RATH 108
TL: Eevee
12. It’s not over til it’s over (6)
#10 Their story: Karen ril Regrena’s story.
“Whew…”
I sighed and took a look around.
The lights that had been blindingly bright only moments ago had disappeared, and the people that had been near it had all disappeared from sight.
“There’s not much left now.”
It had been two hours since we had conquered all of Mercaria’s castles, and started taking down Marcis.
No matter how weak the enemies were, taking down nine castles, against defenders holed up in a castle, no less, was no doubt an impressive feat.
“But…”
All that was left was Marcis’s main base.
There were probably countless magic traps installed there, without a doubt.
But I wasn’t worried about something as trivial as the Marcis main base.
“They finished it properly… right?”
I had a bad feeling.
I had an extremely bad feeling about Risen, who had taken with him a hundred summoners that fit a bizarre criteria.
To be honest, even if we lost a hundred summoners, there was still no way we would lose.
They were all splendid summoners.
Especially Lady Aris, and although I didn’t want to admit it, Risen, both had the ability to single-handedly turn the tide of the battle as Yugrasia’s strongest forces.
That was why he was the most reliable unit, but…
“It’s Risen, though…”
I couldn’t help but feel uneasy at the fact that the one leading them was Risen, who I had been involved with for the worse for a long period of time.
“d.a.m.n it, I was short-sighted.”
I’d sent Risen purely to f*** Pres over, but I didn’t think of what might happen after he beat Pres.
It’s Risen. The Trickster Risen!
He always had divine talent at fooling others.
And that ability had only grown on another level after he contracted his G.o.d, Loki.
That alone was the worst possible combination, but then he met a senior at Yugrasia who taught him some techniques, he became able to use all sorts of weird skills.
Such as infiltrating into the girls’ changing rooms or picking almost every type of padlock with a single wire… in other words, skills very useful to be used for crimes!
And finally.
“And since he also met Professor Nicerwin as well…”
The worst lifeform had been created.
The world’s worst lifeform, which I wondered whether or not I should eliminate it as fast as possible for the sake of the world’s peace.
“He’s not making contact either…”
The sun was beginning to set.
In 3-4 hours from now, the event would be over.
Right now, Yugrasia had stolen back the castle Pres had taken from us, for a total of ten of our original castles.
Add to that another ten castles that we conquered from Mercaria.
And finally, if you included the nine castles which we stole from Marcis, excluding their main base, we were in possession of 29 castles.
A total of 2900 points.
Even if we were pushed back by sheer force of numbers in the remaining time, as long as we managed to hold onto half then Yugrasia would have no problem winning.
“Please, please don’t betray us…”
But there was one wildcard left.
It was the prospect of Risen’s betrayal.
Just last year we would have wondered what manner of bulls.h.i.t that thought would be, but the nominal head of the students, the student council president had already betrayed us.
As for the possibilities of betrayal, although Risen had no reason to betray us, there was no reason for him to not betray us, either.
What if Pres bribed him by saying he’d introduce her to a cute girl?
Could I guarantee that Risen wouldn’t take the offer?
“I can’t.”
It’s Risen.
The number of times he had betrayed us back in Yugrasia one way or another was uncountable.
Despite being vice-president, he would prioritise his own profits over the school and its students.
He could give up on our victory this year, on the grounds that we would graduate at the end of the year anyway.
“At least… we need to steal away about half of Arucia’s castles.”
But I could not give up.
As a vice-president of the student council, I at least bore a sense of responsibility for the school’s… I mean, the students’ futures!
“Strengthen the defences on the Arucia side. Just to be sure, tell the people over there that even if Risen does return, don’t let their guards down around him.”
“Has the vice-president betrayed us again?”
“No, but he could.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After I sent back the people who had come with me, I mapped out the remaining lines of engagement in my head.
There was a ma.s.sive discrepancy between the number of castles we had taken and the number of enemy students that had been in them.
No matter how you looked at it, it was obvious that they were bunkering everyone down into Arucia’s main base, and going for one all-or-nothing move against us.
