191. Doing the Hard Work Only for Someone Else to Reap the Benefits
191. Doing the Hard Work Only for Someone Else to Reap the Benefits
The place Carlos dragged Lucia to, promising to treat her 'like a daughter,' was the academy's broadcasting room.
He hadn't known where it was, so he'd asked another faculty member. The staff member, startled by the appearance of a Russell, had kindly guided him to the broadcasting room and even helped set up the equipment.
Watching her father prepare the broadcast, Lucia was tormented by extreme anxiety, but she felt utterly helpless, knowing there was absolutely nothing she could do about it right now.
With all preparations complete, Carlos's voice echoed throughout the entire academy.
[Proud students of the Academy, I am Carlos Russell. I am here today for one reason alone: to find a fiancé for my daughter, Lucia.]
Carlos spoke flatly, without any change in expression.
His face was so cold, one could scarcely believe this was the same man who, just moments ago, had been thinking about when to hand over his position to Lucia.
Finding a fiancé for Lucia.
In other words, this was about finding a son-in-law who would succeed the Russell name.
For students of lower standing than the Russells, it was a life-turning opportunity. For students from higher-ranking families, it was a golden chance to obtain the Russell family's formidable military might.
Any student at the academy would understand what an unparalleled opportunity this was.
[This is no joke. There is only one condition: you must be the 'strongest student' in this academy.
To the student who proves his strength by fighting and winning, by any means necessary, I shall promise marriage to my daughter after graduation.]
The condition was even simpler than they imagined.
He wasn't looking at backgrounds, wealth, or various other factors. He was looking at just one simple thing.
The 'strength' that student possessed.
As long as one was strong, anyone could qualify.
It was an absurd condition, saying he would give away the daughter he had painstakingly raised for twenty years to anyone, even a rude, ignorant country bumpkin admitted through the exam stream.
"That... what does that even mean...."
Thrown into a situation she had never once imagined, Lucia couldn't comprehend what was happening.
A fiancé? For her?
What she had believed belonged to a completely different world came crashing down right before her eyes, and she trembled with the fear of the unknown.
"What do you mean, 'what kind of act'? I am finding a spouse for my 'daughter' to spend her life with. Is that not only natural?
Am I not treating you as a daughter, just as you wished? You are already of age, so you must start looking diligently from now on."
It was customary in noble society to find a fiancé for a daughter quickly, before she came of age.
Since students were adults by the time they entered the academy, some had already married.
"Is it not a parent's duty to introduce a reliable partner to their daughter?"
Many students who had missed the ideal timing were also looking for suitable partners at the academy.
The academy, where men and women in their prime shared the same space, served that function as well.
At the earliest, families betrothed their children before they were born, and typically, one began entering social circles around the age of fourteen. In that regard, Lucia could be considered already late.
At that age, Lucia had been swinging her sword ceaselessly, so it was only natural.
"Welcoming a spouse from a good family benefits the house. It is a responsibility one must bear if born a daughter of a prestigious family.
A duty different from that of a 'son,' who must grow strong to bear the family's burden. You wouldn't say you wished to live as a 'woman' without knowing that much, would you?"
Carlos's cold words gouged at Lucia's heart.
"If you truly despise bearing the Russell name so much, it doesn't matter. But I cannot simply give it up. So, produce a child to bear it instead, and quickly.
If you produce an heir within three years, they might still be able to hold a sword while I am young enough to teach them."
Give birth within three years. At this incredibly specific figure, Lucia's face contorted.
It was something she had never considered, and absolutely never wanted to do.
She had no intention whatsoever of being forced to have a child.
Then a sudden thought struck her.
If the condition was proving oneself the strongest in the academy, wouldn't no one qualify the moment she seized the top spot herself?
Having recently reached the upper Expert realm, Lucia had grown so strong that it was hard to find anyone among the students who could dare challenge her, so it wouldn't be difficult.
But Carlos caught the fleeting defiance in Lucia's eyes.
"Judging by your expression, you're thinking of something else.
Even if you, the prize, prove yourself the strongest in the academy, this will not end. It will simply pass to the second place. Do not entertain futile thoughts."
Carlos immediately blocked any loophole she could slip through.
"I do not know who it will be, but do try to bring a man reliable enough to entrust the Russell name to.
For you, who will not bear the burden, that would be the best outcome."
Leaving those words behind, Carlos's body was enveloped in a shimmer of light and vanished.
