The Greatest Magicmaster's Retirement Plan: Volume 18 E-Book

Izushiro

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: The Greatest Magicmaster's Retirement Plan
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 269

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Having somehow managed to reconcile with Theresia, Tesfia and Alus challenge the nobles’ war game, Tenbram, with their futures on the line. However, they face the sly enemy general’s Aile’s plethora of traps and outlandish schemes! During the fierce battle, Tesfia is cornered and a major accident will turn her fate around!

It is finally the climax of the Tenbram arc!

Leseprobe

Ninety-Ninth Chapter: A Small Bud

Before anyone knew it, enough time had passed to welcome in a new year.

One only really gets a sense of how fast time passes when they stop to look back on it. Just as the world never stops, the Second Magical Institute was no exception. If anything, time seemed to accelerate there.

Whether they liked it or not, the passage of time brought peace back to the Institute, and as if to overwrite the past, students were again swept up in lectures and training.

Today, a lot of students were making their way to the training field. For better or worse, they were driven to improve themselves whenever they had a moment to spare.

The change in their resolve, however, was brought on by the sacrifices of many, so it was questionable how welcome the training really was. Nobody ever mentioned the incident that had inspired their change.

Everybody told themselves there had been no spark for their change and that they had changed themselves simply because they wanted to. But the atmosphere was strange, and it created a heavy mood at the Second Magical Institute.

A girl who had finished a lecture was, like the majority, making her way to the training field. A few days had passed since Alus and Tesfia had left the Institute.

Alice alone had been left behind, and she spent all of her time studying the arbitration of nobles, the Tenbram. She’d voluntarily started her studies, but no matter how much knowledge she acquired, she herself wouldn’t be joining the Tenbram. So didn’t that make it all wasted effort for something that was just for her own satisfaction?

Once she became aware of that, Alice took a break and headed back to the training grounds.

The road there had become a familiar sight. It had been about a year since she’d started at the Institute, and at this point, she could automatically make her way to the training grounds while thinking about something else.

Having given up on everything rational, she tried to start to train, but her pent-up feelings were holding her back. Nothing had changed about what she had to do or her passion for it, but a feeling of melancholy persisted inside her.

Alice absentmindedly arrived at the training ground and robotically entered the changing room. Even as she stood on the training field, no strong feelings really rose up.

“Cheer up, Alice,” Ciel called, exiting the changing room. She had rushed over after lectures to train.

Perhaps because she was so small, Ciel always seemed to pop up out of nowhere, but one could tell how earnest she was by what she did.

If she didn’t understand something in a lecture, she would immediately ask a teacher or friend. If they were minor questions, she would swiftly ask Alice or Tesfia, and if it was something more complicated, like principles of magic or constructing magic formulas, she would unhesitatingly walk up to Alus.

Her drive was something that Alice lacked, and it left her in awe.

“Ah yeah. I’m fine...”

“Maybe so, but Fia and Alus are both taking time off. Oh, and Loki too.”

Ciel didn’t touch on her vacant smile, but it seemed, correctly, to Alice like she saw right through her, and Alice was a little embarrassed that someone could see her longing.

Faced with Ciel’s earnest stare, Alice tried to cover things up, scratching her cheek and giving the other girl a forced smile.

“I guess, but there’s nothing I can do about it,” said Alice. “And there’s nothing I have to do either, so I wasn’t sure what to do. But it’s not as bad as you think. I’m fine!”

Since she was dealing with Ciel, she mixed in some truth, but Ciel’s vigorous nodding caught her off guard.

“Yeah, I know how you feel! But aren’t you brooding too much over this? It’s not like I ever really forget, but sometimes I am reminded that Tesfia really is a noble lady,” Ciel said to cheer Alice up.

But it also made her reaffirm reality. Their statuses were different. There was a wall between them.

And she didn’t have Alus’s or Loki’s overwhelming power to climb over it.

Alice leaned against the training ground’s wall and sighed.

“Yeah, she is. But noble or not, challenging things are still challenging. And when I see Fia’s carefree attitude I can’t help but worry.”

“Yeah. But you don’t have to be so gloomy! Alus is with her, right?” Ciel asked. When Alice nodded in return Ciel flashed an innocent smile as if to say that everything would be okay.

Ciel shouldn’t have known Alus’s actual rank, but just from seeing him up close, she had a hunch about his true powers. So she knew Tesfia should be fine.

With Alus on the Fable family side for the Tenbram, it was pointless to worry, regardless of what was on the betting table.

