Receiving the Championship Award
Ah, shit. I got here late because you people were too busy being suspicious, y'know.
The break's two hours, and I showed up with thirty minutes left, y'know.
So I get here, and out of nowhere the Mama Barrel's top student—the redhead—hits me with this weird question. What is this.
Suddenly it's, if you could team with exactly one person, who would you pick.
What am I supposed to say to that.
The kids reek of booze, so I'm pretty sure this is drunk talk, but still.
What the hell were these bastards telling me to do?
The mood right now was genuinely terrifying.
"Ian?"
"Ian."
"Scrub."
The three of them were still closing in, crowding the breath right out of me. The gallery had nothing you could call advice. Not that anything disastrous was going to come of a thing like this. We'd won today, and I didn't want to leave any of the three in a foul mood.
Why did they have to spring something like this on me? Friends don't do this. It cracks the bond. It was a festival. All I'd wanted was for everyone to get through it feeling good.
"Uh, um…"
In the end, I had to wrestle with it myself. People are every bit as difficult as magic. What could I say that would let us all laugh our way past it?
"Uh, uuum…"
I was rolling my eyes this way and that, still thinking, when the view itself became a problem. Cha Yuri was tall for a woman, but all three of them were shorter than me, which meant I was looking down at the lot of them—and since every one of them was in a dress, the scenery from above was outrageously bold. Girls, if you're going to stand like that, at least—the chest is completely on display, so could you maybe take one step back?
I drove the wicked little spirit out of my head and squeezed my eyes shut. Once I'd finally finished thinking, a halfway decent answer came to me. Absolutely not because of the watermelons. No. Not the chest.
"Um… Cha Yuri, for now?"
"…!"
"M-me?"
"What did you just say, scrub?!"
"Ohhh, is the case!"
At my answer, joy and disappointment crossed three faces—no, four. Cha Yuri and Nayu looked thoroughly excited. Hisena and Elim, by contrast, looked deeply let down.
I rushed to tack something on.
"Ah—no, just hear me out for a second."
I did have a reason of my own for landing there.
"I mean, all three of you are insanely skilled, obviously. But during this Subjugation Festival, Cha Yuri was the only one who wasn't on the same team. So next time, wouldn't it make more sense to team with Cha Yuri? Haha."
…?
The moment I said it, all three faces turned puzzled. Cha Yuri, who had been delighted, went a little uncertain. Hisena and Elim, both on the verge of firing back, tilted their heads with a faint huuuh…?
What was with these reactions? I'd been sure they'd go Haha, yes, of course, fairness comes first~ and we'd all drift past it in perfect harmony.
Anyway, everyone's skilled, so.
This time only the top student was on a different team, so teaming with the top student is the fair call, right? Hohoho.
That's how I answered, and all three of them reacted weird.
( ?˙࿁˙ )˙࿁˙ )˙࿁˙ ) <— all three had this face. What?
But the gallery's reaction was strange, too.
No, seriously—what had I even done wrong? That was a perfectly good answer, wasn't it? Arguing it out on the gallery would only get me cursed at harder, so I just closed it.
"Um… part two of the awards ceremony will be starting soon, is the case."
Right on cue, the break was ending, and people were beginning to drift back into the awards hall. I hadn't gotten to enjoy the midway party, but that suited me just fine.
"Come on, come on. Let's get going."
Because this way, I could escape the uncomfortable mess. Reeking of alcohol, the four of them and I headed back to our seats.
"Is everyone enjoying themselves? Then, from this moment, we will proceed with part two of the Subjugation Festival awards ceremony!"
Part two began beneath a mood that had fully ripened. Hisena and Elim, deep in their drinks, dozed for a little while and then seemed to come partly back to themselves. We watched the ceremony in a daze until, at last, it was our turn to be called.
"Next is the Strongest Demonic Beast Subjugation Award. This is the first time in the history of Marchen Academy that this prize has been conferred. As it is given to the first cadets ever to subjugate a 2nd-Grade Demonic Beast—an exceedingly powerful beast—it will be presented together with a thoroughly combat-magical supplementary prize. The Headmaster himself will make the presentation."
With the grand prize still waiting, this was the last of the rest: the Strongest Demonic Beast Subjugation Award. Chiyong appeared with the prize in hand and made the announcement.
Chiyong called out our team's name, and the three of us climbed the stage together.
"Congratulations-yong!"
"Thank you."
Side by side, the three of us received our prizes from Chiyong—identical plaques, and identical supplementary awards.
Hisena had been chosen to give the acceptance speech for this one. I'd wondered whether she'd be all right, drunk as she was, but as expected of a direct descendant, she pulled herself together when it counted and delivered the speech cleanly.