Where Carlos had stood, the shattered fragments of a teleport scroll, engulfed in flames, settled into a pile of ash.
"...Don't make me laugh."
Her own fate hung in the balance, yet there was nothing she could do.
Glaring at the spot Carlos had left, Lucia wept in sorrow.
His cold words, which seemed to treat her not as a person but as a mere tool to carry the family's burden, hurt more than ever.
.
.
.
.
.
The sudden broadcast plunged the academy into chaos.
If true, it was an opportunity that could change the lives of several students.
With the skill tests just finished and time on their hands, male students began dueling everywhere for the position of Lucia's fiancé.
"Student Council President, teach those guys a lesson!!"
"Hahaha! This is the might of the Kingdom Union!"
Among them were the student council president and students from formidable backgrounds, like a prince from the Five Kingdom Alliance.
The statement that one only needed to prove they were the strongest by any means necessary meant that anyone, not just those at the Expert realm, could participate.
If one could get into a few brawls and win the Russell family's only daughter, it was an incredible steal.
The interesting thing was that no one among the freshmen was rashly stepping forward.
This applied even to the Lemnos family, who were also one of the Five Pillars.
"Edgar, you're not interested?"
"Would you do it if you were me?"
Watching the upperclassmen dueling fiercely from the lounge, Edgar Lemnos wore an apathetic expression.
He liked duels, but he disliked the board this game was being played on.
Others might not know, but among the Five Pillars, it was common knowledge how much Russell had doted on and protected Lucia.
So, for him to suddenly make such a declaration... there was clearly some quarrel between the two of them.
Getting entangled in family strife never ended well; one didn't need to experience it firsthand to know that.
And besides, when it involved 'Lucia,' of all people, what meaning was there in deciding who was the strongest or whatever?
"There's no way that bastard will stay quiet about this whole thing... I haven't finished preparing to deal with him yet, so I won't bother. He'd have to at least surpass Russell first, anyway."
Even without specifying who, everyone in the lounge knew exactly whom he meant.
"Ah, I see. That makes sense. But hey, have you noticed he hasn't been seen at all today?"
"It is strange that he's still nowhere to be seen, but that doesn't really change anything. The moment that bastard shows up, everything will be settled."
"Don't get the wrong idea, Atlas... Atlas isn't at the academy right now."
"What? Today isn't even a day you can go out on leave, so how can he not be at the academy? You must be mistaken, right?"
"There are various ways. You could also leave if you wanted to, couldn't you?"
"I could, but if I did, someone would inevitably find out."
"And that's why I know about it."
Indeed, Atlas didn't show up even until sunset.
In the meantime, the pool of candidates to be Lucia's fiancé, the strongest academy student, narrowed down to one.
---------------
For the students who had been eagerly awaiting only the end-of-semester break, the duels for the position of Russell's son-in-law began to be managed by the campus store under the name of the Fiancé Scramble.
The derivative products were also incredibly varied.
They began doing business based on various scenarios: products predicting who would ultimately become the fiancé, products predicting the winner of the duels that broke out intermittently, products predicting how the rankings would change day by day, and so on.
The campus store, which had originally set up small-scale betting boards whenever minor duels occurred, went so far as to create and post an actual ranking board this time, given the scale of the event.
In truth, they couldn't care less who became Lucia's fiancé; they only prayed the whole situation would continue in a back-and-forth see-saw for a long time so they could milk it for all it was worth.
But contrary to their hopes, even though only a little time passed, the situation stabilized remarkably quickly.
The student council president, who had only one semester left until graduation, swiftly subdued the other students and proudly claimed the top spot.
--------------------
That evening, Lucia went looking for Atlas.
She hadn't come to say things like 'save me.'
She simply wanted to see his face just once, because it was so unbearably hard.
If possible, she wanted to ask him to just hold her, just once.
And she also wanted to ask why he hadn't been seen all day.
All the items that could bring back memories of Atlas had burned, and she felt so painfully empty inside her room.
But she couldn't find Atlas anywhere.
She arrived in front of the mansion he had recently built in an instant by bringing in dwarves, but she couldn't move.
There was a light on inside the mansion.
Had it been there from the beginning?
If so, why hadn't he shown himself?
She grew afraid of knocking on the door.
If Atlas rejected her, she felt she would never be able to stand up again.
But she wanted to see Atlas.
Those two thoughts tangled together, leaving her unable to take a single step forward, forced to simply stand in front of the door.
Unaware that even if she opened it and went inside, Atlas would not be there.