Chapter 92 - Shadow of the Ideal

Regina Eliade Abellon was half in doubt when she first heard Rain’s proposal.

-Professor Hugo and Milo Gloss will cheat during the examination. Please have Professor Hugo watched.

No matter how incompetent Professor Hugo and Milo are, would they really go to such unreasonable lengths? she wondered.

But she didn't outright reject Rain's proposal.

There was nothing to lose by keeping an eye on Professor Hugo.

If they really did commit additional acts of cheating as Rain said, it would be good to catch solid evidence, and even if they didn't, there was no loss.

Also…… her trust in the insight that the person named Rain Enlight had shown so far was probably another reason.

Anyway, with such thoughts, Regina had Hugo followed……

Rain's prediction hit the mark.

A report came in that as the tide of battle turned against him, Professor Hugo suddenly left the observation room and headed for a deserted place.

‘It wasn't an impossible story.’

Looking back, it made sense. The naturally talented but somewhat lacking sycophant Hugo Sosa, and the thoroughly venomous fool Milo Gloss.

If the two of them got together and plotted, the probability that they would go to unreasonable lengths to cheat was sufficient enough.

Hugo must have felt burdened, having already manipulated the examination match-ups, but Milo Gloss had probably demanded more.

In fact, Regina herself had considered such a possibility.

However, to say it with conviction was another story.

‘I’m tired of being surprised now.’

There was conviction in Rain Enlight's words. A conviction that those two would definitely cheat during the examination.

Could he really see the future? It was a plausible situation, but his conviction had become reality.

‘Well, it doesn't matter either way.’

But Regina stopped thinking further. It was an assumption that wouldn't lead to a conclusion right now, a completely unproductive one.

Also, since Rain was clearly helpful to her, she thought not to dig deeper and stir up trouble.

Just like when he had confessed about the secret society the Crown Prince belonged to.

It was more advantageous not to dig. The princess moved according to such calculations of profit and loss.

Anyway, after receiving the intelligence, the princess slowly moved her feet.

Where to? In the direction of the examination hall Hugo had gone to.

Strictly speaking, it would have been fine to just gather the evidence and pressure him later, but…….

‘Honestly, I'm free.’

Regina belonged to the Administration Department. And the Administration Department, unlike other departments, did not take combat-related examinations.

Therefore, on the day of the Joint Grade Mock Battle, Regina had nothing to do.

All the lectures were on hold because the professors were dispatched to supervise the mock battle.

Click, clack.

With light steps, Regina headed to the examination hall where Hugo was…….

Creeak.

As a result, she was able to raid the scene where Hugo was committing his fraudulent act.

“Y-Y-Y-Your Highness, the Princess……?”

Perhaps because an completely unexpected person had appeared in such a situation, Hugo looked thoroughly startled.

And he must have felt that something was terribly wrong.

“Fufu, Professor Hugo. You’re working hard.”

In contrast to the flustered Hugo, Regina greeted him in her usual relaxed tone.

“H-haha. I was just, just a little lost! I must be getting old, haha…… But what brings Your Highness, the Princess here……?”

At the princess's words, Hugo tried to play it off with a forced jest, making excuses for things he wasn't even asked about.

Of course, such excuses were not going to work on the princess.

Click.

As the princess stepped inside the classroom, her royal guard who had been following her—Aisa—closed the door of the examination hall.

The examination hall, not currently in use, was unlit, relying solely on the sunlight from beyond the windows.

Regina showed a sly smile and sat on a desk in the examination hall.

The sunlight that had been cast on the desk now shone on Regina.

“Professor Hugo.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Why did you do it?”

“What……?”

“Hmm, was my question too abstract? Then I'll ask more directly, more specifically.”

And with that smiling face, she began to slowly pressure Hugo.

Hugo’s mouth was going dry.

Then followed a single sentence that delivered the decisive blow in this conversation.

“Why did you manipulate the examination match-ups and interfere in the exam using an artifact?”

I already see through everything.

As the princess’s words, imbued with such meaning, brushed past his ear, Hugo felt a chill run down his spine, freezing him to the core.

“……H-heok……”

A perfect checkmate.

There was no room to deny it. He had been caught in the act, without a moment to destroy the evidence.

If it had been an ordinary cadet, he might have tried to forcefully cover it up, but…… his opponent was the princess of the Abellon Empire, Regina Eliade Abellon.

The man named Hugo was certainly a dimwit, but he hadn't managed to hold a long-term professorship at this academy for nothing.

The ability to read the room and grasp situations, the ability to flatter, the ability to ride coattails. Those were Hugo's driving forces.

Because he was that kind of man, Hugo could accurately grasp this situation.

Rain Enlight was an associate of the princess.

And the moment he used the artifact on Rain Enlight, the princess had burst in.

And the faction Hugo, who always followed the trend, had attached himself to was the Crown Prince's Faction, which currently held a significant advantage in the line of succession.

This pointed to only one conclusion.

That he was being used as a means to attack the Crown Prince, and that he would be ruined.

Hugo couldn't help but feel that he was completely cornered.

“I, I……”

“Shh.”

Hugo desperately tried to spit out some kind of excuse, but Regina cut him off sharply by placing her index finger to her lips.

