COTE x TBATE | A Masterpiece

Chapter 26: Another Continent

The incoming students of all three races that were cheering for each of the Student Council members fell silent when Arisu walked in. With her pure white hair swaying behind her as each of her dignified steps echoed throughout the silent auditorium, she single-handedly changed the atmosphere inside this entire building.

As she bowed and tucked her hair behind her ear, a roar of applause erupted as both males and females alike cheered with admiration. I thought the cheers would last a lot longer but as soon as she started speaking, it was as if each of the students in the crowd covered each other's mouth so that they could hear her voice.

"My name is Arisu Watsken, and I am honored to stand here as this academy's student council president."

Murmurs started after the crowd once again cheered for our beautiful president. Next to me, a scrawny human boy spoke excitedly to his friend beside him.

"That's the one in a generational genius, Arisu Watsken I was talking about. My older brother told me she will start formally attending this year with us!" He leaned into his friend so only he could hear but the volume at which he spoke betrayed him.

"Wait... she's only a first year and she's already the Student Council President? Is that even possible?" His friend, whom I couldn't really see, spoke louder and louder with each word, causing the neighboring students to hear as well.

"Yeah, I heard of her as well! She's supposedly a super-genius of some sort. Both in artificing and magical combat, right?"

"Why the hell is she so damn pretty when she's talented as well? This isn't even fair..."

"I wonder what I would have to do to get her to even look at me?"

The audience was filled with different talks about her but while, for the males, it revolved around how much of an unobtainable star she was, for the females, it was a mixture of admiration and envy. Sylvie was going crazy on top of my head, cheering for her.

"While I may be a first year as all of you are, having given the privilege to be inside the academy for a few months longer made it all too apparent to me that there is deeply embedded discrimination against the scholar mage students by the battle mage students. I, for one, will not tolerate any sort of aggression or bullying based on the trivial fact that one is a scholar mage student. I myself am a scholar mage, yet I don't see the reason for this discrimination." Her voice never wavered as she stood behind the podium.

The crowd grew a little noisy at this statement, as everyone present had heard rumors of the hardships one may face as a scholar mage student.

"Starting this year, while uniforms and the upper courses required may be different, for the first two years, general education, that contains a mixture of both scholar mage classes and battle mage classes will be mandatory, for better assimilation between the two different types of students. After the two years are up, one may choose to switch their education specialization by taking a test, although it will be quite a difficult one." This last statement drew in dissatisfied complains from amongst the students in the crowd. While I didn't have to take a test due to my special connection with Director Goodsky, most students, regardless of background, had to test for either a scholar mage or battle mage position.

To get in as a scholar mage, an incoming student only needed a basic foundation of magic, which was mana gathering. While they had to take a written exam to test their mental acuteness, the practical portion of the exam was much more simple. battle mage students, however, had a much stricter practical exam, and actually performed basic spells or techniques depending on whether they were a Conjurer or Augmenter. It may have seemed like a cakewalk for someone like Elijah, Tess, or me, but I admit it could be quite a challenge for someone who had just awakened.