vanessa would have to diagnose a patient using her knowledge and healing magic.

Although it sounded easy, it wasn’t.

One needed to know the healing magic spells on diagnosis, then use individual knowledge about magic and the human body to determine what was wrong with the patient by checking in all possible situations.

In alchemy, many potions had to be created with a few ingredients.

As in healing, here, the ability of each alchemist to create potions on a massive scale, and in very defined circumstances, was tested.

Each potion would be judged on its effectiveness, the number of potions, and, of course, the speed at which they could finish their work.

In craftsmanship, they had to repair weapons, armor, and artifacts that were given to them by the handful, all to see their speed and capacity at the time of the work.

In computer science, they had to take care of a communication system on their own and keep a team informed about everything going on around them.

In the end, it was the criminalistics section.

Criminalistics was a general class in all the academies and everyone knew one thing or another about this discipline.

The reason why it was taught was quite simple.

The world was full of lunatic players, unpredictable situations, and demons that could hide as humans.

Given this situation, it was only natural that one would know something about criminalistics in case they ever found themselves in a situation where using their skills would help them solve a case.

An example was when entering dungeons with strangers and finding themselves in an emergency situation where everyone is being killed.

Instead of running around like headless chickens, sitting down and analyzing the situation to check their surroundings was the best thing to do.

Unfortunately, death situations in natural or temporary dungeons, and even on expedition missions to dangerous areas, were more common than one might expect.

That is why this section took on importance at this time.

Traditional criminalistics evolved with the use of magic and skills, going further than before when it came to teaching.

The student involved in that area was a stranger to Aurora, and it was quite normal when the student was in the criminalistics class, which she had never thought to attend.

Still, these days, she realized that the young man named Jaxon was someone just focused on that discipline and knew what he was doing.

“Aurora and Cithrel volunteered to be the ones to accompany the students, allowing all of us to continue training and prepare for the next round,” Edward reported and as both young women nodded, he added. “Our next opponent is Aetherium Academy and we will have a tough situation.”

Their 23 points made it clear that Asia Aetherium Psionics Academy was going to be a troublesome opponent.

They lost only two individual bouts among the B Ranks.

“We need all the time we can get to prepare,” Rachael muttered, nodding at Edward’s comment.

That tough opponent made it clear to them that they would not win every bout and that they would have difficulty facing them.

In that sense, any training time to study their opponents and try to overcome their flaws or hone their advantages would be welcome.

“You don’t need to worry about us. We’ll give our best to win,” Vanessa announced with a smile that made Taqiyya, Andrés, and Jaxon smile.

They have already given their best, and now it was their turn.

“Thank you. If possible, in my break time, I’ll go see you,” Clémentine commented.

“Oh, of course, it’s impossible to train all day. I’ll try to organize myself too,” Nicole said, smiling.

Some of those present also nodded at those comments.

It was true that there were quiet students like Lucas and Dalia, or not very friendly ones like Marc, but they all knew that support was vital.

It was nice for them to know they had supportive peers.

“No need to worry, we will be supporting you so you guys can focus on your training,” Cithrel announced with a smile and pointing to her partner, she warned. “Venali will stay to help you train, so do your best these two days.”

They had two days where the secondary tournaments would run smoothly, giving the combat students time to prepare.

That meant they had time to either coordinate better in group battles, to organize their groups, or even to train by tracking the skills of potential opponents.

In the individual bouts, the opponents were random and as for the group bouts between B-ranks, each academy arranged it in its own way and revealed it only a day before.

“That’s it. You can retire to rest or go do whatever you want. Especially if you want to go for a drink. You deserve your reward!” announced Edward, giving a smile.

“Oh, our mighty S-Rank leader pays?” Jordan hesitated with an amused tone.

“Sure, sure, just get out of here,” Edward replied, smiling in amusement.

The students partied and went about emptying the room.

When Cithrel, Aurora, and Edward were left, the latter approached.

“Thank you for helping me,” Edward said and with a half-smile, added. “I won’t deny that I feel more relieved if I’m in charge of the combat students.”

He had taken charge, but it was hard to be paying attention to all the students and trying to arrange for everything to go smoothly.

It was taking charge of not only keeping the students in order, but trying to ensure the unity of the academy and avoid any problems.

He had to keep an eye on Cristian to see that he did not get depressed or that his loss did not cause any problems for himself while at the same time he had to monitor the other students so that they did not cause any problems.

The flaws could lead some students to lose their calm and, once that happens, it would be very problematic to bring the academy back together as a team.

“This is the only thing we can do,” Aurora replied with a shrug.

As an ‘extra’, her duty was to help in these situations and if she had to support Edward, she would.

“Well, I won’t deny that this is fun in its own way, so I don’t mind helping,” Cithrel said, and giving a slightly charming smile, she added. “Besides, Taqiyya is participating so I need to support her.”

Taqiyya had a shy personality and for her to participate in such a competitive event like this in which a large part of the entire academy’s victory depended on her was going to be very stressful.

She had to take the 5 points from her tournament which was equal to beating an S-ranked student.

Edward gave a smile and after talking a bit about the situation that would happen the next day, Aurora and Cithrel left the room together.

“Oh, I forgot to say the most important reason,” Cithrel muttered as they were walking and before Aurora walked away, feeling the awakening of the ‘gallant knight, the princess revealed. “I enjoy working with you...”

Her tone and look so sincere yet thoughtful made Aurora embarrassed.

It was hard to resist, as Cithrel had a unique charm that transcended barriers of preferences and tastes... She, just like Venali, who liked to dress like a charming young man, made everyone hesitate.

“This is fun. The fights are entertaining and all, but this is truly great,” Cithrel said, staring at Aurora slowly approaching.

Aurora was quite surprised and backed away slowly, like a scared and slightly embarrassed bunny.

Cithrel’s blue eyes glowed in a literal sense, and she glared at her like a predator.

“...”

The sound of crunching chips echoed and Cithrel distanced himself with a half-smile, looking over to where Alice stood with her bag of chips.

That sound was appropriate to alert her presence, and Aurora quickly moved to her friend’s side.

Cithrel’s smile grew as he saw her reaction that way.

“Sorry, I got carried away...” Cithrel said apologetically, not as sincere as she sounded.

Alice gave her a penetrating look.

“When I get hungry... I get carried away,” Cithrel explained, giving an amused smile and ignoring Alice’s piercing look, she said goodbye with a smile.

When Aurora was left alone with her friend, she sighed in relief.

“She has too many charm points...” Aurora muttered as her gluttonous friend turned her gaze to her.

It took her by surprise, and it was a critical hit from the start; it was normal for her to be so helpless.

“Sometimes I worry about leaving you alone,” Alice revealed and when Aurora watched her, attentive for the answer, she stated. “Any pervert can take you.”

“...”

-...

Her statement left her and her system speechless.