“Have all of the beast-type summoners prepare to attack, and send the elementalists and other people with area of effect attack abilities to the castles near Arucia and prepare for a siege.
“Then will we have enough people left?”
“Yeah, Karen. Didn’t we already leave people behind at the castles we took from Marcis?”
“If we reduce our numbers any further, even we can’t conquer Marcis’s main base.”
“Magicians that are ready are a pain to deal with.”
Magicians have many weaknesses.
They are weak at close quarters.
They take a long time to prepare their magic.
The moment they focused to use their magic, they were defenceless.
Yet despite all this, magicians still existed.
Magicians had so many weaknesses that the cla.s.s of battlemage, which in return for reduced magical firepower, had speed and was able to use martial techniques, was created just to compensate for those weaknesses.
There was a single reason why magicians were still used despite suffering these weaknesses.
Because magicians possessed the greatest firepower.
An attack from a prepared magician had enough power behind it that even a swordsmaster couldn’t make light of it.
What else need be said.
Over a hundred Yugrasia students, honed by the silver devil, were defeated in the process of conquering just nine castles.
But there was no other choice.
Among the current student council’s senior members, it seemed that I was the only one that wanted victory without any other ulterior motives.
“I’ll deal with that.”
Therefore, that was something I had to deal with.
That was the repayment of the faith the other students had placed in me when they elected me to the vice-presidency.
“Vice-president…”
“Big sis, you’re so cool…”
“Sob… to think we actually had a sane person in our student council…”
Everyone sent me looks of respect and admiration.
Receiving those gazes, I stood up and brought out my summon.
“Seleid.”
“Kraaaahhh!”
A giant drake, said to be the descendants of dragons, roared as he appeared in front of me.
“Are you still up for some work?”
“Kaahhhhh!”
Seleid’s body was covered in cuts and bruises from conquering two of Mercaria’s castles and seven of Marcis’s, but he made a noise of confidence as he bowed his head to me.
“Alright, once this is over… we don’t have to meet the silver devil ever again!”
“Kuwahhhhhhhhhhankuaaah!”
Seleid turned his head skywards and roared.
I hadn’t had many opportunities to summon him on academy grounds due to his size, but Seleid had experience being hit by the silver devil as a living wall to block off corridors.
Having realised that as long as we won, there would be no more reason for him to relive those nightmares again, Seleid roared triumphantly as the other students began to bring out their respective summons.
“I’ll charge in through the air. Once they focus on attacking me, charge straight through the gates and wipe them out!”
“”””””Yes, ma’am!””””””
Over a hundred summoners began to move out on their respective summons.
As I watched them move, I also mounted Seleis’ back, lifted my spear and took off into the air.
“Now, go ahead and try to backstab us.”
There were no more external forces that could turn the tables on us anymore.
The winners of the imperial festival would be decided solely on internal forces, or how hard our allies would decide to knife us in the back.
And we…
Thanks to Professor Nicerwin’s teachings, we were confident that we would not be surprised or shocked no matter where or when our allies backstabbed us.
As we faced the sun as it fell beyond the horizon, we rode onwards towards victory.
#11 Their story: Aris ril Letia’s story.
“Kgh… have you really… gone mad?”
I couldn’t help but grunt as a powerful strike jarred my wrists.
We’d been all but victorious.
Arucia’s main base was already half-destroyed as a result of the elementalists’ attack.
Moreover, the vice-president’s Loki’s Ascension had all but defeated the president.
All that was left was to wipe out the remaining small fry with the hundred elementalists that can come in and take down this castle.
That was the plan, so how had things come to this.
“Power of the earth.”
When had he had recovered, I had no idea, but Pres used an earth elemental to try and drag my foot into the ground.
“Haap.”
“Aghhh… and we call these our president and vice-president!”
A giant scythe snipped off a few of my hairs as it sliced the air.
Indeed, my enemies were the president and the vice-president.
