Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: It's Not Over Until It's Over (4)
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# 115
12. It's Not Over Until It's Over (4)
#7 Their Circumstances: Aris Lil Retia's Circumstances.
“Guh!”
I slammed my fist into the vice president’s stomach, and she collapsed with a scream.
“Tch, so close…”
What a shame.
I thought I’d controlled my strength pretty well, but she ended up passing out anyway.
“Gotta do what needs doing first.”
I picked up a wooden plank nearby and carved some words into it with my sword.
Then I hung it around her neck and tied her to a nearby flagpole.
“Haa… My mana’s draining fast.”
The vice president was one of the fastest in all of Yuglasia Academy.
Catching someone like her when she was seriously trying to escape had been incredibly tough.
I’d put up a wall of aura to block her escape routes, pretended to listen, then attacked—and barely managed to snag her.
If it had been anyone else, fine, but if I ran into Lady Nermia of Marsis right now…
“Um…”
“Eek?!”
Damn it, speaking of the devil.
The voice from behind was unmistakably Lady Nermia’s.
But…
“What… is it?”
Unlike her usual self, her head was bowed low, and she shuffled forward like a zombie.
She wobbled so pitifully that even I, her enemy, felt sorry for her.
There was no trace of the fierce swordswoman I knew, swinging her blade of fire alongside the great demon Surtr to hold off Yuglasia Academy.
“I… wanna go to Yuglasia now.”
“Huh?”
I was startled once by what she said while lifting her head, and again by her dead, emotionless eyes.
“W-What’s… your strategy?”
I blurted it out in panic, but it didn’t seem like she’d come strategically.
Even the acting skills honed at Yuglasia couldn’t fake a state like that.
“Strategy? Don’t have one.”
She casually shook her head, and her hair followed limply.
I watched her blankly, debating whether to draw my sword or not. I decided against it—my mana was too low; I’d probably lose if we fought now.
“Then why?”
The question carried a lot of weight.
Why? What the hell had to happen to break a person like this?
At my question, she bowed her head again and trembled for a long while.
Honestly, it was scary.
It felt like she’d been cursed or something unholy had entered her body.
“…I did it.”
“Huh?”
“I… antagonized the instructor…”
“Instructor?”
I barely caught her faint mumble but couldn’t make sense of it.
Instructor? Not a professor—what did an instructor have to do with anything?
“Speak clearly.”
What she revealed next was shocking.
“Nar… No, Professor Niserwin. I learned from him before.”
“Hmm…”
It was a shock at first, but it made sense after a moment.
No wonder she’d seemed different from the others.
To think she’d studied under Professor Niserwin in the past!
But the real bombshell was something else.
“You learned… while getting hit by something like… the thing you call the Silver Demon?”
“No way!”
No way. This has to be a lie!
Something like the Silver Demon? There’s no such thing!
But she specifically mentioned learning while getting hit.
We’d talked about the Silver Demon, even called it worse than death, but never outright said we learned by getting beaten.
Could it be? For real? Was there another cursed, evil-god-like existence like the Silver Demon?!
“What… was it?”
“A bat… They called it the wooden bat…”
“A weapon…”
Not just living things—there was a weapon too. I need to listen to Professor Niserwin even more carefully from now on.
“But… why surrender now?”
“Think about it. I… I defied that man and made him my enemy! He told me to join Yuglasia, and I refused! He wanted Yuglasia to win the Imperial Tournament, and I blocked it!”
Her voice cracked with tears, and I tilted my head.
“What’s weird about that?”
Even if she was once his student.
Even so, Lady Nermia was a Marsis student.
What was strange about fighting for Marsis over Yuglasia?
“Think harder! The opponent is… no, Professor Niserwin! Imagine… if you were in my shoes!”
Her voice dripped with fear, so I pondered it.
Suppose Professor Niserwin had taught me as a kid.
Then I join Arsia Academy and oppose him.
And take the win from Yuglasia…
‘Do you intend to surpass your master as his disciple?’
‘A fine resolve.’
‘Go, Arcadia.’
‘Ar, Ar!’
“Eek!”
A flurry of thoughts hit me, but they all led to one conclusion.
The Silver Demon comes for me.
And beats me.
Terrifying. Way too terrifying.
Just imagining Professor Niserwin smiling as he appears with the Silver Demon made my legs shake.
“Yuglasia has to win. No question. It’s the only way I survive.”
“Even if it means abandoning Marsis?”
“You know, as his disciple. Stuff like that doesn’t matter!”
It didn’t sound like a lie.
That was exactly the kind of thing a disciple of Professor Niserwin would say.
“In that case… welcome aboard!”
“Thanks!”
Her relieved expression was unbelievable from someone we’d been fighting tooth and nail against.
The enemy’s top fighter, the president, was gone—but now Marsis’s strongest had joined us!
The only wildcard left was their president!
And that president…
-Death by execution.
