Thirty-Fourth Chapter
Acquired Honor
Meanwhile, in contrast to such concerns...
Loki, Tesfia, and Alice were watching the second-year matches from on top of their beds. Their focus was entirely on the screen.
Displayed on the screen was the first match of the second-year students, but the match in question was incredibly one-sided. Before long, Felinella’s alias, Orchesis, was being muttered in the stands here and there by some audience members that were watching.
One almost felt bad for her opponent, and even the applause for the winner was somewhat awkward with some fear mixed in. Felinella’s brilliant skill and the terrific way she handled the match chilled the heated audience.
The next matches were supposed to continue with the semi-finals for the first-years through the third-years. After that, it would be the finals and the third place deciding matches for each of the class years, meaning that the participants would pretty much have to fight in succession.
However, since everyone in the first-year division was injured or exhausted, their matches would be pushed back in the schedule. The biggest reason for that was that Fillic was still unconscious.
Loki was the only actual injured competitor though, as Tesfia and Alice would be able to recover some mana through resting. So in the end, all they could do right now was sit tight in their beds.
They spent their time watching all of the matches in the infirmary with serious looks on their faces. Unlike Felinella’s one-man show of a first round, Illumina was struggling in the second. She put up a good fight, but ultimately lost. Yet even then she was expressionless, not showing any exhaustion, though there appeared to be some frustration behind her mask.
She tended to stay in Felinella’s shadow, but this vice-captain was talented as well. One could only say that this was a poor matchup for her. After all, her opponent was Karia Ferrard, someone who had a similar ranking to Felinella and who was Rusalca’s promising second-year student.
In the middle of the battle, Illumina had switched her strategy to stripping her opponent’s stamina, but in the end, Karia was a cut above her. Illumina herself likely knew she had a low chance of winning, but she’d chosen that strategy as her best possible chance.
Tesfia and Alice applauded her fight from the infirmary. Besides, it was still too early to give up. The finals were still ahead of them after all. It was the next match that would determine the Second Magical Institute’s results.
Moreover, the Second Magical Institute didn’t have any competitors for the third-year division, so Rusalca’s First Magical Institute was winning their way through as expected. The first-year division’s finals were skipped for the aforementioned reasons, and it was decided to move on to the finals for the second-year division.
With this being the finals, Felinella wasn’t going to have as easy of a time as before. Having seen the match between Illumina and Karia, Tesfia and Alice were also getting pumped up.
As the Institute’s representative, Felinella had of course been marked, and there were likely measures that had been put in place against her. Her abilities were on the level of an active duty Magicmaster, after all.
Strangely enough, this was pretty much a repetition of last year, when Felinella had faced Karia in the finals. It was Alpha versus Rusalca then as well. Last year, Felinella had come out ahead, but this year Karia would surely have more cards to play against her.
Also, they could more or less have anticipated that they might face each other again, so Karia must have thoroughly studied her tactics. One could expect a close game.
While Loki had fulfilled her promise with Alus, the overall outcome wasn’t solely dependent on her. It was more than likely that this match would determine if the Second Magical Institute won or not.
Because of this, Loki was the one who was the most intently staring at the screen, having left the rest up to Felinella. She clutched the blanket that was over her knees.
The instant someone lost their concentration during the back and forth attack and defense would determine the outcome. They look about evenly matched. I had the image of Feli being pretty good against other people, but her opponent is pretty strong too... or rather, it seems they’ve thoroughly examined her tactics.
Karia was skillfully using two short spears to handle Felinella’s attacks. Like Alice, she was exceptionally skilled at close combat.
But to think there was someone this strong in Rusalca. Even Loki hadn’t expected this. She only had absolute trust in Alus, but she had believed that Felinella would easily be able to win in the finals. Even if she didn’t take what she heard from Tesfia about last year’s match into account, Felinella had experience with the Outer World and live combat, and she’d supported Alus during the Godma Barhong incident, so Loki had a fairly high estimation of her.
Even if she’d underestimated her, Felinella’s abilities were already above those of unskilled active duty Magicmasters. More important than her Triple Digit rank was her experience in combat. That’s why Loki was surprised to see that there was an opponent among the regular students who was capable of making Felinella struggle.
