[563] Scramble Royal (4)
* * *
After recruiting Kayden, Hershi didn't go back to his room—he left the dormitory.
He had, for a while, been picking up the heartbeat of someone watching him from a distance.
He stopped only after entering a quiet park.
From the sound, it was probably a woman rather than a man.
"Enough hiding. Who are you?"
A girl stepped out from behind a tree trunk.
"Ho."
She was an unexpected person.
"Eden…."
A devout follower of the Yor Church and a specialist in defensive magic.
As far as Hershi knew, she wasn't attached to any research club, so she was an odd fit for the Scramble Royal's advance party.
"You followed me in the middle of the night… or rather, you called me out. Why?"
Eden knew she couldn't tail Hershi without being noticed.
"Let me join the Scramble Royal."
"The bigger the alliance, the better, sure. But you're not part of the Shadow Research Society."
"I'll make it. If I take Istas."
'So it's the upper ranks after all?'
Hershi's guess was half right.
Eden's reason for coming to the Magic Academy as a Yor Church adherent was Mikael Gaold—once head of the Tormia Magic Association and still counted among the kingdom's most powerful mages, he'd betrayed the Yor Church and renounced the god: an apostate.
'Unforgivable.'
Raised in the same church as Gaold, Eden remembered what Yora had told her before the final-term schedule began.
"You mustn't hate Gaold. He's a pitiable child."
Eden, who respected Yora, recoiled at the priest's defense of the apostate.
"How can you say that? He abandoned the Yor god. Isn't he a monster who exalts violence and has committed countless killings?"
"Yes, a monster. But he wasn't born a monster. He did what he could."
"No. That's precisely proof of weak faith. No matter what suffering befalls us, the Yor god protects us."
Eden's standing within the Yor Church—even praised as a god's priest by some—wasn't due to blind devotion.
On the contrary, she was highly rational, understood the clash between reality and doctrine, and was open enough to accept human desire and limits.
The fusion of faith and reason left her unshakeable; there was no persuading Eden otherwise.
"Yora has illusions about Gaold's strength. If he were just an ordinary wrecking fiend, would she still shield him? She knows what agony he endured to get there. She knows he transcended human limits. But in the end, he's an apostate. I can't accept that a sanctum ruled by the Yor god harbors a faction protecting a murderer."
"I too find Gaold's choices regrettable. But he's being punished. He will continue to be punished."
"Punished?"
Eden sneered at Yora.
"Does Yora think I am weaker than Gaold?"
Yora didn't answer.
"I'm not talking about being the greatest battle mage or whatever barbaric title. I don't care for that. But I am stronger than Gaold. An apostate is still an apostate."
Eden's eyes hardened.
"As long as the Yor god watches over us, I have no enemies."
When Eden snapped out of the memory, her gaze was more intense than ever.
'I'll shatter the legend that started with Istas.'
Hershi heard Eden's heart pounding fiercely and smiled.
"Good. I'll at least report this to the boss. Expect good news."
He laid a hand on Eden's shoulder and melted into the darkness.
* * *
On the first holiday after term started, Shirone, Iruki, and Neid gathered at the Supernatural Psychical Science Club for a reunion party.
There were only snacks and drinks, but their long-overdue chatter made time fly.
"The real problem is the group evaluation. Especially tactics. Three people are absent, so the last group has to clear floor two thousand with only two people."
With just twenty-seven members total, the sixth team would be reduced to two people.
Difficulty did scale with participant numbers, but you couldn't expect the synergy of five people's firepower from a duo.
As Neid complained, Iruki jabbed back.
"That's why everyone's trying to raise their ranks. You too—hurry and climb. If you beat Binder and Pisho, you could be in the fifth group."
"Sigh. The score gap is just too big…."
At that moment the clubroom trembled as Istas activated.
"What's that? A teacher? Today's a holiday, though."
While Shirone looked around, Neid's face had already gone serious.
"It's here. Let's get ready."
The mechanism stopped, and Shirone's group moved into positions to receive the visitors.
A familiar voice spoke at the door.
"The Shadow Research Society."
"Come in."
Shirone blinked as he scanned the figures entering through the open door.
Most of them were top contenders for graduation.
Hershi came in with his hands clasped behind his back, turned on his heel, and announced as if proclaiming a decree.
"I propose the Scramble Royal."
Neid, sunk into the sofa, propped his chin and eyed the line of entrants with a cocky look.
Six in all: graduation-rank 3 Prings, rank 7 Kayden, rank 9 Anchal, rank 10 Eden, rank 13 Hershi, and rank 25 Pisho.
The Shadow Research Society's representatives had all gathered in one room.
'So the war starts now.'
* * *
Scramble Royal.
A full set of rules: set conditions, duel, winner takes all.
Beyond personal stakes, it could even affect the graduation exam—a supreme rule in the Shadow Research Society that superseded school regulations.
Across the table sat three members of the Supernatural Psychical Science Club facing six members of the Shadow Research Society alliance.
Shirone, unfamiliar with the Shadow Society's code, immediately felt it was a different atmosphere from the graduation evaluations.
No teachers, no school authority could interfere. This was strictly their business.
"No introductions needed. We're all acquainted."
