Magic Life in the Empire

They decided to go to the same place they went last time; Edmund convinced everyone that it was the best restaurant around.

The waiter guided them to an available table in the corner, and each of them sat down to look at the menu.

"Alright, since it's a special day, I propose we order 'Magnolia.' I have heard many great things about it. They say this drink is enhanced using mana of all things, and its taste is like nothing else. I mean, we can't order what we did last time; it would be boring." Edmund was still in a state of excitement; perhaps he would be until quite some time.

"I've heard of it! Does this restaurant have it? Then we must try it indeed." Rose was interested in the idea.

They ordered the food and drinks and started talking; Cyril finally learned the full ranking list from them.

Clayton placed 4th; Edmund claimed it was easy for him because few students dared to go against the prince of the Empire without holding back. "There is some truth to that."

Next was Rose; her proficiency in spells gave her a well-earned 5th place—a result she was proud of.

Following not far behind was Bonzo 'the Poison Hand', his shrewd tactics and deadly poison placed him 6th; apparently, he was not very satisfied with this.

Regina, on the other hand, took 9th place; she spent the first half of the competition recovering from her technique, so this result is impressive enough.

Last but not least of the top ten was Edmund, as evidenced by his behavior; these results brought him a lot of joy.

"I told you my tactic would work, hehe." He mentioned before how he chose only the weakest possible opponents, which was not something Cyril approved of.

"You said you wanted to advance to class I; the professors obviously saw how you achieved your placement. Do you think they would view this favorably?" He certainly wouldn't in their place.

Edmund wagged his point finger in response. "You are thinking about it wrong; they will surely recognize my efforts behind it all. It's not that easy to find a soft persimmon; many others have tried to repeat what I was doing, but are they in the top ten?"

There were not many customers in the restaurant at the moment, so the second floor was mostly filled with their voices.

Cyril thought about the fact that now he and all his friends would have to participate in the dreaded Tower visit, but since the prophet herself didn't have any bad thoughts about that, he decided to trust her judgment.

They had a good time, and it was about to get better since the waiter finally brought the Magnolia bottle.

Holding the drink in his hand Cyril thought that the smell reminded him of the competition reward.

He turned to look at Myra, and sure enough, her face wore a vigilant look, even a bit pale.

"This is nothing! I can handle it." She tried to appear confident. "Still, I never thought that 'Dragon's blood' would taste so terrible..."

"Stop thinking about bad stuff here; cheers, everyone!" At the same time, all of them took a sip from their glasses.

Oh, not bad... Cyril really enjoyed it; there was a slight resemblance with the potion, but it was better in all regards; the taste was sweet and rich, like drinking juice. "It's incredible!"

This time, his reaction was the same as everyone else's.

"Oh yeah, this is good." "Definitely worth its price." "I can drink this all day."

The evening only just began for them; the conversations started to flow smoother than ever before.

...

Even Cyril started feeling the effects of the drink, not to mention the others.

"I was having such a good time defeating everyone with my powerful spells! Why did you have to challenge me! You had enough points!" It turns out Rose was slightly upset with the fact that Cyril fought her.

It was not an exciting fight for anyone involved. Cyril only evaded her spells, and Rose gave up once he got too close.

"Be honest with me, would you have attacked me there if I didn't give up?" With the help of 'Magnolia,' Rose had the courage to seek justice.

"It was a duel; what else are we supposed to do? There was a barrier too." Cyril felt like he was wrongly accused.

Hearing his claims the others gave an audible gasp and Rose widened her eyes "I can't believe you would hurt a friend like that, you owe me, Cyril!" She tried her hardest to send down a tear.

"Didn't know she had it in her."

He didn't think she was actually upset about this, but remembering somebody's words, Cyril decided to be more tactful just in case.

So ignoring Edmund's jokes, he apologized, "Sorry for that, yeah, I owe you one." It was awkward, but he tried.

After these words left his mouth, the table became quiet, all eyes centered on Cyril.

Rose didn't expect him to take it so seriously. "I was just joking, come on! It was a competition after all; you have to give it your all." Still, Cyril had the illusion her face was a bit brighter when saying that.

"Oh my god, Cyril, you are too drunk! Are you going to give a speech about friendship next?" Edmund made a bad joke as usual, but his words brought the atmosphere back on track.

"What a bunch of jokesters, huh? Cyril, we must repay them for this in the future!" Rhamn was feeling different as well; 'Magnolia' was truly strong.

At one point Cyril asked Myra about the effects of the potion; she said she already experienced the increase in strength and mana capacity, provoking the envy of Rose and Edmund.

To that, she only said that they will get their opportunity in the future.

She also said that the changes can appear much slower, and everyone has it different.

Next everyone spent time talking about the most random things; for one, Rose turned out to be a fan of insects.

"Did you know that butterflies can see ultraviolet light!?" She knew a lot about the subject and made sure to share this information with everyone present.

"That's pretty cool." Rhamn was interested, so Cyril kept asking Rose more about them.

The others, fueled by a good mood, listened attentively, sometimes adding something they knew.

The time went by incredibly quickly, and before they knew it, it was already time to leave.

With somewhat uncertain footsteps they safely reached the Academy, said their goodbyes and left to meet the next day

In a muddled state of mind, Cyril dropped on his bed and immediately fell asleep. Good night... "Good night..." They were both tired by the end of it all.