Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: It's Not a Legend, It's a Legend (6)
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#6 Their Circumstances: Lady Aris Lil Retia's Circumstances.
The Imperial Tournament was a perfect victory for Yuglasia.
We'd failed our initial goal of an undefeated championship, but that was only because of the unexpected dark horse from Marsis, Lia Nel Nermia.
In the end, on the final day, Yuglasia took first place with 114 points.
Marsis, in second, had a measly 7.
And the strong favorites, Arsia, scored 0 points, with Mercaria also at 0 for a joint third.
Realistically, there was no way any other academy could overtake Yuglasia.
Even if they held a match worth the all-time high of 80 points on the last day, and even if we somehow lost it!
Even if Marsis, right behind us, won that match, the total would still be Yuglasia at 114 versus their 87—an overwhelming margin of victory.
Yeah, that's how it should have been...
"Maximum score... 4,000 points?"
An absurd new rule got announced on the morning the match began.
[Each academy is assigned 10 castles total. Steal one, and you get 100 points.]
Meaning one academy could potentially score up to 3,000 points.
Of course, under the condition of seizing all the other academies' castles by force within the time limit—but in the worst case, if Yuglasia failed to steal even a single castle and everyone got eliminated, we could end up in fourth place.
This was the organizers way overstepping.
To challenge it, we'd need the student council to step in officially—especially the president.
That's why I'd gone to the student council tent...
"What's the problem?"
And the most crucial person, the president, was treating this massive crisis like it was nothing.
"What do you mean, what's the problem? This is unprecedented in Imperial Tournament history! It's a rule clearly designed to target us!"
"So?"
"So?! We have Night Self-Study riding on this! We can't let some ridiculous rule trip us up!"
I yelled at the president, my face flushing red with anger, but he just wore that calm smile.
"Lady Aris. What was our goal?"
"Obviously, to end that hellish Night Self-Study!"
"Yes, but we had another goal too. To show how much we've grown in that hell... the goal of an undefeated championship."
"That's..."
I couldn't deny it—that had indeed been one of our goals before the tournament started.
But after two losses, it was no longer achievable.
"This is our chance. A chance to restore our pride after losing to those kids who just slack off a few hours a day!"
With a resolute expression, the president looked at me quietly yet so clearly.
"By not losing a single castle—and stealing every other one."
His intensity made me nod unconsciously, and in the end, the match proceeded without changes.
Then, about 30 minutes after it started.
"Son of a—?"
I spat out a curse that only back-alley thugs would use.
[Come at us, Yuglasia!]
What the hell? The very guy who'd said that morning we'd reclaim our pride with an undefeated sweep was personally blowing up one of Yuglasia's castles and taunting us.
Okay, up to there, I could've written it off as a brief lapse and just cursed once.
"Were we too harsh in yesterday's match?"
"Yeah, we kinda went overboard."
"But Nerkia wasn't blameless either, right?"
Some of Yuglasia's key forces—including the student council, who'd gathered to intercept major enemies—started saying things like they already knew about the president's betrayal.
"What a shit academy."
A year ago, I would've been bewildered by this nonsense.
But after being steeped in Yuglasia, I could coldly analyze the situation.
'Yesterday's match... The president said he'd won using his girlfriend, Arsia's vice president...'
Looking at the magic tool replaying the footage, the students behind him were definitely from Arsia.
No way Arsia students would trust a president who'd betrayed their vice president unless they were insane...
'It was a misunderstanding.'
A total misunderstanding—one deliberately engineered by our own side, judging from the voices around.
And to clear it up... or rather, to punish the Yuglasia students who'd created that misunderstanding in the first place, the president betrayed us.
Yeah. Sure. I get it.
"Like hell you doooooooo!"
"Uh, Lady Aris?"
"Lady Aris?"
Ignoring the panicked looks around me, I clutched my head and screamed.
"What the hell did you do to the president to make him act like that?!"
"Eek!"
They all averted their eyes from my fury-filled glare.
Most were my seniors, but that didn't matter now.
"What kind of insane crap do you have to pull for the student council president to betray the academy and join the enemy? Huh? If you have mouths, then speak up!"
"Um... Lady Aris? We're still your seniors, though..."
"Huh?"
"Sorry!"
I silenced a senior who'd raised a hand with a glare, then started eyeing them one by one.
"I wouldn't talk like this normally. We could still pull off a comeback here. Some of you are graduating next year, but I've got three more years in this place... Three more years of that bullshit Night Self-Study? Come on, that's not right!"
As I ground my teeth and glared, eyes started gathering one by one.
Yeah, that's more like it. In a mess like this, he'd have to show up, or it'd feel incomplete.
And as all eyes turned to him—the suspected culprit, student council vice president Riseng—he puffed out his chest proudly.
