Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: The Magic Volleyball Challenge
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“You guys are that good at magic? Come on, show me that great skill of yours.”
Once again, the student council room fell silent, as if someone had doused it with cold water.
The members of the Ten Great Families wore expressions of disbelief, but in truth, the shock was the same for everyone from noble houses.
Christa and Gertrude were no different…… except for Kasena, who alone smiled as if she’d expected exactly this from Rain.
“What? What! Is it a fight? Let me in! Rain, you jerk, why’re you trying to have all the fun by yourself?!”
The one who shattered the silence was Sandra Kepel, who’d been dozing off indifferently until now…… though Felix and Triwis immediately held her back, of course.
“So, Young Master Ludwig. You were saying that to us just now? You’re pretending we’re the enemy and defending him?”
Maya Snark gestured toward Valencidis with her chin, her tone dripping with utter incomprehension.
“Nah, if it was just messing with that ugly president of yours, I’d have clapped and backed you up full throttle.”
Rain glanced back at Valencidis behind her and shrugged, then suddenly, the warmth vanished from his eyes.
“You guys just mocked the beliefs of the mage I respect most in the world. I can put up with anything else, but not that.”
The chilling tone carried an ambiguous meaning that left the cadets at the meeting murmuring in confusion.
“……The mage you respect most in the world?”
“……The personality prince respects the president?”
Worried about annoying misunderstandings, he tried to correct it right away, but Christa—apparently thinking it was all some vicious prank—grabbed his shoulder hard.
“Are you serious right now? You’re quitting the student council? Do you even know what that means?”
“I know what’s important. But I have no choice.”
“What do you know! You’re insulting the efforts of everyone who shed blood, sweat, and tears to earn that badge—including yourself!”
There was no arguing with that.
He knew it was important. He vaguely remembered Logan getting mad in much the same way before.
“There are plenty of ways to ignore that ridiculous proposal! We could even get the professors to mediate…… Take it back!”
But some moments left no room for retreat. When he turned his head, the strength drained from Christa’s hand on his shoulder.
“You wouldn’t know. And you probably don’t want to…… You’re the one with that kind of talent, after all.”
Her face, shadowed with resignation as she let out a hollow chuckle, looked somehow darkened.
“I guess what I said meant nothing to you.”
Then she whipped her head away without another word and stormed out of the student council room. Gertrude chased right after her……
He watched them go with a bittersweet pang for a moment before turning to Felix.
“So, Vice President, that means I can keep dueling these third-years here with magic battles, right?”
“……Magic battles are limited to once per day, so if those members schedule their magic battle promises all at the same time, there won’t be many clubs you can protect, Young Master.”
Felix paused there, hesitating, then added with a sigh.
“But it’s not impossible. If you’re really going to do it, that is……”
“What is it?”
“You just need to disband the clubs those members belong to.”
There was a rule established to prevent disruptions to festival preparations from magic battles during festival season.
Simply put, cadets from clubs disbanded through legitimate magic battle procedures couldn’t challenge magic battles during the festival period.
In other words, if Rain smashed the signboards of Maya’s crew’s clubs, they couldn’t follow through on their threats to Valencidis.
“Whoa……”
“Those seniors’ club is……”
“The Magic Volleyball Club, right……?”
Magic Volleyball Club?
He remembered. It was the royal club Christa and Gertrude had tried to drag him to at the start of the semester.
That made it simple, he thought, but Felix’s expression was grim.
“There are two problems here. First, the Magic Volleyball Club can only be disbanded through Magic Volleyball itself.”
The first issue was shocking enough in its own way, but when he heard the second, his mouth hung slightly open about three seconds later.
“And second, the Magic Volleyball Club that nobles join has Professor Elin Ludwig as its advisor. Your relative, Young Master.”
Ah, Aunt Elin.
Huh?
What did you just say? As he stared in stunned silence, Maya Snark sighed and polished her glasses with a handkerchief.
“I’ll give you a chance to back out even now. Seems like you’re misunderstanding something—we have no grudge against you, Young Master.”
“……”
“Miss Christa said you’ve never even played Magic Volleyball before, right? It’s not a sport you master overnight.”
Come to think of it, Christa and Gertrude must be in the same club…… It complicated things a bit, but there was no stopping now.
“Yeah, I haven’t.”
“So you’ll regret it. You’ll lose your student council position and just end up humiliated.”
“That’s why I’ll give it a try and find out then, isn’t it? Who’s gonna win.”
Her patience apparently at its limit, a faint twitch crossed Maya’s eyebrow.
Maya adjusted her glasses perfectly on her nose bridge with aristocratic poise, then turned and left the student council room.
That was the signal, and the Ten Great Families members seated behind her followed.
“The Ludwig brat’s totally fallen for the beggar prince—now what?”
A cocky male student asked, and Maya, biting her lip irritably, snapped back in annoyance.
“When they act like that, you gotta crush ’em first. Just think of it as nipping it in the bud before he becomes family head.”
Damn, time was running short.
The original plan was to force Valencidis out of the student council president seat…… That would require a new exam to fill the vacancy.
