Chapter 15
*The Reason for Acting*
“Hmm…”
After a long wait, Noel finally saw two figures emerge from the glass garden. It was undoubtedly Enzhe Lopetrefer and Melaine Vava.
Enzhe, collapsing weakly into the arms of her maid, Melaine watching with a worried expression, the Lopetrefer servants attending to them – none of them noticed Noel sitting on the roof of the glass garden.
Noel rested his chin on his hand and waited for the two who hadn’t yet emerged from the glass garden. A short while later, Sue Byron appeared, opening the garden door.
“…”
Noel looked down at the top of his ‘friend’s’ head without a word. Her dark red hair was a tangled mess.
A few minutes after Sue disappeared into the building, Jade Raymon, covered in blood, finally appeared, carried on the back of a servant.
Noel’s eyes widened at the sight.
Jade was being taken somewhere by the Lopetrefer servants. Judging from the direction, it was undoubtedly the academy infirmary.
“…So what he said was true.”
Noel frowned. It had been the right decision to secretly follow Sue, who had been acting strangely.
“Sigh…”
A heavy feeling settled in his chest. Noel slowly closed his eyes and opened them again, lifting his head. He stared blankly at the sky. Hundreds of stars twinkled in the purple twilight.
“What am I going to do now…”
A dark shadow began to fall over Noel’s face.
A hot wind blew.
* * *
“Raines Noel Delpheman. Lion!”
After confirming the color of the bead Noel had picked, the Black Eagle Class representative announced in a clear, firm voice.
“Golden Lion Team. The meeting room is on the fourth floor of Building C, right?”
Noel mumbled to himself, his eyes still fixed on the golden bead. He didn’t need an answer, as he was just confirming it for himself, but the representative nodded and pointed towards the door.
“You can leave now. Next, Evil Ars! Please come forward!”
The academy was currently in the midst of selecting teams for the Sports Festival.
Whenever a special event approached, the class representatives and vice-representatives became incredibly busy. They had to attend frequent representative meetings and lead class meetings. Sue had lost count of how many times the Black Eagle Class representative had opened and closed the classroom door today alone.
The Sports Festival was to be held in exactly two weeks. Teams were selected fairly through a lottery. Each student had to come to the front of the classroom and draw a bead from a box. The teams were divided according to the five existing class names, based on the color of the bead they drew.
Noel, who had drawn a golden bead, was assigned to the Golden Lion Team. Once their team was decided, students had to leave the classroom immediately and go to the meeting room for their respective teams.
Sue sat at her desk, waiting for her name to be called.
“…Ah.”
Just then, her eyes met Noel’s, who was standing by the teacher’s desk. Sue blinked, and Noel waved playfully. The golden light of the bead in his hand glinted.
Sue belatedly raised her hand to return the greeting, but Noel left the classroom without noticing.
“…Sue Byron Chiqmefriar. Please come forward!”
Her name was called, and Sue walked down the stairs and reached into the box on the teacher’s desk.
*Hmm… I’ll just pick anything.*
She randomly grabbed a bead and pulled it out.
“Sue Byron Chiqmefriar, Eagle!”
The bead in her hand was shining black, like a black pearl. She was on the Black Eagle Team.
*Not a golden bead.*
Pushing aside the useless thought, Sue headed towards the class meeting room in Building C.
The black door with the eagle emblem was no different from the door to the Black Eagle Class classroom.
This space was originally intended for all the students of each class to gather and hold meetings. However, all the students of the Black Eagle Class had never gathered here, and in reality, it was only used for Sports Festival meetings.
As Sue opened the door to the meeting room, she immediately made eye contact with a familiar face.
“Sue, you drew a black bead too.”
“Lady Melaine!”
The moment she saw those sparkling golden eyes, Sue’s expression brightened, and she walked over to Melaine.
“We’re on the same team. Please take care of me.”
“Yes, I was just thinking I didn’t know anyone here, so this is good.”
Melaine sighed in relief. It seemed like she had been separated from her group of followers.
“By the way, Sue, you should go and greet him.”
Melaine said as she sat down in the back row of the sixth-year section.
“Yes, I was just about to.”
Sue understood what Melaine meant.
The meeting room wasn’t very crowded yet. That’s why she had already noticed his presence.
Shina Fritz.
The boy chosen by the world was standing on the platform, his arms crossed, looking indifferent.
He was leaning against the wall, waiting for the rest of the students to arrive. There was a hint of charisma in the way he held his chin up slightly and slowly scanned the room.
“M-Master Fritz!”
Just then, a brave boy stood before him.
“It’s an honor to be on the same team as you, Master!”
