Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: The Stage is Set
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And then, the knight students who would compete against each other in the sports festival began to enter the field.
Two groups appeared, each wearing the crest of their club on their chests and their family crests engraved on the pauldrons protecting their shoulders.
Beonald was, of course, among this group. Though he carried the name of the Callermain family, he had not engraved their family crest on his pauldron.
‘She’s… not here.’
As he lined up to enter, Beonald looked toward the VIP seats arranged outside the arena. All the other imperial family members had been summoned for the major event, but Princess Zelcy was nowhere to be seen.
Was she perhaps standing in the ranks of the 'Sword and Shield' club? He turned his head to look around, but he couldn't find her anywhere.
‘...Could it be?’
"What's wrong? Nervous? Haha, just relax. If you just do as you've trained, it'll be enough……."
"Heh ha ha ha ha ha ha! Puhahahahahahahat!"
Realizing it, Beonald suddenly began to laugh like a madman.
He turned his gaze toward the Emperor and laughed, very loudly, loudly! As if he'd lost his mind. Cedron Valderian, standing right beside him, and even the other students behind him looked at him as if he were absurd.
"Perhaps… are you in pain somewhere?"
"Ah! Hahahahahahahat! Hahahaha! Phew~ My apologies. It's just my own way of relieving tension."
"That was a way to relieve tension? Haha."
Seeing the surrounding gazes focusing on him, Beonald hurriedly made an excuse. Fortunately, everyone just found it a bit strange and didn't pry further.
However, his lips were twisted grotesquely as he tried to suppress his smile, to the point where even the Emperor, who was watching him, looked puzzled.
‘Why on earth is that bastard laughing? He must have just gone insane. Did he realize his own powerlessness?’
For a moment, he was puzzled, but after re-examining the measures he had taken, he concluded there was absolutely no way he could lose.
He had attached as many as six Imperial Knights with power equivalent to high-ranking knights, plus soldiers and knights from the Vanilo Earldom.
No matter how much that bastard had struggled desperately in the capital, he absolutely could not change Princess Zelcy's fate.
Therefore, that laughter could be considered nothing more than the fit of a madman.
‘...Yes, that must be it. It's no different from the ranting of a clown.’
"Your Majesty, it's about time for the opening address."
"Ahem, understood."
The entrance of the contestants ended, and the Emperor stood up to give a commemorative speech for the Imperial Academy's sports festival. Now, thinking there was no need to dwell on Beonald, he stood on the podium and recited the prepared speech into the artifact microphone enchanted with amplification magic to focus on his original duty.
‘There should be no problems. Yes, since he can do nothing.’
‘That human's thoughts are so foolish I can't stop laughing. It's driving me crazy.’
Amidst the conflicting thoughts of Beonald and the Emperor, the Emperor's speech concluded, and the sports festival began immediately.
The only two club rivalry matches of the Noble Faculty's knight major. However, it was a fight that was essentially a proxy war for the factions dividing the Empire, so an air of solemnity and bloodlust, unbefitting the name 'Sports Festival', hung over the event.
"Look, the first event is the jousting match. Arm and prepare yourselves as instructed! Don't forget the newly established rules!"
"Yes, Club President!"
"Um, Senior, since I'm not participating in the joust, may I briefly go give instructions to my employees?"
"Make it quick. If something happens, you'll have to substitute in."
The first event was the 'Jousting Match'. The prepared students were already arming themselves, leading their horses, and making final preparations. Since it was a tournament where each club sent eight participants, it would consume quite a lot of time, making it the perfect opportunity for Beonald to do something.
And so, he approached Sain, Selina, and Heidi, who were waiting for him in the spectator stands, and gave them instructions.
"It's an urgent situation. Heidi, Selina, you two take Alterio and head straight to Derren. And investigate whether there's a large procession that recently left the capital and follow it. It seems Princess Zelcy is not in the capital right now."
"What kind of instruction is that all of a sudden? So you're telling the two of us to abduct Her Highness the Princess right now? Are you sane? There will be Imperial Knights, won't there?"
"Ah, I misspoke. Follow Her Highness's trail, but you don't have to do anything in particular."
"What does that even… mean?"
"Everything depends on her own will~ You just need to be of help. Anyway, depart quickly. Already… a gap of several days must have opened up. Ride hard, day and night."
Heidi dragged Selina, who was about to say something more, and immediately set off.
With that, one countermeasure was complete. All that remained was to do something splendid here.
Thus, Beonald confirmed the two were leaving, gave separate instructions to Sain as well, and then returned directly to the Garden of Swords club waiting room.
At the same time, on a forest road in the southern part of the Empire, about 40 kilometers from the capital.
The so-called Emperor of the Calleum Empire had a truly nasty personality. To see Beonald cling to a fleeting hope after realizing the situation, he had deliberately sent Princess Zelcy to the Vanilo Earldom the day before the sports festival.
As befitting a procession escorting an imperial family member, it was a massive convoy starting with Imperial Knights, plus soldiers from the Vanilo Earldom and the capital. Inside a carriage, Princess Zelcy watched the moving scenery alone, biding her time to execute the plan she had devised.
