Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: 12. It's Not Over Until It's Over (1)
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#1 Their Circumstances: Aris Lil Retia's Circumstances.
"Everyone, thank you for coming."
A short distance away from Arsia's main base.
The vice president gazed at the gathered 100 people with an expression brimming with unusual grim determination.
"We've all been through some incredibly tough times."
Slowly. Meeting the eyes of each and every one of them, the vice president addressed the 100 supporters in a slow but powerful voice.
"So, how has life at our academy been?"
"It was hell!"
"Having to stay another year next year is terrifying!"
"We're just clinging to the hope of this Imperial Tournament."
The first condition for those the vice president had called in for support.
They had to be people who would remain at Yuglasia Academy for at least next year.
Ideally, not just one year, but first- and second-years who would stay for two or three.
"That's right. But Nerkia betrayed us! The president of Yuglasia, the one who should care more about the academy's future than anyone, threw everything away for his girlfriend!"
"How can that guy be president!"
"We have to do night self-study for two more years!"
"I'm stuck with three!"
"He doesn't care since he only has less than a year left?"
Hostility toward the president began to build.
"That's right. He abandoned us to pursue his own selfish desires—that's Nerkia! The very fact that such a person is Yuglasia's president is an insult to us all!"
"Exactly!"
"No reason to call a traitor 'president'!"
"That bastard needs to get beaten by the Silver Devil for three days straight to come to his senses!"
Curses and malice poured from the 100 people.
The vice president, who had incited it all, looked on with satisfaction at those cursing the president.
"And... Nerkia was hiding one unforgivable fact. He has five girlfriends!"
The second condition for those the vice president had called in for support.
They all had to be hopeless singles who had never even dated.
"F-Five...?"
"Is that even possible?"
The 100 people, mid-curse, suddenly fell silent.
For these people who had never had even one partner, a president with five girlfriends at once was like a myth from legend.
"Grr..."
"Damn it..."
But soon, their awe and admiration turned to rage.
"Five all to himself?"
"No morals or decency. He betrayed the academy and manhood itself."
"That guy's the reason four more singles exist!"
Everyone here had been handpicked by the vice president to fit her exact criteria.
The final condition for those the vice president had called in for support.
"Don't you think it's too big a gap, even for fellow spirit summoners?"
They all had to be spirit summoners.
"Ugh..."
"Damn, one just collapsed from not being able to handle reality!"
"Can't help him... I feel like I'm about to collapse too..."
"What's the difference between him and me?!"
"His looks."
"His skills."
"His looks."
"His fame."
"His looks."
"His spirits' grades."
"His looks."
"Who keeps bringing up looks? What about you? Are you better looking than the president?!"
Their unity in rage fractured once more.
"Doesn't rage transcend personal limits? Wasn't that the goal?"
Ancient tactics supposedly included creating berserker units with frenzy magic.
A magic that erased reason, eliminated fear, and let them surpass their limits with superhuman strength!
But it turned users into invalids after one use, and they might even attack allies, so it wasn't used in modern tactics.
She was Loki's contractor, always escaping crises with a few words—surely the vice president could create enraged berserkers without any magic?
Wasn't this just incitement and fabrication?
"Hmm... Lady Aris. I've been preparing for this moment to win the Imperial Tournament."
To win?
With these people grabbing each other's collars and arguing over who's uglier?
"Look, Lady Aris. This is what I learned from Professor Niserwin—my new ultimate technique! Incitement and Fabrication!"
Not the proudest name for an ultimate technique, but let's hear her out.
"Listen up, fellow losers of life! I'll tell you something even more entertaining—about the women Nerkia dates!"
All eyes instantly locked cleanly on the vice president.
"You probably know from the public confession, but one is Arieta Rule Meire, one of Arsia's top beauties!"
"Damn, game over right there."
"A girl way out of my league in life."
"And her family's even higher than his. A count family—a count family!"
One down, and the students' spirits deflated.
"Then there's another famous Arsia beauty! Leny Ti Silgran!"
"The one known as Arsia's angel?"
"Damn, another count family!"
"Shit! Is a ducal family next?!"
Even I'd heard those names.
Leny Ti Silgran.
Arsia's saintess, kind to everyone regardless of status.
"I-Is the president really dating her?"
"Didn't I say it? Incitement and... fabrication! Just spew anything right now!"
It was fake?!
"As Yuglasia's student council president, he claimed Arsia's top beauty. But would sly Nerkia's ambitions end there?"
"N-No way... other academies too?"
"Yes, that 'no way' is true! Lady Julia, one of Marsis's four great beauties, and Lady Rudratian, Mercaria's queen!"
"I-Is that possible?"
"President... what the hell..."
Names too big to handle started coming up.
The current Magic Tower master's granddaughter, a viscount's daughter but pivotal in the Foreign Affairs Department, and the Rudratian family's eldest—out they came.
