Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: Women's Gathering
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There was a seed planted by the Black Witch somewhere in this meeting hall.
Krash fell silent the moment he heard those words.
Instead, his Sixth Sense began reacting even more fiercely than before.
Krash looked at Taria.
It was a silent question: how did you know?
She answered his unspoken question with an outwardly hearty laugh.
More than that, calling her "sister."
Quite a familiar title for someone who was once just a seed.
She lightly tapped the tip of her nose with her index finger.
'Two days ago.'
It was when Krash had been at Green Pine Pavilion.
'They targeted the gap when I stepped away.'
The Black Witch didn't yet know everything about Krash.
So she must have deliberately slipped in during the time he was absent.
'Either way, better to find it and deal with it.'
They had to prevent any information about this side from leaking to Ixion as much as possible.
Ixion was currently in no position to act recklessly, having to consider both Crimson Garden and Evel Ask.
If they clashed and blood was spilled, Ixion would be the ones to suffer the losses.
'That's why they tried to gather intel on us as discreetly as possible.'
For Ixion, who needed Ignis, Krash was someone they absolutely couldn't let slip away.
And that was exactly what Krash had intended.
"Oh, looks like it's filling up."
While Krash pondered briefly, Taria casually pulled out a chair beside him and sat down.
Now he understood why Crimson Garden hadn't stopped them from heading to the women's gathering.
She must have wanted to create a natural opportunity for him to connect with Taria.
The thought of her giggling about it right now was so very Crimson Garden.
In the meantime, just as Taria said, people were starting to take their seats in the hall.
The women's gathering was, at its core, a social event.
Perhaps because of that, plates, utensils, and snacks had already been placed in front of Krash, Charlotte, and Taria.
"The dessert prepared this time is..."
Someone enthusiastically explained the desserts, but Krash paid it no mind.
Instead, ignoring the stares directed their way, he quickly scanned the women.
'I get the picture.'
Through their seating arrangements, Krash quickly grasped who belonged to which faction.
And the central factions themselves hadn't changed much from before.
There were five major factions in the women's gathering.
First, Charlotte Valheim, who formed a faction all by herself.
She was in a league of her own, so it felt unfair to even compare her to the others—put her aside.
The second faction was led by Taria Vales, the top student in the Magic Department and also serving as student commander.
'Third, Ayrin Ornoa, the second-ranked first-year Literature student from the Jevlum Kingdom.'
She sat demurely, leisurely sipping her tea, her intellectual aura on full display.
Yet beneath that refined demeanor, her eyes darted busily.
Possessing the rare ability of instantaneous memory recall, she carried a vast array of the world's information in her head.
Using that, she had built her own faction within Raheln Academy.
She looked like an ordinary woman on the surface, but she was every bit as dangerous as the genius tomboy Sigrin Epania.
'And fourth, Mirei Beakis, the top first-year Theology student from the Freman Holy Kingdom.'
The other woman sat ramrod straight, eating her snack without the slightest mess.
Even though it was a soft confection that crumbled with a single bite, not a single crumb fell from her mouth.
She was the one who had ascended to the rank of cardinal in Freman at the astonishing age of sixteen.
Originally the center of Theology, she had willingly stepped aside upon the arrival of Saint Astria Stigma Freman.
Cardinal Mirei Beakis.
Naturally, all of them served as student commanders at Raheln Academy.
In other words, they were among the central figures of the academy's power structure.
And among them, the one with the largest faction was none other than the Empire's Third Princess, Sigrin Epania.
True to her position, she had aggressively gathered loyalists even within the women's gathering.
As a result, she formed the biggest faction—but she had a clear weakness.
'If they were far beneath her, it wouldn't matter, but she lacks the pull to control anyone truly capable of holding their own.'
Sigrin didn't mesh well with other women.
Her strong possessive nature came with a default gaze that looked down on others.
That tendency was especially pronounced with her own gender.
So Sigrin often clashed with other women.
If the other side acknowledged her status and ability and bowed their heads, she would graciously accommodate them.
But if they stood on equal footing and challenged her, she bared her teeth immediately.
That was why, even among the Generation of the Sky, Sigrin hadn't recruited many women.
Ironically, that meant Krash's own Generation of the Sky group had a high concentration of women.
'...I have a feeling I'm no longer in a position to badmouth Arthur.'
With the circumstances piling up like this, Krash felt a faint headache as he realized the people around him were predominantly women.
Of course, when it came to preventing the world's destruction, gender hardly mattered.
But knowing how he appeared to others, he sometimes questioned if his current direction was right.
'Even so.'
As long as he couldn't topple Sigrin right away,
there was no way to pull in the men from the Generation of the Sky that she had recruited.
Eventually, they'd end up as rivals.
At that moment, Crimson Garden, who had been grooming her fur by the upper window of the hall, chimed in.
Krash's head hurt, so he decided to tune out Crimson Garden.
'Sigrin's inability to build a faction is probably largely Charlotte's fault too.'
