The evening event was taking place in the large hall that would be used for functions like this. It was a spacious ballroom-like area filled with buffet tables loaded with food and drinks. There were round tables for guests to sit down and talk as they wished, and at the very far end, there was a raised stage where a speech would take place in the evening.
When Raze had entered with the rest of the class, his fears of being spotted or pointed out had lessened quite a bit because the room was already packed fully to the brim with people of all types socializing.
There were a thousand first-year students, so a thousand students were currently present in the large room. Most of them were socializing with each other. On top of that, each student had brought at least one guest with them, or two, making the room filled with around 3000 or more people.
The students and their guests weren't the only ones present, though, as many of the teachers were also attending the event. They had started by grabbing some food and began to talk to each other.
"Man, did I have a day," Trin sighed as he picked up a champagne glass and almost gulped it in one go.
"Calm down," Quartz said. "You may have a body that looks young, but we all know your real age here."
The other professors chuckled as they heard the comment.
"Ah, are you talking about the situation that occurred today in the spar? The Light mages were speaking about it," another professor commented.
"Wait, something actually happened, and here I thought you were just doing your usual moaning," Quartz stated.
"Yes, something did happen," Trin grabbed another glass and started to swirl his drink around. "The kids, two of them got into a scuffle, and almost all of the students got hurt. Of course, I protected most of them."
"Don't us two share the same class? Which two kids was it?" Quartz asked.
"Kelly and Aurora."
Hearing the answer, Quartz didn't seem so surprised, especially based on what he had seen today.
"Hey, you're not telling the whole thing," another professor added. "I heard that one of the guests had to step in to protect the student or stop the fight."
"Ah, don't remind me," Trin replied, taking a big gulp. "It was Kelly's brother or something. He made some mocking comment about how if he was in my position he could have saved them both. Who does he think he is, one of the Grand Magus or something?"
"Oh, Kelly's brother. Actually, he stood out in my class as well. When there was a history lesson, I saw him staring at it, and the two of us talked about a few things for a while," another professor commented.
It wasn't just him, but a couple of the professors all seemed to have noticed Kelly's brother and had a story to say about him in one way or another.
"Oh, he sounds pretty interesting. Maybe I should go and speak to him myself; I feel a little left out," Quartz commented.
After hearing Kelly's answer for the first time today, Quartz was quite interested in Kelly's family members. She had never given that type of answer before, and hearing what the other teachers had said made him wonder if maybe it was his influence.
Inside the event, Kelly and Raze were keeping distant from the others. They had a drink in their hands, trying to blend in, but even holding onto objects felt weird for Raze to the point where he had to put it down. It seemed holding onto things used up more mana as well due to the way his body currently was.
"So when are you going to go away from here?" Kelly asked.
"I leave when most of the guests are down here," Raze answered.
The more people at the event, the easier it was for Raze to move around the rest of the academy, so the day was working out close to perfect for him if it wasn't for the previous incident.
"I did want to ask you something," Raze said as he looked at her. "I wondered, how could someone so young decide to learn Dark Magic? A mage like you, as talented as you surely are, has a bright future," Raze asked.
Kelly was a bit embarrassed by this, and she turned to see if anyone was listening. After she noticed it was clear, she decided to explain everything to him. She informed him of her past, in the town that he had attacked a certain guild that had ruined her and her mother's life. Now Raze also understood how she had known the truth of the matter when asking the questions back then as well.
"After everything that happened, I decided to learn Dark Magic so I could feel a bit closer to the Dark Magus."
'Little did you know how much that worked out for you,' Raze thought.
"So you want to get closer to DM, let's call him for now since his name is taboo," Raze said, "But is that your goal in all of this? What if he was to tell you to quit, to leave the Dark Guild, would you listen to the person you admire?"
Kelly was thinking about the question. Was the Dark Magus someone who would ask that in the first place? Was it a hypothetical question, or was it a real one from the Dark Magus himself?
"I... I..."
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being patient. I hope the food and lessons today have been up to all of your standards!" A voice said from the very back of the room, standing on the stage.
Hearing this, it meant the event was about to kick off, and all of those who were meant to be here were already here.
'This is my cue to leave,' Raze thought as he turned around and started to walk away.
"To set off the evening, we have a special guest, which is none other than the principal of the Central Mage Academy!" The presenter shouted.
Immediately, Raze stopped and turned his head to look back.
"Please welcome, the Grand Magus Ibarin!!!"
