He walked to the door and opened it. On the other side, he saw Marcus, Lyra, and Madison. All of them seemed very excited.
“Are you ready to go?” Marcus asked.
“Give me a minute. I will go and bring my roommate,” Leo said. He walked to Roland’s room and knocked. The door opened in a few seconds and Roland’s head peeked out to see who it was.
“Are you ready to leave?” Leo asked him. Roland quickly opened the door and stepped out. He was properly dressed and ready to leave.
“My friends came, so we can leave now,” Leo said. Roland nodded. He didn’t have any of the energy that the people outside had. When he came to the door, Leo introduced him to everyone.
“Roland. This is Marcus, Lyra, and Madison. Everyone, this is my roommate,” Leo said. “Let’s not waste any time and leave.”
He recognized that Roland was getting stressed since they weren’t there yet. They left the dorm and walked out toward the arenas. It was only a fifteen-minute walk, so they were going to be there without any problem.
As they were walking, Roland asked Leo a question.
“So, why are there so many of your friends?” He asked.
“So, I’m not sure you are aware of how famous this fight is going to be,” Leo said, pointing to the surroundings.
It was early in the morning and the sun wasn’t up yet. The only source of light was the lamps in the corners of the streets. At a time like this, the streets would normally be empty. However, there were groups of students pouring out of the dorms.
There were almost 300 students outside. All of them seemed to be heading in the same direction as their group.
“Many of these people are here to watch the duel you made happen. So in a way, you are a celebrity,” he said.
They made their way to the arenas and found even more people there. They were swarming the entire area, giving no one space to move. The only way to go to the actual arena stages was to leap over the entire crowd.
Leo looked at Marcus and the rest of the group and said, “You wait here. Me and Roland have to go to the stage.”
Before they could ask him what he meant, he and Roland leaped onto one of the stages. Everyone looked at the people who were clearly cutting the line to get the best seats to watch the fight. One of them protested.
“Who do you think you are?! We’ve been waiting for an hour for this fight,” he shouted.
People around him agreed with the statement. They were about to protest along with him, but someone stopped them.
“Do you not know who that is? That’s one of the nobles fighting!” Another student shouted. Everyone suddenly looked at the two. They lost their anger and cheered instead.
Leo shook his head and sat on the arena stage. It was still only 5 and there was time before the sun would rise. They would still have to wait for their opponent.
Roland sat beside him trying to avoid all the gazes pointed their way.
“Do you know when your friend is going to come to the stage? Or is it one of your friends that we came with?” He asked Leo.
Leo patted Roland’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I have this all figured out,” he said.
Time passed and the first rays of dawn peeked through the buildings. As the place lit up, Roland saw someone he recognized.
“She’s here,” Roland said while getting up. Leo got up and started stretching.
Another pair of students jumped up onto the stage. Both of them were girls. Both were wearing luxurious robes and had staffs in their hands. Their red robes were standing out in the sea of people around them.
The shorter of the two walked forward. “My sister was right. She said you were going to bring a representative to fight for you. It was the right move for me to do that too,” she said.
Roland looked around and only saw Leo. He quickly tried to deny it.
“No, he’s not my-” He was about to say that Leo wasn’t his representative but Leo stopped him.
“So you brought your older sister to fight someone in your year? Roland was right. You are pretty much a coward,” he said.
The conversation between them was audible to the entire crowd watching them and they all started to get excited when they heard the remarks made at each other. Just as the noise was starting to get incredibly loud, a loud shout resounded throughout the entire arena stages.
“SILENCE!” The shout silenced the entire crowd of almost 500 students.
The shout came from a mage in the sky. He was the same person who was in charge of the admissions for the Aura Knight Academy.
“Since the participants registered to use the arena, I came here to make sure that no one would get hurt. But all I see is an uncivilized audience. I will let you all stay but do not make noise like unruly thugs,” he said with a calmer voice.
He then looked at the stage with the four people.
“Only the people fighting should remain on the stage,” he said.
Roland looked at Leo. “Where’s the person?” He asked.
Leo pointed at himself. “That would be me. I’m fighting for you,” he said.
Roland’s expression turned ghastly. “But- but you said you would bring someone stronger than-“
“You never checked the New Student Ranking, did you? Go check it out once you’re free. I’m not as weak as you think,” he said.
“Faster,” the old man said.
Roland scurried off the stage. The only people left on the stage were Leo and the girl who looked very similar to the other girl who talked to Roland.
“Introduce yourselves to me. I will need to recover the fight for Academy records,” he said.
The girl spoke first.
“I am Melissa Evernight, a 2nd Year Mage student,” she said.
When she said that, everyone had an expression of displeasure. Most of the students there were Aura Knights, and they didn’t like that a 2nd Year Mage was the chosen representative to fight a 1st Year. They hoped that Roland had also chosen someone older, but Leo looked incredibly young.
“Are you ranked?” He asked.
She shook her head. He then turned to Leo.
“What about you, boy?” He asked.
“I am Leo. First Year,” Leo said.
The old man didn’t show any such expression. “Rank?” He asked.
At this point, everyone thought it was standard for him to ask that question so they didn’t think anything of it. But Melissa was different. She knew that the mage would be able to see the aura level of the boy. If he asked that question, that meant there was a chance the boy would pose a small threat to her.
Leo’s mouth curved into a smile. “New Student Ranking. Ranked 4th.”
