Last Class Standing - 2
Ainter and Tanian were absent. Ryutis and Later were participating. Luise and Erich were the sort you could leave alone without anything major going wrong.
It was an extremely familiar situation—exactly the same positioning as the first-semester practical exam. The setup was so stable I even felt the illusion of peace settling over me.
As expected, those two are the problem.
My gaze locked onto the red and the blue, who were flaunting an even more deranged presence than usual today. Without those two, roughly seventy percent of the chaos that erupted in the club would simply vanish.
But what could I do? It was a pride match between Armein, second in national power, and Uben, third—the age-old rivalry of sword and magic that seemed to have walked hand-in-hand with human history itself. There were far more reasons for them to scrap than to get along. Ryutis and Later’s personalities were opposites, too.
If anything, it was almost something to be grateful for that they still collided like neighborhood kids with all those penalties hanging off them. They weren’t fighting in earnest, so it was probably fine.
It would be better if they just fought somewhere else.
Why come all the way to the Academy just to make my life difficult?
Staring at them any longer would only burn a hole through my stomach, so I quietly looked away. Maybe Apels, the one who founded this Academy, was the root of all evil. That country had deserved to fall.
When I turned my gaze, I found Luise staring blankly into empty air, clearly lost in thought.
“What’s wrong?”
Erich had noticed her at the same time and spoke first. I’d been curious myself, so it worked out. Lately Luise startled every time I tried to talk to her, so I hadn’t been able to approach.
“Nothing. Just wondering which class will win.”
“It’ll definitely be fierce this year.”
With those words, Erich’s gaze flicked once toward the two idiots currently locked in a swordsmanship bout, then once toward Ainter, who was watching quietly from the sidelines.
Whichever class one of those three belonged to would take the win. Tanian didn’t care who won, so he was out of the equation.
“We can just take it easy, then.”
Following Erich’s gaze across the top contenders, Luise smiled brightly as she spoke.
Since the outcome was already decided, ordinary first-years like Luise could simply enjoy themselves the way people did at a sports festival. There was no need to chase a victory the way they had at the expo, and nothing here would be reflected in their grades the way the practical exams were.
“True. It’s not like they hand out prizes for winning.”
I heard Erich’s words, which somehow felt like all the romance had drained out of him. He’d turned into a capitalist who wouldn’t move without profit.
You grew up well.
Honestly, I was the same. If there was nothing to gain, a noble’s proper place was lying flat on the floor.
“The final four-person match would be perfect.”
“What a coincidence. I was thinking the exact same thing.”
The two idiots who’d been whispering among themselves had successfully reached a compromise.
A four-person match, huh.
Just as Villar had hoped, I’d also figured out which event they would enter. Yeah—the four-person match was the most manageable option.
Each class fielded a four-person party consisting of the class’s assigned teacher, one swordsman student, one mage student, and one staff member without a class of their own. That was the four-person match.
I still didn’t understand why they added that last mercenary slot, but it was the event that crowned the class competition. For those two show-offs, it was the optimal stage.
At least that’s a relief.
If they entered the same event instead of different ones, escorting them would be that much easier.
Four-person match.
My gaze drifted toward Erich without thinking. The moment I heard “four-person match,” he automatically came to mind.
One swordsman student and one mage student from each class.
It was an event made just for you.
My heart ached. Among the Baking Club members, Erich was the only one in the same class as Luise. On top of that, Erich was a swordsman and Luise a mage.
It had clearly been an event where Erich could have stood alongside Luise. Something that might even have brought them closer.
If only he’d held on a little longer.
He’d gotten dumped right before the event could even happen. If they’d gone through the four-person match together, would things have been a little different?
…Come to think of it, they’d also shared a carriage on the way to the Boyar duchy and nothing had come of it. It probably wouldn’t have changed much after all.
My heart ached for a completely different reason than before.
I informed not only Villar but Margeta as well that Ryutis and Later would be entering the four-person match.
The Academy had just as much responsibility for their safety. Separate from the principal touring the arena, the student council had to prepare as well.
“That’s a relief. With the four-person match, even if something happens we can respond quickly.”
I nodded at the sight of Margeta letting out a sigh of relief.
The four-person match was both the final event of the class competition and the most spectacular. That meant mages and priests capable of healing magic would gather in force, so even if someone got hurt, they could be handled without delay.
Of course, nothing happening at all was best—but the peace of mind that came from knowing there was insurance in place was nothing to dismiss. You needed a calm heart if you wanted to get any work done.
“It would be good if the class of whichever of the two wins ends up taking the championship.”
“I think the same.”
If the class that won the final match also took the overall victory, the picture wouldn’t be half bad. They handed out points at the end of the school-trip recreation, too, didn’t they?
That would leave Ainter’s class without even a shot at the title this time, but there were still two more class competitions left. We could yield this year to the foreigners.
