Ch.175175. Afterparty (1)

“Uncle… Senior won, right…? Right?”

“Of course, that was a perfect retirement!”

“Senior… Senior…!”

“Haha! I knew he’d have an accident someday, but I didn’t expect him to make such a grand one here!”

Renias watched Junon’s victory with more joy than ever before.

Jake, who was watching right beside her, felt the same way. After all, he had once been his teacher.

─My goodness… Is this even possible?

─I had no idea they were hiding someone like that…

It was an upset for the ages.

Damian, who had won the individual competition by defeating all the strongest fighters from each faction, had been defeated.

He lost to a man who had shown intention to forfeit in every match except the first one, and whose further participation had been in question.

The betting odds, which had been used merely as minor entertainment for match predictions, now showed ridiculous payouts, returning enormous sums to those who had won.

To the spectators and other participants who watched the match, this could only be described as an upset.

However, there were some dissenting opinions.

Some, albeit few, suggested that perhaps Rana, the vanguard of the Sirah faction, had sufficiently drained Damian’s strength.

But even that opinion was completely trampled.

Based on 1st seed Damian, 2nd seed Miki, and 3rd seed Leon—all three core players of Mirpark had been eliminated.

His unique fighting style—gradually wearing down opponents through martial arts and mysterious attacks until securing victory—had already become his identity.

What happened next?

With no other options, the Mirpark faction even used their educator participation right to field a sorcerer, but the result was the same.

His thorough practical training and experienced, efficient movements reduced his opponents to mere scarecrows.

In the end, Junon, entering as the 2nd seed, had single-handedly taken down the entire Mirpark faction.

The audience cheers.

Their skin tingles at the emergence of a powerful contender.

When opponents try to maintain distance, he overcomes range differences with techniques.

If at a disadvantage against close-range magic, he uses his superior martial arts to create difficulties for the opponent’s spell casting and accuracy.

His movements are nothing short of marvelous as he overcomes the vulnerabilities of the vanguard position with martial arts and techniques, easily breaking through his opponents’ magic.

He was like the ideal of the vanguard position, transcending its limitations.

The one who single-handedly defeated five of Mirpark’s strongest fighters, who had been favored to win.

Among those present, there would be no one who didn’t know the name Junon.

“I declare Sirah the winner of the captain’s match between Mirpark and Sirah!”

─Wooooah!!!!

With that, Sirah secured their first pleasant victory and prepared for the next match.

But what a surprise.

Although they had shown poor results in the individual matches on the first day, Sirah created a completely different atmosphere on the second day, as if they had awakened.

In terms of raw power, they were humble compared to any other faction.

They typically fell behind those who had made lavish preparations or those who trained with clear goals every day.

However, the quality of their experience was by no means humble.

Because they had experiences that other faction players had not yet gained, they united tightly.

The resulting synergy exceeded the limits of the entire team far beyond expectations.

In the end, Sirah, who would normally have fallen behind, overcame the power difference with experience and solidarity.

“Everyone did great!”

The players, united around Aris, led the team competition—today’s final event—to victory.

With this, Sirah earned the highest score in all of today’s events.

As a result…

“W-why is our ranking like that?”

“Huh… It’s the same even if I rub my eyes. What’s going on?”

They stood alone at the top of the total score.

Even Shuto, who despite recent dangers was considered no weaker than Sirah.

Even Algenib, who had firmly held second place and constantly eyed the top position.

Even Mirpark, who had maintained the lead with the capital advantage of being the nobles’ domain.

All of them failed to overcome Sirah’s strength this year and surrendered their positions.

The faction competition, which had continued after a two-week break, reached its conclusion in the blink of an eye over two days.

In that sense, this year’s faction competition results could well be called the year of upsets.

After all the matches ended, Professor Muniher took the podium.

It was the closing ceremony of the faction competition.

“First, I should say that everyone worked hard. Having overseen Lebrant instead of Hardia, I can see there were many twists and surprises.”

After light ceremonial proceedings, he offered congratulations to the winners and encouragement to the losers.

“However, remember that winning and losing don’t determine everything. You should know best whether you gave your all in the competition or whether you feel regret for not doing enough.”

The faction competition lasted for two weeks and one day.

He offered sincere advice to engrave in their hearts what they had learned and felt here.

As Muniher said, everyone must have felt something to some degree.

“But you can’t realize that alone. That’s why I prepared something.”

Everyone tilted their heads, wondering what else could be left.

As the competition field was cleared away, his prepared gift was revealed amid applause from the audience.

“Discover what remains here. That is all.”

It was immediately apparent. The students who saw Muniher’s gift all cheered and shouted.

Tickets to a famous resort. And guides and staff who seemed to have come to escort them.

The gift given to those who had just finished the faction competition was an after-party.

***

A girl emerges from the changing room curtain at the clothing shop, fidgeting nervously.

She seems to have much to say, her lips trembling, but no one pays attention to her words.

“Oh my! Miss, you look so beautiful!”

“Goodness! It suits you so well!”

“You should go straight to the beach wearing that, it would be perfect!”

“I have one concern though. The moment you enter the beach, all eyes will be on you because you’re so pretty.”

“Is that really a concern? Hoho.”

“I suppose being pretty isn’t something to worry about, is it? It’s not a crime to have such a figure.”

Both the maid watching her and the shop owner couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

But the person wearing it couldn’t bear it, and her trembling body finally moved to cover various important parts.

“H-how can I wear this…! Maria recommended it so I came, but…!”

