Ch.18Chapter 18. Inter-Grade Competition? (2)

“I have no intention of participating in the delegation.”

That annoying bastard, Cain Hover, must have read Elaine’s gaze because he deliberately spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

With the same blonde hair as Elaine but much darker, Cain was looking in our direction with his arms crossed, raising just one corner of his mouth in a smirk that perfectly matched his image.

“I don’t need you either. You can’t even control your magic properly.”

“W-what are you saying! There was clearly some interference that time! You commoner bastard!”

“Oh, there are more eyes watching today? Want to try me again?”

“…Ugh. One day, you commoner…”

Cain spoke as if he was proud of not wanting to participate in the delegation. My one comment seemed to have scratched him in the right spot as he flared up, but when I slightly raised my fist, he hesitated and took a step back.

It seems the pain from that day still lingers.

So now it’s 6 people instead of 7.

“S-sorry, but I don’t think I can participate either…”

“M-me neither!”

As soon as Cain finished speaking, two female students sitting far away, Agnes and Marie, spoke up as if they had been waiting for this moment.

Seeing Cain looking in their direction with that vile smile of his, it seemed he had already worked his scheme on those two.

So now it’s 4 people instead of 6.

“Haah.”

Elaine pressed her forehead and let out a deep sigh as if she had expected this.

I hadn’t said anything, but somehow the classroom atmosphere had turned into recruiting members for the inter-grade competition. The gazes naturally turned to the two students who hadn’t yet stated their positions.

One was Cynthia with purple hair sitting in front of me, and the other was Emily, sitting in the corner by the window, watching how things would unfold.

By the way, 5 out of 7 being female students—the Crescen Empire sure has a lot of talented women.

“Cynthia? Are you not going to participate either?”

“Me? I…”

I decided to ask the student sitting right in front of me first, and ask the girl in the corner a bit later.

Cynthia looked back and forth between me and Elaine at my question. I didn’t think much of it, but Elaine was making eye contact with Cynthia with a truly desperate look.

“Sigh. If the first-year representative is asking, of course I’ll participate. Our grade’s ‘representative’ and the honor of the 158th class are at stake.”

“Phew.”

“Hmph. What honor does a commoner have?”

As soon as Cynthia finished speaking, a sigh of relief escaped from Elaine’s mouth, while mockery burst from Cain’s.

That guy Cain Hover is exactly the type I really hate.

If this weren’t the Academy, I’d take him straight to the northern snow mountains and leave him there for half a day.

“Okay, so that’s three.”

“We haven’t asked that person yet.”

Elaine, probably wanting as many people as possible, looked at Emily, who was wearing large glasses in the corner, not knowing what to do as she rolled her eyes around.

When all attention focused on her, Emily started twisting her blue hair with her fingers, clearly at a loss.

“Um… hey, you heard everything, right?”

“Ah, y-yes! I heard, but…”

“Want to join us?”

At my casual question, I could feel the gazes of the other five all turning toward Emily.

“No, I, um, that is, um…”

‘I had a vague feeling…’

When my question and everyone’s attention focused on her, Emily visibly panicked and didn’t know how to handle being the center of attention.

Seeing that, I immediately realized.

This friend is one of my kind.

And she has even worse “stage fright” than I do.

I’ve lived in Arcaria long enough that I can now handle this level of attention directed at me.

Besides, didn’t I recently give a wonderful speech in front of over a hundred people at the entrance ceremony?

But Emily didn’t seem to be like that.

As the silence waiting for her answer continued, Emily’s face was turning increasingly red, opposite to her blue hair, as she felt the gazes focused on her.

She kept fidgeting and adjusting her perfectly fine glasses while rolling her eyes around.

“W-would you like to join us? What do you think?”

Elaine, probably anxious because I hadn’t said anything after asking “Want to join us?” and was just quietly waiting, added more words.

At Elaine’s additional question, Emily flinched and became even more restless.

I know better than anyone how to deal with this type of person.

“Let’s do it together? It’ll be fun and we’ll make memories. So I’ll take that as a yes?”

“Um, that… um…!”

“Okay. You said ‘um,’ so that’s a yes.”

I pushed forward, remembering my past experiences of being in her position.

If someone has trouble speaking in front of others, forcing them like this leaves them no choice but to follow along.

