Chapter 237: National University League (4)
Vikir gave the Baskerville triplets a quick glance and left the room.
Clink.
As soon as Vikir left the cabin and closed the door behind him, he heard a commotion inside.
''Kwaaaaaa...ub! uub! ub!'
The screams cut off unnaturally, as if the hounds had understood the meaning of their master's gesture.
Now that the pesky Grenouille is gone, the group activities should go off without a hitch.
Vikir left his cabin and walked out near the seamy passageway that connects compartments to compartments on the train.
There were shops and cafes there, and passengers from other compartments were milling around.
Suddenly, Vikir made eye contact with a small girl.
She was staring at a cake in a glass display case with a twinkle in her eye, wondering if she wanted to eat it.
Vikir bought the cake along with a bottle of water.
The amount of money in his pocket was just right.
"I must have bought the wrong one by mistake. Eat it if you don't mind."
Vikir bent down to make eye contact with the girl and handed her the wrapped cake, and she beamed with delight.
"Thank you, mister!"
The girl accepted the cake and planted a surprise kiss on Vikir's cheek.
Of course, Vikir was able to dodge it with the Swordmaster's body vision.
"...."
Something about hearing the word 'mister' made him feel strange, so he didn't dodge the lips on his cheek.
Just.
"...It's not mister, it's brother."
I stretched my back and looked at the distant mountains, trying to close the distance I had closed so long ago.
A girl's face flashed in my mind's eye like a puffy cloud outside the car window, and then it was gone.
Then.
"Mr. .... Surely, you're not old enough to be called that."
A calm voice came from behind him.
Where Vikir turned, Dolores stood.
Dolores, the student council president, looks stern, stoic, and serious.
But in her hands are eggs and cider.
"...."
"...khem."
Feeling Vikir's stare, Dolores quickly hid the eggs and cider behind her back.
"There are participants from the Themisqyra Women's University in the wagon back there. I want you to avoid contact with them as much as possible before the tournament, in case they want to make a scene."
"Understood."
"...."
Vikir nodded, and Dolores hesitated, as if she had something more to say.
Then. A familiar face emerged from the opposite aisle. It was Professor Morg Banshee.
"Hey, student council president. Professor Sady is not at the head of the line. Have you seen her?"
"I think I saw her near the compartment with the participants from Varangian."
"This person can't do anything right. Why does the principal keep her as a professor?"
Prof. Banshee was so angry that he openly insulted his colleague in front of the students.
Professor Banshee then left to find Professor Sady. He dragged Dolores with him, who wanted to talk to Vikir more.
"Okay, wait a minute, then you can take one more person with you...!"
Dolores said to Professor Banshee just before leaving Cannes.
She intended to bring Vikir along on the mission to find Professor Sady. They would have something to talk about.
But Professor Banshee only shook his head.
"One more? Who?"
"He's here... huh?"
Dolores's eyes widened as she turned her head.
....
Because the spot where Vikir was standing just a moment ago was empty.
* * *
It almost got annoying.'
Vikir stood on top of the moving train, facing the wind.
As soon as he realized that Dolores was about to launch a maneuver, he opened the window, scaled the wall of the train, and climbed up to the ceiling.
All of this was done in the blink of an eye, like the behavior of a ghost, and no one noticed.
Vikir walked across the train at a leisurely pace and soon landed at the window of the opposite compartment.
Luckily, the passageway between the compartments was empty, making it easy for him to get back inside the train.
'Halfway between the Colosseo Academy and the Themiscyra Women's University.'
This is where the middle section of the train begins, and from here on out, it's all about the Themiscyra female student group.
One more compartment back and you'd be in the middle of a sea of girls.
The compartment at the back had two floors, and a thin bulkhead blocked the stairs.
So it was on the second floor of the cabin that Vikir now entered through the window.
The room for Themiscyra's female students was generally quiet and smelled of fragrant tea.
The only sound was elegant heavy metal music, the kind that noble ladies might enjoy.
Vikir stood at the window for a moment, considering his next move.
First, he had to appease Grenouille, who was treating him like a commoner and ignoring him, so that he could continue with the group activities.
Even though the scores were calculated individually, the initial start was in the form of a group task, so they would have to cry and eat mustard together.
Of course, Vikir didn't care about any of that, but... still had to put together an assortment.
Hence the decision to use the Baskerville triplets.
'Why are you so obsessed with origins?'
Vikir thought for a moment about Grenouille's attitude.
Vikir doesn't know who his mother is.
He'd heard that she was an actress and dancer who briefly dated Hugo, but that wasn't exactly accurate.
