Just like the last time, the report cards appeared on the student's desks in the form of blank pieces of paper until imprinting them with mana would reveal their hidden content.
Lith's report card was as following:
"Principles of Advanced Magic: A+; Forgemastering: A+; Healing: S; Dimensional Magic: A-; School points gained from daily evaluation: 4,365. A complete evaluation for the second exam is impossible until I hear back from your teammates.
Headmaster Linjos"
- "What the heck is this?" Lith couldn't believe his eyes. "I didn't perform better than the last trimester on purpose, yet all my grades went up (*). More importantly, why A- in dimensional magic? I can already perform Warp Steps, that should be plenty enough for an A.
Once I learn how to Blink, I will have completed the course, and that's likely to happen soon. How can a student able to achieve so much so fast deserve just an A-?"
"Well, I think they went up because of your role in curing the plague." Solus pointed out. "I am amazed they didn't give you an S+ in healing, if that even exist. As for the other professors, maybe their judgment was swayed by the royal decree."
"Swayed my pale a*s! I bet that Rudd jerk is still mad at me for the only time I responded in kind to his taunts. Me and my big mouth."–
It was still early morning when Lith left the academy, surrounded by gazes full of rage and envy. The second exam had been a total disaster. Those that had refused to participate or attempted to cheat had their grades capped at B rank.
Those who participated and failed had their grades unchanged, but they still assumed to have been penalized because of their poor performance.
Lith could perfectly hear them talking, whispering could not hide the truth from his heightened senses. Despite it was supposed to be a secret, his report card was actually public knowledge and so were those of everyone that had passed the second exam.
Someone was trying to stir up troubles, further dividing the young mages not only by social status but also by their results, ruining all of Linjos' hard work.
As soon as Lith was Warped to the capitol of the Marquisate, he alerted the Marchioness, which in turn informed the Headmaster. Whoever was behind all the recent troubles had always been a step ahead of them.
Having a bad premonition, Lith used the now mastered Warp Steps repeatedly to arrive at the village of Lutia in a few minutes. A normal mage would have his mana depleted by the repeated use of dimensional gates, but Lith used Invigoration each time to keep his peak condition.
Lith's intuition proved to be wrong. Aside from the panic his arrival caused, the village was quiet. As soon the villagers noticed it was him, fear was replaced by more rage and envy.
Lith ignored them, as he had done for the past years.
It had always been like that, the farmers loved him because he healed them at half the price and because he was one of them that had made it. In their eyes Lith's and Tista's achievements were the proof that education and hard work could lead their children to have a better life compared to their parents'.
The merchants and artisans that lived in the village instead hated him. He was an anomaly that had shattered what they perceived as the natural order of things. A dirty poor farm boy that demanded to be paid in full, disrespecting their pact with Nana.
Overtime the hatred had only grown stronger. Lith's household had started as a bottom feeder, but their social standing had never ceased to rise since his appearance. In their eyes, he was a scourge that was stealing from them and their children what was rightfully theirs.
It was impossible for the merchants to accept that despite all the money and the resources they had invested in their children, none of them would ever be rich like Lith or respected like Tista.
Raaz was the third most hated member of the family, having meddled with their business with his self righteous attitude, making them look like vultures and ruining their reputation after the so-called plague had turned out to be just a rumour.
But the most hated was Lith, especially since he had executed Garith in public and caused Gurid Renkin's death. No matter what Nana said, they firmly believed that the merchant's heart had failed to accept his beloved son's death, following him to the grave.
There was only one exception.
Zekell Proudhammer, Senton's father and Rena's father-in-law loved Lith with all his heart. Thanks to the dowry that Lith had provided, he had finally managed to expand his business and buy a last name for his family.
Because of that heaven blessed marriage, they would always receive the best treatments for free and by using her daughter-in-law name, no one dared to bully him anymore.
Thieves and swindlers kept away from his shop, to the point he could leave the door open at night and find everything where he had left it. Sure, there was the occasional death threat every time Rena would get a scratch or a bruise during the daily activities, but it was Senton facing Lith's wrath, not him.
All in all, Zekell's life was damn good.
"Lith, my boy! It's so good to have you back!" He yelled as soon as their eyes met.
"Thanks." Lith replied with a half-smile. He never liked Senton or his family, but since he never liked any of his sisters' suitors, in his mind Zekell was a decent man. No one of the Proudhammer household had ever given Lith a good reason to kill him, after all.
"No, thanks to you, young man. I'll never thank you and your Locrias friend enough for saving my whole family!"
"Who did what now?"