Chapter 105: The Valedictorian and the Salutatorian
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105: The Valedictorian and the Salutatorian
“Husband?”
Under Narupa’s icy gaze, Resin stood up boldly and stared back.
Even though her arm, which had been caught in the elevator, was still twitching, her haughty attitude and the way her demeanor shifted instantly depending on who she was facing were chilling. I really couldn’t stand being around her.
“Who’s your husband? Lord Alto? Narupa Diberuper, know your place. Don’t get any ideas just because you’re by his side right now. In the end, I’m the one who will serve him.”
It was almost impressive.
To think she could act this way toward the daughter of a hero and an Archmage.
But Narupa was Narupa; she didn’t even blink in the face of such an arrogant woman.
However, if this was the Narupa I knew, she was likely in a state of extreme rage right now. I suspected the same madness she had shown when trying to appeal to me was currently in full effect.
I wondered how Resin would handle the backlash.
This might actually be interesting.
Narupa stared at her in silence before finally speaking.
“Common sense fails to explain this. When he was in your party, you let all of Lukart treat him like a cripple while you cheated on him, and now you’re desperate for my husband? Why is that? Ah! Is it because back in Lukart he was just ‘Alto,’ but now you know he’s ‘Alto Bertrand’?”
“It’s Lord! Alto! Don’t you dare say his name so casually!”
Resin didn’t back down, manifesting her mana as she retorted.
As expected of a fire magic specialist, heat began to radiate from her. Unfortunately, it seemed Resin still didn’t realize the situation she was in.
“You were always like this, Narupa. Hovering around my circle, scavenging for scraps after I pulled off something big, and then using your precious father’s name to steal the valedictorian spot from me.”
“It’s a pity you’ve always thought that way.”
“A pity? That’s the typical excuse of the incompetent.”
“It’s also an expression that the ignorant and shallow fail to comprehend.”
“What did you say?!”
Narupa brushed a speck of dust off my shoulder. Even that dust froze solid before flying toward Resin.
“If all I have is my ‘precious’ father’s blood and reputation… then what are you?”
“I am someone who shines on my own merit!”
“Shines? Pfft… Ahahaha! Hahahaha!”
“You’re laughing?”
Narupa clutched her stomach as she burst into laughter. Naturally, Resin’s teeth ground together.
“Aha… I was just reflecting on the expression ‘to shine.’ Right, I see. So that’s how you are. I didn’t know because I never cared before, but you really are that kind of bitch.”
“Just because you’ve started talking like a scholar doesn’t mean your status rises instantly, Narupa. Class comes from one’s conduct.”
“Good heavens!”
Narupa looked genuinely appalled.
“Conduct? By conduct, do you mean cheating on my husband until you found out who he really was, and then clinging to him now, claiming you regret it?”
“S-Shut up!”
“Class? From what I hear, that Claude fellow you used to fawn over and suck up to had his balls crushed to a pulp. He was sold to the royal palace as a male prostitute with nothing but his ‘pillar’ intact, wasn’t he? Congratulations, Resin. You must be so proud to have the womb that received the final ejaculation of a man who’s now a eunuch. But after that, you come to my husband and beg him to take you back? I fail to see where ‘class’ fits into any of that.”
“Claude… that bastard was just a mistake. And if I had known it was Lord Alto from the start…”
“Narupa said she loved me regardless of whether I was Alto Bertrand or not.”
“Lord Alto?”
I finally cut in, unable to listen any longer. I was sick of seeing Resin’s bewildered face.
“I thought you were fairly intelligent back in Lukart, but now you’re just a woman repeating pathetic excuses about ‘mistakes’ and ‘flings.’ Why should I forgive you when you show this kind of attitude?”
“Lord Alto, once again, I offer my sincerest apolo—”
“My, it’s certainly hard to get a proper apology out of you. One would think I was the one in the wrong.”
“I-I’m sorr—”
“I haven’t forgotten. I haven’t forgotten how the people of Lukart mocked me.”
I deliberately wrapped my arm around Narupa’s waist for all to see.
Resin’s breathing grew ragged with blatant jealousy. She looked like a female cat staring at a stray, acting as if she were the primary wife.
“There are four women, including Narupa, who loved me for who I am. Four already. I am truly grateful. Conversely, that means I have four women I must protect.”
“O-Of course, Lord Alto, a man of your caliber could take in many more women than that… I would be fine with it.”
“You didn’t understand what I said, Resin.”
When I finally met the gaze she had been trying so hard to avoid, Resin’s body froze.
This was likely her first time. Her first time facing the genuine killing intent I radiated.
“How dare you insult my woman.”
“Heh… Gasp…”
“A bitch like you isn’t even worthy of speaking to her.”
“Ah…!”
The look in her eyes—blooming with longing even amidst her fear—was loathsome. She didn’t want me. She wanted the wealth and glory I possessed. Even though all I truly had was a hollow reputation.
“Dear, please go inside.”
My lover, Narupa, clung to my arm and whispered softly. When I turned to look at her, she gave me a light kiss and stroked the back of my hand.
“Leave this to me.”
“I should be the one to do it.”
“No, I need to show her the difference in our status. I’m embarrassed in front of you. If I had made her realize her place sooner, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Narupa intentionally used formal honorifics to grate on Resin’s nerves. Watching Resin turn red and blue in real-time was a sight to behold, but the mere fact that we were in the same space as her was infuriating.