Why? All third-years were done with exams. Second semester was just practical training and magic tower internships—no tests.
The top graduate had already been decided. That’s why he’d provoked Valencidis……
For a commoner with no Eight Great Academies background to steal the top spot would be a lifelong shame.
“If we blast Rain Ludwig away, Valencidis will step down too. So right now, we gotta properly crush the Ludwig punk first.”
Meanwhile, the executive committee members left in the student council room exchanged glances and gradually departed one by one.
“Whoa……”
“Insane……”
Seeing their excited whispers, it looked like the rumor would spread across the whole school by tonight.
For some reason, Kasena Page hesitated, then met Rain’s eyes and flashed a triumphant thumbs-up before hobbling away on her crutches.
Before long, everyone was gone, leaving only the student council officers as usual. Sandra clenched her fist with a “Kyaa!”
“Rain’s even more fun the more I see him! That’s why I love him! Now I get to legally throw down with Rain?!”
“Huh?”
“I’m in the Magic Volleyball Club too! Ahahaha! See ya next time! Gotta go practice—if I wanna show Rain my best side!!!”
And she bolted out.
Triwis chased after her with an expressionless sigh……
Felix gave Valencidis a wry smile.
“I’ll round up the planning committee again. We need to finalize the staffing by tonight to make things easier.”
By the time that whole process wrapped up, only Valencidis and Rain remained in the student council room.
No, I should go too.
He sighed away his regret at jumping into this hassle on impulse and turned to leave—when it happened.
“What’s your angle in helping me?”
Valencidis stared at Rain with narrowed eyes, as if gauging some invisible intent.
“Trying to put me in your debt? Smart move, if so.”
“Don’t write your own novel. It’s just personal business.”
Looking back now that it was all over, he couldn’t understand it.
Why had he thought that back then?
That the academy head getting mocked as an idiot…… no matter who the opponent was, he couldn’t let it slide.
“You said we mocked the beliefs of the mage you respect. Was that sincere?”
“Of course.”
Valencidis mulled over the question again, then—surprisingly—hesitated a bit before asking seriously.
“If it’s not rude, could I at least know his name?”
His name……
Was it respect for sharing the same beliefs, or just polite formality since Rain said he respected him?
Either way, he seemed far more courteous than Maya, with her empty noble upbringing.
“It’d be insanely—ridiculously—rude, so don’t ask.”
“Why?”
“’Cause it’s a name pieces of trash like dark mages don’t deserve to know.”
The barbed tone made it clear: this wasn’t about helping you. He hadn’t meant to say it anyway.
“Or what, wanna make a deal?”
“A deal?”
“Tell me who you mean by ‘mother,’ and I’ll tell you.”
Valencidis crossed his arms thoughtfully, gazing at the ceiling in silence, then suddenly undid the top button of his uniform blouse and smiled.
Not like unbuttoning a shirt, but like releasing a strict shackle he’d imposed on himself…… It was that relaxed a smile.
It was so disorienting he blinked. He’d only ever seen calculated sneers before—never anything this natural.
Well, aside from that time long ago in the school courtyard, talking about the future of magic.
“No need for that.”
Looking Rain in the eye, Valencidis’s steadfast gaze held—for the first time since they met—something like warmth.
“I think I know who it is.”
But that snapped him alert. He knows? The head?
How the hell?
Unless this guy studied at Osarius Academy 300 years ago like me…… Amused by Rain’s fluster, a playful smirk tugged at his lips as he changed the subject oddly.
“Honestly, I half-expected it. That you secretly admired me.”
“??????”
“Still, declaring it so boldly in front of all those juniors was more embarrassing than flattering. I appreciate the sentiment, but tone it down next time.”
What?
Has there ever been a bigger lunatic?
It was so absurd he couldn’t even muster a hollow laugh.
“Is your head okay? Me, admiring you? I’m using honorifics like before so no one at school overhears—are you nuts?”
“The most common way to hide embarrassment is anger. Or rather, pretending to be angry. You really can’t hide your emotions, Rain Ludwig.”
“Wow, this fucker—hey, get over here! Not coming?!”
He lunged to punch that impudent face, but Valencidis darted around the student council president’s desk too nimbly to catch.
“Come out when I’m asking nicely! Gonna use magic?”
“Then I’ll use it too.”
The moment he wove a 2-star flame magic circle in his palm, darkness suddenly erupted, greedily swallowing Valencidis’s body.
“Hey, no! That’s cheating!”
“There’s no cheating in the world of victory. Only winners and losers.”
It was a stealth technique usable only with dark magic. Sometimes used for short-range teleportation…… In short, Valencidis vanished from sight in an instant.
“Come out, come out?! Gonna use eyes?! You want me to use eyes?!”
[Intriguing. Give it a try.]
“If I reverse-engineer and tweak your spatial coordinate jump, your body gets shredded—don’t you know that? For real, gonna do it?!”
He activated Bell Sidias right away, but couldn’t detect a thing. He’d already fled somewhere else.
“Come oooout───!!!