Strongest Noble's Daughter Uses Water Magic

The Muddy Prankster

With Lilith now on our side, I continued on to meet my other classmate who was in a higher floor. Dora, on the other hand, returned to the reception desk. Apparently, she only came along because she was worried about what would become of me, should I ever come in contact with Lilith. After seeing the results herself, she decided to leave me to handle Felix alone, while she got to work with finishing that list I asked for. While I was still quite concerned for my commoner peers's wellbeing, Mindy was with them. If Lilith was planning on poisoning them, surely my harpy friend will keep her at bay. ... Maybe. 

I arrived at the floor Felix was to be on. Unlike with Lilith, Dora did not know exactly where he would be on this floor; just that he was somewhere here. I walked around the area, searching for the Earth Mage. I did not expect him to be reading any of the books, if he was as much of a prankster as Dora had warned, but for all I knew, after seeing Lilith, he may be misunderstood as well. Who knows? Maybe he is just like me, and all those pranks were just him proving that his Earth Magic was still useful somehow. Of course, there is no way of knowing until I actually meet this person.

When I arrived at one of the many History section on the floor, I saw someone, an adult male, standing there, reading one of the books off the shelves. A strange sense of de ja vu invaded my mind when I found this person, in which I shook off and approached him, hoping that this man had seen Felix and could point me to where he may be.

"Excuse me!" I called, getting his attention.

"Yes. Is there something I can help you with?" he asked.

"Yeah. Have you seen a boy my age come up here a little earlier? I'm kind of looking for him."

"A boy your age... Can't say I have. Is there a reason why you are looking for him?"

"For one thing, I need to talk to him about training with everyone in class. We have this exam coming up, you see."

"Ah, the mock exam. Yes, I've heard of it," the guy said. "And you are searching for him because...?"

"Why else? Training. Mock exam or not, it's good to get some training in for what is to come in there, especially if..."

The man tilted his head when I trailed off there. "'If' what?"

I shook my head in response to the question. "No, nothing. You said you haven't seen this guy around?"

"Indeed, I haven't. But I do hope you find him soon."

"I see... Thanks, anyway."

As I turned to leave, I heard the guy say, "Tell the rest of your class I said 'good luck'. Class F will be needing it."

I stopped in my tracks at those words, raising a brow in suspicion. "How did you know?" I asked, turning to him.

"Hm? About what class you're from?" the man guessed. "Well, you are the infamous Fifth Rank Commoner. I would have to be living under a rock to not know what class you're in. No matter how good your score, all commoners are placed in Class F."

"Oh, I understand that. What I was referring to is, how did you know the rest of the group training with me are my classmates? For all you know, maybe I would want to train with some nobles who are actually okay with commoners. I have met some who don't treat us as badly as the rest, after all, like our princess, for example. And yet, you already know I will be training with my classmates. In fact... you made it sound like I already have some of my classmates waiting for me at our training ground. There is no way you would get that much information from this little talk of ours. Not to mention, I've been wondering this for a while, but you seem to have quite the amount of mana around you. Not in the way stating that you have a high amount, but more that they are active. Something that is only possible if a spell is being casted. Considering how his Earth Magic is more or less of a special case... You're not just any stranger, are you... Felix?"

It was silent when I pointed all those out and called the guy out. Eventually, a smirk slowly formed on his face. "As expected from the Fifth Rank Commoner," he said. Suddenly, the man rushed towards me, his body deformed and liquid-like- no, mud-like- as he wrapped himself around me. 

“What the-?!” I gasped, as the mud the covered my mouth and hardened. 

“Oh! And the Mud Imposter hits it’s mark!” came a young male voice. 

I turned to the voice, and saw a familiar boy with dark blonde hair and brown eyes walking out of the shadows. One look at how proud expression on his face, and I immediately knew this guy was Felix. 

“Kind of sucks that it’s not a noble that got caught, but at least I know this trap works wonders. Just need to be more careful about the speaking part, though. If a commoner saw through this, even for a member of the Top Five, then this trap is hopeless.” 

I narrowed my eyes at this. Taking in how this person was analyzing this spell of his, this prank he made. 

