Everything Is Visible
After that, I finished the opening ceremony with every eye in the place fixed on me.
It was a nightmare.
It had been tolerable when only Class A showed interest. But now it was the entire academy—students, distinguished guests, and observers alike.
Once the numbers climbed into the thousands, my stomach started to churn.
I've become a full-blown celebrity.
The rumors about me must have spread like wildfire across the entire empire. As the imperial princess's fiancé, no less.
"I'm sorry. I should have warned you beforehand, but I wasn't certain it would happen."
Katrina apologized. As expected, she had been the one pulling strings behind my back to arrange the marriage talks.
"Do I really hold that much value? Why would you even do something like that?"
"Ethan, you have a habit of underestimating your own worth. Besides, talk of marriage arrangements has come up constantly ever since the banquet."
"When I took the first dance?"
"That was part of it. But the real topic of conversation was the flood of dance requests."
The memories came rushing back vividly. I'd only known a handful of people, so I'd been chatting with her when suddenly she approached and pressed her lips to the back of my hand.
"Still, announcing both a title bestowal and an engagement during the congratulatory address was going way too far."
"It's an excuse, but even I didn't anticipate my father being that proactive. It seems he's taken a liking to you, Ethan. A not-so-subtle warning to others not to covet what will become his son-in-law."
"I'm so moved I could cry."
"Enough with the sarcasm."
Katrina pointed out my attitude, but her expression was laced with guilt. She clearly felt a pang of conscience.
"And let me make one thing clear. While I'm attending the academy, I have no intention of carrying out noble duties. For the record, this isn't an emotional decision."
It was the truth. I already had more than enough on my plate just attending the academy. Adding territory management on top of that?
It was impossible. If I'd been prepared for it, maybe, but not like this.
"I understand. Leave the territory management to me. Handling imperial documents is the duty of an empress, after all."
"Tsk... I wasn't going to mention it, but why am I already being treated like an imperial document handler? Aren't you still a princess yourself?"
"Ethan. Do you honestly think I would lose the imperial succession to Kalian? To that idiot?"
I pictured Kalian—the pathetic way he'd acted while searching for Rachel.
"Fair point."
"Exactly."
Our eyes met for a moment. Faced with the sudden awkwardness, we both let out embarrassed laughs.
"Ahem. So, Ethan, what are your plans?"
"I'm going to wait for the integrated grand battle."
If I were to explain the White Night Festival in detail here—the festival was fundamentally an exam.
Just like the special practicum we'd done before, this White Night Festival determined its winner through points. Students from every department and every year participated, but scores were calculated separately within each grade.
Of course, there was an overall cross-grade ranking, but since it didn't affect actual academic records, it was mostly for bragging rights.
How many events was each person allowed again? Ten?
With points accumulated across events, the White Night Festival featured dozens of different competitions. The point rewards, number of participants, and difficulty varied wildly between them.
Take the simplest example: balloon popping. Even if you were on the winning team, you'd only get thirty points. Lose, and you got zero.
But the integrated grand battle I was aiming for was on an entirely different level.
Well, participation is restricted, of course.
The integrated grand battle was exactly what it sounded like. One representative was chosen from each department and grade to compete.
I would represent the first-year magic department. The others included the second-year divinity department representative, the fourth-year alchemy department representative, and so on—sixteen participants in total.
It was essentially a battle of the aces. Naturally, it drew the most attention and offered the largest point values.
Just participating granted five hundred points. Winning added another thousand.
The point multiplier for victory varied by grade. Fourth-years received the base thousand points. Third-years got a 1.2 times multiplier, second-years 1.5 times, and first-years a staggering two times.
As a first-year, simply winning would net me two thousand five hundred points. That was more than eighty times the reward from something like balloon popping.
If you don't like it, compete in the hard events. Letting people farm points with elementary school field day games would be the real problem.
"You certainly don't need to worry about scraping together points, Ethan. Just entering the integrated grand battle would basically guarantee you the overall top spot."
"I'll win it for sure."
"Still, you should be careful with the fourth-year knight department representative."
"Hmm. Who was that again?"
"The Northern Duke."
"Ah."
So he'd finally shown up. The other male lead from the romance fantasy novel.
He was highly regarded in the original story too.
In the original work, the winner of the integrated grand battle had been the Northern Duke. The first-year magic department representative had been Kalian.