That aside, based on Ciel’s suggestive remark, Alice came to realize that despite also being a commoner, Ciel knew a lot.

“Ciel...how much do you know?” she asked.

“You can be so dull sometimes, Alice. Honestly, I am more worried about you than Fia.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, tilting her head.

Ciel grinned. Since Alice was typically the one teaching when it came to magic and lectures, it was a refreshing reversal of roles.

“Heh heh, you know how the Fable family are one of the three great noble families, right? And many of the students here are nobility, so there are a lot of people talking behind her back. Well, I just happened to overhear the nobles talking.”

She did have a point. There had been a ton of discussion brought about just from Tesfia enrolling at the Institute, so there was no way the noble girls wouldn’t gossip about a major event around her.

Ciel then whispered as quietly as she could, “While discrimination based on social standing is taboo on paper, it still exists in reality.”

“Huh, really?” Alice replied, somewhat bewildered.

While she couldn’t say it was nonexistent, she couldn’t recall ever being treated that badly.

Although there was some difference in the social circles of a commoner and noble, that couldn’t really be helped.

Ciel sighed. “Well, maybe that’s the case for you. In fact, most nobles are treading carefully so as not to upset Fia. The people from smaller families can’t act as pretentious around her.”

Unlike Alice, who could be carefree, Ciel was rather keen-eyed.

“And then there’s Alus, I guess. He’s like a scapegoat, taking on all of the nobles’ hate.”

Alice frowned at that as well. Alus had definitely been more of a problem child when they first enrolled. He’d even picked a fight with the daughter of the Fable family after all.

Next, Ciel whispered into Alice’s ear as if what she was about to say were a secret. “I only heard of this later, but Alus apparently did a lot of work.”

“Work? Like what?”

“Like, you know...messing people up in the shadows. Like noble boys that he didn’t like.”

“Ah, oh...” Even Alice could easily imagine that.

There was no doubt that Alus had stood out at first. He didn’t seem to mind being isolated, but if he was the victim of something malicious, he wasn’t the type to take it lying down.

A lot of things had probably happened, but thanks to that there was no longer anyone openly hostile towards him. And Sisty was likely helping out in the background as well.

While Alice felt a renewed gratitude towards the principal, Ciel continued, “Loki enrolling played a big part as well. Her glares are really effective too. Anyways, a lot of things like that made the nobles more obedient.”

“Huh... But isn’t that a good thing?” asked Alice.

“Well, now that restraint has weakened, both among the first-years and the seniors.”

Ciel frowned and looked towards the center of the training grounds. Alice followed her stare.

There, she saw several seniors with a lot of hangers-on. They weren’t wearing the Institute’s official training outfit but rather custom-made outfits.

They were shooting intimidating glares at the students training.

“Get lost already.”

The training ground was divided into several partitions, but the seniors showed no care for that as they invaded. They were even forcefully dragging out anyone who opposed them.

Students observed their selfishness from a distance. Some were even leaving the training grounds.

The arrogance of the upperclassmen made even Alice doubt her eyes. It was the first time she’d seen such a blatant act of barbarity.

The sight petrified Alice, but Ciel only shrugged. “So it begins.”

“Sh-Shouldn’t we hurry and get a teacher?” Alice asked, prompting Ciel to look sternly at her. She was normally as adorable as a critter, so this expression didn’t suit her.

“It’s already been reported to the manager in charge of the training grounds, but it’s just as you see. They’re not trying to improve things, let alone coming to check on them. Sure, I know that the teacher is really busy right now, but something is definitely up!”

By now the nobles had already secured a large part of the training ground. They were also grabbing three nearby students and forcing them inside of one of the partitions being separated by transparent barriers.

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

A student’s panicked voice reached all the way over to the girls.

In response, one of the nobles loudly declared with an arrogant smile, “Stand in a line and don’t you dare move. I do apologize for making you help with our training. But no matter how hard the likes of you try, there’s only so much you could hope to accomplish. So it’s more important to the Institute for us to become stronger.”

Then the student with reddish-brown hair drew a sword-type AWR from his waist. “Considering the current state of things, training to fight against people is important.”

Like that was their signal, the nobles began constructing spells aimed at the students standing in line.

Ciel furrowed her brows and whispered, “There might be a damage-transfer system in the training grounds, but this is too cruel. I don’t think that teacher has even reported this to the principal.”

“Yeah, there’s no way Principal Sisty would allow this!”

Alice instinctively held her spear tighter. There was no way she could overlook this.

