Alice vs. Bryan 1

Souta watched the tournament matches. He evaluated all the combat prowess of the participants based on what they showed in the matches.

He also has a guess of Bryan's strength. In Bryan's match, he showed strength and speed that's not normal for a mage student. The power of his punches was strong and his speed was so fast that he overwhelmed his opponents in just two minutes.

Should he say that Bryan gained this power as an adventurer? Just like him, Bryan was very proficient in close combat much stronger than Alice, and he entered here in the institute to learn magic.

He also saw a stronger fighter in the shield course. Especially the one that was called Brando. Brando was a tough fighter and his defense was extremely hard to break through. If he wasn't wrong Brando was the strongest fighter here in the tournament. Of course, if the magic wasn't forbidden here then Lumilia and Alice would be able to match him.

Now that the first round of the tournament is finished, it's time for the second round. They were going to fight those who won their first battle.

Alex gave them five minutes to prepare before they started the first battle of the second round of the tournament.

...

Zac, the sixth top ranker, turned his head to Rein, the second top ranker, and said, "Now that we have a bit of understanding in their strength, wanna bet to me? As a second rank in the institute you possess a great amount of points, am I right?"

"I said don't talk to me! You trash!" Rein snorted and looked at the participants.

"Haha, I still have a lot of points here! What should I do with this?" Zac laughed awkwardly as he looked at the object that was attached on his wrist.

The object looked like a wristwatch and this item was a private property of the institute. Their points and information were recorded in this piece of technology. They could also use this item to challenge the other students here to raise their ranks and earn points.

The points could be used to redeem spell books and combat arts. The students could also use this to get a teacher to teach them a skill or spell one on one. Some of the students used these points to rent living quarters here in the institute and some used it to use the training ground on their own.

There were many uses of points here in this institute. All in all, these points were like the currency of the Ladro Institute.

Souta and the others were still new here so Bargan hasn't prepared the items for their use.

"Ah~ what a wonderful display~"

Zac heard a feminine voice at his left side so he turned his head to look.

He turned his head to see a girl dressed in the institute's uniform. Her long lilac-colored hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her left eye was blue, while her right was red. Yanagi Shina is the institute's number one ranked student. The strongest student at Ladro Institute.

"I didn't think that she would come here..." Zac muttered in a low voice. He knew that this girl had some screw loose in her head so he wouldn't bother associating himself to her.

He shuddered as he recalled those people that she destroyed. Across the whole institute, she dominated everyone ever since she enrolled here. Even Rein wasn't her match at all.

To think that this small tournament would attract her attention. He knew that she didn't even watch the other tournaments that Teacher Alex made in the other class but now... she really came here.

'I wonder who's the unfortunate person that attracted her attention.'

...

The second round of the tournament started. The battle was fierce and intense. It exhausted some of the students that don't have huge stamina. Although some of them won the battle, they couldn't participate in the next round because they didn't have much stamina. They don't have enough time to recover their stamina as Alex only gave them five minutes. So some of them could only surrender.

Every battle the crowd that was watching the tournament grew larger.

While the second round was ongoing, Souta noticed that Lumilia woke up.

He patted Bryan's shoulder and said, "I'm going to check if she's okay."

Bryan looked at Lumilia and nodded his head. He then closed his eyes to recover some of his stamina.

"Hmm... Really good..." Souta looked at Bryan who was resting before he shook his head. He turned his attention to Lumilia and slowly approached her. 

Alice, who was also recovering her stamina, slightly opened her eyes and glanced at Souta's back.

After a few moments, she shook her head and opened her mouth, "I can't, this form of mine is too weak. I can't use my full strength."

She looked up at the matches. If she won her next match then she would face Bryan. She glanced at Bryan wondering if she could win against him in her condition.

From the matches before, she knew that Bryan's physical strength was higher than her and his close combat skills were extremely good that he could rival Souta.

...

Lumilia slowly opened her eyes. She saw her classmate's worried look. She was wondering what happened and she was about to ask them when she recalled that she fought her male classmate in the tournament.

"Are you okay, class rep?"

"...I'm fine..." Lumilia held her head as she sat up and looked around her. It seems that the tournament is still ongoing.

She clenched her first tightly when she recalled her fight. She was knocked down in round one and she couldn't even fight back against that man.

That's a huge humiliation for her.

She's the third daughter of the Asvares family and she must show that she wasn't weak. She wouldn't forget why she enrolled in this institute.

"Don't force yourself," one of her female classmates said in a worried tone.

Lumilia heard her classmate's words. She shook her head and thanked them. She said that she's fine now and they don't have to worry about her.

"Yo! You okay?"

She heard a man's voice beside her ears.

She turned her head and saw the man who defeated her before. He was called Souta Ieshi, if she's not wrong.

"I-I'm fine... You don't have to worry about me," Lumilia crossed her arms.

"I'm glad, I just got a little excited earlier because I haven't fought someone for a long time," Souta said to her. Actually, it's only been a few days since he fought the red woman. He just got out of hand this time as he wanted to test his power against the students here in Ladro Institute.

"I see..." Lumilia frowned as she looked at him.

Little excited? She's thinking if he's a battle maniac or not. Yeah, the attitude he showed in the fight was different for his usual self. Normally, he's just a quiet student that only talks to Bryan and Alice. He doesn't have any friends either except for those two.

How did she know this?

Of course, she's the class representative so she thought that she needed to observe her class. She at least needed to understand the attitude and personality of her classmates. After the measurement of their mana capacity and their affinities, she focused her attention on these three. Bryan, Alice, and Souta, those three friends have potential that surpassed her.

She knew about the rules of the institute. The points were the most important things here. And she needed Bryan, Alice, and Souta if she wanted to compete with other classes.

Next week, their teacher would introduce them to the usage of points. She already asked some of the upperclassmen so she has an idea about it. If a student wants to get a powerful spell or combat arts they need points. They could even learn those high-level spells that the principal and Bargan knew. The institute has thousands of spells and combat arts. It's not the most famous institute in the whole kingdom for nothing.

"What's wrong?" Souta's voice snapped her out of her daze.

"N-Nothing..." She looked up at him and shook her head.

"Really?"

"Really!" Lumilia stood up as she patted her clothes. She turned her attention to her classmates and talked to them.

Souta just watched her talk to their other classmates assuring them that she's fine.

"Hais..."

He sighed and put his hands inside his pocket before he looked at the match. He looked at the board and saw that it was nearing the third round and his fight was next.

He walked forward and looked at the name of his opponent. From what he remembered, this man wasn't that strong. He could easily handle his opponent.

"I wonder if I could get some skill points in this quest. It doesn't matter even if I don't get exp, as long as I get some skill points. Then, it's worth it."