Chapter 96: Chapter 96

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Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: The International Individual Tournament

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The International Individual Tournament.

A friendly competition held between academies founded by heroes, to ensure the past is never forgotten.

The friendly competition takes place at the sacred grounds of the Great Hero Olfram.

It was intended to honor Olfram's heroic deeds and demonstrate that the academies still uphold the world.

"Wow, so this is Olfram's sacred grounds!"

Seron leaned out of the carriage, her face alight with wonder.

Beside her, Card gazed outside, his expression more subdued than usual.

It was only natural.

The person who sent Card here as a spy was due to arrive today.

Then, our eyes met, and he gave me a casual grin.

"What's wrong, Wangnon? Nervous? Don't worry. First place is mine."

He was as consistent as ever.

Hania and Iris were traveling in a separate carriage, a rare occurrence.

"We're rivals in the individual tournament. We won't have a repeat of what happened during the team competition."

I had led my team to victory over Iris's team in the previous group competition.

Aware of this, Hania prioritized victory over our contractual relationship this time.

Iris gazed at me with a hint of regret, but she also deferred to Hania's opinion.

Isabelle was no different.

"You. This is a continuation of what we started last time. Look forward to it."

During the boycott incident, I had stopped my fight with Isabelle midway and calmly left.

She meant to treat this individual tournament as a continuation of that encounter.

'I'm looking forward to it.'

I wondered how much Isabelle had grown.

Her role in the scenario would only grow more significant from now on.

I truly hoped she had achieved significant growth.

As the people around me dispersed, the notorious trio of troublemakers gathered together for the first time in a while.

"Prince Sweet Potato, what rank do you think you'll get?"

Seron asked about my ranking in the International Individual Tournament.

That was something you could only know by doing it, but I smiled calmly.

"I'll be in the top six."

The fame of the Six Stars.

I intended to thrust myself into that renown.

***

The arena prepared for the International Individual Tournament resembled a colossal coliseum.

With students from all six academies competing, the arena naturally had to be enormous.

However, the sheer number of participants was a factor.

Even with such a massive arena, it couldn't accommodate everyone.

Therefore, the International Individual Tournament would first begin with preliminary rounds, mixing students from all six academies.

The students, one and all, passionately declared their determination to at least pass the preliminaries.

From the main tournament onwards, key figures from each kingdom and empire would come to watch in person.

To make a name for themselves there, passing the preliminaries was essential.

And so, everyone was assigned to their preliminary groups.

"Our groups are split."

Seron looked at me, expressing her disappointment.

As Seron said, her preliminary group was indeed separate from mine.

"Hehe, aren't you jealous? I'm in the same group as Wangnon."

Card, on the other hand, was in the same preliminary group as me and was teasing Seron.

Seron punched Card in the side, then turned back to me.

"Prince Sweet Potato, you must be sad without me, right? I know you are."

"You're right. I was planning to eliminate you first. It's a shame."

"Couldn't you at least lie and say you want to be with me?!"

"I'm an honest person, I can't do that."

And then I, too, got punched in the side by Seron.

Seron grabbed my collar tightly and declared,

"If you don't say you want to be with me, I'll… I'll kiss you!"

What kind of crazy threat was that?

As I stared at Seron with a bewildered expression, her own face turned beet red after saying it.

Seron clutched her skirt tightly, her body trembling slightly.

If she was going to react like that, she shouldn't have said anything at all.

"I expected something like this to happen, but it's quite an amusing sight for me."

Card chuckled, watching us.

He took Seron's punch to the side without flinching; he certainly had good endurance.

"Jerion Academy."

Just then, Professor Beganon's voice rang out.

The eyes of the gathered Jerion Academy students turned to Professor Beganon.

She looked at everyone and declared.

Everyone expected her to spout some usual useless nonsense.

"This is your chance to shine. Don't come back having lost."

But what she conveyed was encouragement.

It was typical of her to offer support at times like this.

"If you lose and the academy's prestige drops, my salary gets cut."

She didn't forget to add a final remark.

"Maybe it's okay to make Professor Beganon's salary drop."

"Hehe, yeah."

As the students whispered, Beganon's eyes blazed as she glared at them.

"Stop with the nonsense and go do well."

With that, the students dispersed to their respective group tests, giving energetic replies.

Seron was in Group 1.

Card and I were in Group 2.

So, we parted ways with Seron and headed towards the Group 2 area.

Along the way, I spotted a few familiar faces.

"Hmm, Wangnon, it looks like most of the kids you're friendly with are scattered in other groups?"

"Seems so."

Most of the students I associated with weren't in the same group.

The preliminaries were structured so that students gathered in one location, and only those who survived would advance to the main tournament.

Given this characteristic, forming teams wasn't exactly a loophole.

In such a situation, having few acquaintances was unfortunate in many ways.

Just then, I spotted someone.

My lips naturally curved into a smile.

It wasn't like there was no one, after all.

"Granthoni."

"Huh?"

The one who heard my call turned this way.

Inside the face of pure white bone, a red gleam flickered in his eyes.

The small ossuary.

Granthoni, from the second-year Special Studies Department.

He was a fellow who specialized in unique arcane arts: spirit manipulation and corpse magic.

Having teamed up before in the previous group competition, he was a rather welcome sight.

"Oh, hehehe, Wangnon, you're in Group 2 too?"

"Yeah. There's an open spot for a healer, coincidentally. How about we team up again this time?"

