Chapter 78
Rin Glacia.
The eldest daughter of the House of Glacia and a girl hailed as the greatest genius of her generation.
She was also the most dominant top student in Grandia Academy's history.
Even graduating seniors found it difficult to approach her.
She was like an ice rose blooming in a pure-white snowfield.
······.
Rin had never taken an interest in anything.
She considered everything worthless.
Thus, the girl's world was always gray.
No one and nothing had ever managed to capture her interest.
But recently, one person had begun to grate on Rin's nerves.
‘Victor.’
A commoner without even a surname.
Top student of Class E.
According to the rumors, a weakling with overall stats at E rank.
He was a student whose very admission was a mystery.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been an extra she would not even have spared a glance.
‘And yet······.’
His actions kept catching her eye.
Accomplishments far too impressive for a Class E student.
‘Strange.’
During the last practical, he had overtaken her and claimed first place.
He had exposed a mole in cooperation with the faculty.
Rumors even circulated that he was dating Chief Investigator Jaber, known as the academy's de facto number two.
He had defeated Class C's top student during the freshman welcoming exam, then later made even Class B's top student his pet.
‘There is no way someone like that is in Class E.’
His strength was impossible to reconcile with that of a mere Class E top student.
Rin knew because she had personally sparred with Caitlyn.
His speed was not something he could have surpassed her with through mere good luck.
At least in terms of instantaneous top speed, he ranked among the fastest people the girl had ever seen.
‘He toyed with Class B's top student.’
Victor had not received so much as a scratch.
Even conservatively, he was at the lower end of Class A; judged generously, he had the ability to reach the very top of Class A.
‘And besides······ he seemed to use some unique power.’
The boy used a unique power.
It was neither magic, divinity, nor sorcery.
Coupled with his outstanding performance, it was impossible not to be intrigued.
Rin's interest in Victor grew steadily, and that interest increasingly irritated her.
‘The top student in the practical······.’
Rin had already lost to the boy once.
It had scraped badly at the girl's pride.
She had always needed to be the best.
‘I can't leave things like this.’
She needed to confirm it.
She needed confirmation that her opponent was inferior to her.
That he was nothing more than a worthless piece of scrap.
On an official stage, in front of everyone, she had to prove that she was the best.
‘If I get pushed aside by someone like this, even my family won't pay attention to me anymore······.’
It was a kind of obsession.
A habit ingrained in her life.
Without hesitation, Rin headed straight for Class E.
She entered the classroom confidently and stopped in front of Victor.
-W-what······? Isn't that the top student from Class A?
-Lady Glacia? That genius said to be the greatest in the history of all the years······?
-Why would someone of such noble status come to our classroom?
-Could she have business with our big brother······?
The murmurs of the Class E students reached her from all around.
Of course, the noise did not even reach Rin's ears.
Those chilly blue eyes were fixed on a single point.
“Top student of Class E.”
“······.”
A masked boy sat before her.
A clown with a dignified air, yet somehow exuding an ominous atmosphere.
Rin's gaze turned cold.
“Fight me during the practical portion of midterms.”
It was neither a request nor a proposal.
What the girl had thrown at him was a unilateral declaration.
Refusal was not among the answers Rin had considered.
Silence, or a frightened nod from the boy, would be sufficient.
“I won't accept a refusal. I'll take back the top spot you stole from me in the practical, this time in front of the entire student body.”
“······.”
“Answer me.”
“······.”
An overbearing attitude.
Perhaps frozen by it, the clown could not even open his mouth.
Rin waited briefly for an answer, then abruptly turned around and left the classroom.
She had taken Victor's silence as agreement.
“I trust you're not a coward who plans to run away······.”
One last remark as she left the classroom, meant to grate on his nerves.
It was an utterly arrogant statement.
“It doesn't matter. You'll be crushed miserably anyway.”
Then came the footsteps moving down the hallway.
Only the scent of pure white winter lingered inside the classroom.
Unable to give any real answer, the boy merely stared blankly after Rin's retreating figure.
***
Rin's declaration of war.
The news spread rapidly among the students.
Though only a single day had passed, it had become such a hot topic that the entire student body knew about it.
-Did you guys hear the news?
-Ah! You mean that?
-I heard Class A's top student really threw down the gauntlet this time.
Rin Glacia.
The genius called the greatest of this generation.
She had thrown down a challenge.
-She asked to fight the top student of Class E?
-Victor? Isn't he the guy who even overtook Caitlyn last time?
The opponent was Victor, Class E's top student.
The student currently attracting the most attention within Grandia.
On the strength of one achievement after another, including the capture of the mole, he was enjoying an unprecedented rise in popularity.
A clash between those two.
It was only natural that the academy's atmosphere would be turned upside down.
-In the midterms? The top students from Classes A and E are going to fight······?
-I never expected Lady Glacia to show interest.
-This is bad······ What are we going to do about the poor Class E top student?
-Even if he is that guy, wouldn't Lady Glacia be too much for him?
Students showed fervent interest.
In their otherwise dull academy lives, events like this were their only entertainment.
The cadets quickly became animated as they talked about the news.
“Big brother!”
And,
it was just as noisy around me.
“Are you really all right?”
“We heard that Lady Glacia challenged you to a duel!”
“W-what should we do? If it's during the practical portion of midterms, everyone will be watching······.”
“It's still amazing! They say this is the first time the top student of Class A has shown interest in anyone since enrolling!”
The Class E students fussed over me, worried.
The Shuttles, in particular, were frantic with worry.
“I'm quite all right.”
“But······!”
“Besides, it isn't anything as grand as a duel. She merely suggested that we test our mettle during the practical portion of midterms.”
“Didn't she look down on you, big brother! Saying she'd crush you, calling you a coward······!”