“Finish it quickly and come back. We need to rest.”
“Of course, dear.”
I turned my back without a hint of lingering attachment. Resin called out to me from behind, but from here on, it was Narupa’s job.
I hoped Narupa would settle it cleanly. Otherwise, I felt like I might have to start carving up the walls of this Magic Tower. And it would be a bloody mess.
* * *
“Lord Alto! Lord Altooo! Please give me a chance! It will never happen again. I will always only love you—”
“Be quiet.”
Resin tried to scream at Narupa to shut up. Or rather, she intended to.
However, no sound came from her throat. Not only could she not make a sound, but she couldn’t hear anything either.
She looked around.
Darkness—pitch-black darkness filled her vision. Everyone present, including Resin, was experiencing the same thing.
“valedictorian, salutatorian… rankings mean nothing to me.”
Narupa’s voice, thick with suppressed, cold fury, made the listeners tremble.
“Magic is a means, a path to achieve a goal. People with nothing to their names, like you, use a mere tool to decorate themselves.”
Resin flailed her arms and legs, but she felt nothing. It was a sensation of weightlessness that wasn’t quite weightlessness. She couldn’t feel the floor, the ceiling, or the walls.
She screamed in the terror of sensory deprivation. Again, nothing came out, and she heard nothing. The fear ingrained in her instincts invaded and occupied Resin’s silence.
“You’re less than a bug. You weren’t even on my radar, yet you dared to hurt my husband? And now you have the nerve to cling to him and even touch him?”
Even Mirei realized it clearly now. The difference between the valedictorian and the salutatorian. The unbridgeable chasm between them.
Whenever Resin drank, she would lament to her party members. She would pour out the tragedy of how she lost the top spot due to bloodlines.
Now she knew. Resin was, at best, the Magic Tower salutatorian.
The valedictorian was, quite literally, the one who stood at the front of their class and pushed even further ahead.
Many people screamed and cried out in terror. But no one heard them. Mirei could only faintly sense that people were nearby. That was only possible because her senses were particularly sharp.
“I really hate my father, but there is one thing he did and said that I liked.”
Resin realized at some point that her movements were becoming sluggish. She wanted to flail quickly, but she was moving with a dull heaviness.
“He said he found the perfect son-in-law. He didn’t tell me his name or what he looked like. He just said I’d know when I saw him.”
Breathing became difficult. Inhaling through her nose wasn’t enough to get oxygen. She had to open her mouth wide and gasp just to barely breathe.
“And indeed, the moment I saw Alto, I knew. That he was the man I would love. That he was a man who would love me, protect me, and look only at me more than any other man. Ah—!”
The states of the two women were in stark contrast.
“------!!!!!!!”
Resin tried to manifest mana, but it only scattered into the air. Panic upon panic set in as she frantically shook and scratched her head, pleading to be shown the exit. Claustrophobia and panic, as if she were trapped when she wasn’t, overwhelmed her.
This darkness! If only she could escape this darkness!
“An inferior bitch who can’t even dispel a simple trick of a spell like this…! How dare you shamelessly show your face before my partner and even cling to him!”
Narupa’s voice rang out clearly in her mind.
“An insult! This is an insult!”
The fact that it rang so clearly amidst the panic was even more terrifying.
“Feel it properly. The price for touching my partner and me!”
Snap.
What was that? It was too dull to be the sound of Narupa’s heels.
Crack.
Huh?
Suddenly, light flooded into her eyes.
“KH-HAAAAAAH! Gasp, HAAAAAAAGH! Huff!”
As she sucked in air, all the sounds of the world finally rushed back in. Resin let out unsightly groans and gasps as she looked around.
While everyone else was dazed, Resin spotted Narupa’s back as she walked away regally.
“Stop right there!”
This time, she tried to manifest mana to create a fireball, but for some reason, she felt no sensation in her right shoulder.
“I said stop, Narupa!”
Just then, the guide Silone and Adrian arrived on the scene with some Magic Tower students.
“Move aside! What is all this commotion! Resin Luna! You again… wait…?”
But no one could finish their sentence after seeing Resin’s condition. Resin hated every single one of those looks.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that! Get lost, all of you, get lost!”
One moment she was telling them to get lost, the next she was calling for Narupa. Mirei suddenly thrust something toward her.
“Take this.”
“Mirei, hurry and catch that bitch… wait, what is this?”
What the party leader held out was something that looked like a club. Looking closer, it was her own arm, frozen solid.
Her right arm, which had no feeling.
“This… this is…?!”
She swallowed hard, turned her head, and looked down.
No, it can’t be. Please…!
“Ugh… Gasp!”
As if the heavens were indifferent, Resin’s shoulder had been severed and frozen, leaving a perfectly clean cross-section. It was done so well that not a single drop of blood flowed; it was all suspended within the ice.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!!!!!!”
The moment another scream—who knew how many now—erupted,
Sssssssssss!
BOOM!
A massive fireball launched by Narupa flew like an arrow and swallowed Resin’s legs.
Everything moved in slow motion. Narupa smiled brightly at her as she collapsed helplessly onto the floor like a broken frog.
“Haha, with only one arm left, you look just like an antenna.”
For the first time, Resin felt true terror toward Narupa and wished for nothing more than for her to get away.