If Sigrin had claimed the top spot among first-year Martial Arts students, she could have easily built one here.
The prestige of being number one carried that much weight.
But Charlotte was no ordinary genius.
She had even surpassed Sigrin to take the top spot.
From Sigrin's perspective, that must have been a complete surprise.
'Later on, maybe not, but at this point, it's fair to say Charlotte's genius is at its peak.'
So Sigrin's faction naturally weakened without matching her top rank.
That was reason enough for Sigrin to grind her teeth at the sight of Charlotte.
"It's surprising to see Miss Charlotte at this women's gathering."
Right on cue, Ayrin Ornoa, the second-ranked first-year Literature student, spoke up.
Like the others, she regarded Charlotte with great interest.
"I thought someone like you would never attend the women's gathering."
Ayrin's words drew nods of agreement from everyone.
Charlotte crossed her arms lightly, unfazed by the attention.
"I've been hearing a lot about my little brother around here."
The moment she spoke, everyone froze.
A faint killing intent flickered in her eyes.
"So I stopped by to see if you were cursing him or something."
"...You must cherish your brother a lot."
Ayrin looked surprised.
Charlotte's lips curved up slightly as she glanced at Krash beside her.
"He's my only little brother, after all."
Was she joking or serious?
Krash sighed inwardly, unable to tell.
"I see. And this person here is...?"
Ayrin's attention shifted to Krash.
In truth, her interest lay more in this sudden newcomer than anything else.
With her instantaneous memory ability, she had memorized nearly every face and name upon enrolling.
Especially for noteworthy individuals—she knew their innate traits and desires inside out.
But this person next to Charlotte was definitely unfamiliar to her.
For someone who remembered every student, that meant one thing:
Someone Charlotte had deliberately hidden and brought here.
And the lover Charlotte herself had declared.
Ayrin's green eyes gleamed subtly.
'Who could you be?'
Even with her sharp mind, she never imagined Charlotte had feminized Krash and brought him along.
No matter how much of a genius Charlotte was, no one would rationally expect her to pull something like that in a women-only space.
That only deepened the mystery of Krash's presence.
"Trying to draw attention?"
Charlotte issued another warning, and Ayrin flinched back.
She wasn't on a level to confront Charlotte head-on either.
Poking at her nerves unnecessarily could spiral out of control.
And everyone else knew that too.
"Ahem, got it. Then shall we enjoy the tea party as usual?"
And so began Raheln Academy's women's gathering—what was called a tea party but was really an intelligence exchange.
The women's gathering began, unexpectedly including Charlotte.
At first, the women hesitated, wary of the infamous Charlotte.
But as she simply watched without interfering, the atmosphere soon loosened up.
Thanks to that, Krash could comfortably eavesdrop on the intel and faction dynamics.
"Did you hear about this?"
The women at the gathering were highly sensitive to information.
In this setting, sharing intel was akin to displaying one's status and power.
So for them, dropping unknown fresh info was like flexing their strength.
"Such a thing happened...?"
"Wow."
The moment someone shared, gasps erupted here and there.
The sharer puffed up with pride, looking smug.
It was as if they were drunk on the thrill of wielding power, lost in a haze of superiority.
The gathering proceeded in this vein.
'No really useful info after all that.'
Krash felt a twinge of disappointment, but his eyes kept scanning busily.
He wanted to identify who Taria had sensed as the Black Witch's seed.
'They shouldn't have figured out my identity.'
Krash had grown quite adept at handling World Erosion powers himself.
Unless it was another Erodian, a mere seed couldn't see through him.
That was when Krash was focused solely on hunting for the Black Witch's seed.
"No one's sharing anything that really matters."
Suddenly, one woman spoke up bluntly.
As eyes turned to her, everyone paled.
Regret for reacting at all was written on their faces.
And it was no wonder.
She was the infamous madwoman from the Special Studies Department.
Magic Tool Artisan, Rona Imblize.
Born into the Imblize family, renowned as the world's top in magic tool crafting for generations,
Rona was an eccentric among eccentrics, a genius even within her family.
She was the type to blow up the magic training grounds multiple times a day while "testing" her creations.
Recently, she'd drawn widespread ire for crafting a magic tool that severely injured classmates and even a vice professor.
A ridiculous device that burned the user's own body to convert it into power.
And she'd handed it to an ordinary student.
The tool went berserk, injuring not just the student but also the vice professor who threw themselves in to subdue them—both required long hospital stays.
Rona had formally apologized for the incident, but her reputation for magic tools plummeted.
Among students, no one would touch her creations anymore.
"You wouldn't react like that once you hear my info."
Yet she grinned confidently, undeterred by her reputation.
"Want me to share one?"
She raised her index finger innocently.
Her confidence piqued the women's interest.
With all eyes on her, she parted her lips after a few seconds.
"There's currently someone at Raheln Academy who has contracted with a World Erodian."
The entire women's gathering froze.