‘It would be best to escape as soon as possible….’
He was striving for her sake.
Then shouldn't she also strive for his sake? Summoning her courage, she had decided to escape alone if possible before departing today.
But that was no easy task.
‘Six Imperial Knights are escorting me, plus their squires and soldiers total 300, and 500 soldiers from the Earldom.’
Including various attendants and servants, nearly 1,800 personnel were clinging to her just to deliver her to the Earldom.
To escape from this, ordinary means and methods were impossible. First, she needed to be alone, but aside from the inside of this carriage, there was nowhere she could escape to alone.
‘…Isn't there some way?’
Since the day she began thinking of going to meet Beonald, she had devised various plans and sought ways to acquire the skills needed for escape, but given that the Emperor had already isolated her and was trying to marry her off, making those preparations was very difficult.
Under the pretext that she might pull some foolish trick, the surveillance was so thorough she couldn't even obtain a single book.
‘At most… using the excuse of retrieving my belongings from the academy, I managed to buy a little time to gather a few things, but….’
She felt it was far from enough.
Unless one had prepared with determination from long ago, worldly affairs were never that easy.
And she realized once again how lacking and foolish a being she was.
‘I was a puppet that was nothing. But that doesn't mean… I'll do nothing.’
Even at this moment, she thought of Beonald, who was fighting against greater adversity and facing fear, to muster her own courage.
Thinking calmly, not rushing, to first understand the environment and find an opening, she waited for the carriage to stop.
After it stopped, under the pretext of greeting the soldiers and knights of the Vanilo Earldom as she moved about, she searched for any way to obtain an opening to escape and necessary items.
‘What I need are a change of clothes, a horse, food and water, and a proper weapon, not this small knife. It would be good to have armor too, but there's no time to gather that. But the important thing is… I need to create an opening….’
She wished some major incident would occur to divert people's attention, but such things didn't happen easily.
Moreover, while she didn't know about the Vanilo Earldom's knights, the six Imperial Knights escorting her here all possessed power equivalent to high-ranking knights, and they were veterans who had gone through numerous missions and battlefields, making it even harder to create an opening.
‘…But I won't give up. There's no law saying I must escape before the wedding ceremony.’
Yes, as long as one doesn't give up first, an opportunity will surely come.
She began to strive, continuing to burn with determination, to do what she could even in this constrained situation.
Imperial Academy, Jousting Arena.
Thwack! Thwack!
The jousting match. A stage where knights could display their martial prowess outside the battlefield.
Horses armored in barding, knights armored in heavy plate! The martial feats they displayed with their horsemanship, enhanced by mana breathing techniques and even using aura, were undoubtedly the greatest entertainment of this era.
And since tremendous honor and rewards followed the victorious knight, the noble students of the knight major did their best, hoping to shine.
"The winner of this match is! The heir of the Annels family, Sir Rhine. With this, he advances to the semifinals!"
"Hmm, a pity. It would have been good if you had participated with the griffin."
"A contestant can only participate in up to two events at the same time, right?"
"That's correct."
It was a kind of participation restriction imposed to give as many opportunities as possible to other knights and prevent a specific martial family from dominating, even though they competed in three events.
Since Beonald and Cedron were participating in the team one-on-one match and the melee, they were not participating in the current joust.
Cedron especially expressed regret, thinking that if Beonald had ridden out on the griffin Alterio, he would have been immensely popular.
"Even if I participated suddenly, honestly, riding a griffin would be cheating, wouldn't it? Hahahat."
"But you would have been popular. Anyway… it's already the finals."
Thwack! Crash!
While the two were talking, the semifinals had already ended and the finals were underway. The match concluded with a heavy sound echoing as two mounted knights clashed, deciding the victor of the jousting match.
A knight clad in armor bearing the crest of a tree with lush leaves, mounted on a sturdy brown warhorse armored in barding, held a shattered lance and responded to the crowd's cheers by removing his helmet.
Inside was none other than Lloyd Kmel. The president of the Sword and Shield club and the heir of the prestigious martial Kmel family. By winning the joust, the Sword and Shield club had secured the first point.
"Lloyd! Lloyd! Lloyd!"
"As expected of the Kmel family heir. Winning without even a single scratch!"
"Wooaaah!"
"As expected of Lloyd. It's unpleasant, but I have to acknowledge his skill. By the way, this means he'll now only participate in either the team one-on-one match or the melee…."
"I want to face him in either. So please send me as the vanguard in the team one-on-one match."
"Lloyd isn't the only one we need to be wary of… Are you confident? It's 5 vs. 5… Even if he appears, you'll have to face four other knights, won't you?"
The rule for the team one-on-one match was a winner-stays-on format. The victor continues fighting until the opposing team has no one left.
This made the match more exciting and, crucially, could result in more bouts than the predetermined five matches. Since you didn't fight predetermined opponents, it added strategy and variables, which was why the rule existed.
"I'll just do my best. And~ wouldn't it leave a good impression on the other nobles if the lowest-born one goes out first?"
"Understood. I'll take care of that much."
Thus, thanks to Cedron's consideration, Beonald was placed as the vanguard for the team one-on-one match. From now on, his stage would begin.