Zoemi continued entrancing everyone who listened with his charming voice that captivated the audience far better than Arreta’s desperate shouts.

”You want the truth? Here it is. My minuscule mana reservoir and the darkness-like abilities were both the result of an illness.”

The black-haired boy spread his arms open and revealed, lying as naturally as he breathed.

Hey… that story about an illness – isn’t it…?

|The excuse Benevirau and I came up with and rehearsed during every single training session back in the Banemor territory, yes~|

Ludier’s shadow asked while chuckling and Zoemi pridefully confirmed his guess.

”Illness…?”

”Indeed~”

The red-haired judge muttered and Zoemi nodded his head with a solemn expression picking up on it instantly.

”I don’t know the name of it, and actually I doubt that it even has one, to begin with.”

”…”

The devilishly handsome boy with the voice to back it up reveled in the attention as he felt teths of gazes upon his outrageous claim.

”I would most likely go about my life without knowing any better if I did not attend the Aspaekony Academy. Because you see, I ended up in one class with someone very special~ An amazing person wielding the variant attribute that is closer to the gift from the heavens than actual magic. A girl of common birth, miss Burushiitto – an actual healing magician that became a friend of mine.”

——

”Huh, now I’m an amazing person, ey? How convenient!”

Burushi muttered under her breath but her chest filled with warmth as she leaned away from the door and checked on the already healed up – but unconscious – Letro just in case.

——

”My dear friend ended up using her healing spells both in my presence and directly on me because of various reasons – and as the treatment progressed I experienced something straight out of a dream…!”

Zoemi continued…

—–

”I might be crazy but it sounds like he is declaring that I am under his protection… Now I want to see other students bully me!”

Burushi gasped to herself, lowering her head as a slight blush was covering her face.

——

”The strange feeling in my chest, that I thought was normal, disappeared without a trace… and a completely new world opened to me!”

The black-haired boy declared and went silent for a moment – he looked down and after a few seconds, he raised his head back up.

”I am very similar to how lady Miriette Lisea Espine is… although in my case the change of color isn’t all that eye-catching.”

”…!”

Once Zoemi stated that loud gasps could be heard from everywhere.

There was hardly anyone who did not catch what the black-haired boy meant by that!

”My hair and eyes… They should be the murky black, but instead, they are jet-black because of the high concentration of mana in them.”

Zoemi raised his head with shameless pride.

Nit a single word of what he said was true – but it sounded plausible enough for the nobles in the audience to believe in.

…and it was all that was needed for him to succeed…

”But even spells of the young lady Espine are known to be green as they should be! How come yours are the murky bla…! Ah…”

Arreta asked but she looked to the side realizing the silly mistake she made – shadow spells were supposed to be murky dark or at least bleaker than the spells they copied.

”I can partially recognize your confusion.”

”…wait… you can…?!”

Zoemi shook his head, sounding as if he was on Arreta’s side, which honestly made her flinch and step back in surprise.

”My spells seem a bit darker than usual, simply because I have just that much more mana. With enough mana, spells can also alter their color.”

Zoemi announced with a friendly-looking smile, as the announcement dawned on the audience.

Some aristocrats did not realize what the black-haired boy just said, but those who did were more than just stunned.

To them, Zoemi basically announced that he wasn’t a magician – but rather a sage.

Someone with much more mana than an average light magician.

Such revelation required to be looked into – but in case that wasn’t just boasting of an overconfident young noble that was bestowed with a high social position, most of them would have to change their plans for the future…

…to put it lightly…

——

”Wooow, so much bull**! You should be the one called Buru**to!”

That last revelation was a bit too much on the nose for the blond heroine watching from the sickbay.

—–

Zoemi smiled at the brown-haired young woman and nodded his head at her.

”Was that enough of an answer, miss? Now, let’s try this again – have a nice day.”

”…w-WAIT…!”

He said with the full intention of leaving the arena this time, but that clearly wasn’t an action that matched with the scenario that Arreta was following – so she clenched her fists and called after him in an intimidating voice.

”You beat up my father and my grandmother, I cannot let you be!”

She declared and the arena that Zoemi fixed mere moments earlier broke apart, and the debris flew straight to the brown-haired young woman to become armor for her arms.

This spell looked just like the one used by her grandmother, but Arreta’s stone arms looked a bit slimmer and more agile than the one lady Auequas tried to use.

”Excuse me…?”

”…!”

Zoemi looked up at Arreta with such fury in his eyes that she felt chills go down her spine.

”Where do you think you are?! This is the arena created to facilitate the tournament hosted by the Victureo family! You want to fight, win your way until you encounter me. I understand that the main Auequas family has no honor, but have a shred of shame and BACK OFF!”

The black-haired boy’s voice boomed over the arena to the point that it was impossible for it to NOT be mana augmented, but still…

”Then I challenge you to a duel!”

She declared and the stone armor assembled on her legs too, leaving only her torso and head unprotected.

”You are kidding me? At least follow the rules and talk with organizers, judges, and participants whose allotted time you are imposing on, you…”

”My hair may not be so brown that they are black, but I’ll have you know that I’m also a transcended magician!”

A thick vein bulged out on Zoemi’s neck as he tried his best to remain calm over the unacceptable behavior of someone who at one point could be a part of his family – but he was interrupted by that very person, as Arreta shouted over him as if his words had no meaning behind them.

”Who the hell cares? I am not accepting a duel with you! Shortsighted moron – can’t you see that the barrier protecting the audience isn’t up? How reckless can you be?”

Zoemi scoffed in disbelief waving his hand in refusal – but he certainly did keep his enchantments active.

”Lord Zoemi Benevi Banemor will face lady Arreta Auequas!”

”…you are not serious…”

But to the Zoemi’s disgust – yes, no surprise but straight up disgust – the gold-haired judge, the same one who tried to disqualify the black-haired boy before his first fight, called out, basically shocking everyone around him with half a working brain – which basically encompassed everyone except for Arreta and himself.