Episode 22. A Play
Binaeril had identified the true nature of the tightly knit bond connecting the two.
It was indebtedness. Or guilt. Or regret.
Whatever name it went by, at its core, it was a sense of responsibility.
The foolish Rike had probably thought that Sylvia’s younger brother died because of her.
And Sylvia, equally foolish, must have thought she needed to atone to Rike for the wrongs her brother had committed.
It was a heartbreaking story. But knowing that didn’t mean there was anything Binaeril could do for either of them.
The deep-seated emotions born of the past were a problem the two had to solve themselves.
But Binaeril knew one way to break through the current situation.
“Sylvia, you said you owe a debt to Rike.”
“Then you’ll do anything to clear up the misunderstanding she’s facing, right?”
“Misunderstanding? That’s different from what you said earlier. Just now you said she received special treatment because she’s the Imperial Princess.”
“People hate her because they think she lacks the qualifications. But I disagree. I told the Dean and Rike the same thing. So why don’t you ever listen to someone till the end?”
“Then you… the Princess….”
“Rike is more than qualified. I know her far better than you, who treat her like a defenseless child that needs protecting.”
Sylvia was displeased with Binaeril’s tone, but she decided to hear him out.
“So what do I need to do?”
Binaeril explained the method he had devised.
“You’d go that far? Do you really think a method like that will work?”
“We have to try everything. If we just wait, I doubt the timid Princess will resolve this on her own. It’ll only fester inside. What do you say, want to try?”
Sylvia’s hesitation was brief. When it came to matters concerning her liege, she was ready to leap into action without reservation.
“Of course.”
Left behind in the training room, the Dean of the Magic Tower and the Imperial Princess were enveloped in a gloomy atmosphere.
“…Both of them are doing this for Her Highness’s sake.”
Rike smiled with a lonely expression.
“Yes, I know.”
“It’s merely that the ways they care for her differ.”
“Indeed.”
Seeing Rike’s spirits sink, the Dean could find no further words of comfort.
After a moment of hesitation, Rike broached the subject.
“Um, Master.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to withdraw your recommendation even now?”
“Binaeril was right. I mean what he said at first. After all, you accepted me as your disciple because of my status, and recommended me for the same reason. If I weren’t the Imperial Princess…….”
“Please don’t say such things.”
Dean Yulio cut her off firmly.
“Your Highness’s capabilities are ample. You simply haven’t had many chances to prove them. How many students do you think I’ve raised with these very hands? Please, have faith in me.”
Seeing that Rike still looked unconvinced, Dean Yulio added:
“If you return to your homeland having accomplished nothing, do you think the Regent will sit idly by?”
“I’ll submit a leave of absence and return to the palace at home. Once my sister’s affairs are settled, it won’t be too late to come back.”
Dean Yulio shook his head.
“Scala is not long. Your Highness, please be just a little more brazen. Once the exams begin, no one will be able to question your talent.”
“…What talent?”
“You know, don’t you? Your Highness’s talent is—”
Just then, an employee burst through the door of the Dean’s training room.
“Dean! A fight has broken out!”
“A talent for brawling… dammit, hey! Don’t you know how to knock?”
Bowing his head apologetically, the employee explained the situation again.
“A fight broke out in the plaza where the students have gathered. I think you need to come quickly.”
“A fight? A gang brawl?”
“No. Two people.”
“Then just subdue them. Why call me?”
“Well…….”
The employee glanced around nervously.
“It’s the tournament champion and runner-up.”
At the unexpected news, the two sprang up from their seats.
“What? The Imperial Princess? Someone from the Empire’s royal capital had the nerve to enroll in Elfenbain?”
Binaeril shouted at the plaza where the students had gathered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Huh? It’s Binaeril. The tournament champion.”
“The champion’s here? It’s really him.”
The students’ gazes turned toward Binaeril one by one.
“Some fought hard in matches to be selected, while someone just sat still and got picked. Isn’t that too unfair?”
The crowd nodded in agreement.
“Whether it’s a princess or whatever, it doesn’t matter. If you came to Elfenbain, you follow Elfenbain’s rules. If you use magic well and have the skill, who would complain about your selection? Right?”
Binaeril turned to the student beside him and asked.
The student who had been singled out stammered, “T-that’s right,” answering him.
“Then she should at least come out and show her skills. If the Imperial Princess is truly a talented student, no one would raise objections.”
The complaints simmering among the students took concrete form through the champion’s mouth.
Binaeril skillfully consolidated the students’ voices into one among the crowd—into the opinion that if one had skill regardless of status, there was no problem with selection.
Now it was time for the actor who would deliver the next line to appear.
“Hey, you. Don’t slander the Princess.”
Sylvia took on the role of the antithesis in this play.
Sylvia had stuck by Rike from the day she enrolled at Elfenbain.