I’ve been on the receiving end of this more than once or twice.

“So that’s four. Perfect, right?”

“…Sigh. Ryu. While I’m grateful we have four people, it’s still not enough. If not from our class, we should ask other classes to get as many people as…”

Swoosh-

While Elaine was passionately advising me, the door opened and Professor Amillion entered with a haggard expression.

Professor Amillion, who always kept her hair neatly tied back and maintained a tidy appearance, had strands of hair sticking out today, and one side of her professor’s uniform collar was slightly folded.

Anyone could see she looked tired.

“…I’m sure you’ve all heard the news.”

Amillion looked around the classroom as soon as she entered and spoke.

All seven of us turned our attention to Professor Amillion.

“First, the most important announcement. A new rule has been added that only students from Class S can participate as representatives in this inter-grade competition.”

“What?”

“Pfft.”

Elaine’s incredulous question and Cain’s triumphant laughter burst out simultaneously.

That Cain, I’ll definitely leave him in the north someday.

**

“…I’ll try to convince either Agnes or Marie to join us, even now.”

“No matter what you do, it won’t… I mean, it won’t work. Those two seem to have completely fallen for Cain.”

“…Haah.”

Lunchtime.

I was having lunch at a table with Elaine, Cynthia, and Emily.

Unlike Elaine and Cynthia, who always ate together, Emily, who had been half-forced to join us today, was keeping her eyes fixed on her food without saying a word.

To be precise, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to speak, but rather that she couldn’t.

“Mmm. But this is delicious. The student cafeteria makes good chicken dishes.”

“…Sigh. Ryu.”

“Don’t you think so, Emily?”

“…Huh?! Y-yes! It’s delicious! Haha.”

“…”

Elaine glanced at Emily and me, shook her head, and stabbed the “chicken dish” I had just mentioned with her fork in an irritated manner.

“So, shall I tell Professor Amillion after class today that the four of us will participate in the inter-grade competition?”

“…Haaaah.”

“We have no choice.”

At my words, Elaine let out a deep sigh, and Cynthia nodded her head as if resigned.

Emily was still fidgeting and couldn’t properly raise her head, so I wasn’t sure if she was listening or not.

‘Hmm. Good.’

Four people.

Although the events for the inter-grade competition hadn’t been decided yet, four was a very suitable number in my opinion.

Plus, while this year’s events were still undecided, considering that last year’s event was dungeon exploration, the team’s balance was good from a combat perspective.

Knight Elaine would stand at the front, and Cynthia, who handles a bow, would be at the rear.

And two mages in the center.

Come to think of it, the front line seemed a bit weak, but I’ll be a mage this time too.

‘But…’

“By the way, Emily, what’s your specialty?”

“Uh, what?”

“I’ve heard a few times that you study magic, but I don’t know exactly what you do. Now that we’re on the same team, we should at least roughly know each other’s abilities, right?”

At my question, Elaine and Cynthia’s gazes focused on Emily.

It was common knowledge that Elaine’s Sinclair Family was a famous knight family, and Cynthia’s Surplus Family was known for archery.

But Emily’s family, Franz, was a family that neither I nor Elaine and Cynthia had heard of before.

Elaine had mentioned that it was probably a small noble family living in the borderlands.

“Um, so the magic I’m good at…?”

“That’s right.”

Emily opened her mouth more quickly than before.

I guess it’s easier to talk about one’s strengths.

“W-what should I say… Um, last night I was experimenting with freshness preservation related to temperature differences. I was wondering if there was a way to store plants longer! I divided the same herb leaves into two groups, one kept at room temperature of 23 degrees for 3 hours and another under exactly the same conditions but stored at 0 to 1 degree…”

“…Huh?”

I probably wasn’t the only one confused by what was pouring out of Emily’s mouth right now.

As expected, Elaine and Cynthia were also looking at Emily with stunned expressions.

Emily, who had been so conscious of our gazes just a moment ago, now continued speaking as if she couldn’t feel our stares at all.

“…Before, I experimented not with plants but with animals, what’s commonly called meat. The results clearly showed that storing at lower temperatures maintains freshness better, so I wanted to test if the same principle applies to plants! Oh, how did I measure freshness, you ask…”

“W-wait a minute.”

“Huh? Oh! W-was that useless information too…?”

So what kind of magic do you use?