Karia Ferrard. Loki could tell that she most definitely had some experience in the Outer World, making her similar to herself or Felinella in that regard.
“You can do it, Feli!!” Tesfia sat up on her bed and cheered at the screen.
Alice, too, was fearfully looking at the screen. Her expression was constantly changing. Sometimes she covered her eyes, but still kept her eyes glued to the screen by peeping through her fingers. Kind of like someone who was bad with horror movies, but who was still interested in watching one for some reason.
As a result, comments such as “Ah!” and “Just a little more!” and “So close!” and so on filled the room. The three weren’t much different from the heated audience at the venue.
Perhaps infected by their passion, Loki too let out a “That was good!” at one of Felinella’s moves. Catching herself, she covered her mouth and blushed.
Back when she was doing missions in the Outer World, she never could have anticipated this would happen. She didn’t really see herself as a student of the Second Magical Institute anyways. She’d simply enrolled as part of her duty to serve as Alus’ partner.
And now she was cheering along with Tesfia and Alice as another student. What a strange world.
The spectacle on the screen would sometimes frighten them, and sometimes make them clench their fists at the appearance of a golden opportunity. As things went on, even they ended up getting tired.
Finally, the match came to an end. After a fierce fight, it was Felinella who remained standing on the stage. She’d been trained by Alus, and had gotten stronger and tougher for this tournament.
Moreover, there was no way Felinella hadn’t considered that the other schools would take her skills into account. In that sense, she was far from being full of herself. To finish the match, a side of her she rarely showed came to the surface and she unleashed a powerful move with all her strength.
“All riiiight!!” Tesfia cheered.
“Yeah, that’s Feli for you,” Alice said happily.
The two leaned toward each other on their beds and high-fived. They still hadn’t fully recovered, but they seemed to have gotten better.
“But I’m sure Felinella isn’t overly pleased about it.”
Hearing Loki’s voice, Tesfia and Alice looked her way with confusion in their faces, as if asking what she’d seen in that fight that they hadn’t.
Both of them already knew about this, so Loki saw no reason to hide it. “Like Sir Alus, Ms. Felinella has the public face of a student of the Institute, and another secret one doing military missions. Of course, her strength and skill are leagues above the other students. But Felinella is doing the best she can to keep up appearances and prevent others from seeing her hidden side. You could also say that the students from the other institutes had next to no knowledge of her true strength.”
She was the same way with Alus’ training time. She drew a clear line between missions and daily life, and she never used techniques meant for missions in front of students from her own institute or others.
“Of course, it’s not like she was holding back or not being serious. That’s just how Ms. Felinella separates her private and public lives. But this time her hand was forced. And her opponent likely didn’t expect that either.”
That was just how close the battle with Karia had been. In battles of magic, being able to counteract the other greatly influenced the outcome. In that sense, Karia had thoroughly prepared for their match.
As Loki explained all of this, Felinella, breathing roughly, was gazing at the unconscious Karia being treated.
“Yeah, this match was more intense than last year’s...” Tesfia said, with an ecstatic look on her face. Like Loki said, she’d needed to rely on strength from her hidden side to win. And she felt honest respect for the opponent who had forced her to rely on that. A truly superb match was probably equally attractive to anyone watching it. Tesfia’s heart was pounding even now.
“Even so, with this win...” Alice trailed off, and looked at Tesfia and Loki. The two could easily guess what she was thinking.
“Yes, with this, I can truly fulfill my promise,” Loki said.
“At any rate... with this, the Second Magical Institute has won!!” Tesfia shouted in a loud voice not suitable for an infirmary, raising her hands up high. With Felinella’s victory, the points gained almost certainly gave them enough to win the overall tournament.
“We did it!” Alice clenched her fist and thrust it out, though not in such an exaggerated manner as Tesfia.
“Well, it was only natural.” Loki couldn’t be quite as innocent as the other two. But she still felt relief. After all, with this she could finally stay at Alus’ side and fulfill her duty. She could become his partner in the true meaning of the word.
Loki quietly savored that joy, a smile emerging on her face.
As the third-year finals began, Felinella appeared in the infirmary.
She looked the same as always, as if the intense battle moments ago never happened, and seemed a little puzzled over Tesfia’s and Alice’s excitement. In the end she thanked them, and smiled.