Vikir's mind wandered.
'Come to think of it, I've also heard that there is royalty among the freshmen in this class of 20.'
That was also an inaccurate statement.
There is a rumor that a royal family member, almost an illegitimate child, who does not know what rank he is in the line of succession to the throne, has entered the Colosseo Academy.
No matter how you slice it, an Imperial is an Imperial, and many were on high alert.
There were even rumors that some of the professors had already noticed.
'Well, it's none of my business.'
Vikir closed his eyes and shook off his thoughts.
He started to walk back to the first floor of the room.
Then.
"...?"
A strange voice called from the stairs.
Vikir was about to open the door and head out when he paused and listened to the sounds coming from the first floor hallway.
...?
The voice was all too familiar.
* * *
"Ah, the smell of commoners."
"You must have gotten that smell all over my clothes."
"You should be paying for laundry like a human being, not this~"
"More than that, shouldn't the first thing you do is apologize for bumping into me?"
"Oh dear. You're the top dog at the Great Colosseo Academy, aren't you?"
"That's right, you're too good to know how to apologize~"
The girls in Themiscyra's uniforms glared at the wall with frightening eyes.
And in the corner stood a girl.
It was Sinclair.
Undaunted, she opened her mouth.
"We're supposed to avoid each other in the hallways, and I didn't, but you didn't either, so it's kind of a double whammy, I guess, although I don't know if you did or didn't."
"Oh, so you're saying you're the victim now because we both lost different amounts of damage?"
The girl who had bumped into Sinclair fiddled with the scarf on her shoulder in disbelief.
It was an expensive looking scarf at first glance.
"My dear. You don't realize you're a commoner. This one would cost you three semesters of tuition at your school just to have it cleaned. It's limited edition, limited edition!"
Now glaring at Sinclair was Merlini Lovegood, a senior at Themiscyra Woman's University, and president of the student council.
The Merlini family was one of the wealthiest and most prominent families in the empire, and they were also members of the House of Bourgeois, a distinction that came with a great deal of prestige.
As a member of the family, Lovegood was a very proud student.
She was also very proud of the fact that she was a student at Themiscyra Women's University, which gave her a bit of a hooligan attitude.
Maybe that's why?
When Lovegood met Sinclair, she confronted her quite openly.
'You're telling me you topped our Themiscyra's entrance exams and then went to another school, you cheeky little bastard....'
Beyond that, being top of the class at Magic Tower and top of the class at Colosseo is something to be frowned upon.
In fact, Lovegood had taken the entrance exams for Themiscyra Women's University at the same time as she took the entrance exams for Colosseo Academy, and had failed to make the top of the class.
So when she met Sinclair here today, she was happy to see her, and tried to argue with her.
But.
"Oh, that scarf? I know what it sells for, it's a limited edition, but it's old and it depreciates a lot, so it fetches a really low second-hand price. I'm sure it's not as much as you say...?"
Sinclair opened his mouth to speak in an amused tone.
Then Lovegood snapped.
"That's ridiculous! Sometimes pre-owned items command a premium! This was actually worn by a famous singer! This was actually worn by the actor G-Pistol! Don't you know about celebrity premiums?"
"Well, if it's worth a premium because it was worn by a celebrity of that caliber, then it's worth the original brand value."
Sinclair's response was unexpectedly cold and sharp.
Her normally smiling face was now dry and cold, without a trace of a smile.
A line of blood stood on Lovegood's forehead.
"No, but this little brat has been cheekily talking down to the senior from earlier...!"
"Auntie, you're not a senior in our school, are you?"
"Oh, auntie?"
"Even though you're quite a senior, is it the code of Themiscyra to persecute a freshman from another school like this, especially one who entered early?"
"Wow! this...!?"
"If this is the way of Themiscyra, then I have no comment."
Sinclair said softly.
"...I'm glad I didn't go to that school."
It was the final blow.
Then the girls from Themiscyra, including Lovegood, began to surround Sinclair with stern looks on their faces.
"You, you!"
Lovegood shuddered and drew his wand from his back.
It was a clunky iron club with a starburst on the end, and the mana glowed pink and bright.
It looked like Lovegood was preparing some kind of magic.
And Sinclair's eyes widened, ready to meet Lovegood's attack.
And then.
...POP!
The mana from Lovegood's wand was instantly scattered.
"Enough."
A large shadow landed in front of Sinclair.
Lovegood took a half-step backward, startled by the black curtain in front of him.
Vikir.
He stood between Sinclair and Lovegood, gripping the doorknob of the passageway.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om