"Oh!"
"O-oh?!"
Suddenly, something unexpected happened.
Principal Eigen thought their excitement was at the peak, yet, he could see that half of them actually became confused and stopped cheering.
They all turned to each other and started questioning the decision.
"Theodore Griffith?"
"What?!"
"There's no way he can kill a Hero Rank Monster."
"That's right. He must be cheating. The school doesn't want him to lose his face, so they try to cover this up."
Many were dissatisfied with Theo because Theo's previous popularity was among the worst. They simply couldn't believe the lowest of all actually became the candidate. If they looked at the other two groups, they could easily find multiple reasons to replace Theo.
Hence, many were baffled to see Theo becoming the candidate.
"This is not fair!"
"There are more talented first-year students, but why did the school choose someone as untalented as him?!"
"That's right. There must be some sort of deal behind the scenes."
"We need justice!"
They began to pressure the principal because they couldn't accept the result.
Alea and Ellen were clenching their fists in anger, wanting to beat all these people up because they didn't know Theo was the reason they could achieve such a feat.
However, they remembered when Theo asked them to promise to not blow a fuse if others tried to underestimate him. Theo surprisingly wished for this kind of situation to occur because if they managed to reach the main stage and their opponents investigated him, they would find him as nothing but trash.
With them underestimating Theo, he could turn around the situation and shut their mouths with his action, raising the bar even higher. That was why even before Grand Gaia had started, Theo had begun his own plan in order to win on the main stage.
Even Phyrill couldn't help but chuckle, seeing all these fools. They didn't need to know Theo's deed because he didn't want any other competition to get Theo into their own influence.
Laust, on the other hand, had mixed feelings. On one hand, Laust'd recognized Theo's talent. His talent was one of a kind and Theo'd also worked hard for it. Even he had suffered multiple times under his plans. Theo was someone he needed to overcome sooner or later… That was why he didn't like when someone looked down on him since it made him look bad as well. On the other hand, he still loathed Theo, so this kind of atmosphere made his heart a bit happy.
But the one that hated this situation the most wasn't him or Theo. It was Sihan.
If not because of their distance, they would have felt Sihan's killing intent leaking from his eyes.
Theo didn't know what was going on with him, so he simply ignored his teammates and all the people doubted him. His only thought was, 'The last laugh is the best laugh.'
Seeing that the situation had gone out of control, the principal shouted. "Ha!"
That shout jolted their brain as they looked at the principal with confused expressions.
The principal knew this type of thing was bound to happen because Radvils had been telling him that Theo would become the most controversial participant.
He shut them up and said with a cold tone. "I don't know your problem with him, but I can assure you that what he has done to the team is better than what any of you can do. Unless you're planning to suspect me for covering something, then feel free to continue mocking him.
"I will only say this once, this school will train you to become an expert… And an expert is actually someone who utilizes everything in their possession. Whether it's luck, opportunity, and so on, as long as you're winning, it's all the same.
"Nothing's wrong with you suspecting his qualification, but it's wrong when you think he doesn't deserve such a spot. Everyone deserves this spot… I think I have made it clear to all of you at the start.
"There would be three stages of training where you all would be guided to become a powerful expert to participate in the Grand Gaia… Now, I would like to ask you, where are you? I can say that Theodore Griffith was in the same group as Alea from the start… And now tell me, there were many first-year students to choose from, but where were they? Why did Alea Eilric choose such a person to be her partner? Tell me right now… Give me one answer and I will take every word I have said."
They all heard the principal and fell silent, not having the courage to speak up. At the same time, they also couldn't tell the reason because if Alea chose him from the start, she must have considered it carefully. It also showed that Theo should also deserve such a spot.
All of them were thinking they were better than Theo and Theo could reach this stage because he was lucky, but that wasn't the answer. Alea first recognized Theo's talent and tried to improve it. She had seen something in Theo that they couldn't even see.
The only thing that remained for them was embarrassment.
The principal also didn't want to explain everything to them due to Radvils' request, asking him not to disclose Theo's information that much. Theo was Radvils' joker card that could turn around the situation, so he didn't plan to play it yet.
After taking a deep breath, Principal Eigen finally continued, albeit in an awkward situation. "Now that everything has come to this, I will just announce the reward for the winner. Not only will they represent our country in the Grand Gaia Competition, but the school will reward them with two D Rank Skills and one Champion Rank Spear.
"At the same time, the government has worked with us to allow them to get intensive training, including all kinds of skills they want and are capable of mastering during the training. They will experience the training for three weeks and fly to Italy to compete with other countries.
"Let's applaud these six students and wish them luck."
Although it was a bit awkward, the students decided to clap as loud as possible, hiding the embarrassment they received from the principal earlier. They simply wanted to forget about it.