Ning could hear the students excitedly speak about the upcoming match. They talked in delight about watching the two teachers compete against each other, not knowing that one of the competitors was right beside them.
He sighed as he looked in front of him.
Right below the mountain was an open ground, followed by a massive building that housed all of the students in the academy. Right next to them were other buildings that belonged to the academy.
They either housed the normal staff or were a place where the beasts were kept. Beyond that was a massive forest that didn't stop until the desert on the other side.
Ning could see a rather large group of people making a crowd down below. 'Damn, do these students have nothing else to do?' he wondered.
He reached the foot of the mountain and made his way to the crowd. He walked past the crowd and entered the center of the crowd.
In the center were 2 people. One of them was the dark-skinned man that had challenged Ning to this competition. He looked ready for this match and was waiting for Ning.
The other person was a middle-aged female wearing a white robe. She too had been waiting for Ning, but for different reasons altogether.
The white-robed people were staff of the main academy. They didn't belong to any of the 5 professions and their main task was to make sure the academy ran smoothly.
For now, she was certainly going to work as the referee in this competition.
"You have finally come, grass-eater?" the dark-skinned man shouted out.
"Teacher Gonez, you know we can't let you go on with such racist remarks," the white-robed woman immediately said when she heard him call Ning a grass-eater.
"Ah, sorry, Miss Maeve. You know I'm just too used to it," Gonez said.
"I shall allow this one time. If I hear you say that again, you will be fined," the lady said.
Ning walked up to them and waited for them to continue. "Teacher Ning, my name is Maeve, and I will be holding your duel with Teacher Gonez, is that okay with you?" she asked.
"Yes, miss Maeve," Ning said.
"Great. Let's start with the thing you two will be betting on this duel," Maeve asked.
"What do you want from me?" Ning asked.
"I want my student back," Gonez said before a single moment could pass.
"Sigh, you hear this, Miss Maeve? I've told him that the student came to me out of his own volition, and still, this guy asks me to hand back the student. What am I supposed to do?" Ning said.
"Hmm, that certainly is troubling. If you don't own something, you can't really bet it," Maeve said. "Do you have anything else you want from teacher Ning? This student you ask for is not something he can bet."
Gonez tried to argue that Ning had indeed stolen his student away, but couldn't prove it at all since it wasn't true. "If he can't do that, then I want him to stop talking with that student," Gonez said.
Ning frowned. "That student came to me because he needed help. Are you saying you want to deprive a student of opportunity just because you don't want him to learn Alchemy?" Ning asked.
Maeve's eyes turned cold when she heard this and looked towards Gonez, waiting for his answers.
Gonez could feel the freezing cold coming from Maeve's eyes, so he had to choose his next few words carefully. "No, I won't deny the student of any opportunity," he said.
"But you are stopping him from entering my class?" Ning asked.
"Yes, just your class. If I win, I want you to stop interacting with this student altogether," Gonez said. "If he ever needs help, there are dozens of other teachers he can get help from. I just don't want that person to be you."
Ning was a little stupefied because of how far Gonez was going just to get Nilo back. 'Just what is his background to make a teacher this stupid?' Ning wondered.
Maeve thought about what Gonez had said and nodded. "Those are acceptable bets. Teacher Ning, do you accept?" she asked.
"Yes," Ning said without hesitation.
"Good, what about Teacher Gonez's bet. What do you want from him?" Maeve asked.
Ning thought for a bit to think of what he could want from the man, but nothing came to his mind. In the end, there was really just one thing he could get.
"I want the same thing as him. I want him to stop seeing the student after this if I win," Ning said.
"Those terms are acceptable," Maeve said. "Now, please choose the form of competition for the two of your to duel in."
"You are lucky we don't have physical combat, or I would have beat you near to death in the upcoming duel," Gonez said.
Ning tried to think of a non-combat competition that he could fight against Gonez right now.
Maeve looked at the two of them not speaking for a while and spoke. "Do you guys need help with the ideas?' she asked. She had refereed many such fights between two teachers, and so she knew quite a few ideas for them.
Since they were both from different professions, so it was hard to create a competition that was a middle ground for both of the people.
A beast master had an inherent advantage regarding beasts, while an Alchemist had an inherent advantage regarding plants and corpses.
Maeve needed to make sure that they both knew when the other one had a little too much knowledge on a subject when compared to them.
They were contemplating on what competition to hold when suddenly Ning decided to speak.
"I don't think it really matters what sort of non-combat competition you choose," he said. Gonez and Maeve looked at him with a little surprise in their eyes.
"What do you mean, Teacher Ning?" Maeve asked.
"What I mean is, I will let him choose whatever he wants and I will go along with it, with zero complaints.