The next moment, her expression completely changed to that of the leader of the Second Magical Institute’s competitors, reporting on what would happen next.
Fillic still hadn’t come to. So what was going to happen to the first-year division’s matches?
“It seems the committee discussed quite a bit over how to handle this special exception. Lady Cicelnia and Lady Lithia were present at the meeting. So the final judgment was left up to the rulers. As I said before, the first-year division matches will be delayed until after the third-year division, so the decision will be made then. Incidentally, it seems that with the second-year division concluded, Fillic will be put in a shared third place if he doesn’t wake up. Loki also loses the finals by default due to her injuries. There’s no precedent for this, but it can’t be helped.”
While individual victories would be logged, it couldn’t be helped that the focus was on the overall victory for the institutes. Alpha’s and Rusalca’s rulers had gotten involved because this concerned Tesfia, Alice and Loki on Alpha’s side, and Fillic on Rusalca’s side.
“So we don’t know who wins?” Alice asked.
“Yes. In the overall score, Ms. Loki should win, but her injuries are a result of her lack of self-managing abilities. Whether risking your future for the sake of victory in a student tournament was the right thing to do is questionable.”
“This doesn’t even count as an injury. I can fight against either of these two without problems,” Loki declared with determination.
But Felinella pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Not a chance! If your injuries worsen because of that, Mr. Alus will get angry with me. And don’t object to the leader’s decision. We’ve gone over this before, haven’t we?”
With a bitter expression, Loki realized she wouldn’t get any further. She’d more or less understood her reaction was like a childish tantrum, and with Alus being brought up, she regrettably had no choice.
“I don’t want anyone to think that personal feelings were involved, so I’ll tell you the matchups before the judgment is made. No hard feelings, Ms. Alice, but you’ll be put in the third place match, and Fia was supposed to fight Ms. Loki in the finals, but since she loses by default, Fia will be the winner.”
Loki lowered her head. Though her own recklessness had invited this result, she kept the humiliation of losing to Tesfia to herself.
“I understand,” Alice said. “So I will take part in the third place match.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Alice. You might not be able to fight properly, but it’s common practice to pit element against element, so you’re more likely to win against Fillic.”
“In that case, I gladly accept.” Being told by Felinella that she might win, Alice accepted the task with a smile.
“Publicly, Fia will be the victor, but in the Second Magical Institute’s records all three of you will be recorded as sharing first place. I’m only doing this because places have to be determined for the tournament, so don’t misunderstand me.”
Filled with emotion, Tesfia’s cheeks were flushed and she had a pleased look on her face. But as Felinella hammered home the point with a serious expression, Tesfia returned to reality. “Of course, Loki is one thing, but it wouldn’t have been strange for either me or Alice to win. I’m more surprised over having been able to win my way this far.”
“I’ll just leave it at that,” Felinella said.
“But I’m serious!”
Felinella smiled at Tesfia’s frown, her own serious expression melting.
The news was released to the tens of thousands in the audience. But there were no complaints among the audience who had watched Tesfia versus Alice and Loki versus Fillic. Though there were some who had hoped to see even more fierce battles.
For the time being, however, once the news broke, applause for the competitors’ hard work came from the audience in the stadium.
And the following announcement that the Second Magical Institute had won the tournament sent the audience into a frenzy. Even though there would be an award ceremony later, an unending storm of applause fell upon the competitors from the Second Magical Institute.
Time passed, and an elaborate ceremony was held.
Since Fillic still hadn’t woken up even after all the other matches were over, the ceremony was quickly readied.
Loki gave the small runners-up trophy she’d received on stage a dubious gaze.
Tesfia was hugging a trophy as tall as she was right next to her. To Loki, that looked a little dangerous.
After that, she once more observed her own trophy. This is... dirty. Realizing a certain truth, Loki pondered on how to break the news to Alus, feeling a small resentment.
Loki’s trophy, as well as Tesfia’s trophy, was supposed to be made out of mithril. But when she secretly poured some mana through them, nothing felt right. It wasn’t as if she fully grasped the structure of the trophies, but she grimaced at the difference in reaction to mana between the outer layer and the core.
In other words, the trophies weren’t made out of mithril. The surfaces were probably gilded with it. No, they definitely were. She could clearly feel the small quantities of mithril.
