Chapter-117 Normal Bus Ride pt-1

(Third POV)

Today was the day of the departure for the Nine Schools Competition, Mayumi had to deal with some family business and was late.

The bus was already boarded by the students, Tatsuya stood in the sun to account for the roll call while the other members of the Student Council moderated the students.

Juumonji sat on the driver's seat as he patiently waited for Mayumi to reach the south-west exit.

Erik who had been sitting at the very front seat; while reading a book, suddenly stood up.

He sent a subtle nod towards Juumonji who started the engine with a push of a button.

Vroom!

The latest design of such vehicles didn't use a key to start the engine but rather a simple push was enough to get the job done.

Erik made his way down the bus as he stood behind Tatsuya while looking towards Mayumi's direction.

"She is here."

Tatsuya looked at the taller man who had apparently sensed the arrival of his fiance.

"Take rest, I can finish the final roll call for you; of course, if you don't have any problem with me doing so?"

"Alright, thanks."

Erik offered to take his job and Tatsuya agreed to his offer without any hesitation.

Firstly, he didn't have a reason to reject Erik's goodwill and he could finally have some rest.

"Hm..."

Erik looked at the retreating figure of the Yotsuba offspring and turned towards the running figure, approaching the bus.

Mayumi wore plain shoes and a floral dress; counter to her usual attire as she made her way towards her fiance.

Mayumi, being of the Saegusa family, often had to run errands and the First High team refused to leave without her.

Thus the reason why they were an hour behind their schedule.

"I am so sorry! Some matters suddenly came up and I was required to deal with them."

Mayumi apologized to Erik while feeling ashamed of herself.

'I shouldn't give any excuses!'

'Erik runs a whole empire, being so young and still can make time for pre-planned stuff, and here is my pathetic self!'

'Struggling to even make it here!'

Tick!

Erik gently flicked Mayumi's forehead; 'knocking' her, out of her thoughts as the slight pain slowly registered in her system.

"Don't think too much."

"You do not need to feel guilty, the students were given a choice to leave within you and they declined, it was their own choice."

"Blaming yourself would just mean that you don't consider their wishes; being the Student Council President."

Hearing Erik's words, stunted the poor girl as she thought to herself.

"You are really good with words, really good!"

"I am... a businessman after all. Now come, let us prepare to leave."

"Alright!"

Both of them made their way inside the bus, Mayumi took the seat beside Suzune while Erik simply stood on the stairs; in front of the exit door.

"Everyone on board, we are ready to go!"

Mari did a quick headcount to make sure that nobody was missing; after finding that everyone was within the bus, she asked Juumonji to drive.

Vroom!

The huge bus quietly made its way towards the stadium where this year's Nine-School Competition was being organized.

"Su-chan, how is your internship going on? I heard that Erik had invited you to his new company, so what it is like?"

Mayumi sat on the window side as she engaged in a conversation with Suzune.

The willow woman nodded; as if validating Mayumi's words.

"I am currently working as a junior event manager working on the upcoming opening ceremony for Erik's latest project."

"My senior is very patient with me while teaching me various things required to become a qualified organizer."

"The staff is fabulous and very supportive towards me; a beginner."

"Overall, it is a great experience and I am thankful."

"Wow! Our Su-chan is grinding her skills!"

Mayumi giggled happily as a beautiful smile appeared on her face.

Whoosh!

Shudder!

Mayumi shuddered under the frigid touch of the wind as she quickly closed the window beside her while rubbing her arms to generate some heat.

"You should have worn more clothes, Mayumi. The weather is not good today."

Suzune lightly scolded her friend but couldn't stop a worried expression from appearing on her face.

"You will catch a cold like this!"

"Yeah, unfortunately, I kind of rushed to reach here; probably the reason why I forget to take my jacket."

Just as both of them were stressing over the cold atmosphere, a slight increase in psion within the air steadily increased the temperature within the bus to a comfortable level.

Allowing students to relax their mind and take some rest.

Those with a higher skill set immediately turned towards the source of this newfound heat!

Eventually, each of them backtracked the psion to the [Advisor]; Erik stood rigid while watching the road in front of the bus.

Mayumi looked towards her fiance with a really subtle, gentle, loving smile.

'Thank you, Erik!'

Yes, folks! Erik had released some of his psion within the air to make the surrounding a bit warmer.

He did it so that Mayumi could take a break from whatever was troubling her; so that she could absorb the heat and let her body & mind rest for the time being.

