72 – Bloody entrance ceremony (7)

When he denied being the chief, Cecil widened her eyes and said,

“I have a question.”

“What.”

“Why are you refusing the top spot? Everyone poured blood and sweat to get the top spot, but the top-ranked person just kicked off their seat and did something else.”

“…”

“…Did you just come to watch the entrance ceremony?”

He nodded.

Cecile crossed her arms and thought for a moment.

“I don’t like that. Even if it’s none of my business… Did you know that Eternia gives rings to the top students of each faculty every year? I can live comfortably anywhere with just one. Don’t you want to have one?”

“…”

“Okay. Did you know that Princess Gainax from the Duchy of Yulicia was also here? I didn’t openly state the reason for my visit to Eternia, but behind the scenes rumors circulated that the Duke of Gainax came to find a worthy son-in-law. We desperately need seeds that are physically strong.”

He tilted his head slightly, as if not understanding Cecile’s intentions.

“Right now, all the boys are wearing nice clothes and putting strength on their shoulders to stand out in the eyes of the princess.”

He did not show much interest in Cecile’s words. The princess and the prince are stories from a different world than her own.

“Doesn’t a man’s ambition boil over when he hears such a story? Think about what great benefits you will receive if you go up to the podium as a student representative. Even the most successful aristocrats do not get this kind of opportunity. You will definitely impress the empire as well as the principality. With a little coaxing, you might be able to get a huge donation.”

“That would be nice.”

“Why did you come to Eternia? Didn’t you come to be respected by people, earn money, eat well, and live well?”

A question that any Eternian student would agree with, he did not affirm.

“I’ve had enough now.”

It was difficult to guess his intentions. I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel sick that the senior position has been passed on to someone else, but I don’t show any regrets about it.

Cecile stared into his eyes.

It doesn’t give off an empty and pessimistic atmosphere like someone who gave up everything.

It was as if something had already formed inside of him, and it was as if the desire for success or fame could not fill it up.

That appearance strongly stimulated Cecile’s curiosity. But now, Cecile had no way of knowing what the lump was.

“Yeah. It’s just in case, it’s not like you left your fiancé in your hometown far away, right?”

“…no.”

After examining his reaction carefully, Cecile said with a slight smile on her lips.

“Then that’s all right. The entrance ceremony will start soon.”

Cecile hesitated as if he was sad to leave, and he cut it off.

“Go.

“Heh, yes. Let’s go.”

Cecile turned around without saying goodbye. After taking a few steps like that, I thought of something to say again, so I turned around and said.

“…Can we see you again in our school?”

“Yes. Very occasionally.”

I imagined the ridiculous appearance of wearing a mask and taking a class in a classroom by myself, but somehow it seemed that that would not happen.

I had a lot of questions, but it was clear that I wouldn’t get the answers I wanted from him.

“Okay, I won’t bother asking.”

***

I didn’t even realize that I had dropped the handkerchief.

I didn’t see anything wrong. There really was that man.

He had never had a proper conversation with Lilith.

However, unlike the cold treatment he had from the beginning to the end, the two of them were talking like old friends. Seeing that, it was like being stabbed in the chest with an awl.

I was sad enough to feel hatred for the man, and that feeling gradually developed into an indescribable sadness. It was a bitterness I had never felt in my life.

There was nothing Lilith could do. I couldn’t casually approach him and talk to him, and I couldn’t push the foxy Cecile away.

As Cecil had said, Lilith only received from him, but had no ability to help.

Caught up in her impulsive emotions, she cursed everything in the past that made her who she is now. He loathed himself terribly, incompetent and burdensome.

Lilith stood still and continued to wipe away the flowing tears.

“I’m… a worthless bitch.”

***

Mathias belatedly set out to find Lilith.

His insides were complicatedly twisted. It was the first time I had seen Lilith cry so painfully. I thought I had at least the position of a friend, but I didn’t even confide in him. Even so, when he told him that he had found the masked guy, he ran away like an arrow, which made Mathias bitter.

I couldn’t understand why they were looking for an eccentric who was said to be wearing a mask. It bothered me when Lilith asked me to find him. It was very strange for Lilith to pursue a man with all her heart and soul.

