━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The celebration of the Crimson Witches was soon interrupted by the staff to make way for the next two teams, which also made them aware of the embarrassing fact that what they'd won was only a preliminary match, not a final.
Of course, a win was a win, and being a little embarrassed from celebrating too much was nothing compared to making their way down in shame and disappointment after losing a match.
At least no one booed at them.
Once they were off the stage, Emilia coughed awkwardly. "Um, Robin… can you please put me down now?"
It was only then that the tomboy remembered she was still carrying a certain crimson-haired beauty on her shoulders, and she couldn't help but be stunned. "S-Sorry, y-you were so light, I-I really forgot!"
She rubbed the easily accessible silky thighs and calves as if to make sure that Emilia really was there. 'O-Ohhh, this feels quite nice!'
Her blatant 'harassment' made Nico roll her eyes in exasperation. "Stop teasing her and put her down already, you doofus!"
Emilia huffed as her feet finally touched the ground, making a mental note to wear tights whenever going out with a skirt, at least whenever Robin was around. 'Don't think you can so easily take advantage of me without even treating me right from the start, hmph!'
Danielle chuckled at the haughty look of their 'young champion', then turned her eyes to the tall girl watching the scene in amusement. "Well, at least some of us seem to be getting along better than before."
Despite it being clearly aimed at her, the heroine ignored her completely, though, and went forward to pat Emilia's head instead. "Although you're not very professional, that instinct and reaction speed of yours is really a gift that makes people envious to death. Work hard and don't waste it, alright?"
Emilia stared blankly at the usually wild yellow-eyed heroine for almost a full minute before shaking her head in amusement. "Are you praising me? I really can't tell."
Sylvia couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Why are you so obedient when people are being a bad influence, but so rebellious when I'm telling you something good?"
Robin and Nico snorted, criticizing Sylvia for being two-faced, but the dark-haired heroine completely ignored them, as always.
Emilia huffed as she waved at the two of them to stop making a ruckus, and surprisingly enough, they actually did. "If you want me to listen to you, you should stop talking down to me first and treat me like an equal!"
Her words made sense, but then again, Sylvia wouldn't have been on her 'bad side' in the first place if she'd been reasonable.
The dark-haired heroine chuckled as she stepped forward to grab Emilia's shoulders, her yellow eyes glinting dangerously like an apex predator on the prowl. "What an interesting thing to say for someone who can't even reach my shoulders, no?"
As if to prove her point, she pulled the crimson-haired girl into her arms and rested her chin haughtily on the back of the palm over the girl's head.
Emilia couldn't help but be dumbfounded. 'W-Wait… didn't I increase my height by nearly three inches in the last two weeks?!'
She thought that her height should already be close to the average, and in a few more months, she could safely raise it to a 'respectable' level.
Cynthia coughed. "It's not that you're too short, but that the heroine is too freakishly tall compared to everyone else around."
It hadn't been very obvious based on the images, and due to being 'mad' at her, Emilia hadn't paid much attention to such things, but now she couldn't help but sigh.
For her to not even reach the heroine's shoulders… just how tall was this woman supposed to be?!
She didn't even look lanky or thin, though perhaps that could be partly because of her wild mane of fluffy and curly hair, being so long and rich in volume.
Of course, Robin and Nico, who never got along with the heroine, couldn't stand to watch her bullying Emilia, and quickly jumped to her rescue.
"Let her go, you wild woman!"
Nico nodded as she joined Robin in a rather futile attempt at pulling Emilia away from the heroine's iron grip. "Don't bully her just because she's small and cute!"
Emilia couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You're not really helping…"
Being rebellious by nature, Sylvia only sneered. "Think you weak little brats can grab something from me? Dreaming!"
"I-Is this thing glued?!"
"Let her go!"
Fortunately, even under this world's suppression, her body was quite strong. If she'd actually been as fragile as she looked, these three idiots might just have dislocated a few of her joints.
Danielle hummed thoughtfully as she looked at this 'warm' scene with a smile.
It hadn't been that long since Robin and Nico came to complain to her about how a girl as pretty as Emilia would never be able to stick around in a relatively mediocre profession like theirs, and would soon find herself involved in more 'glamorous' pursuits.
Robin especially insisted that they would only be wasting time by trying to get along with her. But looking at them now, Danielle couldn't find even the slightest trace of dissatisfaction. If anything, it was the exact opposite.
Of course, most importantly… that untamable wild beast Sylvia seemed actually willing to listen to her, for now.
"Maybe… I should let her continue to lead the team…?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The blonde villainess might have only made that decision on a whim, but she soon realized how brilliant a move that was.
The Crimson Witches not only won the quarter and semi-finals of that tournament, but even gave the opposing team a run for their money in the finals!
In fact, if not for the opponent's nearly flawless execution of drawing away both Robin and Sylvia with a nearly dead teammate while the rest of them overwhelmed Danielle and Nico to capture the base, Emilia might actually have secured them the winner's trophy!
For a team that had almost collapsed and recently reformed, winning a national-level trophy… it almost made Danielle wonder if she was dreaming.
She couldn't help but sigh. 'Our country might not be the best at this game, but still… it almost makes me recall when we almost got into the finals of the international tournament…'
Of course, without their star player, the Crimson Witches were no longer what they used to be, but that didn't mean they were helpless.
Theoretically, their team was still amazing, with each of their members being highly skilled in their respective roles.
Danielle was reluctant to admit it, but given some time, Emilia wasn't necessarily worse than their star girl, and Sylvia was definitely an upgrade compared to the boy who ran away.
The only thing holding them back was their lack of ability to work together.
The blonde girl couldn't help but smile. "I don't care if I won't be the leader anymore… that international trophy… I want it!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Unfortunately, Danielle's dreams of making her team shine as the best players of the game were shattered the very next week.
A new game called Arcadia was announced to be released to the public within the next three days, and Emilia seemed hell-bent on making that their next pursuit.
Danielle couldn't help but frown. "I get that it's created by that genius Darryl, but… that doesn't mean we can abandon everything and just rush into it without a thought."
Emilia sighed. "I'm not saying this without a thought, Danny. If you could just take the time to go through the materials and demos that are already out there, you'd see it's the kind of opportunity we can't afford to miss."
Danielle took a deep breath to calm herself before tapping the table irritably. "Okay, first of all, didn't I tell you to stop calling me Danny? And also, did you forget that this is MY team, not yours?"
'Ahh, there it is, that uncontrollably poisonous tongue of hers.' Emilia almost rolled her eyes in exasperation. 'If I hadn't known better, I would have almost been hurt.'
Cynthia giggled. "Time to reflect that 'damage' back as you said, then?"
'That's right!'
Obviously, Danielle also realized that her words were rude and could be hurtful to the young girl brimming with passion, but she'd never been one to censor herself for the sake of others.
Nevertheless, when Emilia's beautiful blue eyes really brimmed with tears and her lower lip trembled as if she was about to cry, it was as if a bolt of lightning had struck her heart, rendering Danielle almost completely out of breath.
Robin and Nico screamed.
"A-AHHH! C-Captain made our baby cry!"
"N-Nico, quickly, get the candies, n-no, the chocolates, I'll beat the captain up to stop her tears in the meantime!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om