Loki had called it dirty because the core of the trophy had—despite not being made of mithril—an extremely similar weight to pure mithril. Meaning that it was impossible to tell the difference from the weight.
Even though it was beyond her control, Loki couldn’t help but feel guilty after all of her hopes to present Alus with the valuable mithril. Of course, she had to accept it.
Loki’s shoulders slumped, but then trophies were intended to be a proof of victory in the tournament, a symbol of glory that no one expected to be melted down and remade.
That said, as the overall winners of the tournament, the Second Magical Institute, as well as the nation that it belonged to, would enjoy all kinds of benefits.
A partial exemption on trade tariffs was one such benefit. As a byproduct of that, more of the latest information on magic would flow into the nation. There would also be an influx of people from other nations to purchase goods which would enrich the nation as a whole.
The Second Magical Institute was presented with the latest AWRs from all the nations. Through a sponsorship contract, they would receive priority on prototypes for one year after the end of the tournament.
Alpha’s reputation as a major power also rose. The point of these kinds of events was to emphasize the importance of Magicmasters. While it was an honorable job tasked with saving humanity, most rarely lived long. If one wasn’t from a military or noble family, few parents would gladly send their child off to an institute that would lead to their death.
That’s why they needed an event to advertise themselves. Simply put, they needed to raise awareness in society to keep a supply of Magicmasters coming. The intent was to motivate the youths to become Magicmasters and assure them it was a highly esteemed path in life. The more exciting the tournament was, and the more records broken, the more pronounced this effect became.
Alpha was already considered a major nation, but with this, their reputation for training Magicmasters would increase as well. There would definitely be more people applying to be students at the Second Magical Institute next year.
The ending ceremony was a solemn affair, but once back in the waiting room, Alpha’s competitors were rejoicing and sharing in the glory of victory without reserve. They were all victors, and they had earned the victory together.
“Thanks to all of us coming together, the Second Magical Institute has come out victorious. Now we will be able to return triumphantly with our heads held high,” Felinella said as the leader of this festive group. But let’s not get full of ourselves and remain diligent. We’ve all seen what we need to improve, and those who lost early on also need to keep up the effort to improve themselves... she wanted to continue saying, but she changed her mind after looking at the group.
Perhaps that would be a little boorish right now. She sighed softly at their joyous looks, and decided not to say anything further for now.
After this, they had an event that would have an impact on their futures to look forward to. Every year after the Friendship Magical Tournament was over, there was a party and celebration held at the winner’s hotel. The tournament had ended sooner than expected, so by now the preparations were hurriedly being made.
The party was split up into three parts, with the celebration held at the end. While it was called a party, it was straining the nerves of the competitors for a different reason.
During the first part, military personnel would arrive, and in the second part the nobles would come. And it wasn’t rare for students to be scouted here. Though those with deep ties to their nation like Felinella and Tesfia rarely got scouted by outsiders.
Aside from them, however, everyone else was aware that they might be recruited by other nations. That’s why this party was a prelude to the drafting process that would influence the future assignment of troops for all nations.
As an example from the past, students from the Second Magical Institute were sometimes recruited directly by the captains of various corps from Alpha’s army. However, Felinella knew that this time the other nations would be a lot more active in their recruitment as the result of a decision made at the rulers conference, so she couldn’t enjoy the festive mood in a carefree way like the rest.
Incidentally, even if the recruited person accepted the invitation of another nation, it was standard procedure that they would only move after graduation, though civilians would have a hard time pleading their personal circumstances to the military even if it was another nation’s military.
In those cases, the students in the classes might leave before graduation, but Felinella couldn’t bring herself to get in the way of a choice that would affect their future. Instead, she wanted to respect their will and rejoice that someone had seen their future potential.
For the time being, there were over two hours until the first two segments of the party, so the celebrating students returned to the hotel for now. The topics on the way home were mostly on the recruitment, as expected.
Tesfia and Alice were only waiting for their mana to recover, and would walk normally soon. Loki had recovered quite a bit, but was in a wheelchair just in case. It was, of course, automatic and ran on artificial mana, but for some reason Alice was pushing it from behind like a personal assistant.
“We have another kind of battle ahead of us,” Tesfia muttered, as if representing everyone’s voice. But as a member of the renowned Fable family, her manner of speaking was rather carefree.
