Chapter 597: Pride or Arrogance
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After lunch, under the watchful gazes of the audience, Benjamin and a few mages walked to the centre of the field.
"To all my fellow mages, a warm welcome to you all. I hope all of you got something out of this afternoon’s showcase," With his voice magically amplified, he thundered loudly across the area. "We are currently having a two-hour break and the students are now resting. To relieve you of your boredom, I’ve arranged a special sparring match between myself and some mages as entertainment."
His voice boomed like a PA system, reaching the furthest corners of the school. Many people were shocked and wondered what this could be about.
A lot of people had no idea what was happening, but this announcement certainly captured their attention. Moreover, to watch the infamous mage himself show off his skills was reason itself to be excited about. As such, people from all over the school started to flock toward the field.
"Intriguing. Who would have taught that aside from visiting the school, we could also witness the legendary Benjamin display his skills? I heard he could easily defeat a grandmaster, is this true?"
"Who knows? But I wonder who will he be going up against, an average mage probably wouldn’t stand a chance..."
Even the students who had just finished their exams immediately abandoned their hard-earned rest upon hearing the announcement. They relished the opportunity to finally witness their headmaster’s capabilities.
"The ones before this were too weak, the headmaster dealt with them in a matter of minutes. Let’s hope this fight will last longer."
"kind of spell did he use to freeze everyone? I feel that the headmaster’s magical abilities have exceeded what we can fathom."
"I once heard from one of the school’s teachers about a runic text or whatnot, perhaps it has something to do with that..."
And so, in a short span of time, the school field became a sea of people once again. The energy of the crowd now overshadowed even the rowdiness shown during the exams earlier in the morning.
At Benjamin’s cue, the chosen opponents entered the field.
"One, two, three... wait a second, there’s so many of them!"
"Are they skirmishing? I see now, if there are no worthy opponents for him to fight one on one with, then it wouldn’t be any entertaining to watch."
"These mages... Aren’t they all leaders of mage guilds? Look at Master Hera over there, she’s famous in Amber City. To think that Headmaster Benjamin will be fighting against all these people at once... this is most interesting."
Following the opponents’ entrance, the audience’s interest exploded, and discussions aggressively started taking place. After a few minutes, Benjamin was facing around two hundred mages in the centre of the school field.
Two hundred mages that were all famous in one way or another - none of them were nameless pushovers.
This in and of itself was already astounding. Moreover, when the crowd heard that this isn’t a skirmish but rather a one against all match, a sense of incomparable amazement washed over them.
Nearly two hundred powerhouses... if they were to invade the Holy Kingdom, would the church itself be able to withstand them?
The onlooking mages became curious. What could Benjamin be thinking to organize this sort of sparring session? Did he truly have such inflated levels of confidence?
"If he wins, would he still be human? Headmaster Benjamin is putting himself in a difficult position."
"Really? I... don’t think that’s the case."
Many didn’t believe that Benjamin would gain any benefit from this and would more likely be heading straight to his own demise. However, there was a group who knew Benjamin much deeper, who could only shake their heads at the news.
Master Finch shook his head and exclaimed aloud, "This bastard just loves to show off, doesn’t he? Does he really have to tarnish the names of so many famous mages?"
A young mage next to him responded in shock, "Master Finch, do you mean that... he will win?"
Master Finch listened and smiled before pointing toward the opposing mages and saying, "Don’t you see? The mages who are participating in this sparring match are all mage guild leaders. They’ve always been displeased at the Mage School and might even have schemed against it and prepared some tricks under their sleeves. I’m afraid Headmaster Benjamin might have found out about them, wish is why he is now calling them out."
"But... what if he loses?"
Master Finch shook his head again and replied, "He wouldn’t lose."
In the middle of the field.
Fafnir looked at the crowd gathered around the school field, his feelings were that of freshly cut wood being added to a burning fireplace, a swell of emotions flared up inside of him.
To think, he was going to defeat Benjamin in front of so many people.
Although victory through overwhelming numbers against one person wasn’t any bit glorious, this event was suggested by the fool himself. Who’s to blame anyway? Besides, glory is still glory, regardless of the amount.
He also noticed that the participating mages were leaders from various mage guilds. As such, he knew that Benjamin was planning to crush their pride.
This kid was too arrogant.
In the years Fafnir took to rise up the ranks in the circle of mages, he had seen his fair share of natural born geniuses, but never before had their arrogance reached this level. One man against a hundred? What was he thinking? Did he even acknowledge other mages at this point?
Naïve, this bastard was either too dumb or too naive!
Then again, for someone as young as him to climb to this position, it’s about time that he hit a ceiling. Fafnir felt that it was his duty to teach this young man a hard lesson.
So much so that he believed he should thank himself.
Without a moment to waste, once everyone had gathered in the field, they got in position. In the vast open space, Benjamin stood on one end of the field while nearly two hundred veteran mages stood on the other.
Benjamin continued, "Since it will be a sparring match, let us set a time limit. Ten minutes, for the sake of every mage here, it’ll be a ten-minute battle. It wouldn’t be wise to drag it on any longer, lest anyone gets hurt."
Fafnir listened and grinned at the news.
Ten minutes...his magical herbs could last up to fifteen minutes. And by the looks of the other mages, they seemed to have done similar preparations. Compressing the battle to this short amount of time would certainly tip it in their favour!
Even though no one understood why this young mage had suggested the ten minutes limit, yet... they felt incredibly lucky, it was as if the divine spirits were on their side.
From the looks of things, this entire setup was of divine will. The gods above demanded this young man who had been smooth sailing through his entire life receive a well-deserved beating.
One after another, the participating mages clenched their fists in anticipation.
Upon seeing this, Benjamin couldn’t resist smiling. He nodded towards the teacher who was acting as timekeeper and announced with an amplified voice.
"Well then, let the match... begin!"
As soon as his voice dissipated, the two hundred mages impatiently began to chant, their faces like wolves who had come across a lone lamb.
Benjamin read the situation and shook his head.
Sadly, these people didn’t even realize who the true lamb was.
Benjamin wasn’t the least bit cautious of his opponents moves. Under the gaze of countless spectators, he suddenly parted his lips and chanted a short yet odd-sounding melody.