Chapter 359: Like Hell I Believe You!
Compared to the KOK League, where professional Mage-Knights competed, the Seven Star Sword Art Festival attracted even more attention from the people of Japan.
After all, in an international event like KOK, there were not many competitors from their own country.
After World Clock retired, the only highly ranked competitor left was Yaksha Princess.
The Seven Star Sword Art Festival was different.
As a large-scale local event, nearly all the competitors were from their own country.
Every year, not only were tickets in high demand, but the surrounding facilities were also extremely popular.
Although there were foreign competitors like Luke and Stella this year, the attention did not decrease.
Instead, it increased even more, and quite a few other countries had sent people over as well.
Not only that, starting with National Akatsuki Academy's attack incident, a series of disturbances had caused some unexpected changes to this year's tournament.
All sorts of people from both inside and outside the country rushed to arrive at the venue.
Starting two days before the opening ceremony, the area around the venue was already surrounded by abnormal enthusiasm.
Of course, it was not only the spectators who arrived early.
The competitors participating in the Seven Star Sword Art Festival would also generally arrive before the opening ceremony.
There were dormitories here specially prepared for the competitors.
At this very moment, Luke was inside one of them.
As the leader of Hagun Academy's delegation, and the person carrying the school flag, he naturally had to arrive in advance.
"…This still feels a little subtle."
Luke stood in front of an antique-style full-length mirror, looking at his reflection with a slightly conflicted expression.
What he wore was not Hagun Academy's uniform, nor his usual casual clothes or swordsman outfit.
Instead, he wore a dark tailcoat.
A bow tie was fastened before his neck, and his shoes were glossy leather shoes.
It could be called an extremely rare formal outfit.
Luke rarely wore this kind of clothing.
Clothes that affected movement were generally not within his selection range.
The reason he was dressed like this was because he was going to attend a banquet.
There were still two days before the tournament's opening ceremony.
The League's Seven Star Sword Art Festival operating committee was holding a buffet-style banquet.
The purpose was to entertain the competitors who had arrived at the venue early.
However, with Luke's personality, he originally had no intention of spending effort on clothes.
But…
"Isn't this quite nice?"
"You look much more energetic in formal clothes than in your usual casual outfits."
Edelweiss stood beside Luke, looking very satisfied with her masterpiece.
That was right.
The person who demanded that Luke wear formal clothes to attend the banquet was this Miss Twin-Wings.
Edelweiss had come together with Luke.
After the two stayed at Sword Peak Edelberg for a while, once they felt the timing was about right, they set off together and arrived at the Seven Star Sword Art Festival venue.
Originally, Edelweiss had no interest in this kind of competition.
Even if she really wanted to watch, she would probably only watch the finals and semifinals.
However, who told Luke to participate?
Since it was her boyfriend's match, of course she had to come support him.
Of course, no matter what, Edelweiss was an internationally famous major figure.
It was impossible for her to simply follow him here openly.
For the time being, she still disguised herself, and after Luke used Seisenjutsu to conceal her presence a little, she entered the venue.
But at most, that was all.
Following him to attend the banquet was impossible.
Moreover, the banquet itself only entertained representative competitors, and outsiders were forbidden from entering.
Pulling somewhat awkwardly at his collar, Luke sighed helplessly.
"You're not coming with me, so why are you still making me wear formal clothes?"
"It's not like any important figures will be present. They're all students, and not everyone will even be there. Is there really any need to make it this formal?"
"Even so, you must wear formal clothes!"
Edelweiss's attitude was very firm.
She looked at Luke and said with a completely serious face,
"Regardless of whether it's important or not, you must dress formally for this kind of occasion."
"This has nothing to do with the importance of the event. It relates to whether or not you respect others."
"If you dress casually, your first impression will suffer greatly, and others may even think you lack upbringing."
"No matter how you look at it, it isn't a good thing."
"…Sigh. Fine. I'll listen to you."
Shaking his head helplessly, Luke did not say anything more.
Since Edelweiss was so firm, and he had no reason he absolutely had to refuse, he simply went along with it.
Although he was somewhat unused to it, Luke had not completely never worn formal clothes before.
Back in the Dungeon world, when he occasionally accompanied Loki to attend banquets of the gods, he would wear them from time to time.
After checking himself in the mirror once more and confirming there were no problems, Luke prepared to set off.
Turning to look at Edelweiss, Luke asked,
"If I'm going to attend the banquet, what about your dinner?"
"I'll just eat something outside. The ability you placed on me can still last for quite a long time, right?"
Putting away the other formal clothes she had taken out when having him try outfits earlier, Edelweiss answered with a smile.
"You don't need to worry about me. It just so happens that there's someone I know whom I want to visit."
Hearing that Edelweiss had her own plans, Luke felt reassured.
After saying goodbye, Luke left the room and walked toward the banquet venue.
However, before that, he made a slight detour.
Ikki's room was not far away, so Luke planned to meet up with everyone first, then head to the banquet venue together.
Before long, Luke arrived in front of Ikki's room.
What surprised him a little was that the room door was actually open.
Vaguely, Luke also heard Ikki's voice, as though he had said some words of praise like "you look really beautiful."
Driven by curiosity, Luke walked over and peeked inside.
Then he saw an astonishing scene.
Pfft—!
The girl standing by the door inside the room, Shizuku, suddenly collapsed while spraying a nosebleed!
Then Arisuin, who stood beside her, hurriedly supported her and frantically used a handkerchief to block the nosebleed.
Luke, meanwhile, stood at the doorway and looked in shock at Ikki, who was shirtless inside the room and gradually approaching Shizuku.
Looking at this explosive scene before him with a blank expression, Luke did not hesitate at all.
He took out his student handbook from his pocket and silently snapped a photo.
With the click of the camera, Ikki, who noticed Luke's arrival and his action, instantly froze in place.
…
"Pervert!"
"I'm not!"
"Siscon!"
"I'm not!"
"Then how do you explain this photo?!"
"…It's a misunderstanding!"
Looking at Ikki, who looked like he was about to cry, and Shizuku, whose face was bright red as she lowered her head, Luke expressed that he completely refused to believe Ikki's nonsense.
…
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