“I don't mind. It didn't particularly bother me.”
I barely managed to calm them down.
Everyone was on the verge of exams. Was it really appropriate to get worked up over some pointless event like this?
“I'm fine. Please focus on your own studies.”
“Big brother······.”
“For our sake again······.”
“Because you don't want us to be unable to focus on the exam······.”
And yet these people took even those words seriously.
They seemed to have interpreted them as me forcing myself to pretend I was fine because I didn't want to worry them.
“We'll absolutely show you with improved grades······!”
“We're memorizing the secret manual you gave us every single day!”
At this point, even explaining myself was exhausting.
I simply left them to interpret it however they wanted.
‘Still, it's touching to see them take my side like this······.’
Perhaps it was a little excessive.
I scratched my head while more or less accepting their concern.
Meanwhile, the Shuttles weren't the only ones to react to the news.
“Sir Victor! We've heard the news!”
“M-Mr. Victor······.”
Ranne and Alice.
The two were now completely inseparable.
“You were challenged to a duel by Lady Glacia!”
“The o-one who looks so scary······.”
“You'll be conquering Class A next!”
“Still, p-please be careful so you don't get hurt······.”
The cheerful blonde and the black-haired girl who spoke timidly.
I couldn't help tilting my head at their reactions.
The nuance was quite different from what the Class E students had given off.
“Aren't the two of you worried about me?”
“Y-you are······?”
“Worried, sir? About you······?”
The two raised question marks at my question, as if asking what I was talking about.
Ranne soon burst out laughing, apparently thinking it was a joke.
Her purple eyes were filled with certainty.
“Pfft······ That was a funny joke!”
A joke.
“There's no way Sir Victor could lose! Not in a match between mere cadets!”
“R-right······ Mr. Victor will, w-win anyway.”
“Of course. You're the man who tore an Apostle apart with nothing but a tree branch.”
“Was that some kind of nonsense question? D-did I fail to understand······?”
The two were, if anything, bewildered by my reaction.
They looked as though someone had asked why one plus one was two.
With their purple and jade-colored eyes blinking, I found myself awkwardly embarrassed for no reason.
‘What?’
I wondered if these two trusted me a little too much.
Well, they were the two who had watched my exploits from closest by······.
“Hmm······ I'm at a loss for how to respond to such high praise.”
“Haha! You are humble as well, sir.”
Considerable trust.
Faced with those burdensome gazes, I could do nothing but give an awkward smile.
Of course, unlike them, there was also a reaction that was pure mockery.
“Ha······! I heard that monster of a woman challenged you to a match this time?”
“Miss Caitlyn.”
Open ridicule.
The blonde, tanned delinquent girl spoke as though taunting me.
“At last, I get to see you suffer an ugly defeat.”
“It seems Miss Gay Dentures also thinks highly of Class A's top student.”
“I know because I've fought her. She's completely fucking insane. She can probably go toe-to-toe with most of the faculty. She's a different species from us.”
“Oh dear.”
“What did you do to get on that monster's bad side?”
“I didn't do anything in particular to offend her······.”
“Anyway, it's fucking hilarious. Get thoroughly wrecked in front of the whole student body and make a complete ass of yourself.”
“Isn't that a self-introduction?”
“Y-you fucking······.”
She had spewed all kinds of trash talk trying to get under my skin, only to be the one who got needled when I threw out a single line.
For all her looks, she was quite the amateur.
Clink-.
I gave the leash around Caitlyn's neck a few light tugs.
Did she really not know that trying to provoke me while looking like this was simply funny?
The girl stiffened at the signal and glared at me with a rotten expression.
“Come to think of it, I don't think I've heard it even once today.”
“······.”
“Miss Caitlyn?”
“······.”
“Miss Gay Dentures.”
“Please, anything but that······.”
Crackle-.
Her yellow eyes trembled.
Sparks flew, as if leaking from those emotions.
But the merciless vampire hunter never let her prey go.
“Expelled?”
“······.”
Her shoulders trembled.
Caitlyn's head drooped low.
I pulled the leash, making her meet my eyes once more.
“You need to answer.”
“······.”
“Expelled?”
“M-m, m-mrr······.”
“More clearly.”
“Mrr······.”
“More brightly!”
“Woof woof······!”
“More energetically!!!”
“Woof, woof woof!”
Her face was red to the limit.
I rubbed Caitlyn's crown as she boiled with rage.
“That's right, good girl!”
There had been a brief incident involving a lack of manners, but I safely drove it away with a magic spell.
If this was how things always ended, why did she bare her fangs every time?
Still, by now, even that prickliness had started to feel like part of her charm.
Her eyes brimming with tears as she glared at me as if she wanted to kill me—it was truly a delicacy.
“Ahem.”
I toyed with the hair that had been frizzed by the sparks.
When I thoroughly mussed her hair, she looked ready to die of happiness.
I left the Class B classroom feeling considerably refreshed.
As I walked down the hallway, various thoughts settled into my mind.
‘Rin Glacia······ A match against the highest-scoring first-year?’
It seemed I would need to make some preparations.
There was no harm in being thorough.
I crossed the hallway with light steps.
The place I arrived at was the laboratory of a certain chief investigator.
“Professor Jaber.”
“Student Victor.”
Jaber welcomed me politely despite my unexpected visit.
Green eyes blinked between strands of loose red hair.
She set down the documents she had been reading and asked,
“What brings you here?”
Her gaze was still impassive.
Regardless, I answered in a bright voice.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor······?”
“Yes, a favor.”
It was about time I brought it up.
Compared to my other stats, my attack power was particularly low.
There was one bug that could grant me attack power equivalent to a nuclear bomb.
“Would you mind helping me for a moment?”
Well then.
Shall we try making use of a new bug?