The Kid's Training Took Longer Than Expected
What the hell was this nonsense?
She had stayed up all night worrying before falling asleep late, so it was a more exhausting morning than usual. Still half-asleep, she turned her head and realized Arina hadn't returned to the bed beside hers. At the same time, her hand instinctively reached out and grabbed the smartphone she had plugged in before going to bed the night before.
What is this? A dream?
Blinking at the message sent to her own number, Marily tilted her head in confusion. Wondering if she had seen it wrong, she rubbed her eyes and blinked repeatedly. Then she read the message carefully once more.
"No, what is this...!"
Only then did she finally accept reality. Her delicate brows furrowed sharply. If the maids who usually handled her beauty care had seen it, they would have cried out with tragic faces, "Princess! If you make such a wicked expression, you'll get wrinkles on your forehead!" But Marily had no time to manage her expression after the major incident that had occurred at the crack of dawn.
Kidnapping a player participating in the Academy Tournament.
She was even more dumbfounded by the utterly calm tone in the text that carried not a single ounce of guilt for casually committing such a massive offense.
"If you're going to borrow her, you should return her on time!"
If the person who had taken Arina wasn't her uncle, and if the reason hadn't been to solve a problem Arina was facing, harsh curses directed at Kain might have burst from Marily's mouth. That was because, unlike the first day, every team participating in the Academy Tournament had to compete in matches without any break starting from the second day onward.
If even one participating player was missing, the match would result in automatic disqualification and guaranteed last place. The rule existed to prevent teams from deliberately reducing their roster to let their ace recover stamina and mental strength. If such a tactic were allowed, teams would send fluctuating numbers of players, completely ruining the integrity of the matches.
In other words, Kain taking Arina away didn't simply mean she would miss the morning matches. It meant they would have to throw away more than half the morning matches for nothing, without earning even the smallest amount of points.
That can't happen. Absolutely not.
They were already in a desperate situation, struggling to catch up to Benedict Academy's A team that dominated first place and the Sirianella Private Academy. In a competition where every single point mattered, throwing away the entire morning schedule was a choice only a madwoman would make. If they did that, closing the score gap with those two teams would become impossible forever.
Just as Marily was about to fire off an angry text demanding an explanation, she belatedly noticed there was more content below Kain's message. At the same time, her mind went completely blank.
A substitute? In the Academy Tournament?
What the hell was this nonsense again?
Is this some kind of code?
Even Marily Raymond, the genius of the century, couldn't comprehend the meaning of Kain's message. Her thoughts simply froze.
Caffeine. She didn't usually drink it because her father and brother constantly forbade it, but at this moment she needed a strong cup strong enough to jolt her mind awake. She needed it to get her stupidly frozen brain working again.
Knock, knock.
Fortunately, Marily didn't need to recharge with caffeine to decipher Kain's text. Before she could do anything so pointless, the answer to his message arrived by knocking on her door.
"Damn it."
When she opened the door, the person standing there was Arina—the same Arina Kain had just said wouldn't be able to make it that morning. She stood with a pronounced limp, putting excessive weight on one leg. Her face was heavily furrowed. Her eyes were filled with such irritation that she looked ready to stick a cigarette in her mouth at any second. From those lips came a thick curse in a distinctly male voice that completely clashed with her appearance.
It was the very picture of a delinquent, something absolutely unimaginable if one considered her usual behavior. Yet that action and voice clearly reminded Marily of a familiar someone stored away in her perfect memory.
"...So you could even transform into a young girl."
Jealousy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the underworld who had infiltrated Benedict Academy by disguising himself as the school nurse Clara Propol. Following his master's orders, he had taken on the appearance of Arina Grant and revealed himself before Marily.
Damn it.
Why did he have to transform into a young lady and participate in these brats' little talent show? It was so humiliating and embarrassing that he couldn't even lift his head. This was truly the shame of a lifetime.
I can't get caught.
Hiding it from Benedict Academy's B team was unavoidable due to the circumstances, but the others must never find out. It went beyond simple foul play or cheating. The fact that he, one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the underworld, was participating in this kind of circus would become the joke of a lifetime.
"I'll absolutely do nothing and just stand still whether I get eliminated or not. You guys handle the matches by yourselves."
Even now, as they left the lodging early in the morning and headed toward the Mendelstone Indoor Gymnasium, Jealousy kept issuing warnings in a low growl. With Arina's face, hands shoved deep into pockets while spitting on the floor, the sight felt incredibly awkward.
"I already said I understood. I have no intention of using you in the match anyway."
In the Academy Tournament, where even a 4-star mage reigned as an insurmountable disaster, an 8-star superhuman was clearly a cheat that went far beyond mere foul play. Unfortunately, Jealousy's expertise lay not in magic but in martial arts and spirit techniques. He had never glanced at the academic field of magic even once in his life, so there was no way he could imitate Arina's combat style even slightly.