Naturally, the students couldn’t help but see her as Rike’s ally.
“It’s the runner-up!”
“But isn’t she on the Princess’s side?”
“Yeah, I see them together in every class.”
“Slander? I was just stating facts. Or maybe the cowardly Princess should come out and show her skills. Right?”
Binaeril provoked her. He didn’t mean it. It was all part of his plan.
Sylvia rolled up her sleeves at his insults.
“You need a beating from me today.”
“You can’t be… serious?”
Sylvia seemed to mean it.
Binaeril barely dodged the fist flying like an arrow and shot her a look.
‘Hey, go easy!’
Sylvia answered with her eyes.
‘Then it won’t look real.’
“Hey, they’re fighting!”
“Where? Who and who?”
“The champion and runner-up are going at it again!”
Sylvia pressed her attacks without a hint of holding back.
He dodged the first punch and blocked the ensuing kick with both arms. They went numb. It hurt this much even without reinforcement magic?
As the fight began, the students spread out in a circle.
Binaeril whispered under his breath.
“Hey, I said pretend to hit me.”
“You’re the champion. The best magician here. That means you can take everything I throw at you, right?”
It seemed she had no intention of going easy.
This was outside Binaeril’s plan. Had he provoked her for nothing?
If Sylvia attacked in earnest, Binaeril couldn’t afford to take her lightly either.
As the hall grew rowdy, faculty who sensed the disturbance joined the crowd.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
“Stop! Unsanctioned duels on campus are forbidden!”
“Eden, keep them from approaching.”
Binaeril whispered to his ring.
Eden, seeped into the plaza floor, pushed the bare earth like waves.
“Whoa—!”
“What’s going on!”
People tripped and fell over one another. In moments, a wide space was secured.
Dodging Sylvia’s fierce attacks, Binaeril anxiously waited for the next stage of his plan.
Just then, a figure with a head taller than the crowd appeared above everyone’s shoulders.
It was Dean Yulio.
“What are those idiots doing?”
From a distance, Dean Yulio watched the two’s ridiculous spectacle.
Sylvia was rushing at him murderously, while Binaeril half-heartedly traded blows, staring his way with desperate eyes.
‘…Is he asking me to stop them?’
He suddenly thought that if that were the case, the fight wouldn’t have broken out in the first place.
There seemed no reason for the two to come all the way to the crowded plaza to fight.
Binaeril had said:
‘All you have to do is show that she has skill.’
“Hmm….”
Binaeril had deliberately set the stage.
Dean Yulio glanced at Rike.
“Stop this.”
Rike pushed through the crowd and advanced toward the two who were absorbed in their fight.
It didn’t matter if she was cursed at. She could endure that.
But she couldn’t stand by and watch her friends drift apart because of her.
“Stop, please stop!”
Yet somehow, the closer she drew, the fiercer their exchange became.
Her cries were drowned out by the deafening roar of magic clashing against magic, force against force.
She needed a way to stop them both.
“The Imperial Princess!”
“The Imperial Princess appeared!”
“Is that her?”
The ground had risen around Binaeril and Sylvia like a basin.
Rike placed her hand on the ridge and walked in among the rampaging magics.
The students murmured as they watched her, but those gazes no longer mattered.
Only stopping the two mattered.
To keep them from getting hurt, to stop the fight, she picked through the spells she remembered.
She knelt and placed her hand on the ground. She chanted the spell immediately.
“Doubt what lies beneath your feet; where you stand shall become a quagmire.”
The ground beneath their feet caved in, burying their legs up to the knees.
The watching students were shocked, as were Binaeril and Sylvia.
Magic that altered a wide terrain using elements was at least 3rd-tier.
“Please stop.”
Rike declared to the two, panting.
“You don’t need to do this because of me. Something like a mage’s rank doesn’t matter to me. I’m fine, so please stop fighting, both of you.”
Binaeril gripped the ground and pulled himself out, then approached Rike.
“Rike, well done.”
“Look around you.”
The surroundings had fallen silent.
All the dissatisfied students had clearly witnessed Rike’s skill.
Sylvia too pulled her body out of the mud.
A stone had caught her somewhere, leaving a gash on her calf.
“Oh my, Sylvia. You’re hurt.”
“Ah, I’m fine—”
Before Sylvia could stop her, Rike grabbed her leg and cast a second spell.
A radiant glow of healing clearly emanated from Rike’s hand.
“S-she has a healing talent….”
There were quite a few who were witnessing this rare talent for the first time.
Binaeril broke into a broad smile.
Even Dean Yulio, watching from afar, smiled broadly.
“Good, good. Now no one will raise any objections. This turned out splendidly.”
The heart of a master watching his disciple’s achievement swelled with pride.
And Dean Yulio…….
Received a summons from the Tower Master for failing to stop the students’ fight and merely watching from the sidelines.