Not Arucia’s president and vice-president, but my allies the Yugrasia president and vice-president!
“I’m telling you I can… introduce you to a girl myself!”
I shrieked as I let waves of sword aura flying with both my swords, but the response that came back was cold.
“A person with a lover is more believable than someone without one…”
“Kghhh…”
I bit down on my lips as I wrenched my foot out from the ground.
“Oh my, how frightful.”
A woman said with a startled face as my frigid glare pa.s.sed behind the two into her direction.
‘d.a.m.n it all…’
That woman was the cause of all this.
Around 10 minutes ago.
As the two swordswomen relentlessly swung their swords to protect the president, vice-pres was only dodging with a bewildered face.
“Ari, Renya. Stop. Look, he’s fl.u.s.tered.”
“Unni?”
“Iiana unni!”
The woman wearing a Mercaria uniform suddenly appeared with a bright smile and said.
“Greetings, Mister Risen de Roa. No, would it be more appropriate for me to call you the Trickster Risen?”
Our vice-president nodded dumbly as she took the hems of her uniform skirt in hand and greeted him elegantly.
“My name is Iiana mel Rudratian of Mercaria.”
The name she had just mentioned with a smile was that of one of the president’s lovers, and also the name of the person called the Queen of Mercaria.
“Urrk…”
Had she felt the glare the vice-president directed towards Pres get harsher?
“Oh my oh my, please don’t look at my lover so scarily like that.”
With just a few steps she put herself in between Vice-pres’s line of sight with Pres, and she looked at Pres affectionately.
“Big sis…”
“Don’t worry.”
She took a hand to Pres’s head and gently stroked it as she looked back at Vice-pres.
“I am not trained in the sword like my little sisters here. I am not talented in magic like Aine, who isn’t here right now. But, what I did learn.”
All of a sudden I had a very bad feeling about this.
What was this, this dirty feeling of foreboding.
Thinking over it, I let out a quiet gasp internally.
‘Ah!’
This was the exact same uneasiness just before I got blindsided.
The very same feeling I’d felt in Yugrasia since Professor Nicerwin initiated a specific plan out of his many others!
“What I did learn was the art of negotiation. And so, let me make an offer.”
“Vice-president, don’t lis…”
But, it was already too late.
I shouted the moment she started speaking, but she had already said all she had to.
“I will help you find a lover. It doesn’t matter if you fail. Until the day I graduate, I will introduce to you a new girl of Mercaria every weekend.”
“Re, really?”
As I caught the glimmer in Vice-pres’s eyes, I ground my teeth.
“d.a.m.n it, all units, blow up the Pres and Vice-pres!”
I felt the aura of betrayal.
So I grit my teeth and ordered the elementalists surrounding us, but.
“Ah…”
The moment I turned around, I realised.
The single emotion that permeated through each and every one of the elementalists’ eyes.
It was expectation.
“Of course… that goes for all of you, too.”
The moment her smiling eyes met mine, I felt a frigid chill run down my spine.
“Hey…”
“Huh? Me?”
I quietly whispered to Lady Nermia beside me.
Ironically enough, the only ally I could trust right now was this girl who shared a fear of Professor Nicerwin.
“Do you want to fight Pres and Vice-pres, or do you want to fight a hundred elementalists…”
“What are you talking about?”
She tilted her head as if she didn’t understand, and I looked at her, bit down hard on my lips, and growled quietly.
“What am I talking about… I’m saying that everyone around us is now an enemy.”
At the same time I finished, as if she had been waiting, another voice entered my ears.
“There is only one condition. It is…”
“A hundred summoners, I’ll leave them to you!”
As I formed sword auras with both swords in my hands, under the mantra of ‘first to strike wins’ I immediately attacked the vice-president and at the same time, the devil’s whisper began to spread throughout Yugrasia.
“For our victory… defeat Lady Letia!”
As the devil’s whisper of betrayal began ringing and echoed outwards.
Yugrasia’s specialty, betrayal, showed itself in the imperial festival once again.