God of Tricksters

"…" Theo only considered him as a fool whose arrogance knew no bounds.

"What's wrong? You can't say anything? I must have hit your sweet spot. Aw… Do you need ice cream to stop crying?"

"A pride, huh. I'm here as a teacher, not a representative of my influence. So, why do I have to flaunt my affiliation?" Theo chuckled.

"That's what the weak say. You can only try to give a reason to convince yourself." He smirked and pointed forward. "Those three students. Pick me. I'll teach you the Great Circulation Technique! It's better than whatever shit he is going to teach you."

Theo smiled as if he didn't have any intention of picking a fight with him.

"See? Pathetic." Eric snorted.

"This…" The woman didn't know what to do since she didn't dare to stop them, considering the army wouldn't protect her if she intervened. After all, the other party was the brother of the King of Fighters. There was no way they would want to antagonize him.

"Then, since everyone has introduced themselves. Let's start by choosing your teacher according to your preference. You can either use your Skylink or come to your teacher immediately and ask something from them."

After hearing the instruction, half of the students immediately stood up as if they were trying to appeal to their teacher. And as expected, half of those one hundred students immediately stood in front of Eric.

Two out of the three Theo picked earlier actually picked Eric as their teacher as if they knew Theo would lose in terms of reputation and skill. So, there was no need to antagonize Eric just because of Theo.

And those who picked Theo chose to use their Skylink because they didn't want to be seen that they were interested in him. They wanted the others to think they were forced to pick Theo because they didn't have any other teacher to pick.

But surprisingly, the girl with blue clothes rose from her seat and became the only one who stood in front of Theo, openly showing her interest.

"You…" Eric was dumbfounded. "You dare to pick him?!"

The girl smirked. "I'm sorry, Teacher Eric. But I choose my own teacher. I don't like any coercion."

"You…"

"There's no need to flaunt your identity. If you still want to do it, then I have to ask you if you dare to force me, Grace Anderson?"

"Anderson? You're an Anderson?!" Eric widened his eyes in shock before realizing her identity. "No, wait. If I'm not wrong, Jake Anderson, the Archmage, has two talented sons and an extremely powerful daughter. His talented sons dominate the field, but it's said that his daughter is even better. She just never showed herself…"

She harrumphed before looking at Theo. "Mr. Ary. May I know why you picked me earlier and now that you have heard about my identity, do you think you have the ability to teach me?"

Theo closed his eyes for a moment. "Before I answer your question, how about answering this one first? What does Magic Combat mean to you?"

"Magic Combat…" She thought for a moment. "I don't know if I'm right or wrong. But I can see that your body has good muscle and there should be a few wounds on your body. Just by looking at it, I know that you are a veteran who fights in the front line.

"Hence, I believe that Magic Combat is similar to the Magic Knight profession, but instead of focusing on the 'Knight' part, you're focusing on the 'Magic' part. In other words, Magic Combat is a way for a Magician to fight by themselves without needing any vanguards to protect you."

Theo smiled and said, "And that was why I chose you."

"What do you mean?" She looked down, contemplating his words.

"See? When you tackle a question, you immediately try to think about the answer." Theo smiled. "You don't have what they call a 'Cinderella Complex.' When people face a problem, they often ask others for solutions. Meanwhile, you are different. Instead of asking, you're the one searching for the answer. And this rational mind is what you need to follow my lesson."

Her body trembled for a split second as she looked at Theo in excitement. This was the first time she had seen someone like him. "But you haven't answered my second question, Teacher."

"That question of yours will be answered not by me, but…" Theo paused for a moment.

Because of the conflict between him and Eric, the people were silent, wanting to know Theo's answer as well. But due to their silence, Ruby remembered what Theo talked about and shouted, "Ah?! Is that the reason why you asked for the transfer system, Mr. Eric? You know this situation will arrive and you suggest that the student can transfer to another teacher if they think they don't match the teacher?"

​ Grace was shocked but because of another thing. Theo predicted this situation was one thing, but making Ruby reveal their conversation was another thing. The latter was harder because he had to make another person react like this. It felt as if Theo had been manipulating the entire conversation, including the conflict with Eric.

She took a deep breath and politely nodded to him. "It's my pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ary. I hope I can learn a lot from you and become a Magician that can protect herself."

Theo nodded. "Besides, you should have understood why I declared my favoritism, right?"

Grace smiled. "Of course. I'm the only one who dares to openly show my interest like this. Magic Combat means you have to do everything by yourself. In other words, you might have to fight the monster in close combat. To do so as a Magician, you need to be bold and have resolve.

"If they're scared to do something like this, then they might not be able to learn from you completely."

Theo nodded. "I give you ten points for that."

"Hehe, thank you."

Grace never realized at that time her decision to pick Theo as her teacher was the best in her life.