Lord of Charm

'Ronda's affinity with wind magic must be above SS grade, but I don't know about her other affinities. They are probably S grade. Since she wants my death and my loved ones' deaths, she can only blame herself for her demise.'

Gale was making his plans and resolved to get rid of Ronda after stealing her affinities. After experiencing Rachel's and Leo's betrayals, he decided not to spare others if they can pose a risk to him in the future.

"You have a new notification."

Alessa's voice sounded, and he checked his watch.

"What is it?"

"All students from the top 11 in your age group need to assemble in room 0112 in the Square Building within one hour."

"Why?"

"For more information, please attend the meeting."

Gale finished his meal, changed his clothes, and went to the assembly. The Square Building was the one meant for the professors, so it seemed something important.

Upon entering, he found himself to be the last one to arrive, which made sense since he only arrived a few minutes before the time limit. He couldn't help it; he still wasn't used to the taste of the fourth-rank dishes.

Everyone turned to look at him as he entered, and the professor who sat at the head of the table started speaking.

"All right, since everyone is here let's start. You can take a seat, it might take a while."

Everyone sat down and waited for him to explain his reason to invite them.

"As you already know, all of you must do one mission on the battlefield every year as part of your training. We do our best to ensure that the missions aren't beyond your abilities so no lives will be lost needlessly."

Everyone nodded; it was common knowledge.

"As the top 10, we decided to give you a special mission. Rank 1, rank 2, and rank 5 will be paired together since they're the only advanced mages. As for the rest, you can pair up as you wish. We included rank 11 to make the number even."

Everyone looked around them and started making plans about whom to approach and whom to avoid for this mission. Raymond and Ronda already nodded at each other as they planned to team up.

"Let me make it clear, this will be a joint mission. All of you are going on the same mission but will move in cells of two. The top two cells will get a seventh-grade pill of their choice as long as the school can provide it."

Everyone quickly changed their way of thinking. They didn't need the one they could get along best with, but the strongest one they could team up with. It was a competition with a huge prize on the stakes.

'Although it might seem like there two teams can win the prize, the truth is that only one can. There is a team of 3 advanced mages after all. Oh well, it could make a great chance to advance with my plan if I utilize this opportunity right.'

"One last thing. If your teammate dies during the mission, you will lose any benefits of ranked students for three years. Take it into consideration when you take risks during your missions."

This rule was made to prevent the top students from sacrificing their teammates for winning the competition.

"You may go now, just tell Alessa your teammate when you make your decisions. If both of you tell the same name, then your team will be registered. Those who can't find a partner by next week will be partnered randomly with each other."

Everyone left the room and went outside. Gale looked around and found Ronda walking with Raymond; apparently, she didn't change her mind about teaming up with the eighth-ranked student, to Raymond's delight.

"Hey Ronda, are you teaming up with Raymond?"

"Yes, what do you want?"

She asked with a cold voice. Her hand was bandaged from the fight with Gale the other day and still didn't fully heal.

"I think that Raymond is too weak; can you really count on him when you fight against stronger opponents?"

His eyes shone with green light as he activated his charm. He loved the most using his charm in those situations; it would work easily since he was stating the truth.

"Huh? Don't think you're stronger than me. Whom Miss Ronda teams up with has nothing to do with you."

Raymond took a step forward. He didn't know where Gale was going with it, but it was obviously not in his favor.

"Be silent."

Gale poured his mana into his charm spell this time. It was directly against Raymond's will, so it wasn't that easy to pull off. However, Raymond was a normal human, and he was weaker than Gale in all aspects – mental power, connection to mana, and affinity.

Raymond felt a sense of fear and danger and took a step back, standing slightly behind Ronda.

Ronda looked at him in disappointment. Although she felt Gale had a point earlier, she still wasn't enough to change her mind. But now how could she trust Raymond if he can only hide behind her when someone slightly stronger than him threatened him?

"You're right, maybe I will ask John if he wants to partner with me."

Her words made her point clear – even if you convinced me that Raymond was a bad partner, I can't trust you.

"Haha, don't be like that. Don't forget none of us can afford to lose the resources of ranked students for 3 years; it would have a great impact on our future. It might even make the difference between becoming a magus or not."

His green eyes did their magic again, and Ronda was considering this option seriously. Raymond wanted to say something, but he had a strong feeling that he shouldn't, so he remained silent.

"Are you saying I should team up with you?"

"Obviously. We are the strongest true mages in our age group."

"Fine, but only if we take an oath not to backstab each other."