Feeling deceived, Renias crouched down on the spot.

Maria wasn’t about to leave Renias alone like that.

“No! Miss, you look so pretty, why are you covering up? Stand up right now!”

“That’s a complete lie. This isn’t pretty, it’s just a piece of clothing that exposes my shoulders, chest, waist, and everything else!”

Maria shrugged as if there was nothing wrong with it.

“What’s the problem? It’s perfect for someone like you, Miss, with curves in all the right places.”

“Ugh…! Shop owner, please say something! This isn’t actually a swimsuit, is it? Something’s wrong here!”

Renias immediately changed her target.

But looking elsewhere wouldn’t help—they were in this together.

“Maria is wrong, indeed.”

“See, Maria! How could I wear something like…”

“I’m upset that Maria didn’t introduce me to someone as beautiful as Miss Renias sooner. If she had brought you earlier, I could have custom-made something much more daring than this bikini…!”

“Eh?”

Even the shop owner had lost her mind.

Everyone was strange. She had only tried it on because they asked her to, but this was clearly not a swimsuit!

‘Not only is the cleavage dangerously visible, but most of the bare skin is exposed—how can this be called a swimsuit?’

It would make more sense to call it underwear.

Of course, even if she accepted it as underwear, she couldn’t wear it casually due to the excessive exposure.

In any case, Renias’s impression after wearing it was that it was too revealing and suggestive to wear.

“S-something else, please! Something that covers my figure as much as possible!”

“What?! No, Miss!”

“This outfit is perfect!! Of course, I could make something even more spectacular with custom tailoring, but for now, at least this…”

“I… I can’t wear it. It’s too embarrassing because it shows too much skin!”

Faced with Renias’s adamant refusal, the two finally revealed their conspiracy.

“Our Miss doesn’t listen, you know? We need to send her out wearing this.”

“Eh? Maria…?”

“That’s right. Then we’ll have to make sure she keeps wearing it.”

“Shop owner?!”

The two had already dropped formalities.

It had been a setup from the beginning—to make Renias wear that outfit.

“Oh my, my hand slipped?”

“I caught it! If you don’t buy this, we won’t return your original clothes.”

With that, Maria whisked away the clothes Renias had been wearing.

Renias was horrified and tried to get her clothes back, but Maria blocked her path. She couldn’t bring herself to touch Maria, whom she had known since childhood. The shop owner was in on it too, so that was also not an option!

“T-this is forced selling!”

“What? You’re the one wearing our clothes without permission, Miss.”

“As a shop owner, I’m heartbroken. Even so, to take our clothes… *sniff*. Oh, but if you’re wearing it out, you’re more than welcome!”

Now it was clear that the two were perfectly in sync. It seemed their relationship was quite close, almost like old friends.

‘I’ve been tricked…!’

But realizing this now was too late.

The maid and shop owner, with mischievous smiles, approached the girl who had become their prey.

“Will you wear it out?”

“Or will you buy it and wear it?”

“Uuugh…”

Though she wanted to cry out in refusal, Renias had no choice but to buy the swimsuit, swallowing her tears.

***

She gnaws at her fingernails with her teeth.

Her worn thumb repeatedly hits her teeth until it finally causes a wound and draws drops of blood.

“Ah.”

Erika makes a sound at the sudden pain.

She was extremely angry about this faction competition.

‘I don’t care about the results. But this is wrong!’

Something had gone terribly wrong.

It was obvious that Aris would stand out, but she didn’t want Junon to receive such attention at all—that wasn’t the direction she wanted.

So she heads there again, to meet the person who had secretly accepted her request.

“Where are you going?”

A person with a red ponytail blocks Erika’s path.

“Mi-Michelle…? Why are you…”

“Why? Am I not allowed to be here?”

“…That’s not what I meant.”

No. In Erika’s heart, she answered that Michelle shouldn’t be here.

“Anyone can see you’re flustered right now, you know? Your expression doesn’t say ‘it’s nothing,’ Erika.”

There was no choice. At this point, she had to give up on confronting the headmaster.

“What is it about? What are you hiding?”

“It’s nothing for you to be concerned about. I was just taking a walk here by coincidence.”

“Erika!”

Michelle raises her voice, urging her to speak honestly, but Erika gets irritated like a thief caught red-handed.

“Why are you shouting? Have I done something terribly wrong?”

“…”

“I don’t want to fight either, so I’ll go back. I just won’t come here for walks anymore, okay?”

Saying that, Erika turned around and went her own way.

Michelle didn’t stop Erika. Though she had mountains of questions, she didn’t follow her.

She just kept watching until Erika’s figure disappeared from the path and even her shadow was no longer visible.

“…What do you think?”

When Michelle, who had been staring blankly at Erika, suddenly asked this, someone who seemed to be no one appeared beside Michelle on the path that had appeared empty.

Brown hair reaching the shoulders reflected in the lamplight.

“Everything from her gait to her walking speed is different.”

“That means…”

“She was hiding something and reacted like she’d been caught. It seems you were right, Michelle—Erika was trying to do something.”

It was Senia, who had been watching their conversation.

“From the circumstances, it seems she was trying to go toward Mirpark, but I’m not sure why. How was she when you were with her today?”

“Hmm. I remember she left during the viewing, but after that I don’t really…”

“Even during the faction competition. Anything?”

She tries to recall at the mention of viewing.

The place where Erika’s gaze was fixed… was on one person.

“I’m not certain, but I think she was staring intently at Junon.”