Using him incorrectly could lead to team disqualification for foul play—a direct path to ruin. There was no way Marily would use such a high-risk individual as the cornerstone of their strategy.
"Still, don't just stand there like an idiot and get hit. At least pretend to try hard. It might damage Arina's reputation."
"Hmph."
Jealousy whipped his head away at Marily's words. It was an open display of disregard, but Marily paid little attention to the half-hearted response. Since he was ridiculously overprotective when it came to Arina, saying this much would ensure he handled things appropriately without causing her any harm.
"More importantly, are you really sure you won't get caught?"
She was deeply anxious. As she had said before, the moment his identity was exposed, Benedict Academy's B team would be finished. It would be far better to cleanly abandon more than half their points than risk that outcome.
"Won't get caught."
Jealousy answered Marily's concern as if it were nothing. Who did she think he was? The master of a thousand transformations who had trained the Muscle Tendon Changing Classic to its limit. He was a transformation genius capable of taking on any form—regardless of gender, age, disability, or condition.
Unless the Majoan or another absolute being came in person, he was confident he wouldn't be discovered. Even if a fellow superhuman showed up, he had absolute faith in his disguise. Unlike the time he had charged into the royal palace without any preparation, he had completely memorized the young lady's behavior patterns.
For now, with no eyes on him, he was acting freely. But when others were watching, he was confident he could fool them so completely that no one would be able to tell who the real Arina was. Just as the 7-star mage Lucian Filodein, who had brought them here, had failed to notice Arina's absence at all.
He didn't even notice when I talked complete nonsense right beside him.
Sound Transmission. A type of sound technique that secretly delivered one's voice only to a designated person. Martial artists commonly shortened it to "transmission," and Jealousy's proficiency in it was top-tier. Even if he said completely irrelevant things, no one except the three people in front of him could properly hear his words.
"I'm replicating the usual flow of mana, habitual movement patterns, breathing rate, mana absorption, and emission amounts exactly like the young lady. Even if that kid with the ability to see mana looks, he absolutely won't notice."
The Muscle Tendon Changing Classic, sound transmission, and mana control refined to an extreme level. Jealousy proudly puffed out his slender shoulders, endlessly displaying his self-confidence in his own abilities.
That look isn't bad either.
Even though the person inside was a man whose face and name he didn't know, perhaps it was because the face itself was Arina's. Jeon's face reddened slightly as he sneaked a glance at this unfamiliar version of her.
"What are you doing blushing while staring at me with those disgusting eyes? Do you want to die?"
That reaction didn't escape Jealousy's notice. He glared mercilessly at Jeon with sharply honed eyes. At those words, Marily also looked at Jeon with the expression one might give a madman, full of pity.
"You usually show it off so much that you like Arina, but it turns out anyone is fine as long as it's her shell?"
"......"
Jeon couldn't deny it. He had indeed felt his heart waver for a moment at the sight of Jealousy wearing Arina's face.
What the hell am I...
Jealousy's contemptuous gaze and Marily's pity-filled eyes mercilessly dug into his heart. Jeon hung his head and collapsed to the floor in despair. Marily clicked her tongue at the sight before turning back to Jealousy.
"Well, anyway, please be careful."
Unlike Jeon, Marily didn't have much attachment to this tournament. She was doing her best to win since she had entered, but her only real reason for participating was pure enjoyment. Of course she would receive criticism for committing a foul, but she had long since developed a thick enough face not to care about others' gazes.
However, it would deal a significant blow to Arina herself, the direct party responsible. Given her personality, she would also be burdened with immense guilt over causing the team's elimination.
"......"
Knowing Marily's concerns, Jealousy turned his head sharply without a word. Allow the young lady to suffer great harm because of him? As if he would ever let that happen.
Startled.
Togun, who met Jealousy's eyes after he whipped his head around, flinched and trembled. Perhaps it was because he had learned that the person disguised as Arina was the master (temporary) who had trained him for the past several months. Togun, who had been silently shaking from earlier, shrank back like a frail rabbit with a lion standing right before it.
"Hey."
"Y-ye-yes!"
At Jealousy's call, Togun stuttered like an idiot with a face gone deathly pale.
"You heard that, right?"
Jealousy grinned at him. On the surface it was a cute smile on Arina's face, but to Togun it looked more hideous than any evil god or demon.
"Until yesterday I was somewhere else, so I didn't interfere no matter what stupid things you did. But today I'll be right next to you, understand?"
You'll have to properly fill the empty spot the young lady left behind. If you don't want to get beaten to a pulp.
"You've been beaten plenty by me so far, so you know, right? That I can fool the eyes of every spectator here and still hit you."
"......"
"Let's do especially well today, shall we? If you don't want to get beaten in front of all these people."
"Yes!"
He had already resolved to do better after seeing Jeon's state yesterday, but Jealousy's words solidified that determination even further. At the fierce threat from Jealousy, dainty fist clenched tight, Togun didn't even think to wipe the tears streaming from his eyes. He simply answered vigorously while standing at perfect attention.