But before she could leap into action, Ciel whispered to her, “Alice, my dad is a grunt soldier. And the dad of the guy who just drew his sword is my dad’s superior officer. I’m sure there are a lot of students in similar positions.”

Realizing what she meant, Alice stopped.

Alice didn’t have any parents, but she could understand Ciel’s plight. Singles like Alus were highly valued by the military, but to some, military rank meant more than Magicmaster hierarchy.

And the closer to the end of the organization, the starker the difference in rank became.

While Ciel looked like she was desperately holding something in, Alice just looked sad...as the vile acts of violence began in the form of firing magic at the students. Students looked on from a distance, but nobody said anything.

The poor victims were knocked down by magic attacks and forced to stand back up, their legs wobbling and their faces contorted as they held their heads. The damage-transfer system was preventing them from being injured, but they suffered from headaches and nausea.

Alice seemed to notice something and asked Ciel, “The leader of the seniors is probably a third-year student, right?”

“Yeah. But Delca has an informal offer from the military, so he’s rarely at the Institute. So there’s nobody that can stop them.”

Ciel’s trembling voice stung Alice’s heart. According to her, nobody was speaking up because the first ones who had opposed him had become the upperclassmen’s next targets.

Delca Base was from a distinguished family and controlled the third-years. He was known for his spotless integrity, but his absence alone was enough to invite a painful scenario like this.

Alice couldn’t help but feel like something had been twisted since the incident at the Institute.

It was like everything had changed in the short time Alice had been away from the training grounds. Thinking about it, Tesfia was always the type to charge headfirst into situations like these without thinking. But now that she was gone, Alice had to make her own decision.

Alice turned back to Ciel and made her declaration.

“I’m sorry, Ciel. I understand that there are all sorts of things... But that doesn’t matter. I can’t overlook this, even if they’re nobles or upperclassmen.”

Ciel stared into Alice’s eyes, and after taking a deep breath, she nodded and squeezed her staff-type AWR in her small hand.

She probably understood the emptiness of justice without power much better than Alice.

As a commoner, she had a realist side she couldn’t seem to let go off. However, there was no hesitation to be seen when she nodded.

Alice looked at her once more as if to confirm her intent, and Ciel nodded again with a forced smile.

Alice’s expression turned serious, and she shouted, “Stop it!”

In that moment everyone’s attention gathered on Alice and Ciel. The gazes were mixed with surprise and resignation that the girls would become the next targets. The problematic noble with reddish-brown hair glared in their direction.

“I was wondering who it was. If it isn’t the Fable hanger-on. Have you forgotten your status?” The leader of the noble group sneered, glaring even more at them.

But Alice resolutely glared back. She wasn’t going to look away no matter what. More followers peeked out of the partition to see what was going on.

There were six of them in total.

That was when one of the first-years met her eyes and spoke out with loathing. “Oh, so you refuse to step down? Very well. Normally, I’d never deal with scum like you, but I’ve gotten bored of these training tools.”

“Mr. Renapold, that one doesn’t have any parents. Despite that, she gets along with Fable,” he reported to the reddish-brown-haired leader.

“I see. So that’s how it is. You’ve been around a great noble for so long that you misunderstand your own position.” A deep grin appeared on Renapold’s face. “It’s not unusual for orphans not to understand social status, but it’s all the more clear that you’re in no position to speak so impudently to us.”

He then put his foot out. “Kiss it. That is how you properly greet a noble.”

“Uhm, I think I’ll pass,” Alice replied after a short while. She hadn’t hesitated because she’d considered doing it. She had been choosing her words carefully.

She’d never experienced a situation like this, but she modeled her reaction on how she thought Tesfia or Alus would respond. Alus in particular would never let that slide.

She imagined Alus giving him some personal punishment and let out a soft sigh.

“Wha—?! Are you making fun of me?”

Renapold interpreted Alice’s sigh as underestimating him, but after realizing that Alus’s style didn’t really suit her, Alice hesitated for a moment.

That was when Ciel stepped in as if remembering something.

“That reminds me. You have been working hard on training lately, but do you have a job lined up yet, Mr. Renapold?”

The somewhat deliberate words greatly hurt his pride, and Renapold’s face turned red, but he was struck dumb.

Alice was the one most surprised by the sudden bombshell of a statement. Ciel had looked so scared just a moment ago, but it seemed like she was headstrong once she’d decided on something.

Giving Alice a secret wink, Ciel continued in a nonchalant tone, “I think I heard that you were rejected by all of the famous squads? Are you sure you’re okay?”

