I could be wrong, but it did sound like one of the mages detected something right at the end, and Tulm basically shut him down before he could get the full report stated.

I could imagine it happening. Shoddy construction, or just a bad case of wood rotting, and someone weighing several hundred pounds sitting on a toilet opening?

I would disagree a bit. Luan was mostly just another background human to most people watching. Unless a mage was close enough to hear his ideas, only a few of the students would really remark on him at all. Niers might as well, but a lot of that could come from him knowing that Venaz hired an almost-courier, since he probably has at least a bit of intelligence on Luan already. If Xol informed Tulm of what happened, that could possibly bring him to the attention of the Seer of Steel, also. But for virtually everyone else? Other than maybe wondering who exactly he was and why he was with the students, he wouldn’t be a big deal. He was far from the only human there, and it wasn’t like the other students didn’t hire adventurers and mercenaries. Plenty of unknown humans running about.

Tulm was defeated, but I wouldn’t call it him getting trounced. Marian still needed to leap over something – presumably the last line of Iron Vanguard defenders – and very easily might not have made it. Venaz made it past Xol, but also potentially had other soldiers still in his way. Same with Wil. And even your quote noted that Tulm still had at least one skill – it’s quite possible he still had another trump card or two. I’d say it was far, far from a guarantee that any if those three would have won. Possible, yes, but not guaranteed.

Considering that could get her entire race deleted by everyone else, I don’t think that would be worth winning a question from Niers – especially since she would also then be dead and couldn’t ask such a question.

But besides that, the circle itself was guarded by a specific group of Iron Vanguard. I imagine a selphid trying to take one of them over would be very, very noticeable.

I was expecting the more traditional sudden twist. I thought Umina would bribe the soldiers to bring her to the student holding area without actually capturing her, from which she’d sneak to the Professor.

Venaz broke off. He turned his head, held up a hand. Wil and Marian froze. The Minotaur paused.

?Should be ‘Luan’ not Wil here. I think you got the Humans mixed up lol.

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
Sun Tzu

Most of the other elite students spent gold coins with abandon. Heck, how much did Wil’s family spend deploying that army?
Ulmina probably spent what? The two or three gold coins she had and graceful appreciation to have the nightsoil people dig her a tunnel.
Even if she’d only come close without actually being first into the winner’s square, as a prospective employer I would hire her before all the others …
… Because she can achieve victory on a shoestring budget! Imagine what she could do with Wil’s budget! Heck yeah I’m hiring her!

That said, I’m not sure that every single one of the highly experienced combat mages present would’ve taken their attention off the ground beneath the winner’s square.
I would’ve thought that someone would have something like a subterranean seismometer spell constantly running, that would only grab your attention if underground vibrations or activity triggered it.