Death Mage with an SS-Rank Talent-Chapter 170

Early in the morning, Aaron appeared at Lyanna’s office as instructed. Though he had used all his Dusk credits, he still had a few rations that he had stored in his dorm from before he left for the capital with others.

Using those rations, he prepared a sumptuous breakfast. He missed eating self-made food. Though what he ate was not bad most of the time, he intended to make his food as much as possible.

What hotels and restaurants put in their food, no one would know, and he wanted to know what he puts in his mouth. Without knowing what he was eating, he was not content. Now, he can prepare his own food, which means he knows what he is eating.

He enjoyed a good breakfast before leaving to meet with the vice-headmistress.

---

When he arrived at the office, the other four had already arrived. He was the last to arrive.

Aaron exchanged a few pleasantries with them and came to know that the Vice-Headmistress had yet to arrive. So, the wait outside.

They didn’t have to wait long. Lyanna arrived ten minutes after Aaron arrived.

"Follow me", she said to the five, as she started walking away from her office, towards the office of the Headmaster.

Though they had never been to this area of the academy, they knew all the main offices of the academy, where important people would be staying to work. This was something every student had to know.

Two reasons for that. If you wanted to find someone from the academy, if their office was known beforehand, it would be easy to find the said person. freewebnøvel.coɱ

The second reason was that, unless necessary, these areas were forbidden for students to wander into, because as the top staff of the academy, they would be discussing many important and secret things that no one could hear without proper clearance.

At the moment, Vice-Headmistress has given them permission to come to her office, and she was taking them to the Headmaster’s office, so there was no problem entering the area.

The staff took care that the students wouldn’t be able to view any important stuff along the way before they arrived.

Two minutes later, they are at the headmaster’s office.

"Wait here", Lyanna said as she entered the office alone, leaving the five behind.

She needed to verify if the headmaster was ready to speak with the students or not. Though it was already scheduled to meet with the students, it’s always best to speak with the headmaster first before bringing them in.

Directly bringing them inside might cause issues. So, she went in alone to confirm if he was truly available or if something had happened and he was busy.

A minute later, she returned, "You can enter now", she said.

One by one, the five champions of the academy entered the office for a face-to-face with the most powerful person of the academy.

---

Viren, who was sitting in his chair, laughed out loud when he saw the five enter his office. "Welcome, champions of the Dusk Academy. You have done well in the tournament and earned much for the academy", he spoke in a booming voice filled with laughter.

It was not his usual demeanour, but after the great news he got in the morning, confirming his estimation, he was very happy about it.

"Why the surprised face? Did you think that you would face an old and stern face when you entered?" Viren asked, looking at the surprised faces of the students.

They were surprised because this was not what they envisioned about the headmaster. They really believed that the headmaster would be a stern and disciplined one, but what they were seeing had no such features.

"Ah, no, no, no", they all spoke, worried that the headmaster would be displeased by the thoughts.

"Don’t be afraid. I called you here to reward you for your performance in the tournament, not to punish you. This morning, the alliance has released the rankings of the academies, and we ranked second", Viren said with a broad smile plastered on his face.

For years, Dusk Academy was at the bottom of the top five; only occasionally would they be able to reach fourth rank, but never third or above. This was why the other four looked down on Dusk Academy.

Now they have directly reached the second rank from the fifth rank last year.

"We were second, then who is the first, headmaster?" Diana spoke meekly.

Though everyone wanted to know that the first position belonged to Aaron, the rank of the academy seemed not to belong to them. This caused doubts in their minds, but no one could raise the question.

Though Diana raised the question in a meek manner, she was more courageous than others.

"Ah, you might be wondering if Aaron is first, then Dusk Academy should be first, but that’s not how the ranking works. If someone gets first position, that is not automatic that the academy would be first. They should have informed you before the start that the performance of the students would be considered while ranking the academies, did they not?" the headmaster spoke.

The five nodded, "They did, headmaster", they answered in unison.

The headmaster nodded and continued, "The academies were established to improve everyone, not just one or two. This was a loophole that existed once, where some academies would invest all their time and resources into one or two, and these would get the best ranks, making sure that their academies got good ranks".

"You know that the academies were not places of learning but also fortresses that protect the people. These academies, when they were forced into some difficult situations, faltered as not all were developed, only a few were, and they were not enough to fight the monsters, which caused a lot of casualties".

"After that, the alliance closed that loophole but giving points for a win, performance in a loss. This way, they can evaluate whether there was an overall improvement or not. Though only five were tested among hundreds, this was the best they could do. The alliance can’t micromanage everything all the time".

Hearing those words, everyone understood what it was, the way it was.

"Anyway, I called you here to share the news and congratulate you before giving the rewards", Viren said as he pulled out a few boxes, which had names printed on them.

"Take the box with your name. They have the rewards that you deserve", Viren spoke, and one by one, all five took their boxes, but they didn’t check what was in it, as they felt that would be rude.

"You can leave now", Viren said.

"Thank you, Headmaster. Thank you, Vice-Headmistress", they bowed in unison and left the office.

Once they exited the office, everyone went on their way. Aaron went straight to the dungeon hall to increase his level as soon as possible.

---

While the conversation about the tournament was taking place, everyone there thought that there were only seven people, but they were wrong.

There was someone else who had been lingering in the academy for a while. He listened to these words, though they were of not much interest to him. He was rather interested in the students, one in particular.

"This boy feels different, not like others. Is he..., that can’t be. I would have felt if that was", the shadow thought in its mind and dismissed the thought that just appeared in his mind.

"He seems interesting, maybe I can watch over him. Staying here is boring", the shadow thought and followed behind the boy when he left the office towards the dungeon hall.1