Noticing my staring, Felix turned his attention back to me. “Oh right! I almost forgot. Thanks for partaking in my little prank. I already overheard a bit of what you said earlier with the other commoners of ours, and I am going to have to say… ‘No’. For one thing, look at the situation you're in. You think someone of noble blood like me will ever follow what a commoner has to say? What a joke! I'm not desperate or stupid, you know! Sure, I got commoner's blood running in me, but I ain't gonna take what a pure commoner has to say at all, much less one who uses Water Magic. This world runs on nobles, stronger affinities. Don't think just because you got a higher rank than most people in our age group on that exam means you can order us around, much less tell us nobles to assist the commoners as though we're the servants. Know your place, weakling."

This... I did not expect such attitude from the person who was to be known as a prankster. Then again, I suppose it would make sense, since this prankster is still a noble; surely he was still influenced by his father as to what to think about commoners, even though his own mother was one. Even so... for him to indirectly downgrade his own mother like so...

"Now then, I need to go reset that trap," Felix then said. "Hopefully this time, a real noble will-"

A blue magic circle appeared under me, as I summoned out some water around me, entrapping me in a water bubble. Thanks to the dry mud, I can concentrate on my magic of this level, as it slowly got soaked in. Once I felt the mud be removed, I undid my spell, and glared at the mixed-blooded noble, who looked back at me in surprise.

"You... You undid my spell?!" he gasped.

"Is it really that much of a surprise? All you did was dry up the mud. Soak it in water, and of course I'll be out of that so-called trap," I said. 

Felix glared at me upon hearing my explanation, and summoned another magic circle on his hands. "Then how about this?! Sinking Mud!" He slammed his hand on the floor, causing the surface to weaken somewhat. No, not weaken; he turned the floor into mud, and caused me to slowly sink into it.

"This is a library, you know," I spoke, dropping down to my hands from my loss of balance, as I sink further into the mud pit. "Would it kill you... to show some respect?! Water Pulse!" A blue magic circle appeared from within the mud, and with a burst of water, formed from my magic, I managed to escape out of the muddy prison once more, surprising Felix even more. As I started to descend back down, I struck the guy in a lariat, and pinned him on the floor. "Still think I should know my place? Well, weakling?"

Felix only stared at me with wide eyes, no doubt still having trouble processing what just occurred. Well, not that I could blame him. I doubt any commoner dared stand up against a noble like so.

A small smile formed on his face then, and he simply held his hands up. "All right, all right. I give," he said, much to my surprise.

"Huh?"

"I was only testing you out. I wasn't kidding earlier when I said I overheard your talk with the other commoner classmates. In fact, I'm all for it, training with the others. But the thing is, I don't know if the other noble classmates of ours will agree as easily as me. I think the crossbreeds would, but the nobles? You saw my act, and I saw what happened back in the auditorium. Professor Greenwood even said it herself; aside from commoners, the class is filled with troublemakers, where the word is more of an overstatement than anything. While someone like me, who has a commoner parent, understands what it means to train to get stronger, to be recognized by others for who I am and not what, those pure nobles? They will never accept it. I just wanted to see what you will do once you try to talk them into training, only for them to act this way in response. They say action speaks louder than words. After what you did to get out of my trap, I'm convinced that you'll talk the others into training."

I could only widen my eyes in surprise. This was all just a test? To see how I will act towards the nobles? I was not sure if he was lying or not, but at least he was willing to join in on the training, and that was all that mattered at this point.

I got off Felix and stood up, handing a hand out to him, in which he accepted. "Well, you certainly got me fooled, especially when you went and badmouthed your own mother, even if it is indirectly," I said.

"Yeah, not one of my best moments. I do get along with her, but I had to act out like those nobles, to see how far you'll go in having us train together," he reasoned.

I only sighed at that, and placed my hands on my hips. "Well, I guess I can let that slide. Just don't do that again. If there's one thing I dislike more than anything, it's badmouthing your own family in any way, especially over something stupid like ranks and such."

Felix rolled his eyes with a disgusted expression when I said that. "Tell me about it. My mother may be a commoner, and a Water Mage, but she's still a person. And yet, my dad..." The guy trailed off there, the disgust expression slowly turning to that of anger. Just one look at that was enough to tell me what his father saw in his mother, something I could relate with.

"Well, this is your chance to prove your worth, and your mother's. Help me bring Class F out of last place. Sounds like a good place to start, wouldn't you say?" I proposed once more, holding a hand out to him.

Felix's smile returned to his face, as he grasped my hand in his. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he accepted.