The competition, which lasted for a total of six months, including the preliminaries and the main event, gathered energetic and skilled students. If not controlled, incidents would not cease.

Therefore, at this time, the organizers were suggesting positions such as instructor to strong individuals who could be recognized by the students.

An offer that came only to those who passed very strict criteria, selected individuals.

Although it was a position where, with just one line of instructor experience on your resume after the competition, you could go anywhere and grab an honorary position.

‘Troublesome.’

To Deon, who possessed both, it was a bothersome proposal.

Deon retraced his memory. Where did he put the letter? He seemed to have read it and then crumpled it and threw it into the trash.

‘Who would do such a thing?’

Deon stepped on Philip’s brought-up words.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes. Master, will you go straight to Lady Judia as soon as you arrive? Jed said to ask you.”

Philip also asked as he rode on his own words.

Deon answered with a nonchalant face, starting the conversation.

“Before that, let’s dig through the trash.”

“Liche, sister!”

Academy training ground.

Liche, who was warming up on the platform, turned her head towards the entrance upon hearing someone calling her.
15 years old. Lotus, with pink hair that fluttered just like Lily’s, came running towards me. Behind her was Zekebert, who was one head taller than Lotus.

“Zeke! Lotus came with you too?”

Liche greeted the two.

Zekebert, who turned 17 this year, had the air of a fairly grown man. His gaze, now deeper than before, swept over Liche as if pretending to know.

“Liche, hello. We met on the way here.”

“Yeah. Zeke said he was going to train with his sister, so I followed.”

Lotus and Zekebert stood in front of Liche.

Then, looking at Liche’s face, Lotus exclaimed, “Ah!” and let out an admiring sigh. She remembered something she wanted to say.

“Sis, did you see the banner?! On the rooftop railing of the main building, it’s huge. If someone sees it, they might think my sister has already won, right? Isn’t that right, Zeke?”

“Winning is…”

“It’s okay because Liche-noona will do it, right? That’s what it means.”

Lotus spoke on behalf of Zeke. Lotus, who used to follow Zeke around saying he was cool, had now become Zeke’s dedicated interpreter.

Meanwhile, Liche was more disturbed by the banner news.

A few days ago.

With a light heart, she informed a professor and a mage of her intention to participate in the competition. The professor, who had his mouth open wide enough to show his Adam’s apple at Liche’s words, then ran off somewhere.

“……?”

Left alone, Liche blinked as she watched his back.

Perhaps he was busy; I should tell him again later. While thinking the same thing, she turned to leave for a moment.

However, she was surprised to see magic and professors running towards her, as if coming to catch prey.

“T-Student Tari-che!”

“Really, are you going out?!”

“Student Tari-che, do you need anything? Tell us anything!”

“Finally…! I knew a day like this would come before I got dirt in my eyes!”

Only now did Liche realize that the professors and the principal had been eagerly awaiting her news about participating in Crescellphone.

Moreover, as if the reins had been released, they were shouting, ‘Anyway, the winner is Tari-che!’ with their whole bodies.

It couldn’t help but be burdensome.

‘I just wanted to gain experience in the competition, but things have turned out like this.’

The light-hearted feeling quickly became heavy.

In the end, Liche decided to aim for victory in earnest and began training.

Since the final winner was selected by combining the scores of individual and team events, she had to prepare for last year’s winner that Lily mentioned.

As she hadn’t heard the name yet, she only knew that the person was in the same grade as her. A skilled swordsman who won at just 15.

Pythonth addressed Liche.

How do you know I’m thinking about the winner?

Embarrassed by the question that seemed to penetrate her mind, Liche silently answered in her mind.

‘Well, Lily said that…’.
Lily was generally generous with compliments about someone’s appearance. At least, that’s what Liche thought. It seemed that way just by hearing Lily praise her appearance, even if it was exaggerated.

Moreover, she couldn’t let her guard down, considering that winning was not solely based on appearance.

So today, she asked Zekebert, a swordsman, for help in training.

Liche asked Zekebert, drawing his sword from his waist, “Have you seen him? Last year’s winner.”

“No.”

Zekebert, also being an adept, wasn’t interested in Crescellphone as he had no intention of participating.

“I saw him. I went to see the finals with a friend last year.”

Lotus answered from the side.

As the preliminaries were held during the semester and the finals during vacation, it seemed she had gone to see the finals at that time.

Interested, Liche asked Lotus, “How was he? They say he’s incredibly skilled.”

“Yeah. He fought well, and he stood out a lot. His hair is golden, and his eyes are also golden.”

“…What?”

Upon hearing that, Liche stopped stretching, stood still, and asked Lotus.

“What did you just say? Lotus?”

“There’s something about it being all golden, and the eyes are mesmerizing… Oh.”

Lotus stopped talking. For some reason, the description of the appearance seemed familiar, and there was a memory of hearing it before.

“Come to think of it, wasn’t that the characteristic of Ian Wain, the missing Gerwer Duke’s adept? Golden hair, golden eyes. I was too young at the time, so I didn’t remember right away. Doesn’t your brother have a friend of the same age? What was his name, something like Wayne. I think that’s how it was.”

Zekebert nodded.

“Yeah. Ian Wain Gerwer.”

Liche’s muttered words overlapped with Zekebert’s statement.

Her heart thumped.

For six years, she had inquired about Ian’s whereabouts, searched, and been disappointed in the absence of anything.

Exhausted from the repeating cycle without much gain, Liche had started to organize her feelings not long ago.

‘Let’s stop. Ian won’t come back.’

She had pledged that.

But to think her heart would race at words that reminded her of Ian.

Forgetting her own determination, Liche urgently asked Lotus.

“Lotus, do you also know the winner’s name?”

Udik Academy, Swordsmanship Department. 7th grade, same as Liche.

She hadn’t heard any other information yet.

“Liche-noona, you’re being proactive, huh? If Noona is serious, there’s no one who can beat Tari-che Roderick.”

Seeing Liche’s proactive side, which was not usually visible, Lotus felt good, and her smile widened.

Zekebert was cool too, but that was more about having someone to follow realistically.

In reality, Lotus admired Liche the most.

So, as Lily said, she would spill everything she knew to make sure her sister Liche won.

“I know his name too.”

Lotus smiled broadly.