Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Afterwards, the Chairman looked at the four students one by one and started speaking. "Well, you four will have to wake up an hour earlier than you're used to for her lessons. Starting from next week."

Evin opened his mouth to protest, "Chairman, I don't want to learn how to Heart-cast?"

"Hmm? Why? A visit to an alternate World and access to infinite energies? Who wouldn't want that?"

"But there is a price for it all, right? And it's not like it's easy to get to that infinite energy point in the first place…"

"I kinda don't want to attend as well," Arza replied with an awkward smile.

"Hmm, I'd love to respect your wishes, but it's mandatory for anyone who has a sliver of talent in Heart-casting to attend them. I think you'll learn why if you attend her classes a few times. And… I wouldn't be so surprised if you find yourself enjoying the class. Heart-casting classes are rather special, you see."

Evin reluctantly closed his mouth, thinking that the kingdom's laws probably had something in it that forced him to study Heart-casting. But that didn't mean he had nothing against the situation.

"How does she know who's capable of entering a World in the first place?"

"We don't know exactly," the Chairman smiled. "But she was never wrong before, so we trust her. However, don't try to fail at her subject just to break her streak. She tends to pull students into Worlds if she doesn't like them."

Evin found himself worried, though he didn't know why. It wasn't like he was planning to refuse her teachings. 

Shaking his head, Evin focused on the Chairman's class. The class went as it always did, with the Chairman talking about Mage Formations. It wasn't a fancy spell or anything like that, just how groups of mages tended to fight together, or rather, how they best fought together.

Afterwards, Arza would lead everyone to attempt these formations in practice, doing some mock battles to get the feel for it all. 

It all felt like they were just being prepared to be sent to the military.

And after this lesson was finished, all the commoners left the classroom one by one, leaving Evin with the rest of the noble students. They were left to study Imagination Casting under the Chairman, as everyone here was the Chairman's personal assistant. 

Of course, Evin didn't want to be here. He was practically forced to study here, as for whatever reason, every other teacher refused to take him in as their assistant. Same with Leanne, but she did explain to Evin that the Chairman was exerting his authority, forcing the teachers to refuse Evin's apprenticeship.

Evin called bullshit, and wanted to complain to somewhere, but the only person he could complain to was the Count of Greater Ankelite, which was a definite no-no, and the Ministry of Education's headquarters. Evin sent a letter to the latter, but he wasn't really sure if they received it. He considered talking to Gehenne about it, but he was also connected to the young Count, so Evin decided not to.

Anyhow, Evin's dislike for this apprenticeship wasn't just because he hated the Chairman. It was also because he had nothing to learn here. 

After all, the Chairman would always be talking about the Elements of nature, but for Evin, the lessons were practically useless. After all, his method of casting was completely different from everyone else's. At best, Evin could just feel superior to the Chairman and his lesser casting methods. 

But that wasn't the main reason why he didn't like being here. Most of it was because of how the Chairman acted and spoke during these 'lessons'.

"Now, Evin, please show us how to create water from the air… Can everyone else see how simple it is?" 

"Oh, there's nothing much I can teach Evin. Sometimes, I feel that I have much to learn from him…"

The man was constantly praising Evin, as if that was the only reason for the class to exist. Bella even asked him if Evin was the Chairman's boy-toy or something after the first lesson. She asked it jokingly at first, but it felt like she was feeling like it's true the more and more she listened to the Chairman. 

Evin, of course, knew what the Chairman was trying to do. He was trying to create conflicts between him and the nobles, still faithful to his stupid dream. In fact, Evin even wondered what the point of all this was, since he was getting along with some nobles pretty well. In fact, he was even dating one of them.

So what if he couldn't get along with the others? It's not like everyone's gotta get along with each other.

Isn't the Chairman worsening the situation by throwing bones between Evin and the nobles? If they're forever fighting, how is Evin supposed to bridge the gap between the two groups.

At this point, Evin was even considering making the man's dream come true, as long as he left Evin the fuck alone afterwards.

<He just wants to overthrow the nobles,> Endra had explained. <He advocates equality so he'll have justification, but in reality, he just wants to take over.>

Evin felt like that was completely true. And the man didn't even just want to take over, for some reason, he wanted Evin to do it for him. If Evin let the man do as he wished, at best he'll end up a leader in a revolution, or he'd end up a martyr.

'What an ass! He's worse than an ass! At least asses looked good in people's eyes!'

But, of course, Evin wasn't going confront the Chairman or something like that. First, he didn't want to snitch on Leanne and second, he could kind of handle this situation to a certain degree. 

"Chairman, please don't praise me so much. It feels forced at this point," Evin spoke in a deadpan voice, as if he was genuinely disturbed by the praises.

It was wonderful how many things a person could get if they just asked for it. Obviously, Evin knew that the Chairman wouldn't just give up, but Evin could sometimes show his disinvolvement, so the students knew he didn't want this. 

Though, he couldn't be too vocal about it, as he didn't want to let the Chairman realize that Evin was onto his plan. Who knows what the man would do when he gets serious? Was he going to try and brainwash Evin? Or force him to comply through some other means? Evin certainly didn't want to find out. 

It was best for him to just stay low and act normal. And if the Chairman finally came to him, asking if he wanted to overthrow the nobles, Evin could play along for a bit, before gathering enough evidence to get the man hanged and be done with this whole thing.