The murmurs began.
One student raised his hand. He was a young man with blond hair.
"Wasn't it a bit random?"
Darius raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
The boy thought for a moment.
"I mean, there was no planning or teamwork; they would just charge whenever they saw an enemy."
Professor Darius looked at his students.
"So, does anyone have a different opinion?"
A girl raised her hand. Ryan looked at her and saw that it was Elisa.
Elisa stammered at first.
"I think... Ryan from Team One was the reason that team won."
The professor looked at her.
"Hmm, why do you think that?"
Elisa grew a little nervous.
"Well... he eliminated two members of the opposing team, and I think he was also responsible for the first elimination from Team Seven, since he was the one who told his teammate to attack in random directions."
But someone interrupted her.
"I don't think so."
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice. Ryan and Elisa recognized the boy, and Elisa's eyes widened slightly.
"You..."
Kai smiled at her, then looked at the professor and continued.
"I think he was being very selfish."
Professor Darius was a little surprised by Kai's answer, but it only made him more interested in hearing his reasoning.
"Why do you think that?"
Kai looked at Ryan, then turned his gaze back to Darius.
"He could have performed those random attacks himself instead of having his water-element teammate do them. But he didn't because he wanted to preserve his own spark."
Darius nodded.
"I suppose that's one way to look at it. But why couldn't it simply be considered teamwork?"
Kai sighed.
"Because I saw him watching his teammate get beaten up, and he didn't move a muscle."
Darius scratched his head.
"Well, I have to admit that's an interesting perspective. Does anyone else have an opinion?"
Then Darius turned toward Lyana.
"What about our princess? Did anything catch your attention?"
Lyana looked at the students. Some gazed at her with excitement and admiration, some with envy, while others did not seem to care about her at all. She took a deep breath and spoke.
"I think this battle was nothing more than a squabble between children."
Darius smiled faintly.
"Why do you say that?"
Lyana sighed.
"You know exactly why. If either of those teams were to face a group of senior students, they would lose within a minute. There was no cooperation on either side, no planning, no intelligence, reckless use of elemental abilities, and..."
She looked at Ryan.
"As Kai said, there was selfishness and people thinking only of themselves. And of course, the kingdom has no need for that kind of person."
Her words were sharp and forceful, causing all the students to fall silent. No one could find a response. After all, she was the princess of the kingdom.
But after her words, the sound of laughter echoed through the room.
"Hahahahaha!"
Lyana eyes widened. In fact, everyone's eyes widened except Darius's. They all turned toward the source of the laughter.
It was Ryan.
"Hey, Ryan, what are you doing? Why are you laughing?"
Edan was surprised as well. He had not expected Ryan to laugh in a situation like this.
"Well... this is just... funny... hahaha..."
Everyone glared at Ryan in anger. Leonor clenched her fists, her body trembling with rage. Yet she was not the one who spoke.
Her companion, Mara, stood up and shouted,
"You there, Ryan Darvin! How dare you laugh!"
At that moment, Ryan stopped laughing. He looked at Mara coldly.
"How dare I? Of course I dare. Didn't you hear? Your lady was talking about selfishness, but I nearly died because of her selfishness. Don't you remember?"
After hearing his words, the students began whispering among themselves.
"Did they know each other before?"
"What do you think the princess did to him for him to speak like that?"
"But isn't he being incredibly rude? How can he talk to our princess like that?"
When Lyana heard his words, she could no longer hold herself back. She stood up and glared at him angrily.
"What do you mean by that? It was all because of you! I told you to stop, but because of your empty head and lack of sense, that happened to you!"
Ryan showed no reaction to her words, but he was extremely irritated now.
'Ah, this damned girl.'
Just as he opened his mouth to reply, Darius spoke.
"Let's end this here. Everyone, leave calmly now. Also, two other teams will be facing each other next week."
Ryan said nothing. As soon as Darius finished speaking, he stood up and headed toward the exit, with Edan following after him.
"Wait, Ryan!"
And so he left, leaving Lyana standing there, angry and frustrated, watching as he walked away.