"It can't be... It's impossible…"
That was a sentence that left hanging in Clark's mind. He didn't know how strong Baston was, but he was sure the fat boy should be below him. The fact that he was a poor person to begin with indicated that his
development should not go further than him. He as the noble would have the best
resources plus the best teacher. Baston should not surpass him, yet the reality
displayed itself in front of him.
There was an uproar when everyone saw the result. Clark had already made several students lamented about their talents, and now, Baston made them directly wanted to hide from him. In front of such a strength with
young age, it was truly a big difference with their scores. Many wanted to question such a result, but they didn't dare to say until Clark himself stood up.
"I demand the instrument to be checked. Such a high score can't be real!"
The staff was displeased about such a question. He knew it was unbelievable, so he already checked for a couple of times. He even calibrated again from the beginning to make sure the measurement was right.
What he did from start to end was meaningless since the result was still the
same. It could only mean one thing, that was, Baston truly had such a strength on him. The staff didn't know what he should do, so he asked for advice from his supervisor.
After a few minutes, several staffs then brought other instruments to the front. Coupled with experts, they then tested everything until no error was found. They deliberately showed it to everyone so as to make sure everything was fair in Zeverius Academy. Baston must do the examination
again while under the watch of experts. When everything was done, the result was still the same. His score was still full 1000.
"We already check everything, accompanied by our experts here. The instrument works well and the score is still the same. Do you still have any other question?" the man looked at Clark and asked him.
Clark himself couldn't give a reply, only staring hatefully at Baston, "I demand a duel. Who knows there's a trick on your strength? I
believe when both of us fight with our own magic, then there will be a big difference on our battle experience."
"This is a meeting, not a tournament. In here, we fight with mouth, not hands."
"Humphhh… Are you afraid?"
"You can say anything, but it won't budge me to duel with you."
"If you're afraid, just say so. Why you still hide it in front of everyone?"
Baston simply countered, "You're the one who is afraid of the truth in front of you. You don't want to admit that you're already lost.
You still struggle this meaningless fight."
"YOU!!!"
"That's enough! This is the meeting event, so I hope everyone can act by the rules. If you still want to pursue the problem, then
you have just to go in private way."
The expert from Zeverius Academy wouldn't let everyone went in chaos as long as they were inside the academy. If it happened at Prius Academy, perhaps the principal must think first because he would be afraid to
offend a certain noble family, but it was different here. At such prestigious one, Zeverius Academy still had an authority over nobles here. It would be different if they dealt with royalty, but a noble like Clark was nothing in their eyes.
The atmosphere calmed down, but since Baston had already shown his true strength, no one had any motivation to continue the discussion. This big news overwhelmed their heads, unable to think further. For students around, just knowing a poor boy could achieve better than them made most of noble students here felt unacceptable. They didn't know and didn't care about Baston,
yet it was different at present. Every interested student soon deployed their
means to check what his background. Any information was precious so as to know
Baston better. It was also the same for Zeverius Academy since they happened to
see such a talented student being spotted by them.
The meeting then was dismissed abruptly since Baston gave them a shocking surprise. The fat boy was very popular for a while. Many people suddenly greeted him in the name of knowledge exchange. This thing actually made Baston confused because as far as he knew, nobles had high pride and it
wouldn't be easy for them to greet people from lower class. Despite the old fact, many still did it and tried their best to have close communication. They were like this because Baston showed a bright future ahead with enormous ability.
If Baston was a noble from the beginning, many people would greet him for the purpose of making connection or relationship. It was normal between nobles to act like this because many interest would be linked. However, since Baston wasn't a noble and only a person who came from poor class, people viewed him differently. Everyone now looked at him just like a fresh meat, ready to be served to anyone who paid much.
"Hey, you have a great magic inside. You should go to my house someday to meet with my family. They actually like talented person like you…" a girl came to Baston.
"Let me introduce myself…" another boy also greeted Baston, "I'm very interested on you. We're at the same age, but you already surpass me. I'm very ashamed of myself. By the way, I really want to know how much training you do everyday."
"Baston, isn't it? You already show us such a magnificent strength. I believe you're already the strongest in junior class. If you wait until you're in senior class, I think you will be the number one in many academies. Of course, you need much resources and training to be able to reach that high attainment. If you want to, you can consider our academy…" a teacher from Zeverius Academy spoke.
