"Fortunately, the incident was resolved peacefully, preventing the Doubalese Empire and Kingdom of Alenland from going to war with each other."
While this wasn't new information, I couldn't afford to slack off in the slightest. There was always a possibility of learning something new. Even going over old information again could unearth information previously missed.
Only a fool would disregard it just because it was presented in a bland tone and slack off.
After all, knowledge was power.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the majority of my classmates disagreed with me as not a single one of them was paying attention. Not even Isadore Adams, the second place in the entire academy, was listening to the teacher.
It was disappointing to say the least.
I expected more from him.
When I first saw him, I had simply regarded him as another student. It didn't matter that he was a commoner. Plenty of commoners rose up to obtain their own titles.
Spencer Mcbride was a prime example of this.
Originally a commoner who was considered slow-witted, he grew up to a decent mage despite reaching being a medium Circle 4. He even became a viscount after his work of ridding the monsters plaguing the Durzeland Earldom and helped forged an alliance with the Republic of Aileulonia.
The only reason he wasn't given an even higher rank was because he didn't want to the responsibilities that came with higher titles, preferring to settling down with his wife and kids back in his hometown Greauvil which coincidentally was situated in the Durzeland Earldom near the border between the Kingdom of Alenland and the Republic of Aileulonia.
Perhaps the reason he didn't dare to accept more was because he hadn't done it with purely selfless reasons.
In any case, what mattered were the efforts one put into being mage and not their ancestry.
It was a bit unusual to know that he had not been tested until a couple months ago. Most kids our age would have fought to get their tests done as soon as possible. To somehow avoid getting tested for 5 years would imply many things.
The fact that he was an orphan did answer that though I suspect there was more to it; however, it was not my responsibility to confirm this. Such matters were best left to the professionals.
What did catch my attention was the fact he was slightly lower than me in rank in terms of potential. Out of all the students in the school, we were the strongest in terms of rank.
A medium Circle 7 and a lower Circle 7.
The next strongest person was a higher Circle 5.
Obviously, I should be doing everything in my power to have such a person on my side. Decently ranked mages were hard to come by. Majority of mages were considered basic.
I've only heard of one case of there being a godly mage that was a lower Circle 9, and he was not tied to a single place. Considering not a single person could stand up against him, no one could tell him otherwise.
There had even been a legend of a godly mage at higher Circle 10, but since it was so long ago it's hard to confirm if this was true or not.
Despite it being a good idea to get Isadore on my side, I chose to ignore him.
There were two reasons for this.
One reason was that I did not want to force anyone to join my side. I wanted people to pick me because they wanted to not because I coerced them or felt pressured to. Using such methods to force powerful people to my side would only cause me trouble further down the line.
The second reason was that I didn't have enough information about him. Having an unknown variable at my side would be just as bad especially a powerful one at that. If I knew more about him, I might have been more willing to try to befriend him.
Well, there was one more reason why I chose to keep my distance, and that was how hostile he was to everyone else.
No, hostile was not quite right.
It was more that he didn't want to bother with anyone else. He seemed to be in his own little world and had no room for anyone else.
There had been a few who tried to get close to them in the beginning, but later complained that he was arrogant. No one wanted to work with him or get close to him.
This led to some issues such as group assignments.
Since no one wanted to work with him, it resulted in him having to form his own group consisting of only himself.
Of course, there were arguments about how he couldn't just do everything by himself and how some were concerned about his behavior.
In the end, it was rumored that the principal stated to let him do whatever he wanted as long as he wasn't breaking any rules.
To think 'the' Conrad Bates would give him such leeway.
There had been rumors that Isadore was his illegitimate child; however, given that their last names were different and how neither of them acted like parent and child, it was hard to take these rumors seriously.
Their similar appearance could be waived off as having very common features. Brown hair and brown eyes weren't exactly unique.
The principle's stance was that he enrolled Isadore on the basis of his potential and nothing more.
A completely neutral and understandable answer.
His actions were exactly what others would do if they had stumbled upon Isadore.
"Isadore, pay attention." Mr. Kim's voice reverberated throughout the classroom.
Apparently, he had been caught by Mr. Kim for not paying attention. Given that he was one of the few siting in the front row, it wasn't surprising, but it was disappointing that Mr. Kim chose to call him out instead of Dan Moran who was practically snoring several seats away.
If I remembered correctly, Mr. Kim was one of the few teachers who openly despised him. He has brought up how Isadore Adams was a stain on the academy.
What an improper behavior for an adult to have especially one in such a position that gave him power over the next generation of mages.
Now that everyone was wide awake, Mr. Kim proved himself to be more of a disappointment with his next words and actions.
"Since my class seems to be so boring, why don't you come up to the front and explain what I was talking about in your own words?" he asked as he indicated towards the board.
Isadore remained nonchalant in the face of such abhorrent behavior and calmly shook his head to reject Mr. Kim's request.
His eyes scanned the now attentive class before returning to where he left off regarding the history between the Doubalese Empire and the Kingdom of Alenland.
As the class lost interest, I chose to focus my attention on Isadore who was glancing around his surroundings. Suddenly, he stuck his tongue at the teacher.
I blinked.
Did...did he do what I think he did?
Did Isadore really pull a childish stunt in the middle of class?
I've never seen him doing anything like this before. He even had a small, smug, content smile on his face as if he was a cat that ate the canary.
Before I could even process what I had seen, our gazes met.
The slight widening of his eyes was the only indication he gave that he was shocked before his gaze sharpened as if determining how long I had been looking at him and what to do if he didn't like the answer.
I responded in term by cocking an eyebrow before shifting my attention back to the teacher.
The rest of class was uneventful and ended with a simple "That's all." by the teacher who he took off as if he couldn't stand being there for another second.
As soon as the teacher left the classroom, the room erupted into noise. Everyone was either chatting with their friends or leaving the classroom to go to their next class.
Unfortunately, that meant I was surrounded by quite a few students who were vying for my attention. I fixed a smile as I patiently dealt with each and everyone when a certain conversation reached my ears.
"Did you see his face?"
"Yeah, it was hilarious to see him get caught by Mr. Kim for not paying attention in class."
"I thought for sure he would make him stand up in front of the class."
"If only. I wanted to see him make a fool of himself in front of everyone."
"He needs to be taken down a notch. He thinks he's all that just because he's a lower Circle 7."
"I can't believe he's ranked that high. It has to be a dirty trick."
"It's already been several months. Do you really think the school wouldn't have caught him by now if he was somehow faking it?"
"What a joke. Are you telling me he was able to fool the Conrad Bates, a medium Circle 8, to get himself enrolled into the school? You have to be crazy to believe that."
"Yeah, there's no way he could have pulled off something like that. If he did, he would have to be some kind of monster."