"I was trying to make that jerk jealous enough to break up with his girlfriend."
"What the fu—"
"Guilty."
I'd started denying the ridiculous reason, but a voice from beside me affirmed it.
"Syr?"
Syr—who'd been changing lately, and not for the better—looked at me with a serious face.
"Lady Aris. No, Aris."
"Uh?"
Even though she was my friend and I'd always told her to use casual speech, Syr—who always used formal—switched to casual.
"It was unavoidable. Or rather, the people who sabotaged the president's romance yesterday deserve to be called heroes for doing the right thing."
"Syr? What are you even saying?"
I couldn't fathom why sabotaging the president's love life was "hero-worthy," but Syr was dead serious.
"Think about it, Aris. Have you... ever dated?"
"Uh, no?"
I hesitated at the sudden question.
Talk of political marriages hadn't come up yet, and I didn't have anyone I liked anyway.
"Right. Even you, Lady Aris of the Retia Marquis family, haven't dated. So how dare that arrogant president..."
"Syr? That's not an answer at all..."
Syr had definitely gone off the rails a bit.
Lately, vice president Riseng had been hanging around her a lot, and it had finally blown up.
The Syr who always carried herself with the dignity of a countess's eldest daughter was now blackening her eyes with rage.
"And public dating? Turning enemy spy on Yuglasia Academy on top of that..."
"Syr, you're acting weird. Super weird! That's not your character!"
"Character doesn't matter, Aris! I'm just furious as a fellow single..."
"Good, that's the spirit! That's the mindset my successor needs!"
I spotted the vice president nodding in admiration beside her.
Yup, he's the one who corrupted Syr.
"What the hell have you been filling Syr's head with, you damn vice president?!"
Successor? His successor?
Just for making the Syr who'd followed me to Yuglasia experience the Silver Devil was enough grounds for a fallout.
If she ended up as that weirdo vice president's successor, I'd live with the Reia family's resentment forever.
Not on my watch!
"Syr's popular! She could get a boyfriend anytime if she wanted!"
And she really was popular.
High noble's eldest daughter, quiet and refined—unlike me, the perfect ideal for guys!
"...Aris. Have you ever confirmed that with a guy?"
"W-Well, no..."
The problem was, all that came from fellow female nobles in our circle—we weren't close to the men.
"Exactly, Aris. We were just comforting each other... Have we ever actually gotten confessions since coming to Yuglasia?"
"Well, no..."
Even in an academy supposedly full of confessions, we hadn't gotten any.
"But maybe it's because of Night Self-Study?"
We'd heard rumors of love letters in shoe lockers or desks, guys waiting at the gates after class—but not us!
But we had Night Self-Study.
We were too busy plotting survival against the Silver Devil and training—no time to even think about confessions!
"Then what about the president? He had Night Self-Study too... but still had a girlfriend?"
"Th-That's..."
Syr's counterattack shut me up again.
"Don't make excuses, Aris. The president had a girlfriend in that situation. Even if he couldn't leave campus, even if they didn't meet on breaks. He had one!"
"Ugh..."
"How do you feel now, Aris? Pissed off? Like a fire's igniting inside? Yeah, that's right. We gave our all for the academy. But the student council president was dating during that time—and now he's betrayed us in this Night Self-Study stakes."
"Yeah..."
A fire was slowly kindling inside me.
"See? He betrayed us for his girlfriend. Tricked you, tricked us... tricked the academy and chose her."
"Yeah, the president tricked us all..."
I nodded to Syr's words.
Right. Whatever the cause, he'd deceived us.
"So think, Aris. What should you do? Punish our side for giving him a reason to betray? Or execute the traitor who abandoned your trust, became that academy girl's slave, and turned his blade on us?"
Obviously.
"Execute the traitor!"
"Yeah, that's it, Aris!"
The beaming Syr hugged me and whispered in my ear.
"The only one who can punish our betrayer—the student council president and his spirit legion—is Swordmaster Aris."
"Yeah... Only I can..."
"We have to end Night Self-Study, right? We've got second-, third-, and fourth-years left? You don't want to keep doing it?"
"I hate it. No more beatings. No more fighting the devil..."
I hate it. I want to ditch this academy for another, but Dad won't let me.
I'll have to graduate from Yuglasia... but more Night Self-Study?
"Yeah, we'll end it. With your hands, Aris. Night Self-Study... and the traitor's life."
"Yeah. I'll end it. Night Self-Study... and the president's life too!"
I realized later something was wrong, but that's hindsight.
After the Imperial Tournament, when I watched this scene via the footage magic tool...
Specifically, when I saw Syr hugging me with a wicked grin while she and vice president Riseng thumbs-upped each other.
That's when I realized.
I'd been completely played by Syr!