Not only students from other academy, even the teacher from Zeverius Academy took interest on Baston. He was a poor person from the start, so they believed they could easily poach him to work under their banners. They imagined such a strong boy would become their protector in the future if they could develop him. The students around actually wanted to get closer to hire
such a talent so their family would become stronger in many years later. Even though Baston had nothing in him, but who knew what he would become in the future. It was better to secure first this person so they would soon have other experts in the house.
Baston had difficulty to reject many requests that came out all at once. Fortunately, everyone didn't make it too hard for Baston, so they just took this opportunity as greetings. He quickly retreated into his room and decided to stay inside for a while. The popularity was very good, but too much of it was troublesome. In the meantime, he checked the present quest that he ran right now.
"Make a memorable impression at the meeting event…"
The quest actually announced itself before at yesterday, but he decided to take a look first how the meeting would be going. Baston thought he would have no chance to show himself, but out of nowhere, Clark sparked some curiosities. He wanted to incite the students, yet he didn't know this was a
rare opportunity that the fat boy waited. If he just stated himself, no one would give him an attention. It was different when Clark made a trouble for him in case of jealousy. The students around wanted to watch a show and it was finally his time to shine.
Looking at the good result, Baston wondered if he could get better one. The meeting should take a couple of days before it finished. Because of sudden surprise from him, it was halted but tomorrow, it would
continue again from today's checkpoint. However, he didn't focus on the meeting
itself because he wanted Clark to continue question him. He needed this boy so he could display more about him.
Tomorrow, the meeting went as usual. Despite the grudge from yesterday, Clark unusually went quiet at this time. Baston felt uneasy because it wasn't the boy's style to accept defeat, moreover from a lower-class person. He was still thinking about it when he heard something interesting.
"Regarding the explosion incident that occurred before, I think the student named Baston is quite suspicious. Such a poor student suddenly becomes stronger in no time, even surpassing everyone here…"
"What do you mean?" one of students asked, then suddenly making an assumption, "Do you think Baston is involved in recent incidents?"
"If you think about this, it also makes sense. How could such a poor person gain enormous strength? Even we as nobles with many provided resources can't even reach such a high level in short time."
"I think Baston is a spy sent directly to the academy. His task is to ensure the plan goes smooth with no hindrance."
"I think so too…"
With just one statement, everyone suddenly made their own theories. There was no clear indication, yet the young students tended to
believe everything they heard from masses. Baston glanced at the students who slandered him, but he clearly didn't recognize him well. Looking at Clark who began sneering, the fat boy slowly realized it was his plan in the run at present time. Baston thought the noble boy forgot him, yet he made some nobles here to side with him.
"Silence everyone…" the teacher calmed everyone down, "Every student here can make any statement, but there's still a need to prove your words. If not, it's just a hunch and fakes at better."
"Teacher, I think there's a truth on it…" Clark suddenly made a sound, "I already investigated much before. During the incident, only Prius Academy where there were no casualties while every place at least has one or two. There was also no considerable damage which left only this academy to be the luckiest among all."
"That's because it was me who blocked the impact!" Alicia suddenly stood up, glaring at Clark, "It was a coincidence that I found out
about magic circle. Before I could tell the teachers about it, the explosion already happened. Fortunately, with the protection item from the family, I could get away from the danger."
"Yes, it is…" Clark seemed waiting for this response, "But what I want to ask is why Baston at the site too? From my investigation, another boy and Baston were in there along with you, Alicia. I already checked the background of each other and only him that leaves many mysteries."
Alicia couldn't refute the question because she knew the truth. It was Baston who blocked the explosion, not her. If she just made an excuse about why Baston was in there, it would surely made him more suspicious. All eye stared at Baston, pondering what would he do with so many remarks against him. Before the fat boy could open his mouth, Clark already continued his wording.
"I believe such a suspicious one should be detained first as to make sure nothing bad will happen. If my remark is correct, then we should quickly eliminate this dangerous person in front of us. Rather than regretting
everything, it's the best to take a caution first."
Right now, every student here started to suspect Baston more and more. They slowly agreed with Clark's suspicious remark. The teachers around couldn't decide anything since it was a matter between students.
Moreover, they also wanted to know how this discussion went on since the noble boy started to persecute Baston.
"You said you already investigated me, right?" Baston who was in silent before suddenly talked to Clark.
"Of course, is there anything wrong with it?"
"Then, I would like to ask. Who put the magic circle before that incited the explosion?"
"This… I don't know for sure since there's not much time to know everything."
"There's already an official news about this regarding who was the criminal, but I guess your investigation is not good enough. Actually, I believe your informant is useless since they don't know such a public news,
isn't it?"