"I'm good with that. I wasn't really concerned about the preliminaries anyway!"

Granthoni's only interest lay in the Otherworld.

So he merely came along because he was told to participate in the International Individual Tournament.

He didn't actually have much drive for it.

After all, Granthoni's true objective lay elsewhere.

But if someone were to lead him, it would be a different story.

Granthoni was the type to get things done when he put his mind to it.

"Good. Having you around will make things a lot easier."

The chances of passing the preliminaries increased significantly.

"Ah."

At that moment, a gasp escaped Card's lips.

"…Wangnon, this isn't going to be easy."

My gaze followed Card's.

What met my eyes next was a person with ash-gray wolf-cut hair.

I recognized him immediately from his distinctive hairstyle.

'Solvas Umbra.'

The Vice-President of Aquiline Academy, from the Illusion Kingdom.

And one of the Six Stars.

'He's been assigned to the same group.'

I understood why Card had reacted that way.

After all, Solvas was his superior.

The Umbra Count family, to which Solvas belonged, had historically produced the Ministers of Foreign Affairs for the Illusion Kingdom.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry's main work was to extract advantageous information from other countries and use it for—not quite blackmail, but advantageous dealings.

Because of this, the Umbra Count family was feared in the Illusion Kingdom.

Their notorious reputation had spread widely even to other nations.

Card was a spy employed by that very Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Naturally, Solvas, the son of the current Minister and future Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Umbra, was his superior.

Solvas was skillfully conversing with those around him.

He, after all, held the title of a Foreign Affairs Ministry official.

His eloquence was also exceptional.

And I knew well the students who would soon fall victim to that eloquence.

"Card."

Card's gaze turned towards me.

"What do you think would happen if one of the Six Stars got eliminated in the preliminaries?"

A sly smile played on my lips.

Card, looking at my expression, slowly rolled his eyes.

"…Are you confident?"

There's a common truth everywhere in the world.

Bosses who demand excessive work are naturally disliked.

The reason Card had been complaining of extreme fatigue recently.

It was because he had been thoroughly grilled by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Jerion Academy had suffered one hardship after another.

There must have been a mountain of information to extract from those hardships.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry had thoroughly interrogated Card, claiming he hadn't noticed any of it.

In truth, for Card, the incidents that occurred at Jerion Academy were nothing short of disasters.

More importantly, there were too many dangerous situations for Card to get involved in.

The most crucial aspect of spy work was not getting caught.

If his spy activities were exposed and he was captured, nothing could be more troublesome.

Card had strictly adhered to this rule while carrying out his missions.

But the Foreign Affairs Ministry had ignored Card's position and thoroughly grilled him anyway.

And now, the son of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, his superior, had appeared.

"Have you ever seen me talk about something I'm not confident in?"

Card let out a hollow laugh.

"Never."

I was the kind of person who always made good on my words.

Card, who had lived with me all this time, knew that best.

"Good. If one of the Six Stars gets eliminated in the preliminaries, that news will spread beautifully."

A sly smile, mirroring mine, formed on Card's lips.

"Hehehe."

Granthoni, not understanding what was going on, clacked his teeth and laughed along.

He was a good guy.

"Group 2, the preliminary round will now begin."

A professor from another academy, who was overseeing this test, called out to the students of Group 2.

Soon after, his assistants quickly began distributing bracelets to the students.

"From now on, you will be moving to the location indicated on your bracelets to participate in the preliminary round."

At that moment, light emanated from the bracelets, pointing the way.

"The light on your bracelet will extinguish once you arrive at your designated location.

The preliminary round will only begin once all participants have arrived, so please confirm your assigned spot carefully."

The direction led into a forest protected by a massive defensive magic.

It was a large-scale magic circle set up to prevent external intrusion.

And that forest was also the venue for the preliminary round.

"As we are monitoring your vital signs, the light will extinguish if you become incapacitated in combat.

Currently, there are a total of 300 participants. The preliminary round will continue until only 16 remain."

The preliminary groups were divided into four in total.

Selecting 16 from each group meant the main tournament would consist of 64 participants.

"Only 16 out of 300?"

"That's too few."

The students' murmuring continued.

It was natural, as it meant the vast majority would be eliminated.

"Furthermore, there's a defensive magic that activates if your life is in grave danger.

This is, after all, a friendly competition. If you harm an opponent's life, you will be immediately disqualified and face legal repercussions.

Remember this well. What we are holding is a friendly competition.

Your true enemies are the Demon Palace. Do not stake your lives on this match."

The professor warned the students repeatedly.

He emphasized it because accidents always occurred during the International Individual Tournament.

Fortunately, no one had died in the International Individual Tournament so far.

'Unfortunately, that won't be the case for this International Individual Tournament.'

Just one person.

One person dies in this International Individual Tournament scenario.

And I know who that is.

This is one of the bad endings I must prevent.

"Now, all students, please proceed to the preliminary round venue."

After giving Card and Granthoni a look, I strode forward with vigor.

I was very curious to see where I would be initially placed.

My actions would change depending on the assigned location.

With that expectation, the moment I arrived at my assigned location.

I ended up seeing a familiar face a short distance away.

"Hm?"

Damn it.

"Oh, hello there. The one who received a confession from Blue Flame."

He smiled faintly at me.

His voice was remarkably calm, even though he must have known my name.

The Son of Shadows.

Solvas Umbra.

Things went awry right from the start of the placement.