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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: After the Mock Battle
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It was my second time fainting, after the last one in the Forest of Steel.
At this rate, it felt like I had a passive fainting skill.
'I overdid it.'
Fainting was, in a way, a natural consequence.
"Wangnon, it's time for dinner."
Just then, a voice reached my ears.
It was Card Bellicman, my roommate.
After being sent to the infirmary, I quickly received treatment.
Wounds inflicted by sword aura healed slowly.
As a result, my treatment took longer than expected, and I was carried back to my room by the healer.
Including the previous battles and the final fight against Ban.
It had been an incredibly grueling mock battle, to the point where even I was completely drained.
So, for today, I focused entirely on recovering my body.
I could feel Card, who had strode over, staring down at me.
Annoying.
I wished he would just go away.
"Honey, if you don't get up right now, I'm gonna plant a kiss on you."
"Ugh, damn it."
His sugary voice made me curse out loud.
Card placed both hands on his hips and cackled.
What a crazy delinquent.
"Yo, good to see you. Rank 14."
Rank 14.
That was my final rank in the mock battle.
Although I hadn't made it into the top 10 as originally planned.
Instead, I had achieved the significant feat of breaking through Ban, the lazy genius's, true potential.
I had certainly left a stronger impression on everyone's minds than even the top ten.
'And the same would apply to Isabel.'
What's more, Isabel hadn't gotten the battle she had been anticipating.
She must have been quite furious.
"Card, what's your rank?"
"Me? Hehe, Rank 11, higher than you."
Card chuckled smugly.
But knowing his secret, I just snorted.
This guy, just like Ban, could have climbed even higher if he wanted to.
It just meant it wasn't time to reveal his hidden cards.
"Who's number one?"
"Sharleen, again."
Truly living up to her reputation.
Still, I felt a pang of regret.
I had prepared a trump card with Sharleen to surpass Ban and achieve a higher rank.
But I hadn't even gotten to use it.
'The battle was more intense than I'd anticipated.'
As if to teach me that this world wasn't a game.
It was far more challenging than my game knowledge had prepared me for.
'Especially.'
The battles involving what I considered "extra" characters, who I hadn't given much thought to, were more arduous than expected.
Now that the extras were real people too, they were just like everyone else.
They were desperate to raise their own ranks.
'I need to broaden my perspective.'
While plans could be revised, there should be no setbacks.
I learned a lot from this mock battle.
"So, Wangnon, are you eating dinner or not? Today's mock battle day, so Marie personally supervised the cooking."
"Why did you wake me up so late? You should've woken me up right away. What a slacker."
"Wow, talk about blaming the victim."
Head Maid Marie's cooking skills were so exceptional that the imperial family had tried to recruit her as a chef.
If I went too late, the other kids would have taken all the food, and there wouldn't be any left.
Card and I bickered as we left the room and headed down the stairs.
Was it because the battle was so intense?
My body still felt stiff.
"Ah."
Just as I was descending the stairs.
I happened to run into someone walking from the hallway.
Her forehead, reflecting the light, was dazzling.
First, I rubbed my eyes.
The other person noticed why I was doing that, and her eyes widened.
"You, you!"
Her ponytail swayed wildly with her anger.
The person with the exposed forehead was one of the four who always badmouthed me.
It was Seron Parmia.
Among the four, she was the unfortunate Seron, who had fought me first.
"Hello, Rank 30."
"Don't call me Rank 30! And I wasn't even Rank 30 to begin with!"
Hadn't she lost to me and fallen to Rank 30?
"Seron is Rank 19."
Card explained from beside me.
How did this guy know that?
It seemed that after losing to me, Seron had used her remaining opportunities to climb up somehow.
Well, she wasn't originally the type to stay at Rank 29 anyway.
"Didn't you get a stomachache during the last mock battle?"
Card grinned cheerfully and looked back at Seron.
Seron, in turn, glared at Card with a stern face.
"How do *you*, a magic student, know that?"
"I remember all the pretty ones."
"If you open your mouth like that one more time, I'll rip it off. You look like a buttered potato."
Why does she compare everyone to vegetables?
When her eyes met mine, Seron's face twisted into a scowl.
"What are you looking at, burnt sweet potato?"
She's got a strong spirit.
I simply stared at Seron.
Seron glared back, not backing down.
She had been so severely beaten by me.
Yet her spirit showed no sign of dying down.
As she glared, my neck began to ache.
When I raised my hand, Seron's shoulders visibly flinched.
Her feet had instinctively shifted back, and she lowered her body.
