Chapter 59: I Need to Check 

With the heavy sound of iron boots hitting the ground, two sturdy men wearing armor engraved with the Seyel family crest slowly walked out from the shadows behind the stage under the gaze of the crowd. As soon as they appeared, the magic pressure emanating from their bodies made the examinees in the front rows feel dizzy and lightheaded.

“These two are elite seniors who graduated from Sera Academy and are now serving as the Knight Captains of our Seyel Family’s Knights Order! And today, everyone here has the chance to receive personal practical guidance from these seniors!”

Bale Seyel stood at the center of the focusing light magic, proudly spreading his arms, enjoying the adoring gazes from all directions as he continued.

“Moreover, whichever student surpasses the master and successfully passes the seniors’ test will be able to take any suitable magic weapon from the Seyel Family’s Magic Weapon Vault!”

BOOM!!

Bale’s words instantly threw fuel onto the already blazing fire of the banquet, making all the examinees eager to try their luck, each wanting to be the first to challenge.

You see, owning a magic weapon was the dream of many civilian students.

When two sorcerers of similar strength fight, the difference between having no magic weapon and having a suitable one is like a primitive man facing a fully armed modern person—a complete chasm! Not to mention that the upcoming practical exam at Sera Academy allows examinees to bring one magic weapon.

Moreover, these were the treasured collections of the deeply established Marquis Seyel’s family, far beyond the cheap goods one could buy with a few coins at the market.

Now, the noisy enthusiasm of the examinees was almost enough to blow the roof off the venue. No matter how much the young master of the Seyel Family waved his hands to signal, the venue could not stop the cheering.

‘Watching these fools cheering blindly, Bale sneered inwardly. Truly a bunch of stupid idiots. Do they really think my Seyel Family is running a charity? The two knight captains I brought today are both Transcendent Realm experts, and Dongli has even reached the Transcendent Middle Stage. You losers think you can beat them? Do you really think you’re the protagonist of a light novel?’

But on the surface, he still put on an approachable look. Seeing that the atmosphere was about right, he slowly began to speak.

“Alright everyone, quiet down, quiet down. Then—who will be the lucky first one to challenge the seniors today?”

Hearing Bale’s words, Lorin carelessly put down the melon seeds in his hand. He could clearly feel that although Bale on stage was ostensibly addressing the entire audience, his snake-like gaze had been fixed on Lorin, who was shelling melon seeds, from the very beginning, piercing through the crowd.

Then, Bale’s smile gradually turned sinister as he slowly spoke to him: “Then, our Young Master Lorin, I heard you’ve recently awakened your magic power. With this exam, isn’t that a double blessing? And as the heir of the Mosart Ducal House, you shouldn’t mind condescending to come on stage personally to kick off this banquet, right?”

Hearing this, Lorin grabbed another cookie and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing. ‘Hmph, I knew it. This well-dressed hypocrite definitely has no good intentions!’

But then again, under the watchful eyes of everyone, if he directly refused, it would be a buzzkill and make him seem aloof, needlessly harming the Morsat family’s reputation.

But if he obediently went on stage as the hypocrite suggested, Bale’s words might be about guidance, but once he got up there, those two heavy-armored knights would definitely go all out against him. Then he’d be beaten black and blue in public, and that would be an even greater loss of face.

Thinking about it, he felt indignant. ‘Dude, you like Alice, she didn’t reciprocate, so why target me? Our relationship is purely friendship. Hmph, a dirty mind sees everything as dirty.’

Then he glanced at Lucia beside him and couldn’t help but sigh.

‘Her future legitimate husband is sitting right next to me, and you can’t even see that. No wonder you’re a loser.’

But what to do now? He couldn’t advance or retreat. Especially now, Lorin looked at the talented examinees around him, whose passion had already been fully ignited, and felt even more pushed to the edge of a cliff.

‘But, mwahaha! Foolish Young Master Bale, you calculated everything, but you still missed one step!’

“I want a double battle!”

“What?”

Bale, who thought he had victory in hand, was clearly stunned by Lorin’s completely off-script and bizarre declaration. There was some confusion on his face that was feigning composure.

Amidst the confused gazes of the examinees, Lorin simply stood up generously. With his arms crossed, he turned his back to the crowd and declared loudly:

“Everyone knows that the opportunity to receive guidance from the seniors is rare. So, to save the seniors’ precious time and to give more students below a chance to train on stage, why not have both seniors give double battle guidance to two students at the same time? Isn’t that better? Or is the practical exam at Sera Academy one-on-one?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lorin provocatively tilted his head and gave Bale a cheeky look.

Sure enough, after noticing Lorin’s smug gaze, Bale’s face, which was pretending to be approachable, almost completely lost its composure.

Bale’s little scheme was very clear: he just wanted Lorin to go on stage alone under the spotlight, then humiliate him severely under the guise of guidance, and even directly damage the reputation of the Mosart Ducal House, venting his own resentment.

But if Lorin could choose a partner to go on stage with him, the attention on him would drop significantly. And even if the two knights wanted to target him, they couldn’t possibly go all out on two people at once in front of all the examinees, right? If it were a one-on-one battle, they could use the excuse of “an accident, I didn’t think you were so weak.”

But if they faced two at once, their clumsy targeting would be completely exposed.

The examinees below weren’t fools; how could they not see that the Seyel Family was deliberately targeting Lorin?

But by now, the situation had slipped out of his control, because Lorin’s well-spoken suggestion had already drawn unanimous agreement from the many civilian examinees. Waves of supportive voices came one after another like a tide.

So, to maintain his facade of approachability, Bale could only clench his fists and forcibly swallow his anger.

Fine, fine. This time he had specially brought two knights who were genuine Transcendent Realm experts, far beyond the assassins Laurent had sent before.

Anyway, that trash Lorin couldn’t possibly win. At worst, he could instruct the two knights and the mage controlling the lights to “pay special attention” to Lorin’s side!

After thinking for a moment, Bale forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, forced a smile on his face, and said:

“Since it’s a suggestion beneficial to all examinees, naturally my Seyel Family has no reason to refuse.”

“Yeah! Young Master Bale is brilliant!”

“Young Master Lorin’s suggestion is excellent!”

Hearing the waves of cheers from the crowd, Lorin could feel that Bale was shaking with anger.

‘Mwahaha! You’re still too green to fight me, the First Evil Young Master of the Papal State. Mwahaha!’

Lorin leisurely put all the melon seeds he had just shelled into his mouth, crunch crunch chewing. As he watched Bale fuming but unable to do anything about it, ‘this feels so good, so good.’