In Alex and Marc's room, the trio sat around a small table, eating pasta with meat sauce — a meal Alex had managed to whip up in just forty minutes.
"Mmh! This is amazing!" Tessa exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with genuine delight.
"Honestly, I'm starting to get jealous of you, Marc. You get to enjoy Alex's food every day."
Marc laughed heartily and replied, "Well, there is a way for you to enjoy this every day, too—Ahg!"
He didn't finish his sentence — Alex had stomped on his foot, hard. The stomp was even enhanced with mana.
But with what Marc had already said, there wasn't much left to guess.
Tessa didn't catch the meaning at first, but after a few seconds, her cheeks flushed pink.
Alex, pretending not to notice, stood up abruptly and went to fetch more water. He seemed just a bit too eager to get away.
After they finished eating and chatting, the afternoon sun began to dip lower. The trio left for the academy once again, buying drinks along the way.
When they arrived, the main hall was packed — a sea of students buzzing with excitement.
Two enormous boards stood near the center, displaying the test results for everyone to see.
After waiting for the crowd to thin, the trio approached.
As they made their way forward, Alex noticed several nobles glaring at him with unmistakable hostility.
'So word's already spread,' he realized immediately. It was obvious the nobles' teachers had been talking.
"If I were you, I'd watch my back, you filthy trash," one noble hissed as he passed Alex's shoulder.
"Uhh! Shiver me timbers," Alex replied with mock fear, his tone laced with sarcasm.
"Hey, piss off," Marc said, stepping forward and towering over the noble.
"Heh, the bigger they are, the harder they fall — isn't that how the saying goes?" the noble sneered.
"If you've got a problem, bring it on. Otherwise, get lost — my patience is limited," Alex said coldly, his voice sharp as ice.
A few more nobles approached, and soon, a tense and venomous exchange began.
They were furious — angry that Alex had set them up during the field test. But Alex didn't back down, and Marc stood firmly by his side, unwaveringly loyal.
Tessa joined them, unsure what Alex had done to anger the nobles but unwilling to stand by silently.
"Hey, if he really did something wrong, he would've been expelled already. So calm down," she said, trying to defuse the tension.
"Tessa… of course it's you," the same noble spat. "Scum always sticks together, right?"
Alex's blood began to boil. His hands clenched, and it became harder to keep his anger in check.
But before he could move—
"Stop."
The single word was followed by a crushing wave of magic pressure. Every student froze in place, barely able to turn their heads toward the voice.
The headmaster, Mikhail Dowain, strode toward them, his presence alone silencing the crowd.
"No matter what conflicts you have among yourselves," he said calmly, "what Alex did was well within the rules. In fact, I hinted at it when I explained them before the test. You simply weren't sharp enough to catch on."
His tone was neutral but carried an undeniable authority.
As the headmaster of the academy, Mikhail Dowain was an Advanced Mage — a rank that, in the world of mages, wasn't anything special. But this was merely a children's academy and not a grand university, so his strength was far beyond what anyone here could challenge.
"Now, be good students and go home. Vacation awaits." He turned on his heel and left as swiftly as he'd arrived.
"We'll see each other during the midterms, bastard," the noble muttered as he walked away.
"Sure. Be my guest," Alex replied, unfazed.
It was tradition — both the midterms and the end-of-year exams were accompanied by one-on-one duels.
Once the nobles left, Alex turned his attention to the results board.
After scanning for a while, he finally found his name:
Alexander: Field Test: 86 | Written Test: 95 | Overall: 90.5 | Rank: 11
He then located Marc's and Tessa's rankings:
Marc: Field Test: 88 | Written Test: 78 | Overall: 83 | Rank: 19Tessa: Field Test: 92 | Written Test: 93 | Overall: 92.5 | Rank: 8
Both Alex and Marc congratulated Tessa.
"Nice job," Alex said, genuinely happy for her.
"Yeah, nice one, Tessa," Marc added with a grin. "I've gotta say, you're a real match for Alex — you made the top ten while he threw his spot away."
Before Marc could blink, Alex's hand came down on the back of his head with a loud smack.
As Marc rubbed the sore spot, muttering in pain, Tessa turned to him, curious.
"What do you mean, Alex threw away his top ten place?" she asked.
"Well… he left some questions blank on purpose," Marc explained honestly. "Otherwise, he would've scored a hundred. And during the field test, he wasted time messing with the nobles instead of hunting."
"Eh?! Why would you do that?" Tessa turned to Alex, scolding him like an older sister.
Dodging her aquamarine eyes, Alex replied calmly, "Well, you saw what happened earlier. I don't want even more attention from them by taking the top spots."
"I don't get it," Tessa said, frowning. Performing well was supposed to be a good thing.
"You'll probably understand after we come back from vacation," Alex said simply. He still didn't want to shatter her optimism.
"Okay…" she said uncertainly.
"Then, see you in fifteen days, Tessa. Have a nice vacation," Alex said, waving.
"See ya, girly," Marc added with his usual grin.
"Yeah, see you guys. Take care," Tessa replied, waving back. She decided to let the matter rest — for now.
And so, the trio went their separate ways.
Alex and Marc didn't waste any time. After buying the promised gifts for Evelyn, they rented a carriage back to Perrin's Gate.
Alex was thrilled — after three long months, he would finally see Susan and Eve again. The weekly letters he sent couldn't compare to being there, to talking and laughing with them face-to-face.
He also wanted to develop a new spell and start brewing potions again. Although Octavius had retired, the shop remained, and the old man had told Alex he could use it freely — as long as he kept the shop's name.
Alex, of course, agreed immediately.
Just thinking about how much money he could earn in fifteen days made him rub his hands together eagerly.
"Dude, you look like a goblin," Marc laughed. "I can smell the greed from here."
Alex just grinned. Marc wasn't wrong — he was always like this when he smelled profit.
And so, their journey home began.