The next day.

On her way to her classroom, Lily noticed Ophelia and Cindy talking with each other as they also headed to their respective classes.

Ophelia’s purple hair grew out a little, reaching her chest, and her golden robe was switched to one that reached her knees. Furthermore, she possessed five badges on her chest.

"Oh, Lily. Good morning. I was looking for you." Ophelia greeted her, raising her eyebrows faintly.

Lily greeted the two teachers.

"I was told that you and Bakil fought again yesterday." Ophelia said, heaving a sigh.

"I can understand your feelings but could you maybe try to be a little bit nicer to him? I mean, you have to consider the sheer difference in strength between you two. I know that he has some attitude problems but from my point of view, it looks like you’re bullying him."

"..."

Lily just averted her gaze silently.

"He’s the one who’s coming for me all the time though..." she muttered.

While Ophelia shook her head in disbelief, Cindy could only laugh wryly.

It was during Bakil’s enrollment roughly one year ago when he and Lily met for the first time.

He was already causing a ruckus on his first day, picking a fight with the other students and Lily happened to get involved in that situation as she just tried to mind her business.

Absentmindedly, she strolled around the campus when she suddenly found herself in front of Bakil.

At first, she could not believe her eyes and was about to tear up due to Bakil’s appearance. His body was fitter than the average. His yellow eyes were sharp and yet, looked tired most of the time. His posture was relaxed and his black hair was short.

However, their attitudes could not be more different from each other.

When she saw him, he was bullying other students while enjoying it. It reminded her of the past behavior of Cail Maystra who was responsible for the internal strife of the first-years back then.

Lily’s gaze narrowed in disappointment then.

Normally, she would use words to stop injustice, however, that time, she resorted to violence and sent him to the infirmary with a single punch.

And that was the beginning of their one-sided rivalry.

"To be honest, his attitude, paired with his appearance, ticks me off, too, but you have to realize that he’s not him." Ophelia said.

"I know." Lily replied, feeling slightly irritated.

"Ehm... I will go first... My class is waiting for me. See you later, Ophelia!" Cindy bid farewell awkwardly.

Contrary to the past and the current first and second-years, the third-years were split into two classes. A class comprised of the white-class students and a class with the rest. The reason was the number of students in that year which was cut down tremendously after the invasion two years ago.

Cindy and Ophelia were now the two teachers for those two classes.

But Ophelia’s position inside the academy became a lot more important.

"Are you fine with continuing as our teacher? Considering your position and your life outside the academy, you must have a lot going on right?" Lily stated as the two walked together to their class.

"Thanks for your concern but I can balance it all." Ophelia replied with a smile.

"If you say so, headmaster."

Two years ago, Ophelia was promoted to the academy’s headmaster with Ralph assisting her. Many people thought that Ralph would be the next in line but he declined the position as he deemed himself too old for that.

As the new headmaster, she had to deal with a lot more things than when she was a mere teacher. And on top of that, she traveled to Fuera almost every weekend for business.

Others, especially her colleagues, began to admire her for her mentality as she never seemed tired or stressed from all her activities.

"By the way."

The two were about to arrive at their classroom.

"The captain said that she will be visiting Loogam soon."

"Really?"

Ophelia was slightly surprised by the news and could only raise her eyebrows again. She was neither scared nor really happy about the fact that her captain would come. That was because she knew that she most likely came to relay a message to her.

Or Ophelia could just overthink things and the captain actually came to greet them which, however, did not sound like her.

"?"

When they entered the classroom, everyone was already present.

But in addition to the students, there was another person who stood at the teacher’s podium.

"..."

Lily’s expression turned grim.

"Sorry for intruding without a warning. I just wanted to come and say hello to your wonderful students, Ophelia."

The whole class remained unfazed by the appearance of Lucio Graymen, the former headmaster and current ruler of three nations.

He previously passed on his position to Ophelia as he had his hands full with managing the nations of Loogam, Stakew and Malnor. And even though he was residing in Loogam, it was rare to see him in public or at the academy.

"There’s no need to apologize. Instead, I should be the one to apologize for not welcoming you properly." Ophelia said politely as she bowed her upper body.

Her tone sounded indifferent but she was trying her best to conceal her hostility and vigilance.

"..."

Lily took a seat beside her friends.

At the same time, Lucio’s gaze wandered to her and the others again.

"No need to be so formal, Ophelia. I just wanted to exchange a few words with your students before taking my leave again." Lucio stated with a gentle smile.

"?"

Belian noticed Lucio looking at certain students.

"As the former headmaster of Loogam and the current ruler of Loogam, I proudly express my joy for having so many students at the academy who will leave their marks in the history books."

"Lisa Vonder. I congratulate you for being selected as a candidate for the Grand Order." Lucio added delightedly.

It was only recently when Lisa fulfilled the requirements for being titled a candidate.

However, she was not the only one with such a prestigious title.

"I can’t wait to see how much further you will grow from here on." Lucio stated.

"But the rest applies to the rest of this class, too."

He directed his gaze at everyone.

"I shouldn’t say this but I’d have never thought that there would be a class with so many students affiliated with the Grand Order." he laughed softly.

Indeed. Lisa was not the only one.

Aside from her, Belian was given the title of a candidate a year ago, whereas Ophelia turned into a full-fledged member right after Olivia stepped down from her position.

"With that being said, I will not disturb the class any longer." Lucio said politely as he walked up the stairs.

But while doing so, he glanced at Lily shortly.

Then, he left.

"Lily, are you fine...?" Lisa asked concernedly, noticing the tense Lily.

"Yes... I’m fine." Lily responded blankly with her gaze directed to the front.

The sound of someone sighing was heard from behind.

"Even though I’m an S-rank mage in the white class, I feel so weak and alienated." Harik joked.

"Heh, you’re right. Besides us two, everyone is in the Grand Order already." Rachel agreed with a smirk.

Lisa could only chuckle wryly.

"Then, I suppose you have to work harder if you want to catch up to us." Belian replied with a faint smile.

"Well, I don’t know about that." Rachel huffed as she looked at the back of Lily’s head.

"Catching up to her feels like a pipe dream now." she muttered softly and proudly.

"I couldn’t have imagined back then that a red-class student would surpass us in such a short amount of time, reaching heights we will never be able to grasp." Harik said.

Belian was introduced into the Grand Order a year ago but he was introduced simultaneously with another person.

And that person was Lily who was then declared an official member of the Grand Order.

Ren Bugar, who was the previous fire mage after stepping into the footsteps of his late father, was completely overshadowed by the skills of Belian and Lily, making him leave the Grand Order altogether.

"Ms. Ross! Have you seen Lucio here?"

"?"

Suddenly, another person barged into the classroom.

"Mr. Togin, please return to your classroom. Your class must be waiting for you already. Mr. Graymen just left this room but I don’t know where he is headed next." Ophelia replied calmly.

Hecto Togin, known for being a magic engineering genius and a former prisoner, was now a teacher after Lucio hired him.

"Oh, is that so...? Well, thanks then!" Hecto said after pondering for a second.

The Grand Order suspected him to have been involved in the invasion and the incidents during the tournament but they never found any clues nor did he behave strangely.

Based on the information Mika gave Olivia, everything led to him but as much as they wanted to arrest or deal with him accordingly, they could not without any evidence.

Ophelia, who was his superior, paid a lot of attention to him but even she could not notice anything noteworthy.

She shook her head.

"Let’s start with the lesson."