"Arghhhh!" Stefan yelled, taking a few steps back in recoil.
His eyes winced in pain as he grabbed his throbbing arm which I released as soon as he screamed.
"Don't overreact. I made sure I was gentle. Your arm is fine." I said calmly to the boy who writhed due to the throbbing sensations coming from his bones.
"You bastard, how dare you-"
"My, my... won't you mind your language, Sir Stefan Netherlore Zenith?" I accentuated my tone, giving a deeper meaning to my words.
For a noble to speak so vulgarly, surely it was frowned upon by many. Stefan became flustered by my words and gritted his teeth in annoyance. However, now the boy knew he couldn't make any careless move against me.
Turning back to the seated girl who silently watched our little exchange, I repeated my question.
"Am I disturbing you?"
Her lips were tightly shut and her eyes affixed on my gaze, but I had no intention of backing down. I kept drawing my face nearer until she was willing to answer my question. She made no attempt to stop me even when our faces were merely inches apart.
Her eyes depicted curiosity and wonder. The true expression of a child who was witnessing something amazing for the first time. It was innocent and pure, but I also had what I wanted from the girl.
An answer!
"N-no..." Maria finally said, looking away from me.
Her voice, though mere whispers were enhanced by the amplification spell I had activated beforehand. This caused everyone in the room to hear her response.
Gasps emanated from everyone the moment the prodigy's answer reverberated across the area, realizing the implication of her words. Maria herself was surprised by the volume of her melodious voice, looking at me with suspicion.
A smile of victory formed on my face as I ignored the stare she gave and looked in Stefan's direction. He too had heard Maria's response.
"Apparently, this young lady doesn't think I'm disturbing her." I grinned, moving closer to Stefan.
"Y-you..." He growled.
Walking past him in an elegant stride, I returned to my seat and made myself comfortable. The audience was beyond amazed by my audacity, but as the mobs they were, none of them made any comment other than whispers and gasping sounds.
"You'll regret this, Jared Leonard. I can promise you that!" Stefan said in a low, threatening tone.
If I was a normal child, perhaps I would have been a little scared and begged for forgiveness. After all, it profited nothing to have an enemy within the Academy.
However, if I was like that, I wouldn't have begun this venture in the first place. A part of me was excited to see what the future held for me and Stefan. It would serve as side entertainment for my life in Ainzlark.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I ignored Stefan's scathing glare and decided to relax my mind.
Unfortunately, even that was cut short by yet another interruption. The murmurs suddenly took a spike in tempo as more hushed sounds filled the hall.
'Urgh, what now?!' I thought in irritation.
Focusing my senses with enhancement magic, I decided to listen in on their comments.
"T-that's him! It's Jared Leonard!"
"Ooh! I wish I was here when the clash between him and Stefan started!"
"You saw it too, right? His performance in the second stage of the exams!"
"Stefan doesn't stand a chance!"
My body twitched as soon as I heard those talks spread. The people who were instigating and spreading the comments were the ones who witnessed my performance in the arena.
'Isn't it too soon? I mean, not even ten minutes have passed since I entered this hall, and yet there are so many people talking about me-"
My thoughts were interrupted by the recollection of the time normalcy in this waiting room. Since time was accelerated for the exams and flowed normally here, more students would be entering the room in minutes.
"Ah, I see..." Words escaped my lips as I sighed.
It made better sense this way, anyway. It would be unreasonable for everyone in the waiting room to wait for several hours for the others to conclude their exams. This way, only a few hours at most would elapse before we got to conclude the exams for the day.
'Plus, the results will be released today. That's why there's a waiting room in the first place.'
We just had to wait it out.
More importantly, it seemed the ones who were singing my praise began talking to those who glared at me with annoyance for my audacity in seating close to two geniuses.
Public opinion slowly changed as soon as people heard what I had performed. Initially, no one believed it, but with more than a few dozen witnesses saying the same thing, it was impossible to dismiss.
"He's also a genius!"
"No wonder he sat beside those two!"
"Amazing! It seems we misjudged him."
"He must be on par with Sir Stefan and Miss Maria."
However, those who saw my grand spell weren't satisfied with merely placing me in the same class as the two prodigies.
"Are you kidding? He's on an entirely different level!"
"I bet he could best them both in magic! That guy is too OP!"
I sighed in my seat, wondering what these idiots gained from singing my praise. Weren't they the same people who mocked me moments ago? Yet, now they painted me to be a god or something.
'Welp, their image of me will be shattered once the results are out...'
After all, since Mana Core Grade determined one's status in Ainzlark Academy, it was obvious where someone with a pure white Core would belong.
For people who were so easily swayed by what they saw or heard, it was clear their attitudes would change the moment they discovered my Mana Core Grade.
'These guys are out of it... they're not the kind of comrades I desire.' I reasoned.
I slightly opened my eyes and saw Stefan return to his seat beside Maria, still wearing a scowl on his face. The Maria girl was slightly glancing in my direction with unwavering curiosity.
There was no way the both of them couldn't hear what everyone was saying about me and them, but just like me, they ignored the crowd.
While our first impressions of each other weren't the best, if it was those two, especially the Maria girl, I wouldn't mind being friends with them.
'Let's see how it goes...'