The nameless boy, who looked a couple of years younger, closed his eyes tightly and shouted. All eyes were already on Fritz, so there was no need to draw attention.
The boy, too nervous to even introduce himself, stood there trembling, waiting for a response. He seemed to be expecting Fritz to say something.
Fritz glanced at the source of the commotion for a moment and then simply nodded silently. He didn’t seem to have the slightest interest in the boy who had boldly approached him.
Sue closed her eyes in despair at the awkward scene.
*I don’t want to be publicly humiliated like that…*
Fritz was completely oblivious to anything he didn’t need to remember. If it wasn’t politically important, or if it didn’t pique his interest, he would simply ignore it, no matter how much attention it drew. Sue, who had been ignored by him for ten years, knew this better than anyone.
“Haha, I think it’s better to greet Master Fritz later.”
Sue finally gave up. She rubbed the back of her neck and sat down next to Melaine.
“Huh? You’re not going now?”
Melaine asked, surprised.
“No. It’s a bit crowded, and Master Fritz seems to be deep in thought…”
He didn’t seem to be thinking about anything in particular, but from a distance, he looked like a handsome man lost in contemplation. *Being handsome really does have its perks.*
“Hmm, is that so? Normally, you would have rushed to the platform as soon as you entered this meeting room.”
Sue could only laugh at Melaine, who raised an eyebrow at her.
Well, ‘Sue’ had no shame and was completely oblivious.
After waiting for a while, the meeting room gradually filled up with students who had drawn black beads. Students from all six years were in this room. The seventh and eighth years, who had classes in a different building, held their own Sports Festival on a different day.
“Ahem, ahem. May I have your attention, please.”
Just as it became difficult to find an empty seat in the meeting room, a girl’s husky voice came from the platform.
It was Julia Ains, the representative of the sixth-year Golden Lion Class, a girl with short brown hair and a white, crescent-shaped headband.
Fritz was standing a short distance away from her, in the same posture as before.
Normally, the first order of business would be to elect a team leader and vice-leader to lead the entire team. But this time, it seemed like two representatives had already been naturally decided, without any voting.
And the students already tacitly understood who was the leader and who was the vice-leader.
“First, we’ll decide on the representatives for each year, and then we’ll select the athletes for each event.”
Julia Ains was in charge of leading the meeting.
Ains was the third daughter of the Ains marquis family, and she had been the class representative of the Golden Lion Class for all six years. She had extensive experience dealing with the proud students of the Golden Lion Class, including Fritz and Acrea, and even those who weren’t. As a result, leading a group had become as natural to her as breathing.
More importantly, Julia Ains was a character in ‘Beyond the Tiny Droplet’. She was one of the protagonist Halo’s closest friends. She was also one of the people who contributed to the downfall of Enzhe’s group.
In that sense, Sue was very aware of Ains, but she didn’t have any particular feelings towards her.
“I’ll give you some time, so please select a suitable representative for each year.”
Ains checked the wall clock at the back of the meeting room and gave the instructions.
They were given some time to choose a representative for each year. Since the sixth-year team representative also served as the year representative, Sue’s year didn’t need to elect a separate representative.
A few minutes later, at Ains’s command, the representatives elected by each year gave brief self-introductions.
“Next, we’ll be selecting athletes for each event. For those of you who are in the Knights, please feel free to participate in as many events as you like, even if they overlap.”
Ains then began to select athletes for each event. Since there were differences in physical abilities, athletes were selected from two years at a time.
But as Ains’s request made clear, the Sports Festival was essentially a festival for the Knights trainees.
There were over twenty different events in the Sports Festival, but most of them were essentially for the Knights trainees.
While there were some events like horseback riding and hunting that were enjoyed by ordinary nobles, most of them, such as swordsmanship, archery, spearmanship, and territory capture, were events where only Knights trainees could excel.
There were also some events that encouraged the use of magic. Hunting was one such event where the use of magic was permitted. In addition to this, there was even a magic duel, similar to the swordsmanship competition.
In other words, there wasn’t a single event that Sue could participate in.
As a matter of course, Sue was clumsy and uncoordinated. If she couldn’t even dance, there was no way she would be good at sports.
*I’ll just cheer for the team and Noel.*
“…Finally, we’ll select the athletes for the Ribbon Race. Starting with the fifth and sixth years, please raise your hand if you wish to participate in the Ribbon Race.”
The athlete selection proceeded swiftly, and they finally reached the last event. Ains checked the list of events and participants and turned her gaze towards the right side of the room.
“….”
But there was silence.
Unlike the previous events, where everyone had eagerly raised their hands, the right side of the room, where the fifth and sixth years were sitting, was completely silent.