Margeta, who had smiled faintly at my agreement, spoke again.
“But Karl, has anything unusual been going on lately?”
“Pardon?”
The question was far too sudden. Anything unusual?
“The Baking Club is always so lively. Whether the members have done something, or anything of that sort.”
I quickly ran through the members’ current situations in my head, but there was nothing particularly new.
Lately there had been nothing at all outside of the class competition, and even the class competition—every time something came up—I had already been reporting it to Margeta. Nothing that really counted as “unusual.”
“Yes, fortunately nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Is that so?”
Margeta tilted her head as if something didn’t sit right, and a small unease bloomed in my chest. When Margeta probed like this, it meant she already knew something. She wasn’t the type to do it without reason.
Club business I don’t know about?
Terrifying. I’d been watching them with my eyes on fire, and something had still managed to happen?
Damn it—at least if I knew about it I could clean it up. If it was something that had slipped past my eyes entirely, I had no countermeasures.
But judging by Margeta’s reaction, it was still in the early stages. If something had truly exploded, she wouldn’t be this calm, and contact from the principal or Villar would already have landed on me.
“Mar, is there something by any chance?”
At my question, it was Margeta’s turn to fall into thought.
No—why?
Something unexpected had happened.
“Yes, fortunately nothing out of the ordinary.”
At Karl’s answer, my head tilted of its own accord. Strange—that couldn’t be right. Truly nothing?
It was the kind of answer that made me doubt Karl for a split second. He would never lie to me, but it was that unexpected.
Just to be sure, I looked into his eyes. They were clear and bright, without a single speck of guilt.
Yes. Karl seemed innocent.
Why?
Confirming his innocence only made the question grow larger.
I had fully expected something to have happened by now. I had personally given my permission, after all. She had seemed to understand exactly what I meant.
Lady Luise…
What on earth are you doing?
Behind the puzzlement came a hollow feeling I couldn’t quite name. No—why, exactly?
If Lady Luise had been indecisive and slow, I could have understood. But wasn’t she the kind of person who had taken the drastic step of completely reorganizing every club member? That wasn’t something ordinary decisiveness and drive could pull off.
“Mar, is there something by any chance?”
At Karl’s words, I quietly lowered my gaze. There was something. I just wasn’t sure whether it was something I could tell him.
Since I was the one who had allowed Lady Luise to become the second, I had no intention of getting in her way. If an opportunity arose to speak well of her to Karl, I was ready to take it at any time.
But this situation was ambiguous. What if Lady Luise was staying quiet for her own reasons? Then I would just be sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.
“I saw Lady Luise a little while ago and she seemed to have something on her mind.”
After turning it over carefully, I settled on a moderate answer. Phrased this way, Karl would pay more attention to Lady Luise.
Even I thought it was decent quick thinking and consideration. I wouldn’t do this for just anyone, but since we shared the same husband, I was making a special effort—
“Did it seem that way to you as well, Mar?”
…What?
To me as well?
That meant that to Karl, too, Lady Luise had been acting strangely.
“Oddly enough, for a little while now she’s been reading the room.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Of course she would. The person she liked was standing right in front of her.
After that, Karl said various other things. The more I listened, the blanker my mind became. There was something I could already guess from the way Lady Luise had been behaving.
“When I try to speak to her, she either avoids me or changes the subject.”
“I see.”
That was it. Exactly what I had thought.
She’s embarrassed.
I barely held back a sigh. Lady Luise—I went out of my way to give you a chance, and this is what you do with it?
I understood. The one who falls first loses, so becoming infinitely small and trembling in front of Karl was understandable. Even so, she had to overcome that trembling and move forward. Did she think I had approached Karl because I felt no shame?
If anything, having been rejected once before had required even more courage. I had the conviction that Karl and I were a destiny joined by heaven itself—that someday he would absolutely stand at my side—and even then, embarrassment was still embarrassment.
“That’s why I’m quite worried. She seems to have something on her mind, but she won’t open her mouth.”
“Indeed. I’m worried as well.”
I was worried for a completely different reason than Karl.
But something felt off. Leaving aside Lady Luise wasting time because she couldn’t muster her final courage—Karl wasn’t the type to have poor instincts, was he?
Someone with poor instincts could never have climbed to his current position. And once upon a time he had even pushed me away. The very act of pushing someone away meant he had known how I felt.
Then why Lady Luise?
He had known about me—so why couldn’t he see Lady Luise’s heart?
Of course I had expressed myself actively, but Lady Luise was also expressing herself with her entire body even if she never said the words. A young woman who had recently rejected five men was fidgeting and reading the atmosphere only in front of him. How could anyone look at that and still not understand?
It was strange. Unless he was seeing Lady Luise as something other than a woman, it should have been impossible.
“It would have been nice if there were another female member in the club. A shame.”
It seemed the road Lady Luise had to walk was going to be a little rougher than expected.