It was a primal instinct, ingrained in her body.
No matter how strong Seron's will, she couldn't forget what she had suffered today.
I watched her blankly, then briefly rubbed the back of my neck.
"Ugh!"
Soon after, she realized what she had done, and her face flushed crimson.
Steam seemed to be rising from her forehead.
"You're a tomato. A battered tomato."
I took the opportunity to give her a nickname too.
"Eek, Eeey."
Seron trembled, then sharply turned her head away.
And then she ran off with her tail between her legs.
Card, watching her, lowered his head with a slightly curious expression.
"What did you do to her? Why is Seron like that?"
"I slammed her to the ground and punched her in the face."
"Hehe, she really got a beating. You know, strong-willed girls are really cute when they become docile."
I looked at Card with a disgusted expression.
"You have disgusting tastes."
"It's an excellent taste. Seron, even though she's feisty with others, is endlessly weak to her own man. Give it a try. It'll be fun."
I just let it go in one ear and out the other.
When we arrived at the dining hall, it was, as expected, bustling with students.
Everyone had suffered through the mock battle.
It seemed today was a day to feast.
I joined them and quickly received my food.
"Young Master Hanun, you worked hard today."
As I received my food, Head Maid Marie greeted me.
It seemed she was greeting every single student.
There weren't just one or two students; it was an incredible display of dedication.
You'd have to put in that much effort to become a Head Maid.
"Ah, Wangnon, it looks like there are no seats left since you came late?"
Just as Card, who had also received his meal, said, the dining hall was packed.
"Do I have to eat outside?"
There were tables set up outdoors as well.
But it was a bother, as it meant walking around a bit.
Just then, a single seat caught my eye.
"There it is."
"Oh, your eyes are sharp."
I headed that way first, and Card quickly followed.
The moment I set down my tray and sat.
"Huh."
I belatedly noticed the person sitting in front of me.
Amidst her honey-blonde bob.
Her vermilion eyes gleamed.
"...You."
It was Isabel Luna.
Next to her sat Sharleen, munching on a cream churro that came with dessert.
When our eyes met, she greeted me with the spoon she was holding.
It was just like her to have absolutely no table manners.
"Yo, Isabel."
Card greeted Isabel first.
Isabel gave him a perfunctory nod in greeting, then stared intently at me.
She was going to bore a hole through my face.
I paid no mind to her gaze and sat down.
Then I picked up a piece of steak with my fork.
Isabel's piercing gaze continued to bear down on me.
"Even dogs aren't bothered when they're eating."
"Don't treat people like dogs."
"I thought you were a Labrador Retriever."
"Pffft."
Sharleen, sitting next to us, covered her mouth and chuckled.
When Isabel glared at her, Sharleen quickly lowered her head and continued eating her churro.
"You, you know the results of the mock battle, right?"
Sure enough, Isabel brought up the mock battle.
"If you're telling me to apologize with this..."
"I don't accept these results."
Her vermilion eyes fixed directly on me.
I read the fervent desire contained within them.
It was an unwavering desire to finish things with her own hands.
"I'll make you apologize by defeating you myself. So next time, climb higher."
I see.
I realized.
'Isabel is changing, little by little.'
Now, the dark circles that always shadowed Isabel's eyes were noticeably lighter than before.
Her dry, frizzy hair was now managed, and she had gained a healthy amount of weight, likely from eating properly.
Even her perpetually dry lips had regained a bit of their luster.
To win against me in the mock battle, Isabel had repeatedly trained alone all this time.
And to achieve results from such training, balanced meals, sleep, and rest were necessary.
Training results don't appear overnight.
So, from the day she met me, Isabel must have forced herself to eat and sleep.
That effort was now evident.
"...Why are you smiling?"
I hadn't realized.
Had I been smiling without knowing?
"You're mocking me, aren't you? That won't happen."
Until the day you can live your life without me.
Isabel, I have no intention of losing to you.
Isabel, hearing my taunt, pouted her lips and stood up from her seat.
Her tray was already empty.
As if remembering something else to say, she shot me a glare.
"...And I'm not doing this because of you. It's for Lucas."
A warning was in her voice.
'She heard.'
That day the girls picked a fight with me.
Isabel had heard the words I'd spoken while confronting them.
It seemed this had made Isabel even more defiant.
"Sharleen, let's go."
"Mmm-hmm."
Sharleen stood up, inserting a straw into a glass bottle of juice.
Then, when her eyes met mine, she gave a slight eye-smile.
I had made a promise with Sharleen to be Isabel's rival for her sake.