Hershi, attending as a representative of the Golden Wheel, continued.
"You already know why we came."
Neid crossed his legs arrogantly.
"I see. Then let's just settle the schedule and the rules."
'Schedule? Rules?'
Shirone listened, still unaccustomed to it all.
With a clank, Hershi set down an iron box.
Shirone had never seen it before, but it felt familiar—the Hena sigil engraved on it was one he'd seen in Heaven.
"A thirty-year tradition of Scramble Royal. Shall we begin?"
Thirty years—before Miro had even been active.
When Shirone glanced at him, Neid explained.
"This is the 'Judge.' You mutually agree on rules and input them into the Judge; it awards rewards to the winner and penalties to the loser. You can even set clauses for contract breaches, so it's the ideal tool for staking something and dueling over it."
Hershi added, "Under mutual consent, any rule is possible. If you set 'death upon breach' as a rule, you will actually die."
'A device beyond the school's regulations.'
That thought came to Shirone first.
He also suspected it was an ancient device from Heaven. Calling it a weapon or armor felt wrong—having seen life in Heaven, he imagined it more like some angelic or fae plaything scaled to dangerous proportions.
"The match format is 'Black and White,' right?"
"It hasn't changed in thirty years. There's a manual, so it's easy to start the duel right away."
Shirone was curious what kind of match that entailed, but asking immediately might show weakness to their opponents.
"As you see, the alliance has six participants. Match our numbers. If you want to do it with three, I won't stop you."
Participant count could also be decided by mutual agreement.
"Hmm."
Even Neid, who'd been bragging about a small elite squad, was cautious this time.
They didn't want to recruit non-club members if they could avoid it, but the alliance's members were overwhelming.
'We definitely need allies.'
Hershi, Anchal, and Prings, plus Pisho's insect magic and Eden's defensive magic, made for a perfectly balanced team.
'And Kayden too…? Huh? Kayden?'
Neid's eyebrows shot up.
"Wait. How does this work? Why are there two representatives from the Golden Wheel?"
He had no intention of agreeing if that was how the rules were set.
"Don't get the wrong idea. Kayden didn't come as a Golden Wheel representative."
"What do you mean—then…?"
Neid stared at Kayden and realization dawned on him.
"You're…?"
"Yeah. I'm the president of the Women's Anatomy Research Club."
Shirone gaped at Kayden's blunt declaration—Kayden had been one of the more straightforward people in Fermi's group.
"The president of the Women's Anatomy Research Club?"
Kayden nodded without shame.
"I drew Amy's nude a lot, too."
Shirone made a sour face at the sudden provocation.
'Why bring that up out of nowhere…?'
A picture of Maya from the red book flashed into his head, and Iruki—thinking the same—spoke up.
"You can't judge someone by appearances. Are you here out of jealousy? Or to try and set a rule forcing Shirone to give up Maya?"
"Don't slander me with cheap emotions."
Kayden leaned forward and bared his eyes.
"I'm driven by rage. Shirone, I'll give you the greatest pain."
It sounded hostile, but Shirone didn't flinch.
"Bring it on. Like I said, I'll show no mercy to enemies who interfere with me."
As tensions rose, Anchal stepped forward.
"I'll give you a week. Gather your members in that time. We'll decide the finer rules then."
Iruki countered.
"No—we need to discuss one thing in advance. If we recruit allies, they'll expect compensation, so we should at least outline the general terms."
Anchal had expected that these were players at graduation level; they wouldn't let it slide.
"All right, say it."
"First, what the alliance wants is for us to forfeit Istas if we lose, right?"
"Precisely: to forfeit Istas. We don't care what happens to the Supernatural Psychical Science Club."
"Fine. I accept that. But I have one proposal."
Iruki met his friends' eyes and presented their compensation.
"If we win, every member of the alliance will be ranked lower than our team until the graduation exam."
The alliance's expressions hardened and Shirone's eyes lit up.
'I see. This is essential.'
To match the enemies' level, allies needed to be at least graduation-class rank—but none of them were tied to the Shadow Research Society.
No one would join the Scramble Royal and risk their graduation schedule without clear incentive.
If they could be ranked above many of those in Class One—even temporarily—that would be a strong motive.
"Ranks… hmm."
Hershi fell into thought, and Neid smiled.
"Don't pretend to hesitate. You're the ones who haven't graduated because of Istas; I don't think ranks would faze you. You've just taken the toughest proposal by consensus."
Hershi had also expected that negotiating the price for giving up Istas would be the hardest part.
'True enough. It does feel like I conceded too easily. But that only shows how hard it will be to find allies. In any case, I don't think we'll lose.'
The alliance felt the same.
"All right, I'm in favor. Other reps, speak up."
Anchal immediately said, "I don't mind."
Kayden needed no asking, and when the others agreed, Neid felt a twinge of regret.
'Hmm, did I give too much? Pisho's rank is low anyway. Still, if we can only pull down Prings and Kayden, it's a solid win.'
Hershi gathered the Judge and stood.
"Then bring three more people. We reconvene in a week to finalize the details."
"Fine. Don't wander off too far."
Neid watched them leave without so much as moving a finger.