Looked like he was about to die soon.
#8 Their Circumstances: Some Student Council President’s Circumstances.
Killing intent flooded in from all sides.
“Criminal Nerkia. Your crimes are named. If you have excuses, speak now.”
At Lidan’s solemn declaration, one figure stepped forward, body shrouded so completely in a robe of darkness that their identity was impossible to discern, and spoke.
“First. The crime of betraying the academy.”
Yeah, sorry about that.
No excuse—it was clearly my fault.
“Second. The crime of being lovers with Arsia Academy’s vice president, Lady Arieta Rule Meire.”
“Wait, why is that a crime?”
That’s ridiculous.
Betraying the academy? Definitely my bad.
But being lovers with Ari? A crime?
What’s wrong with me and Ari dating?
“Third. The crime of being lovers with Arsia Academy’s Lady Renya Ti Silgran.”
“How?!”
This time, shock for a different reason.
Ari’s was public knowledge since I confessed openly, but only a handful at Arsia, like Kir, knew about Renya?!
Did Arsia have a traitor like Lady Nermia?
“Fourth. The crime of being lovers with Mercaria’s Lady Iana Mel Rudratian.”
“How the hell do you even know that?!”
Unbelievable.
Okay, Renya and I met often with Ari last year, so someone might’ve seen.
We were careful, but as famous students from our academies, it wasn’t impossible.
But Iana-nee? I didn’t meet her while she was at her academy.
She said she wanted to focus solely on studies here.
So during breaks back home, she’d push Ari and Renya aside to hog me as compensation…
How did these guys know about meetings with Iana-nee?!
“We have the great sage Risenn, who knows all information.”
“Risenn…”
Truly terrifying guy.
I’d been furious thinking I had lovers—five of them, no less.
But it was all an act.
Risenn had known everything, finished all investigations already!
Then, when I publicly admitted to having lovers and everyone raged, he provided the intel.
Such a meticulous plan.
Better than solo fury—gather evidence, wait for peak anger.
Then strike to ensure my death!
Scary. So scary, Risenn!
“Fifth. The crime of being lovers with Lady Ain Ru Julia.”
“Sixth. The crime of being lovers with Lady Tinya Hill Terresia.”
I was speechless.
Risenn… you bastard…
How did you even know about Tinya?
She hasn’t even enrolled in the four great academies yet!
From an outsider’s view, aside from the Terresia family being near our territory, there’s nothing.
Yet he uncovered that Tinya was my lover.
Where does Risenn’s limit end?!
“Now, criminal. All crimes named. Deny any falsehoods boldly.”
At Lidan’s grave pronouncement, I clamped my mouth shut.
Just say no.
Lie and maybe escape alive.
I’d done it plenty at Yuglasia.
Just refuse once?
The devil inside whispered.
But, but!
-Liar! How can I believe you!
Ari’s tearful face flashed in my mind.
Yeah, I didn’t say it, but.
Ari cried over a lie just yesterday.
And now, make her cry again?
No, make all my lovers, who’ve liked me since childhood, cry? Impossible!
“Are those my crimes?”
“Indeed, criminal.”
My bold stance intensified the killing pressure.
But I lifted my head proudly, squared my shoulders, and stepped forward.
“If those are my crimes… if loving them is my crime! Then that sin, that punishment—I accept it!”
I squeezed every drop of mana.
I’ve got experience, right? Surviving the Silver Demon? Plenty.
Yes. I survived the Silver Demon.
I won’t lose to just over a hundred summoners.
Spirit legion.
If 100 summoners call 100 spirits…
“I’ll summon 100 spirits alone.”
Starting with the Lightning Spirit King, the top spirits of the four elements.
Then upper, mid, lower grades—every spirit follows.
Against Lady Aris was my limit then.
Now, time to break it.
“Urgh…”
Mana dried up second by second.
Can’t look weak here.
Their parents might be watching.
Our nameless family already gets bad looks.
Gotta look cool now, score points with future in-laws, right?
“Come at me.”
At my calm words, the spirits summoned by the 100 summoners prepared to unleash their power.
“Fine. I’ll kill you.”
A quiet voice.
But it pierced my mind, not my ears—the speaker one I knew well.
“Risenn…”
Somehow, Risenn had climbed atop the tied flagpole, glaring down and growling.
“Nerkia!”
Risenn’s body wrapped in darkness.
Not Lidan’s shadow spirit—his own shadow cloaking him as he charged.
“Bow before the king.”
Lightning Spirit King clashed with divine power, sending a massive shockwave that staggered the others.
“You bastard, I’ll kill you!”
“Show me that pent-up rage you’ve held back!”
Facing the snarling Risenn, I snarled back.
Yeah, no idea how long he stalked me, but that rage.
I’ll meet it with force!
“NerkiAAAAA!”
“RiseeeNNN!”
And so, we began.
The battle later hailed as the greatest highlight in Imperial Tournament history.