Chapter 291: Confessions (1)
The entire Imperial Capital was in shock.
Bourgeois patriarch Bartolomeo has been assassinated, and Cardinal Humbert of Quovadis, a pious man, has gone missing.
The culprit was blamed on the Night Hound.
Night Hound broke into a dinner party where Bartolomeo and the students of the academy were gathered, targeted Saint Dolores among the students, and staged a cowardly hostage situation, during which Bartolomeo made a heroic sacrifice to save them all.
A holy, heroic death indeed.
Unfortunately, most of the survivors who were saved by Bartolomeo's sacrifice said they had no memory of it.
A student named Piggy claimed to have fallen asleep and didn't see anything at all, while a student named Sinclair, who was present at the scene, suffered from aphasia and short-term memory loss due to an overdose of sleeping pills, a blow to the head, and psychological shock.
Finally, St. Dolores, who had been taken hostage herself, stated that she did not see anything because she had an eye patch over her eyes.
The incident was put to rest when the acting patriarch of the Bourgeois Family, Demian J Bourgeois, issued an official statement stating that the situation would be resolved as quickly as possible and that the chaos would soon subside as there was a successor in place for the patriarchal position.
...But.
Even if there is a big incident in the whole country, it is human and small citizens who feel that the small things in front of them are more important.
Academy Colosseo.
Here, the focus was on the upcoming final exams and parent-teacher conferences.
Even if a Bourgeois assassination was shaking the entire empire, nothing could be more important to the students than their exams.
"Now, let's start reorganizing the gym to prepare for the final exams!"
"Don't forget to check your magic stones, just in case!"
"Is it okay for the trails for parents to explore to be this scenic? Let's plant more trees!"
"If possible, we plant large trees. I'm sowing a lot of flower seeds too!"
Soon, parents were visiting the school, and there was a massive beautification project going on all around the school.
Upon his return, Principal Winston began a massive greening project.
Large trees and beautiful flowers were planted throughout the school, and the sound of soft music echoed in the air.
He was also very disappointed with the damage to the magic wall during the recent midterms, so he added new magic stones to make it stronger.
Beautification and security. These were two of Principal Winston's main priorities.
The students' opinions were divided.
"Why is the principal doing such a large-scale construction project as soon as he comes back, when the school is busy?"
"Well, he's been away and hasn't accomplished much, so he has to do this in a hurry."
"Hey, the school is half land and half trees. It's not like he's crazy about trees...."
"We've gotten a lot of mana stones, so the magic wall will be very strong."
"Oh no. The parents are coming, so look at the showcase construction.
"Oh no, I heard that even the seven major families are sending representatives for the parent observation class."
"Hey, I heard that some families even have the patriarch himself coming."
Meanwhile.
Dolores has recovered from her shock at Bourgeois and has returned to the front lines as student council president.
Contact with contractors, selection of magic stones and landscaping trees, negotiation of unit price, transportation and landscaping and more....
She was at the forefront of all these complex tasks.
"Soon, parents will be visiting the school. Many high ranking people are coming, including the seventh family of the Empire, so let's not skimp on the hospitality."
At Dolores' words, the student council officers were hard at work.
Most families send their dignitaries by proxy, but on rare occasions, the head of the family comes in person, so every detail had to be taken care of.
While many students prepared to welcome the honored guests.
'Phew....'
Dolores sighed inwardly.
'I can't wait to meet Piggy and Sinclair.'
She had seen Piggy a few times since that day at the Bourgeois family, but never Sinclair.
The diligent kid had skipped class and locked herself in her dorm room, never coming out.
No part-time job, no volunteer work, no clubs.
Everyone was stunned by the change in the normally conscientious Sinclair.
'She seemed very confused, After all, it's natural to be shocked when you see someone die right in front of you.'
Dolores is a saint and has seen many people in pain and dying, so she has minimal psychological resistance, but Sinclair is a commoner girl who grew up with a clear head.
Naturally, she was shocked.
'I'm glad she didn't say anything in front of the press, though.'
Sinclair is smart, she's not the kind of girl who would drop a bombshell in an interview without a backup plan.
'By the way, you said you were sharing a room with Bianca, right?'
