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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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Knock knock.
Someone knocked as soon as the duel began.
I wondered who it could be, but it was an unexpected person.
Shara Frigia, a student smaller than Atlas.
“Russell, did you…?”
Frigia stopped midsentence.
“…Nevermind.”
“..What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry for barging in.”
She quickly closed the door and left.
‘What’s going on…?’
I couldn’t understand her actions.
She had come to say something, but… what?
Amy, who had been watching the hologram, stood up suddenly.
“I… I need to go out for a second…!”
“Amy?! Where are you going?!”
“Uh… To the restroom!”
Her face flushed red.
“I… I’ll be right back!”
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Amy chased after Frigia.
She wasn’t carrying any of her usual weapons, but she was wearing two pistols in their holsters, which she must have hidden somewhere.
-Someone tampered with the control room. Frigia seems to know something. Let’s go after her.
“How could they…!”
Atlas was acting strangely.
River had assumed it was due to his lack of sleep, but Amy knew that he shouldn’t be struggling like that, a Master no less.
She focused on chasing Frigia, seeing her long golden hair bouncing as she ran.
“Frigia!”
“Hah… hah… Oh. You… the student. I’m busy, what do you want?”
Frigia frowned at Amy.
Her angelic face, red from exertion and covered in sweat, was alluring.
But her eyes… were filled with annoyance and disdain.
Amy didn’t falter. She was used to such treatment at the Academy.
“The duel… did someone tamper with the arena?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Frigia turned away to leave, her small body struggling to keep up its pace.
Even though she seemed confident, she was clearly running on fumes. My companion made a quick deduction, seeing her reaction.
-She was running to the meeting point, even though she did not say anything. That means she is trying to act on something related to either her family or her wealth.
-If that is true, then if we connect her to Atlas, she will probably talk. She was submissive to Atlas.
“Is Atlas involved?”
“…!”
Her shoulder twitched.
“I’ll help you if it’s to help Atlas. You don’t have to tell me everything, just tell me the situation.”
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I managed to catch my breath.
The test-taker with red hair ran down the hall, faster than any of the other students.
When Perda had mentioned the possibility that something might have happened to the arena, it had never occurred to her that she would have to act on her own.
She had always relied on the other members of her class to act as her hands and feet, and with her position, she had always been able to rely on her own family to send her personal servants.
But now, everything was banned.
She would have liked to ask Lucia for help, she was clearly an ally of Atlas, and she would have surely agreed to help. But then, she hesitated.
Seeing her, her head cooled off.
‘If I tell Russell… it’s going to turn into a war…’
Alvion, who was assisting Lemnos, had always been in conflict with Russell.
While the two main houses didn’t mind each other, Alvion was always picking a fight with the Russell family.
If this was the case, if she used this as a pretext to start a war, it would break the alliance between the five pillars.
‘I have to confirm it first.’ She was the one who had sworn to protect him.
Even though she suspected Alvion, she needed to confirm her suspicion, before dragging someone into this.
She reached the control room, noticing that the door was already open and that’s where she was confronted by the red-haired test taker.
The test-taker… she knew she was close to Atlas.
If she spoke her mind, it was going to put them at odds with each other.
‘A nobody, who didn’t get a recommendation… how dare she…!’
She couldn’t voice her thoughts. She knew Atlas wouldn’t like it.
She hated people like her, who got so close to her precious Atlas. She was about to ignore her, but Amy had said that she was trying to help Atlas. If so, then she could put aside her hatred for her.
“I don’t need a full explanation, I’ll help you.”
If that was the case, she could exploit her situation. If she messed up, then she could simply throw her away.
She seemed like someone useful to her, so she had to play along.
She watched as the test taker started running, thinking:
“She didn’t use honorifics… How rude.”
Even after getting a lot closer to Atlas, she was still someone that she hated.
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I couldn’t see through the hologram, but I could sense something was wrong with Atlas.
If it wasn’t an obvious change, I would have blamed it on his late night.
But, knowing his strength, it was clear that he was dealing with something else, than exhaustion.
-The special training grounds follow a certain ‘pattern.’ If everything was truly random, it would be impossible to create an area, it would be a chaotic mess.
Amy ran towards a specific location, like she knew exactly where she had to go.
She seemed to understand the training ground.
The training grounds had five control rooms: one central room and four others, for each of the main aspects of the environment, which were: Terrain, Creatures, Penalties, and Buffs.
Amy was running towards the creatures’ control room.
-That’s because it makes sense, if someone had tampered with the controls at the main panel, then the Headmaster would have already found out. You said it was a volcanic area which is an open terrain. So, it is unlikely it was related to the terrain. It also couldn’t have been a debuff, a Master would’ve resisted it. It would be easier to tamper with the monsters.
“…The door is open.”
-She was right.
The creature control room was open. Normally, it would have been locked. She slowly walked inside, where a familiar person was present.
Zeke Alvion.
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“Why… why aren’t you collapsing… even after breathing that gas..? Did it not work… properly..?”
Zeke Alvion was looking at the hologram in the control room. He watched Edgar, attacking, and Atlas, struggling to stay on his feet.
His fist clenched every time Edgar’s attack missed.
He could also see a huge plant-like monster, hidden under the ground. That must be the thing that was interfering with Atlas.
‘That talisman… right?’
-It seems so. The talisman decides the direction of the creatures summoned.
Zeke was focused, he didn’t even noticed the entrance or Amy. He was only focused on the duel.
-It seems like he is changing the settings after his creation. If that’s the case, if we remove the talisman, then everything should go back to normal.
He was so focused, it was a perfect opportunity to attack him.
I grabbed my pistols and moved the slides.
-Click!
But Zeke had no reaction. He was solely focused on the duel. This was her chance.
“!!!”
-Bang!!!
Amy fired her pistol, aiming for Zeke.
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