“My, if this incident gets to the academic affairs side…… it won't just end there, will it?”

As if enjoying the situation, Regina continued speaking with a bright smile.

“Not only will you be punished, but they’ll have no choice but to trace the source of the artifact to its roots.”

“That’s…… Your Highness, the Princess……!”

Hearing that, Hugo's face turned even paler.

The source of the artifact was the Gloss family, their warehouse.

If the story went as far as the source of the artifact…… it wouldn't be unreasonable for the Gloss family to get involved in this matter.

If that happened, Hugo, who had caused damage to the Gloss family by being caught cheating, might no longer be in a position to worry about his status or prison.

Hugo looked at Regina, almost pale with fright, but Regina still wore a relaxed expression.

“Well, everyone makes a mistake once in their lives. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, isn't there a saying like that?”

“Pardon?”

However, the words that came out of Regina's mouth were…… rather unexpected for Hugo.

“Professor Hugo, this is my personal opinion, but…… I think we have a lot to talk about.”

What do you think? Regina finished with a gentle tone.

Hugo might have seen his path to survival in Regina's words.

“D-does that mean……”

Rather than eliminating an enemy, she turns the enemy into her ally.

That was Regina's way.

***

[ System: Skill, 『Iron Will[A]』, mitigates the effect of the mental attack! ]

‘Did Hugo activate the artifact?’

As that notification window appeared before my eyes, I immediately felt a considerable headache.

“Tsk.”

At that unpleasant sensation, I lightly clicked my tongue once.

But that was all.

It was annoying, but it wasn't a serious blow, and I had no problem controlling my body.

“Grrrrr……!”

Milo looked incredibly anxious.

As if he was waiting for something, but that something showed no sign of appearing.

I added a word to such a Milo.

“No matter how long you wait, what you wish for will not happen.”

“……What?”

What entered my sight at that moment was Milo, who had lost his tempo, which was already at a disadvantage due to his panic.

My business was done. By now, Regina must have obtained the evidence of the fraud committed by Hugo and Milo.

In that case, there was no reason for me to deliberately let such an opening slip by anymore.

“Let's end this.”

Tung!

As if to say I had been playing around until now, I deflected his sword strike and sent it upwards…….

Swish-!

I lightly flicked my sword once more and cut him down.

It was nothing more than doing what I could have done at any time. I had no more business with him.

Let's recall the opponents I had fought so far.

Assassins skilled enough to be employed by a duchy, who professionally killed people on the front lines.

The monster, Gargoyle, which even high-flying knights were reluctant to face alone.

Needless to say, the main villains of —Gabriel and Stella.

Compared to that lineup, facing Milo was an absurdly easy task.

And the result.

Fwoosh-

Milo was dissolving into light and being ejected to the waiting room.

“How could you……”

spouting such typical lines.

“……”

I stood before the incapacitated Milo and slowly looked down at him.

More precisely, at his eyes.

Milo's eyes, as I looked at them, were filled with what could only be described as blind anger and hatred.

It wasn't comparable to the feelings I once had for Gabriel, but it was clear that there was a deep-seated resentment.

And looking at those eyes, I couldn't help but have a question…… and I soon voiced that question.

“What was it about me that you were so dissatisfied with?”

Why did this guy feel so much hatred towards me?

Why did he spread false rumors about me and want to crush me by cheating?

Even the original Milo didn't harbor this much hostility towards the protagonist. But why only towards me?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't understand, which was why I asked…….

“Shut…… up!!”

But well.

There was no way he would answer me meekly.

“Someone…… like you…… to me……”

Amidst the noise generated during the transmission process, I heard his muttering.

And.

Paaat-

-The examination is over. Team A is the victor.

As Milo finally dissolved completely into particles and lost his form, Pleta's voice announcing the end of the examination echoed across the sky of the Otherworld.

Hugo must have left his seat to use the artifact.

“Someone like you…… huh.”

I mulled over the last words Milo had uttered.

From that muttering, I could roughly feel what he thought of me.

‘He completely looked down on me. He didn't even think of me as an equal human being.’

Was it because such a lowly being had defeated him that he couldn't bear the injustice?

I couldn't understand it, but I could only vaguely grasp that it was in that context.

As a human being, Milo Gloss was the absolute worst.

His actions reeked of malice and a sense of entitlement, and he felt no guilt.

He found the cause of all the bad things that happened to him in others.

To be precise, in other weaker people, not himself.

He couldn't stand it when someone beneath him surpassed him, yet he showed an endlessly weak side to the strong.

“……”

I looked up at the sky of the Otherworld and recalled the words I had said to Arien.

The ideal I had always thought about.

-Well, even people don't live their lives understanding each other perfectly. No matter how close they are.

-Nevertheless, people live together. Even though they don't understand each other.

-It’s because even if they can’t understand each other, they respect each other.

However, the world did not always flow according to ideals.

Not everyone can respect each other. Humans are not creatures that think so uniformly.

Some do not understand the value of respect and try to place others beneath them.

They trap themselves in their own understanding and choose disconnection.

That was the other side of the ideal.

The shadow of the ideal that I had not told Arien about.

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