Chapter 63: The Second Battle Fiesta Part 6

“… Sorry I was a bit harsh…”

Despite winning, Adis reached out to Ruben with a guilt-ridden look. All this while he had been avoiding conflict with him, so he was confounded after winning in a rather intense sword fight. He had been fighting with the intention to win right from the beginning, but when he actually did win, it left him with and irresolute feeling.

Ruben had been closed to Adis since they were young. He could guess the turmoil in his heart. He grasped his proffered hand and stood up energetically. “You’re finally able to fight me seriously.” His words contained his satisfaction for being able to fight seriously rather than thinking about winning or losing.

Adis was dumbstruck as he finally realized that he had been one-sidedly distancing himself from his friend Ruben.

Ruben: “I had fun. I won’t lose next time.”

Adis felt it has been ages since the last time Ruben told him that he had fun. Ruben was the Crown Prince and he himself was the son of the Prime Minister. Above all, they were friends. As students, he could interact with him openly as friends but he ignored the chance and overlooked the important things because he was too focused about the future. After thinking for a moment, Adis smiled at him with an embarrassed face, saying, “I will win next time too.”

Ruben was surprised for a moment and then burst out laughing.

Ruben: “Before that, you need to defeat Granoli first. Do you have any plan?”

Adis: “I do but…”

Ruben: “It’s very obvious that she was slacking off all this while.”

Adis: “Yeah. But I think she still hasn’t shown her true capability; not even half of it. I can never forget how she managed to teleport me and Claude from the Jade Palace to Beham.”

Ruben was busy with Carna at that time, so he was shocked to hear Adis words. It made him realized that Razé had the capability to teleport such a long distance which was not common even for someone whose specialty was movement magic. If she wanted to, she could easily teleport behind her opponent without leaving a trajectory.

In other words, she could end the game more easily if she used teleportation with her magic stone activation speed which was much faster than anyone else. Then, she would be unbeatable in this Battle Fiesta.

Ruben: “… I wonder what is her true identity.”

Adis: “I don’t know. But considering that she’s a commoner that could enter Centrior as the scholarship student, it’s pretty obvious that she’s not an ordinary female student.”

Ruben: “You’re right.”

The two of them turned to look at the girl on the next stage. A girl who could defeat Claude, an assassin for the royal family, could not be an ordinary person.

Adis was reminded of the time they had a practice match. That was the first time he was overwhelmed by a girl who was the same age as him and was supposed to be physically weaker than him.

He later learned that she was an adventurer, and according to the Sesemann that they met at Beham, she also worked as a courier. Although she had evaded the question back then, considering that she was an acquaintance of Sesemann, it seemed likely that she was working with some high-ranking influential figure. Furthermore, Adis was quite concerned with the fact that Principal Harlens had personally scouted her.

Adis: “I know it’s kind of too late to ask, but did you receive any report about her?”

Ruben: “No. Those kinds of things are handled by Claude. It’s not good to read too much into it. You’re the type of person who will immediately create mental barrier once you become suspicious of someone. Folia is a commoner too. They are such people.”

Such people referred to those with unordinary talent among the commoner.

After joining the Adventurer’s Guild, Adis was shocked when he witnessed young children made a living by fighting. As an aristocrat, he was able to study in a privileged environment, but other children had been working using their bodies as capital since such an early age.

Although she hadn’t made any hint about her childhood, Adis could guess that the current Razé Granoli was the result of growing up in a similar environment to those children. As a matter of fact, she had never invited her guardian to the academy. Adis felt that the people who had visited her seemed like someone from her workplace and not her personal life, both in a good and a bad way. He was reminded of the time she was grinning from ear to ear when Bonalt and Ducard came. He wondered why he felt uneasy after seeing a different side of her.

Adis was still unaware of his own feeling and her past.

* * *

Why?! Why did you win?

Razé was stunned by Adis victory, though she didn’t say it out loud.

It’s over. My mission is accomplished.

She had been working hard towards her goal to defeat Prince Ruben because of that Clairvoyant Miko. But now her goal was gone.

Your Excellency… The issue with Magenda become void because of your son.

She darted a glance at the VIP seats and saw Welrian’s proud smile as he watched his son.

What about my effort winning this far?

If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have fought hard to win all these matches. Razé felt a sense of loss, as if her efforts so far burst like bubbles. She felt foolish for running 20% faster than Claude to collect the knives that he had thrown. She felt ashamed that her mission was stolen after romping around like a kid. To make things worse, her superior and subordinates had witnessed everything.