It meant I was doing a good job.
"Here, have this."
With that, Sharleen offered me a churro.
I frowned intensely at it.
"You were eating that."
"It's delicious."
"I have my own, you know?"
Sharleen tilted her head, mumbled, 'But it's tasty,' to herself, then left.
She was a peculiar girl, indeed.
"Junior, it seems the seat in front of you is empty. May I sit here?"
As I was about to scoop up my soup, another presence appeared in front of me.
I looked up, and there, silver hair fluttered.
Nikita Cynthia.
She was our academy's vice president.
"Of course. I reserved it, thinking you might come, Senior."
I gladly offered the seat.
"Hee-hee, I'm benefiting from you, Junior. It wasn't easy to find a seat with so many people."
She said that and sat in the seat across from me.
"Junior, you worked hard in this mock battle. It was impressive."
"Embarrassing, did you see it?"
"Of course, as a senior, I had to watch a junior from the student council struggling so bravely."
It seemed Nikita liked me quite a lot.
"From Rank 48 to Rank 14, raising your rank that much isn't easy. You did really well."
Usually, I'm the one who always praises her.
Today, with Nikita praising me, it felt strange.
"So, about the prize..."
And then the most important topic came up.
"Unfortunately, you weren't in the top ranks."
The top ranks of the mock battle referred to the top 10.
Nikita had said she'd give me a prize if I made it into the top ranks.
It was a shame.
"I even planned our honeymoon. How sad."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not free to marry just anyone. I can only marry someone chosen by my family."
I was rejected.
Two confessions, two rejections.
More than that, my jokes were starting to not land with Nikita.
It seemed she had gotten very used to my humor.
No choice then.
Should I get serious?
"Still, if you achieve something so great that my family desires you, Junior, it might be possible."
"Starting today, I will become a hero."
"Hee hee hee, I'm joking."
"The Cynthia family is my goal, starting today."
"Ju-Junior, even if it's a joke..."
"I will definitely close the Magic Palace and stand among the heavens."
"Junior!?"
I'd have to revise my plans going forward.
Seeing my serious face, Nikita became flustered.
"...Sometimes I can't tell where your jokes end and your sincerity begins, Junior."
"I am always sincere."
"Junior, I told you last time, but my ideal type is, to be specific, someone tall.
If you grow taller, I might consider it, just once."
Nikita politely refused.
Three confessions, three rejections.
"Hmm, Wangnon is big in other ways, though."
Then Card next to me said something unnecessary.
When I gestured for him to shut up, Card shrugged.
"Wangnon, more importantly, it seems like you're only talking to famous people from our academy today.
Is it just my imagination? Wangnon, you actually have a demonic charm."
"Right now, I wish I had the charm to make your mouth shut."
"That would require a lot of charm, wouldn't it? My mouth never stops."
"I'm thinking of sewing it shut while you're asleep tonight."
"Alright. Maybe I'll sleep in a different room tonight."
What a ridiculous guy.
"Speaking of which, Junior."
Nikita pushed a carrot aside slightly and called out to me.
Nikita had a childish palate and couldn't eat carrots.
"How do you plan to form your Magic Palace team this time?"
Magic Palace team.
She was referring to the team that would be formed for entering the underground Magic Palace.
I had achieved decent results in the mock battle.
Having done this much, requests to form a team with me would surely come from all over.
"Indeed. I haven't thought about it yet."
In truth, I had already thought it all through.
But it wasn't something that would happen just because I wanted it to.
"The team you join, Junior, could you include Poara in it?"
"Poara, you mean?"
Poara Cillin, a first-year who had contracted with a Spirit Lord.
Thanks to his contract with a Spirit Lord, he was currently promoted to the special class.
"If it's Poara, everyone will want him."
"Other students have too high expectations for Poara. Excessive expectations often ruin things."
There's a saying that high hopes lead to great disappointment.
If they expected a lot from Poara and he couldn't deliver, they would naturally be very disappointed.
This wasn't a good situation for either them or Poara.
Nikita probably wanted to take Poara herself and manage him.
But third-years went to much deeper levels than first and second-years.
It was impossible to take Poara there.
"But with you, Junior, I don't think that would happen."
That was true, I had no expectations for Poara whatsoever.
"What is Poara's own opinion?"
"When I subtly asked him today, he asked me to do just that."
Poara, who possessed a Spirit Lord.
I pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes, I will."
There was no reason not to take him.
I might as well build a better relationship with Poara while I'm at it.
'Which team would make an offer?'
Please, let it be from a team I'd consider.