Kalian had been beaten like a dog and eliminated in spectacular fashion. After that, the Northern Duke had secured victory with an overwhelming margin and no real threats.
From the start, as the youngest person ever to become the Northern Duke, he had already been the ruler of the North upon enrollment. He was the kind of monster who should have arrived as a professor, not a student. Defeat should have been inevitable for anyone facing him.
But Kalian had used that humiliation as fuel and eventually risen to become the main male lead.
That future was ruined now, though.
"Still, you'll win, Ethan. My husband isn't that weak."
"I'm not your husband yet."
"Then shall I call you my prospective husband?"
Katrina chuckled softly and pressed her index finger firmly against my lips.
"I'll be taking the first taste of these lips soon enough."
"What if it's not the first?"
"Hmm? Not the first? Since I'm the first, that feels rather disappointing."
In truth, it would be my first as well. But I had no desire to give it to Katrina.
She was a woman with far too many questionable aspects. At least until she became my slave, I wanted to maintain a certain distance.
"Well, it doesn't matter. If there is a first, I simply need to give you an experience so euphoric that it makes you forget all about it."
"That's not possible right now."
"I have no intention of forcing the issue."
Katrina took a graceful step back. She was a woman who knew where the line was.
She constantly walked that tightrope without ever earning my genuine hatred.
Honestly, I don't even dislike her that much.
I was confident I could handle her scheming, and I didn't particularly hate Katrina as a person.
"We got off topic, but Ethan—are you really planning to skip every event until the integrated grand battle?"
"I don't need to chase points, but I should still participate in a few."
The events I was considering came down to two for now: the integrated grand battle and tail tag.
Tail tag offered high points relative to its simple rules. Given the scale of the event, it had the highest rewards of any competition besides the grand battle.
To the students, it was practically the real finals.
"Doesn't tail tag take place after the integrated grand battle?"
"It means I'm considering those two. I'll decide on the rest depending on the situation."
"Hmm. Perfect."
One corner of Katrina's mouth curved upward.
"How about we play a game together? I'll make sure you get plenty of points."
"What event?"
"Cooperative Escape."
"Cooperative...?"
This was the first time I'd heard of such an event. With dozens of competitions, it wasn't strange not to know them all.
"Yes. It's a two-person team event, and it's notorious for being particularly vicious."
"Can you explain the rules? It'd be good to come up with a strategy in advance."
"Wouldn't that ruin the fun? Go experience it for yourself."
With that, Katrina summoned a hologram.
An invitation to participate in Cooperative Escape has been sent by Cadet Katrina Aurel Lomenheim. Will you accept?
"Invitation sent."
"It says the points are differential, so shouldn't you at least tell me what kind of event this is?"
"To be honest, it only balances properly if neither of us knows the details, Ethan."
"Well, that's not wrong."
Handicaps were necessary for it to be fair. I pressed the accept button.
My body was instantly sucked away somewhere.
Forced teleportation, huh.
I could easily resist magic of this level now. But I allowed it to happen.
Blackout magic?
I couldn't see anything in front of me. Yet I could sense that countless traps lurked all around.
- Ah. Can you hear me?
Katrina's voice slammed directly into my mind.
- This is Cooperative Escape. You can't see anything, can you, Ethan?
"It's pitch black."
- I can see everything. Where the traps are, how to escape. We've been sent to completely separate spaces.
"So I just need to follow your instructions exactly?"
- That's right. And I've been fitted with mana restraints. I can't use any of my power.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
- The space I'm in is a small room. I can see you from here, but water is rising from the floor. If you successfully escape, Ethan, the water will stop.
I understood. Katrina was acting as my eyes.
And I held her life in my hands. She wouldn't actually die, but if the water filled the room completely, she'd be eliminated.
I can feel the gazes too.
They had been faint just moments ago. But while talking with Katrina, they had surged dramatically.
The rumor that the two of us were participating must have spread. It was no exaggeration to call us the two most watched figures in the entire White Night Festival.
- Ethan, get used to relying on your senses.
Right.
I tapped around my eyes. The depth of this blackout magic was extraordinary.
If I had to guess, it might even affect the dean for a brief moment.
But.
I'm comparing myself to the dean now.
My magic prowess had improved so dramatically that I stood shoulder to shoulder with the dean. And what did that mean?
Swish—
Whoa, I can see perfectly.
It meant first place was already as good as mine.