Early Ranking Battle (1)

Itsuki from the eastern island nation of Etoma, a kunoichi maid. More precisely, she was one of the people who had flowed into the continent through the shadowy slave hunts that had once secretly thrived, though they were now forbidden.

From the kunoichi clan of Etoma, she had endured tremendous hardships until Yuna discovered her. After being found by Yuna and becoming a maid of the Keruspal Grand Duke's household, she had now rallied the kunoichi of Etoma under her banner, forming the organization called Karas—for the sake of Yuna, who had saved her.

And now, under orders from her current master, Yuna, she was surveilling one man—

'What the hell is this guy?'

She had definitely kept her eyes on him without a single break.

'Going to the auction with the young lady ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the Rubr Marquis family is one thing, but how did he slip past my eyes?'

She had watched him even mess with the golden demon of the Mamon family at the auction. But during the auction for the dragon-slaying magic sword Gram, he excused himself to the bathroom and vanished. After that, she lost track of him.

Suddenly, the first auction house transformed into a dungeon, and while she wandered searching for the man named Ijun, she couldn't find him until the dungeon was released.

'What am I supposed to report...'

It was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠truly vexing situation for someone who had to report every single movement without omission.

'But what was that existence?'

While searching for Ijun, she had coincidentally witnessed a robed figure emitting four red glowing eyes confronting what seemed to be the one who triggered the dungeon.

'It was strong.'

That robe was immensely powerful. And it wasn't just raw physical might.

'That power that sealed magic...'

Centered on the robe, ripples spread out, sealing all magic in the area to a standstill for a moment. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Thanks to that, her magic-powered Abl shadow stealth nearly unraveled, but she barely concealed herself with kunoichi arts.

'That thing, and this man named Ijun... I need to investigate more. But...'

Right now, it was time to report everything that happened to Yuna as accurately as possible.

"So Han Ijun went to the auction with that Esil Rubr?"

"Yes, miss."

Yuna received a report from Itsuki about today's events.

'I'm worrying about work, and this potential landmine is casually going on a da-date with a girl?'

Yuna felt something boiling up inside her. She was on pins and needles, wondering when this man who might know her secret would expose it, and here the guy in question was leisurely dating(?) some girl. She couldn't help but seethe.

'Calm down, Yuna Keruspal. Acting rashly on mere speculation will only bring trouble.'

Yuna vowed again and again not to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠needlessly antagonize Ijun.

"Good work. Keep surveilling that transfer student from now on too."

"Understood."

Itsuki vanished back into the shadows, and left alone in the room, Yuna lay on her bed and murmured,

"Han Ijun... Esil Rubr... Are the two of them dating?"

Without even knowing why she said it.

"Hm? What's this?"

Because of Esil's massive appetite, I missed curfew and got carpet-bombed with nagging from the dorm supervisor. The moment I flopped onto my bed back in my room, an alert popped up, forcing me to sit up again.

"So it shows up like this for me."

The Device was a magic tool handed out to Elan Academy students, functioning like a smartphone. Since I wasn't affected by the game system except for accumulating experience and leveling up, I figured these alerts appeared as windows in front of my eyes.

"But what's it about? Weekends usually don't have notifications."

The academy doesn't send alerts on weekends to guarantee student free time. So if one came anyway, it meant something I had to read...

"Let's check it out."

"A ranking match?"

Elan Academy has rankings. From 1st to 20th, unshakeable top rankers; 21st to 100th as high rankers; 101st to 1000th as upper rankers; 1001st to 5000th as mid rankers; and 5001st to my position at 12001st as low rankers. This academy is pure meritocracy, so they encourage ranking matches. Hell, they even force matches on you if you try to dodge them.

But that's only up to high rankers. Top rankers get all the academy perks, so they're not forced.

"Usually, higher rankers don't challenge lower ones, though."

I checked the name of the challenger again: Rohan Leos. Never heard of him—probably one of the world's countless extras.

"Judging by him bothering to challenge me, I can guess his personality."

This Rohan Leos guy was probably a petty, pathetic little shit. After beating Yujin with some bullshit Abl the "perfect copy" squirrel girl spread rumors about, I became academy-famous overnight. He's probably jealous and wants to crush me.

"Hmm... Doesn't matter, I guess?"

I figured accepting the ranking match was fine. No intention of winning, though. With Yujin, I planned to smash him for the trash talk, but I don't want attention here.

"This could actually be an opportunity."

If I got utterly wrecked by this Rohan Leos, the evaluation of Han Ijun would shift to "that guy's actually a nobody."

I accepted the ranking match right away.

"Still, I should scout the opponent. Know thyself and thy enemy for a hundred victories—but to lose naturally, I need to know who I'm losing to."

But how... Ah!

"This world has that character."

One of the romanceable side heroines, the kunoichi maid Itsuki who leads Karas, the Keruspal Grand Duke's intel unit. Itsuki would know about Rohan Leos.

"Speak of the crow and it shits on your head."

The magic incantation to summon Itsuki anywhere: "Speak of the crow and it shits on your head." Originally negative, but crow-related and somewhat famous, so I picked it.

Whoosh~!

A breeze stirred, and a shadow dropped from the ceiling.

Black hime-cut hair, sharp purple eyes, maid outfit, shadow dagger in hand—the woman revealed herself.

The kunoichi maid, Itsuki, said to me in a cold voice,

"You... Where did you learn that code phrase?"

Itsuki had continued surveilling Ijun from the ceiling shadows. But when the assembly code—now obsolete and unknown except to Karas's kunoichi—came from his mouth, she had no choice but to reveal herself.

Itsuki aimed her shadow dagger at Ijun and asked,

"You... Where did you learn that code phrase?"

"Whoa whoa~ Can we talk with that dagger down first?"

"Refused. Only I and my comrades know that code now. Depending on how you learned it, your treatment will change."

Itsuki gripped the dagger tightly. Before her master Yuna's orders, her clan's safety came first. She had shown herself for that reason and planned to eliminate him based on his answer.

'Whoa... She's intense.'

Ijun thought Itsuki looked deadly. The leader of Etoma's kunoichi clan had an aura that was no joke.

'Etoma's kunoichi clan originally served a now-extinct house, but they did serve some family.'

The shogun house of Etoma, Mikadowji. That ancient house had been wiped out in the aftermath of the continent's slave hunts and faded into history's shadows.

Ijun decided to impersonate a survivor of that house.

Whether Itsuki believed him or not didn't matter. He had the Alteration ability through lies. She would believe.

"Mikadowji. I'm actually a survivor of Mikadowji."