Renapold desperately held back his anger, because if he were to snap, he’d be admitting that Ciel was right. He feigned calm as best as he could.

“Th-There’s simply a lot of squads that don’t understand my value!”

“There it is, the argument that you’re a genius and it’s the world that’s wrong. But your time limit—or rather, graduation—is coming up soon, isn’t it? If there’s no squad that will accept you, couldn’t that mean that there was a problem with your personality during interviews?” Ciel casually replied once more.

Renapold lost control, grinding his teeth as he pointed his sword at them.

“So in the end it comes to using force,” he said with an exaggerated sigh.

“It was going to come to this eventually anyways,” said Alice, taking a step forward while Ciel shrugged. “If you could be convinced by logic, you wouldn’t be acting like a bully.”

She held her spear-type AWR Shangdi Fides at the ready as mana spilled from the enraged Renapold’s body without reserve.

A first-year was one thing, but a third-year’s mana usually conveyed a degree of skill and threat. However, Alice’s eyebrows didn’t so much as twitch upon seeing his mana.

That seemed to enrage Renapold even more, and more mana violently swirled around his body.

Seeing how enraged their leader was, the remaining followers readied their own AWRs and released their mana.

In the next moment, Renapold let out an irritated shout, draped himself in wind, and leaped.

“Haaah!”

He made the first move using the intermediate acceleration spell Cruseo Step.

He had a slim sword covered in excessive ornaments, and his large body rapidly closed in on Alice. He held the tip of his sword forward as if to impale her as he moved rapidly for Alice’s shoulder.

It was the move Renapold was the most confident in.

He would use swordsmanship and sudden acceleration to pierce his enemy’s vital spots in the blink of an eye. If a master were to use such a move, their opponent wouldn’t even know what had happened until it was too late.

Renapold wore a wide grin.

He knew that they were outside of the damage-transfer system, so he should have been enveloping his blade in a sheath of mana. However, he was hoping to play everything off as an accident.

He already had his plan and excuses ready. He had only intended to scare a rude junior, but the mana around the tip of the sword happened to be too thin.

As a student, he was sure everything could be excused by his “inexperience.”

He would make an example of her. Those of low birth needed to see blood to understand.

Even if she were to die, it would just be one of Alpha’s rats being removed.

He felt certain his strike would surely accomplish his nefarious goal since Alice didn’t seem to be on guard or afraid. Just as he was convinced of that, a golden flash ran across his view.

A beat later an eardrum-bursting, high-pitched sound rang out. Renapold felt a heavy impact and like he was being dragged backward by a giant’s hand.

He was stunned and unable to hide his impatience as he caught a glimpse of Alice. However, she was perfectly calm.

It didn’t look like she’d just barely repelled his attack or managed to pull it off through chance. She was so calm it was like she had repeated the same motion thousands of times a day, and this was the expected result.

“Huh?”

As he voiced his bewilderment, the backlash from the impact kicked in, and he was sent flying backward.

It wasn’t until Renapold saw his followers meet the same fate as him after launching their attacks shortly after him that he realized what had happened.

Some had swung down their weapons at her, while some had shot out ice arrows from the rear. They were all nobles with some skills for novice Magicmasters...yet their attacks had all ended in vain.

Or rather, they had all bounced back at the same time.

As his body flipped upside down, he could see his followers being blown back too.

“‹‹Reflection››...! Phew, I knew using it against everyone would be rough.” Alice’s quiet voice seemed to reach the entire training grounds.

After rolling across the ground, Renapold raised his upper body and roared, “Ugh...don’t get full of yourself! Do you have any idea who you’re up against?”

Alice calmly faced his anger and showed a mischievous smile. “Who? Well... Oh. I’m sure I heard your name, but I’ve already forgotten.”

That made the vein in Renapold’s temple bulge. Driven by anger, he tried to get up, but his legs weren’t listening.

When he looked down, he saw that they were buried in a lump of earth. His followers were all in the same position and unable to move.

The culprit was the small girl behind Alice, Ciel.

“What?! Gaia’s Grasp?!”

Having looked down on them, he’d never expected an advanced earth-attribute restriction spell. Renapold was flustered, but when he realized something, a fearless smile appeared on his lips.

Just binding his body wasn’t enough. A Magicmaster’s strongest weapon, their magic, was still unrestrained.

“Everyone, use the strongest spell that you can!”

Without missing a beat, the followers raised their AWRs and gave their careless juniors a mocking look.