So embarrassing. I wish the ground would swallow me up.

This was the first time for her to feel this way. She left Claude after leaving the stage and ran to the waiting room in a hurry.

“Argh…” She sat down on a bench and held her head in her hands.

It was understandable that she needed to remain until the final because Ruben was in the other group, but at least she should have confirmed the match result between Ruben and Adis first. She had heard rumors about Adis’ ability, so she knew that he had the capability to defeat Ruben. But she had misjudged his character. She didn’t expect that he would actually defeat Prince Ruben.

Is he that type of person? He even slacked off in the tournament last year…

She wondered what had made him changed his attitude. Actually, it was not something that she could complaint. She didn’t realize that he still held a grudge against her for beating him last year. Most likely, she would never find out that she was the reason why he had asked his mother to train him and improved his skill tremendously in the last two years.

“Hello, hello. Can you hear me?”

No one ese was allowed to enter the waiting room other than Razé to prevent fraud. However, she still had access to use the transceiver function. The owner of that high-pitched voice was Major Julius Harley, who was in charge of overseeing the tournament’s security.

After confirming there was no presence detected nearby, Razé replied, “I can hear you. Is this private line?”

Julius: “Yes. I wanted to tell you that the suspect has made a move after watching the result.”

Razé refocus her thoughts.

Razé: “What was the suspect’s reaction?”

Julius: “Very shocked, full of murderous aura. My detector went berserk. If no one told me about it before, I’d straight away arrested that person.”

Julius’ device didn’t only detect physical movements but it also responded to human aura. The detection network was like an enclosed thread that could convey emotions to a certain level. It had a very convenient ability, and was very useful for security monitoring.

Razé: “I see… I understand. Thank you.”

The suspect who tried to frame Carna was basically confirmed. Razé felt complicated when she recalled the person.

You can’t judge a book by its cover…

Again, this was not something that she could complaint. She had taken down many enemy soldiers to protect the country. For Shian, a good defense was the best offence. No intruders were allowed. None of the students here knew that she was the person called the ‘Ghost of the Executioner’ by the enemy.

Julius: “It might get messy from here on. The enemy will start to get annoyed since things didn’t go as they planned.”

Razé: “I wish they can wait until I graduate. But I know they are short tempered. When that happen, I’ll go and cut off their heads immediately. My priority is to make sure the students can enjoy their school life.”

Julius: “Woah, you’re so scary. Your words don’t sound like a joke, so please stop saying that.”

Julius was saying the truth. It was scary when the best soldier in the country said that she was going to cut off the enemy’s head. Razé was half joking, so there was 50% chance that she might really do it.

Razé: “Anyway, the negotiations have broken down. We have no choice but to wait and see their move…. Before that, I wonder what to do with my next match.”

Thinking about the difficulties lying ahead, she sighed loudly.

Julius: “Oh, right. There’s a message for you.”

Razé had a bad feeling when she heard Julius said she had contacted her to pass the message.

Julius: “The Prime Minister said no need to hold back, and his wife said please take good care of my son.”

Razé closed her eyes and inwardly screamed, Take good care?! Which part of it is good?

Julius could guess her inner turmoil.

Julius: “I know how you feel but I think you should win this match. If the enemy know about that thing you called otome game plot, they might target the Prime Minister’s son if he wins the tournament. That Clairvoyant Miko is going to assume any person who know the plot as her enemy because it will lower her value.”

Razé knew that the mastermind behind the conspiracy to make Carna the villainess; or more specifically the conspiracy to rectify the plot to its original story was probably the Clairvoyant Miko in Magenda.

It was reasonable to assume that the spy who was hiding in the academy was making a move based on this goal. And Ruben was supposed to win in this Battle Fiesta. It was inevitable that the enemy would be watching for the person that changed the plot.

Razé: “You’re right… I know it’s kind of too late to cover up now, but the least I can do is to win so that their target won’t go elsewhere.”

Julius had been briefly explained about the otome game because her cooperation was necessary as she was in charge of security. Razé already reported to Harlens about Carna’s precognition ability to make sure no obstacle left in her path.

Julius: “Now your task is to draw attention. Maybe you are not used to it, but the method is pretty simple, isn’t it? You might not get another chance like this, so why don’t you try to enjoy it?”

Razé gave a dry laugh and said, “You’re right. Okay, I’m ready to move on. Thank you.”

Julius: “You’re welcome. I will cheer for you. Ganbatte.”

Razé: “Un.”

Razé looked at the wall clock. It was time. She turned off the transceiver and rose up feeling slightly lighter on her feet.