'This is being broadcast live across the empire?'
Incitement's one thing, but fabrications should have limits.
What would those families think seeing this?
Their daughters dating Yuglasia's president?
"Stop now. This is dangerous. What happens after the Imperial Tournament?!"
High society among noble ladies is always thirsty for fresh gossip.
Stories of our age's romances are like rain in a drought to them!
They get hyped up and spread everywhere.
Even rumors can become fatal weaknesses for women.
Your lover, your fiancé, seeing someone else.
The moment such a rumor hits, true or not, men can't ignore it.
And... saying this at the empire's biggest event?
Especially when, to outsiders, it looks like the president's closest confidant, the vice president, spilling it all?
That boosts credibility way too much!
I could already see noble ladies watching this and gossiping.
"Men... sometimes have to go even knowing they might die."
"Cool line, but the content isn't cool at all! And you might actually die—that's scary!"
Those mentioned might not even get fiancés.
Powerful families might not care, but liking five other men at once?
...Wait?
"One... more left!"
"Yes, exactly. Haven't named all five yet!"
Who else?
Arsia, Marsis, Mercaria's famous beauties—all covered.
Can't be Yuglasia students since they're from the same academy.
So it has to be someone completely external...
"And finally... the youngest lady of the Terresia family, who handles border defense!"
"S-Stop..."
Turning away from my paling face, the vice president uttered the one thing she absolutely shouldn't have.
'It's over...'
She dragged in a marquis family.
A border count, no less!
Why are the Absolute Ten Families called that?
High nobles serving the imperial court with massive political influence.
But not all marquises and above in the empire are Absolute Ten.
Borders and principalities have plenty of marquises and higher, and among them, border counts guard the frontiers.
Less political power than Absolute Ten, but militarily, more than even legion commanders like those girls' fathers.
And she poked one of them.
One whose territory is suspiciously close to the president's!
"It's over..."
This Imperial Tournament will be a turning point in its history for many reasons.
Lots of rules will change.
Like a 'no bullshit' rule.
And I can say for sure.
Before that rule exists, Yuglasia will be smashed.
Unless rumors of an imperial bastard inside Yuglasia or the princess's secret lover turn out true, closure is inevitable!
-Aris, isn't this actually good?
-Huh?
But a word from the goddess that reversed everything.
'Huh...?'
Let me sort this out.
[Vice president's lies = enrages border counts, Magic Tower master, Foreign Affairs, count families = Yuglasia closure = no more Silver Devil next year = yay!]
-As expected of the goddess! The Goddess of Wisdom for a reason!
-Ahem!
Even without night self-study, the Silver Devil won't vanish.
She could nitpick school rules like last time and threaten us.
So the vice president's actions uproot the source itself—preemptive root eradication!
"Good job, Vice President. Keep going, just like that!"
A heavy silence lingered.
The 100 people stared blankly at the sky with dead eyes.
Rage, despair, rage, frustration, rage, lament, rage, regret, rage...
The flames of rage were swallowed by other emotions in the face of such absurdity.
But the embers of rage didn't extinguish.
Just hidden under other feelings.
Left alone, they might fade.
But the vice president was an expert at pouring oil on those emotions.
The kind of talent Professor Niserwin noticed and personally trained.
"You losers who've never even met a girl, like me."
A dark space of pure despair.
They wouldn't know, but it was visually dark too.
Senior Leadan's dark spirit had shrouded the area!
"Do you know why Nerkia betrayed us?"
In that darkness.
Standing in a single beam of light conjured by Senior Leadan, the vice president raised both arms high, like receiving a divine revelation, and declared:
"If Arsia wins this Imperial Tournament, Nerkia will officially marry those five ladies from those families!"
So many things to question.
Why demand Arsia's win for Yuglasia's president?
With Marsis and Mercaria students right there!
"Ahh..."
But lost in despair, they couldn't think—just stared at Nerkia like devotees receiving revelation.
"I don't want that."
"I... don't... want..."
"Engaged to five beauties..."
"And... marriage?"
Reason began returning, one by one.
But it was false reason, already devoured by rage.
"Those who want judgment on the traitor Nerkia... raise your hands and shout!"
"Judgment!"
"Judgment on the traitor!"
"May the Silver Devil's curse be upon Nerkia!"
"Judgment of death!"
Without anyone leading, they raised hands high in fanatic fervor. As I pondered executing the vice president for the world's future, she pulled a small book from her bosom.
"The way to judge traitor Nerkia is written here. And that glorious task can only be done by you! Only you can judge that traitor Nerkia!"
"""""ROOOAR!"""""
"Huh?"
Everyone's frenzy.
But I, right beside the vice president, was shocked by something else.
The faded cover's title.
It was...
[Book of Summoning, Volume 12.
Author - Niserwin Ain]
The legendary book by Professor Niserwin that shook the entire empire during pre-enrollment week.