“Is that enough, Alice?”

“Nice work, Ciel. I’m still struggling with minute adjustments.”

Renapold could overhear the two talking.

In the next moment, the earth magic was undone, and a white light appeared in front of Renapold and his followers.

“‹‹Celestist››”

Alice smacked the bottom of her spear against the ground, prompting blinding pillars of light to rain down on everyone’s AWRs, heating them up and causing everyone to lose their grip on them.

“Wh-What is that spell...?!” Renapold muttered, holding his hand in anguish. He was completely at a loss.

There was no longer any battle to be had, and he couldn’t even resist.

“You will never solve anything like that,” Alice quietly said as Renapold hung his head.

“I think that right now, the entire Institute is going through a difficult time. I’m sure there are a lot of things irritating you, like not finding a job and being unsure about the future. But if you use your position as a senior student and the status of your family’s name to console yourself now, you will only be more miserable later.”

Alice neither spoke harshly nor angrily criticized him. She simply admonished him calmly.

There was nothing Renapold could say back to her.

“Besides, that’s not cool. Nobody is ever going to acknowledge you like that,” Ciel said, poking her face out from behind Alice.

“Wh-What are you...?!”

As Renapold’s voice began to raise again, Alice stepped forward.

“Let’s leave it at this. Real training is not about taking out your frustration on someone else. It’s about facing yourself head-on. At the very least, that’s the training we will be doing,” Alice said, noting with a gentle smile and soft tone that he was going to ruin himself if he kept that up.

Alice had reached out her hand with a smile, but he lightly brushed it aside to stand up on his own. Renapold was speechless, but he still had a final shred of pride.

“Have it your way! Come on. We’re leaving!” he said to his followers and headed towards the exit, but he suddenly stopped even though he didn’t know why.

“Mr. Renapold, we can’t let this slide! Don’t worry. We’ll gather more power and...”

The first-year student that had ridiculed Alice for being a parentless orphan looked angry and suggested that they get revenge.

But for some reason his expression irritated Renapold.

“Don’t mock me any further! And don’t do anything unnecessary!”

That anger came as such a surprise that the flustered first-year student lowered his head, but Renapold didn’t so much as glance at him. Alice and Ciel’s training had caught more of his attention.

He leaned against the wall next to the training grounds exit and crossed his arms with a sullen expression.

“Aren’t you coming?” a student asked. But he sent them away with a “You guys, go.”

After that, his focus was on the training grounds.

◇◇◇

“I guess you could call this self-cleansing.”

In a corner of the training grounds, Principal Sisty was wearing an inconspicuous outfit. Next to her was a young woman dressed like a secretary.

“There have been a lot of changes today, Captain.”

“Don’t call me that, Elina.” Sisty gave her an exasperated look, but Elina looked serious.

She had been Sisty’s subordinate, but they had both left the army. However, they still had a personal relationship and she occasionally helped with business affairs.

“Still, since you’ve come all this way, shouldn’t you at least see Alus once?” asked Sisty.

Elina gave a soft smile and shook her head. “No...not yet. I think that would be better for him.”

Elina had a long and deep relationship with Alus. She had been in the same Special Fiend Attack Unit as Alus...which had been a rough period for him. So she didn’t want to appear before him and bring back unpleasant memories.

Even so, she wanted to see how Alus had grown, so she’d often ask Sisty about him.

“You should keep from taking your doting parenting too far. If you keep leaving your husband alone you’re going to be abandoned,” said Sisty.

“Of course not. I have the initiative. Besides, my husband is the one who’s never home.”

“Well, I guess so.”

Elina’s husband was the chief of the defense force, so there was no way he wouldn’t be busy. Plus, he also had a deep relationship with Alus, so he wouldn’t stop Elina from going to the Institute.

Sisty looked back at the training grounds.

A situation that had been bound to happen had occurred, but the students had resolved it themselves. Since the Institute valued independence, Sisty was secretly happy with the results.

If adults were to step in, the situation would appear fixed on the surface, but the fundamental problem would still be there.

Although the Institute had ostensibly abolished the antiquated status system, it was a place detached from the adult world, and the students weren’t all free from the influence of their upbringing.

No matter how many ideals the principal might spout, the nobles weren’t all going to accept it.

The actions that Alice and Ciel had taken had made the students themselves extinguish the spark that was smoldering between them.

“Ms. Alice has really grown. Ah, how moving.”