Giving all my attention to him while keeping an emotional distance from Mathias seemed to turn my stomach.

While helping her, she was relieved to realize that Lilith also did not know the man’s name or face. It was because I could be sure that it wasn’t a love affair.

It was impossible to have feelings for a person whose face, name, or status was unknown. Especially considering the status of Mathias and the many men who followed her.

Even at the entrance ceremony, she believed in that the moment she set out to find Lilith. It wouldn’t be about a coalition.

Through the crowd, Mathias finally found Lilith’s back.

She was standing in the middle of the crowd, shaking her shoulders.

“Lilith, Lilith!”

Matthias called her out loud, but she seemed to be distracted by something.

He reached over and grabbed Lilith by the shoulder, but she didn’t respond to Mathias.

On the floor, her favorite handkerchief, which had been trampled on several times by the crowd, was strewn about like a rag.

Mathias grabbed a handkerchief and checked Lilith’s face.

Her eyes were fixed on one spot, and she was pathetic and weeping profusely. And Mathias fixed his eyes on the place where Lilith’s gaze was directed.

In a corner far away, the masked man and Cecil Fontar, the most famous person in the Faculty of Sorcery, stood close to him.

All of this circumstance was telling only one thing. Only then did he intuit everything.

That all of Lilith’s actions were related to the coalition. And that love was directed towards the masked man.

Matthias was by her side, but Lilith didn’t take her eyes off the masked man for a moment, sobbing plaintively.

On the one hand, Matthias could not understand.

Why?

I couldn’t figure out how it was possible to have feelings for someone I didn’t know his face, name, or identity. Lilith talked about him as if he was a great person, but in reality he was neither the chief nor the second in the combat department, and he was not the next rank.

It was obvious that he had disturbed Lilith’s mind in an unholy way.

‘What the hell is that guy?’

I thought I would be good to Lilith, so I took care of her, helped her, and cared for her materially and mentally.

The more he chewed on the absurdity, the more jealousy and anger towards him grew inside Matthias.

***

“I don’t know anything. The sword the butler said is nowhere to be seen.”

Even with the entrance ceremony just around the corner, some professors remained in the conference room and discussed urgently.

Dean Dunkel furrowed his eyebrows at Professor Elementary School’s listless words.

Luna was in a coma. The butler personally visited her and detailed her condition and asked for help, but even a few faculty members could not find out what was bothering Luna.

Dunkel asked.

“Are you saying it could be a matter of thought bodies rather than spirits?”

The problem related to the thought body could not be solved right away. It was because talents capable of detecting thought forms were extremely rare, and all of Eternia’s attraction for this was in the north.

“She is a girl with a special talent that goes beyond spirits and can even respond to thought forms, but Eternia is not a place where thought forms can freely come and go, so it won’t be a matter of thought bodies.”

said the assistant professor of the pension department.

“It could be hallucinations caused by potion poisoning. The condition is serious.

It was terrible. What the hell happened to this talented, sincere, young girl to get her hands on the narcotic potion? Dunkel felt very upset.

“There is one singularity that is difficult to see as a potion addiction.”

Dunkel asked, pressing his hand to his temple.

“Something?”

“Magic power is depleted. It’s not that the amount of magic power is small, nor is the recovery power bad, but no matter what you do, the magic power doesn’t recover.”

Dunkel let out a drool.

It was something that could happen when the superiority and inferiority of the spirit bond were reversed.

The spirit receives the magical power of the contractor, manifests itself in the world, and emits power. And the contractor must have the upper hand in solidarity to be able to dominate and deal with the spirits. In extremely rare cases, the spirit gains the upper hand, and in that case, the spirit disregards the will of the contractor and exploits the magic as desired.

However, there was no way that a girl with a genius talent in spiritism would make such a mistake. Furthermore, if all of Luna’s vast magical power was sucked up, the runaway spirits would have to happen, but no abnormal phenomena were observed in Eternia.

Then, urgent footsteps echoed in the quiet hallway.

The footsteps reached the front of the conference room and finally someone opened the door.

The person who opened the door was a maid who was taking care of Luna who was in a coma.

She gasped and shouted at the professors.

“Luna, Luna is gone!”