A couple of seats away from Mayumi, sat Mari along with Chiyoda Kanon.

The latter was from the Chiyoda Family of the "Hundred Families", who Mari is prepping to become the next Public Moral Committee Chief.

Kanon was looking forward to a bus ride with her fiance, Isori Kei, and thus was frustrated as Kei had to sit in the Technician's vehicle.

Miyuki shared a similar frustration at her brother having to sit in the relatively uncomfortable Technician's vehicle after having waited outside in the sun for one and a half hours, but Shizuku then talks about how great Tatsuya is, which makes Miyuki feel better.

After multitudes of male students attempted to approach Miyuki despite her displeasure, Mari reshuffles the seating order to end this situation.

All this while Erik simply ignored others, keeping his eyes on the road; especially at the speeding car approaching them.

The speeding car suddenly flips, bursting into flames, and comes sliding toward the bus.

"Oh shit!"

Kanon, Morisaki, and Suzune simultaneously attempt to stop the vehicle, causing interference and magic sequences to run amok.

"Damn it! Juumonji, stop the car!"

Mari calls upon Juumonji to stop the incoming vehicle but knows that due to the interference, he cannot stop the flames as well.

"Let me deal with the flames!"

Miyuki volunteers to stop the flames, and as she is about to cast her spells; a single magic pattern appeared mid-road, aligning with the trajectory of the incoming car.

"[Convergence-Type:-Ice Garden]"

As soon as the flaming car aligned with the activation sequence, ice burst from it and quickly wrapped all around the car.

It easily covered the whole car within ice; effectively dealing with the fire while preventing any harm to anyone.

Suzune immediately raised her C.A.D and casts a [Wieght-Type:-Density Manipulation] on the bus; effectively stopping it.

"Stay within the bus!"

Erik spoke in a commanding tone as he motioned towards Juumonji to open the door so that he could go take a look if the driver was still alive.

---

"Who's magic was that? It was so fast that I couldn't react and only saw the speeding car get enveloped in ice!"

Leo questioned with visible appreciation within his eyes as he searched for the source of the magic.

"I believe it was Big brother Erik!"

Erika knew about some of the types of magic the young Saltzman could use.

Naotsugu would sometimes explain the possible 'true' capabilities of her vowed Big brother.

She was aware that Erik didn't need a C.A.D to cast a spell with lightning speed due to his extremely high intellectual stats.

She also knew that Erik was a complete monster in [Convergence-Type], [Absorption-Type], [Elemental-Type] and [Ancient-Type] of magic.

And there was one more thing that she absolutely knew about!

That, Erik, was smart and extremely efficient with whatever he did.

She could picture; Erik judging the best outcome out of the incoming danger in 0.5 seconds and another 0.5 seconds to get the job done.

"But I didn't see him use a C.A.D?"

Leo, of course, had no idea about Erik's capabilities.

"Humph! Big brother Erik doesn't need a C.A.D, he is one of the few individuals who came naturally use magic without the aid of a C.A.D."

"He is also one of the fastest casters in the world!"

"Dayyyummm! Boi!"

"That was a medium-range rank-B spell, he effortlessly cast the magic in the car's path and activated it at the right time."

"All of this happens within a single second, this isn't something a normal person can achieve."

"Mr.Saltzman is far more capable than we think he is!"

Tatsuya being Tatsuya easily dismantled the situation as he was genuinely surprised by the sheer speed and power behind a normal rank-B spell used by Erik.

"But how did he deal with the rampaging interference!?"

Miyuki's interest was also piqued as she questioned no one in particular.

"It didn't affect him at all."

Mikihiko had a serious expression on his face and he answered Miyuki's question while himself unraveling the true power of Erik Saltzman.

"What!?"

Leo, of course, doubted his ears after listening to the words coming out of his friend's mouth!

"Actually, interference is like spiritual pressure; if the target has a higher level of spiritual pressure when compared to the one using the interference."

"The target remains unaffected!"

Mikihiko slowly explained the situation to his friend.

"But it wasn't a single person causing this inference!"

"It was Kanon-san, Morisaki-san, and Suzune-san's simultaneous attempts at using magic!"

Mizuki added another important point in the conversation.

"Hm...then that could mean only one thing!"

"What!?"

"Big brother Erik has a psion level higher than that of Kanon, Morisaki, and Shizune combined!"

"The hell y'all smoking these days!?"

Leo immediately countered Erika as he thought that she was speaking 100% pure bullshit!

"The fuck you say to me you little shit!?"

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