“She was an orphan from the orphanage that the Governor-General is supporting,” said Elina. “And she is receiving training from Alus, so that’s to be expected.”

“Maybe from a magical perspective, but when it comes to character it’s the opposite,” Sisty said. “Our problem child in question has mellowed out quite a bit lately. Also, your bad habit of overestimating Alus is showing.”

“Please at least forgive that. I want to see his growth for myself.” Elina smiled wryly, sapping Sisty of any desire to pursue the subject further. Elina gave the impression of a hen watching over her chick.

“Good grief...what an astonishingly doting parent.”

“No, at least make it his older sister...” Elina cleared her throat and changed the topic to Alice. “But that aside, I wanted to ask about her.”

Sisty had an idea what she wanted to ask about. It was likely about the light-attribute spell that Alice had used.

“Oh my, her growth really is outstanding.”

“You’re not going to be able to dodge the question like that,” responded Elina. “Spatial manipulation is well beyond what a first-year student can manage.”

“I can’t hear yooou... I’m sure it’s something you could manage if you tried really hard.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

The spell Alice had used was probably a new spell that Alus had created and taught her. There were only a few light magic spells, so Elina could easily tell it wasn’t one that she knew.

But it wasn’t a completely original spell. It appeared to be a combination of existing spells that used the light element.

But the problem was what lay beyond, where Alice was headed.

Sisty and Elina could both tell that the spell Alice had used, Celestist, was just a simplified version of its complete form.

What would the final iteration of the spell look like? It was possible it would be too powerful for a first-year student to be allowed to have.

While it was a happy sight as an educator, it was a headache-inducing situation as a supervisor.

Sisty looked over at Elina with a sullen expression. “I wonder if Alus deciphered that.”

“Yes...one of the big four relics.”

Relics were remains of the past left behind by someone unknown. They contained magic formulas from before the seven nations arose.

In particular there was a relic regarding the light element that magic researchers had long attempted to decipher and had only failed.

Modern spells were made by copying Fiend magic, but nobody knew who had created the relics and ancient magic. They were only mentioned in old rare books or even stone tablets.

Not even Sisty had a good grasp of their entirety, but she believed one of them was similar to Alice’s spell Celestist. And if it had been Alus who taught Alice the spell, doubts would naturally come to the surface.

“W-Well, I’m sure we’ll find out eventually, so let’s just leave it at that,” said Sisty.

“You have it rough, Captain.”

“Just call me Principal. Still, Alus still doesn’t understand how to do things in moderation. Besides, your people have some responsibility in raising him to be like this... No, I suppose I shouldn’t complain anymore. I’m sure he has his hands full with his own problems.”

Sisty shrugged and continued. “I will just have to do what I can from here. The seeds that were sown have definitely started to sprout.”

Renapold seemed deeply affected by what happened, and Sisty smiled.

“Yes, all that’s left is to keep outsiders from doing something unnecessary,” muttered Elina.

It reached Sisty, and she said, “Yes...Berwick can be a handful whenever it comes to Alus. I’ll need to tell him not to act like a father meddling in his son’s love life.”

Like the exasperated Sisty noted, Berwick had even offered to act as a mediator between a young Alus and Tesfia.

“You can include Lord Vizaist in that. They should really just let things play out,” Elina said with a giggle.

Sisty and Elina had long ago figured out how Vizaist felt about his daughter Felinella and Alus getting along.

Regardless of whether her emotions were closer to that of a mother or a sister, Elina prayed for the boy’s future happiness.

That said, there was nothing to actually worry about if she could afford to fret about such minor things. All she could do was hope the problem on Alus’s side would be fixed.

I owe Alus. And I hope I can repay him with this, Sisty thought as she looked at her former subordinate’s calm profile.

One Hundredth Chapter: The Tenbram Begins

A little more than two weeks had passed since Alus and the others had come to the Fable mansion, and it was finally the day of the Tenbram.

A lot of nobles had gathered at the Womruina family’s vast grounds, where they would be watching the outcome of the Tenbram.

Regardless of outcome, the power balance of Alpha’s noble society was going to greatly change, and noble families of all sizes would need to consider their courses for the future.

“What are they doing? Are they really coming?” Tesfia asked with an irritated sigh.

The order list had already been submitted, and anyone not present when the match began would be treated as absent.

And the Fable team was currently missing one of its members.

Even Alus, who did things at his own pace, hadn’t expected this. Not only had they not participated a single time during the training, even now they were cutting it close.

Frose, the head of the Fable family, was also reaching her breaking point as she waited for the final person.