I stood beside her and stole a sideways look at the prize. The emcee had definitely called it a very combat-mage sort of bonus. The Wanderer Award from earlier, or whatever it was called, had given us soil by the name of Earth's Lingering Echo. This time the prize sat inside a small envelope, and inside that was a single sheet of paper—not ordinary paper, but a fine sheet of carefully coated stock. Written there was this:
One Advance Booking Session
Arcane Fist Workshop
Not a pass. Not an exchange ticket. A reservation voucher—what was that supposed to mean? That the place was so popular you could barely even book it? A workshop, I figured, meant a workshop that crafted artifacts.
Hisena's speech ended then, and we had to step down. It was more or less a workshop voucher. I could think about it later. What mattered more was next. The main event—the final standings—was about to be announced, which meant we'd be climbing back onto that stage almost immediately.
"Third place: Team Rimgopht and Two Lackeys!"
"Second place is last year's champions. This year, regrettably, they missed the win. Team Student Council!"
Second and third were Harisha's and Carindol's teams, just as expected. Both drew no small amount of cheering and finished their acceptance speeches.
And then it was our turn.
"Elim. Hisena. You two okay?"
"Heh-heh-heh. I-I'm fine, okay?"
"I'm fi—ow!"
Hisena and Elim were even more nervous than before. This wasn't just any prize. It was first place. On top of that, the second- and third-place speeches had drawn such enormous cheers that we, coming after them, had gotten tense right along with the room.
And honestly, I couldn't predict what the reaction would be. Everyone probably already knew, but we were still a first-year team. We'd taken first at least partly by luck, so there were bound to be people looking at us sideways.
Hoping the whole thing would end without incident, I waited with my own nerves drawn tight—when the emcee said something that set the hall stirring far more than any worry that small.
"At last, the long-awaited final championship award. I'm sure every one of you has already guessed the winners. However… this person, you most likely did not expect. This year's Subjugation Festival championship will be presented with the help of a very special individual. And that individual is—right here!"
The winners were us, and yet the emcee was pouring far more effort into introducing the presenter. Looking closely, I saw their hands trembling. One thought flashed through me. No way.
will present the award.
———!
Archduchess of Magic.
At that single title, everyone who had been swimming in drink snapped upright at once, as if lightning had struck them. From behind the stage, Archduchess Illimost walked out, still in that brutally revealing black dress I had seen earlier. At the sight of her, the mages rose as one and paid their respects. A few remained sitting there blankly—the imperial princes, and the other honored guests who were not mages.
"I will now announce the final winning team. Team Cosmic Strongest Superstar Elim-sama. Congratulations."
Archduchess Illimost made the announcement at once, with no wasted words. Even so, hearing something like Cosmic Strongest Superstar Elim-sama come out of an Archduchess's mouth was a rare spectacle. We climbed the stage again. Hisena and Elim were far more tense than they had been a moment ago.
"Congratulations. Daughter of Perihil."
"Thank you, Your Grace."
"Congratulations."
"Th-thank you very much! Your Grace!"
The two of them received their awards wound tight as bowstrings. Last came my turn to be handed the plaque and the prize.
"Congratulations, Ian."
Archduchess Illimost passed me the plaque just as she had the others.
Squeeze—
And then she did something she had not done to either of them. Without any warning, she pulled me into a tight embrace.
"…Your Grace?"
"Hehe."
Archduchess Illimost had hugged only me, in front of everyone. The entire hall froze solid. So did I. I could feel the weight of every stare, and beneath it the roar of the crowd's whispering.
"The Archduchess hugged him? A commoner cadet, at that?"
"What in the world…"
"D-did I just see that correctly?"
An Archduchess of Magic is one of the beings seated at the very peak of mage society. That stern, lofty existence had embraced a first-year cadet. And it hadn't even been a mere embrace—a soft hehe, and a squeeze, our whole bodies pressed flush together.
"Th-then we will have the acceptance speeches."
Even the emcee was rattled, voice shaking. Having put a person in a thoroughly impossible position, Archduchess Illimost—Lee Su-ah—turned away with a smile, as if her business here were entirely finished.
In any case, the three of us somehow divided the speeches as planned, got through them, and returned to our seats.
There was what she had done when she called me to the lounge earlier. There was what she had just done in front of everyone. What on earth was that Archduchess scheming? I ought to ask the gallery… ha. No. I was too flustered right now to muster even the energy to write a post.
One thing after another had been happening since earlier. I dropped into my seat before I even had a chance to check the prize.
"…"
Shit. Yeah. This was no ordinary matter. So many people were gathered here, and still a suffocating silence packed the awards hall.
Every one of these countless mages was staring straight at me.