But Bianca said she and Sinclair hadn't been getting along lately, and she wasn't in the room much.
'I can't do this.'
Dolores realized that she needed to visit Sinclair's room, even if it was just tonight.
And to do that, she'd have to catch up on her work.
"Come on. Let's get back to it."
Dolores cheered herself up and grabbed a pen to start filling out the paperwork.
...And in the midst of all these big and small changes.
.
The final exams of the first year of the 20th class have begun.
* * *
One week later.
As the final exams are coming to a close, the results of the Ranking Battle are almost out.
The final exam was organized by dividing the scores recorded during the midterm exam into sections to categorize the levels, and then students in each section competed against each other to collect partial scores.
Top scorers were promoted, bottom scorers were paid. This simple rule motivated all students.
During the midterms, Vikir, who was the overall leader of the class, defeated the Lowbro and Midbro from the Cold Class and lost to the Highbro.
In Cold Class, Bianca defeated Sancho in a close match to advance to the finals, where she faced off against Tudor.
In the Hot Class, Grenouille and Sinclair face off in the final.
The matches between Tudor and Bianca and Grenouille and Sinclair was scheduled to conclude the final exam in a grand manner with all parents in attendance.
The four students had been working particularly hard to prepare for this highly anticipated final.
Among them, Sinclair's enthusiasm and tenacity were so great that they left everyone speechless.
... Push!
The door to the gravity chamber opened and Sinclair walked out, her body drenched in sweat.
A black sleeveless tee and combat uniform pants.
Sinclair, who had just withstood 11 times the force of gravity with no mana, sat down in a chair with an exhausted expression.
"...whoa."
No one approached Sinclair as she sighed heavily.
That's because Sinclair had been holed up in her dorm for a while, but now that she's out in the open for finals season, she's showing an unprecedented amount of determination.
Every single one of the Hot class elite she'd faced so far in the finals rankings had beaten in less than a minute.
This was despite the fact that they were aces who had performed well enough at the midterms to be in the same tier as Sinclair.
Sinclair became extremely quiet and her every move became monotonous.
Sleep. Eat. Train. Sleep. Eat. Train. Sleep. Eat. Train.
She didn't talk to anyone around her, and was completely focused on the task in front of her.
Relationships with friends became strained. Her tone of voice and eyes were cold, as if she was intentionally trying to distance herself from them.
It was as if she had become a different person overnight.
She also stopped volunteering at the orphanage, which she would force herself to do if she didn't have time.
When she sent letters to the children at the orphanage saying that she missed them, she crumpled them up without reading them.
She also quit all her part-time jobs that she had been doing responsibly.
When Bianca, who shared a room with her, expressed concern, she was silent.
Then.
"...!"
Sinclair, who had been paying no attention to her surroundings, suddenly looked up.
At the same time, the door to the front gravity chamber opened and someone stepped out.
...Push!
13 times the gravity. A feat accomplished entirely with a bare body.
Vikir stepped out in a cloud of steam, drenched in sweat.
Then Sinclair spoke up.
" ... You're still awesome."
Sinclair, who had been acting like she was closing in on all the connections around her, was the first to speak to Vikir.
Vikir nodded and wiped the sweat from his face and body with a towel.
Sinclair scrambled to her feet and followed closely behind.
"What's 13 times gravity like?"
"How do you survive without using mana?"
"What do you usually eat, and when do you sleep?"
"How the hell did you get so strong, what kind of training did you do?"
"Did you just lose to Highbro this time because you can't stand the attention?"
.
.
As far as Vikir could see, Sinclair was still the same as before.
She was still the same curious, cheerful girl.
... but.
Even Vikir could tell that Sinclair's last question had a slightly different tone to it.
"What are you doing tonight, hyung?"
"Assignment."
"It's not going to be an overnight assignment, and it's not that hard."
"I have assignments for my other classes. It's a night job."
"...Tch."
Sinclair's lips twitched at Vikir's bluntness.
"You don't have time for late at night, or even at dawn? I'm not going to sleep!"
"If it's dawn, the assignment will be done, why?"
Vikir asked, and Sinclair hesitated for a moment, then spoke as if summoning great courage.
"...if it's okay, would you like to have a late-night snack in my room?"
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