When it came to squad assignments, connections came into play. Being from a noble family with ties to the government, she might not be recruited by other nations, but it wouldn’t be strange for a force within Alpha to try to recruit the winner of the first-year division.
Those kinds of things were her specialty. The established reputation of the Fable family in social circles and her ability to move around in them weren’t just for show.
But there were some who weren’t as used to it. “I think I might be more nervous than during the tournament... I don’t really know how to politely decline, so if someone were to invite me, then... uhh.”
“Are you planning on turning down any recruiters, Alice? Someone good might invite you, you know. I’m sure the rulers, Governors-General, and Lady Lettie will be looking at you, too.”
“That might be true, but right now I can’t think about the future, so it would only put more pressure on me...”
“Well, that might be, but Lady Lettie’s squad is made up of elites who everyone adores, and to refuse an invitation from them...” Tesfia said, even though there was no guarantee something like that would happen for Alice.
This prompted Loki to retort, “I don’t think that’s possible. Lady Lettie left on the same mission as Sir Alus. Though someone might still be here to represent their unit.”
“Oh yeah, now that you mention it, that’s true. But they really are amazing when you think about it. And what Al taught me was useful in the tournament, so I’ll have to thank him later.”
Unlike the indifferent Tesfia, Alice wasn’t sure how to react to Loki’s words, and decided to return to their original topic. “What about you? Someone might try to talk you up too, Fia. I can definitely imagine applications for an arranged marriage or engagement proposals flying around.”
“Urk... I don’t think I want to hear that. I’ll politely turn them all down! Yeah. That should solve it... but if they’re too persistent, come help me, Alice.”
“What?! They might take offense if I intrude, so that’s a little...”
“... You’re so cold! I’m begging you... if you don’t...”
“If I don’t, what?”
“I might end up punching them.”
Alice thought Tesfia was joking for a moment, but when she saw those big puppy eyes pointed her way, she realized she might be serious.
In the end, she gave in and shrugged. “You might actually do it, and it might ruin the mood. Well, I get that, but what if there really are recruiters?”
“It’ll probably be fine. In my case they’ll have to go through my mother first, but if it’s Lady Lettie’s squad, I’d okay it immediately.”
“Uhm, so can I ask you to take care of it for me too?” Alice asked Tesfia. “... Pretty please?”
“Okay. Let’s help each other out!” Tesfia said.
Loki watched their exchange with an amused expression, which Tesfia noticed. “What?!”
“No, I was just thinking that you might be approached by men, but...” Loki fixed her eyes on a certain part of their—especially Alice’s—bodies. One of the features was the two hills visible even through clothing.
Before she knew it, Loki was gazing at them with envy, but she turned her face away from them as she continued, “Do you really think Lady Lettie would invite you? Aren’t you getting a little too ahead of yourself? First-year students still have a long way to go... and you’re both only in the four digits, even if you did do well in a tournament... that’s just reaching too far. Pfft.” Loki let out a snicker on purpose.
“Just let me dream a little!” Tesfia complained.
“You’re in the military, so I guess you know a lot about this, Loki dear.”
“Let me teach you about reality. Lady Lettie’s squad is composed of members that are all skilled enough to lead squads of their own. Doubles are the norm, and only Triples that live up to Lady Lettie’s expectations are allowed in. This is an elite force considered among the best of the best in Alpha. If you still want to dream, then go ahead.”
“Ugh...” Even Tesfia felt like she was shaken awake when told that her dream demanded she reach the superhuman levels of a Double Digit. Among the hundreds of thousands of Magicmasters, only 90 could have that rank. While she’d gotten stronger, that was still just a pipe dream.
Tesfia then said, “Wait, if a unit like that is on a mission with Al...”
“...” Loki realized she’d said too much.
“Loki dear, is Al’s mission really that dangerous?”
“I don’t know! I haven’t heard the details either.”
“... Well, I’m sure that there are a lot of secrets when the military is involved.” Tesfia seemed to reluctantly accept it, but Alice looked uneasy like Loki had been. Even knowing how much stronger a Single was.
“You can try asking Sir Alus once he returns. Not that he will tell you.”
“I bet...” Alice’s bitter smile seemed to infect Tesfia too, as she wore a similar uneasy expression.
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