Vol 5. Chapter 28: Unexpected

The Church-background students in Margaret’s class could hardly believe their eyes.

Fine, of all things, today’s combat class had been grouped with Vinny’s class. That much they could accept. But Margaret had actually drawn the same group as Vinny and become his teammate?

If someone said there was nothing shady about the distribution of the number plates, they would not believe it.

But disbelief was disbelief. The number plates had all been handed out on the spot, purely at random. Even if they complained about some under-the-table manipulation, it was only a few grumbles in their hearts. They knew this kind of thing was not very likely.

Once everyone had found the burden they were supposed to carry and stood together with their respective partners, their gazes were involuntarily drawn to the most eye-catching team.

“Oh? Isn’t that—”

“Isn’t that Margaret, the one currently in the spotlight, supposedly the next Dawn Saintess?”

“So our class happened to be paired with their class? Tsk, tsk. And of all people, she even ended up in a group with Vinny?”

“Now this is getting a little interesting.”

After seeing the combination of Vinny and Margaret, many people whispered among themselves, their gazes drifting back and forth between the two of them.

Of course, they would only discuss those things quietly. They definitely did not dare say them outright. That would be a little too much like fanning the flames.

However, some of the people who were usually unhappy with Vinny were a little more unrestrained about it. They wished the matter would blow up bigger.

“Upperclassman Vinny, you’re not unhappy, are you?”

“? Why would you ask that?” Vinny looked at Margaret, baffled by the sudden question.

“I may drag you down later,” Margaret said hesitantly.

“It’s only a training match. And even if it weren’t a training match, so what?” Vinny always felt that Margaret was a little too cautious around him.

“Then please guide me, Upperclassman Vinny.” Margaret bowed slightly to Vinny.

“There’s no need to be so formal. It’s not like this is our first day knowing each other.” Vinny silently glanced at the Church students not far away, who were watching this side on and off.

That reaction, as if they were terrified he would do something improper to their Saintess in front of so many people, was truly speechless.

“All right, everyone, quiet down. Each of you is most likely cooperating with this teammate for the first time, but your opponents are in the same position. Now, the second-year students will come up as representatives to draw your opponents.”

Hearing that, the second-year students went up one after another to draw. Same as before, teams that received matching numbers would face each other.

Vinny returned to Margaret and glanced at his own number plate.

This time, it was number three.

No idea which lucky person had drawn number three.

“Upperclassman Vinny, what number are we?”

“Here.” Vinny showed Margaret their team’s number. By now, everyone had received their numbers and was looking for opponents, so no one had the leisure to pay attention to this side.

“Number three, number three once, number three twice. Who’s number three? Here, here, look this way.” Vinny held up his number plate and shook it in the air, as if he were waving a white flag.

“Present, Upperclassman Vinny~ Is there a reward if I look this way?”

“Huh?” When Vinny first heard that, he thought it was Margaret behind him speaking, but half a second later, he realized the voice and tone were wrong. After judging who it was, he looked over with a face full of disgust.

“Tsk. Why is it you again, you white-haired nut ball? Reward your big nut head. Shoo, shoo. Go away. This has nothing to do with you. This young master doesn’t want to mess around with you right now.” Vinny waved at Aesphyra impatiently, as if driving away a fly.

“Hm? Are you sure? But Upperclassman Vinny, if you chase me away, won’t you have to fight air in this match?” Aesphyra tilted her head.

“Huh??” Vinny was dumbfounded when he heard that. Only then did he notice that beside Aesphyra stood a girl he did not know, wearing glasses and looking rather shy.

“No, wait. You’re number three? Don’t joke around. How can you be number three? I bet you aren’t.” A moment later, Vinny came back to himself and snorted.

This white-haired nut ball had tricked him and played him how many times now? Had she ever changed? Same medicine, different bottle.

This time, she was definitely messing with him again, teasing him for fun.

“Oh my? Vinny saw through me?” Aesphyra looked very surprised and opened her mouth slightly.

“Honestly, and here I even went out of my way to make a number plate to trick you. I didn’t expect it to be completely useless.” Aesphyra looked deeply regretful as she spoke, then displayed her number plate. Written clearly and largely on it was the number “three.”

“? No way??” Vinny was startled after seeing it.

This number plate of Aesphyra’s was clearly not something she had made herself. It was the same kind as the one in his hand.

In other words, he really had drawn Aesphyra as his opponent!

He had thought being paired with Margaret was already dramatic enough. As a result, something even more dramatic had happened.

With Vinny’s strength, not counting the higher years, if he stomped his foot among the second-years and shouted, “Anyone who doesn’t like this young master, line up here,” there would be fewer than three people in the entire year who dared stand and speak.

Logically speaking, if nothing unexpected happened, this should have been a one-sided match.

And then his opponent ended up being Aesphyra.

Having Aesphyra as an opponent was something he seemed to have been doing all along, but in reality, had never done even once.

Only during the entrance competition and the combat class in the first semester of first year had he ever been Aesphyra’s opponent, but neither of those two times counted as formal. A truly formal duel between them had never happened even once.

“Upperclassman Aesphyra, long time no see.” Margaret naturally noticed Aesphyra as well and greeted her very politely, her beautiful starry eyes looking toward Aesphyra with curiosity.

“Mm, you’ve been well, Margaret.” Aesphyra smiled and returned Margaret’s greeting elegantly. “What a coincidence.”

“Vinny, what are you doing?” Aesphyra shifted her gaze to Vinny, whose hands were clasped together.

“I’m praying. Asking the Goddess to have some mercy on my rotten luck. Why have things been going so badly lately? I keep running into ghosts,” Vinny said irritably.

“Vinny, I believe the Goddess must have shown you favor. It was precisely because She heard your wish to beat me up on the field just now that She placed us in opposing groups, no?” Aesphyra’s lips carried a charming smile.

“Tsk!” He had only said that casually, all right?

If he fought Aesphyra, who knew which one of them would be spun like a top?

“Then please guide me, Vinny, and Margaret as well.”

“Mm-hm. I’ll be relying on your guidance, Upperclassman Aesphyra.” Margaret nodded politely, then looked toward the glasses-wearing girl beside Aesphyra.

“Connie, you too. Do your best.”

“Ah? Mm, I-I will.” The female student named Connie had not managed to get a word in from beginning to end. The other three had been the ones talking the entire time.

Her social relationships were not that good. Even in class, she did not have many friends she could talk to, and she was introverted and did not dare speak.

But it was clear that she had a very favorable impression of Margaret.

From that, it could be seen that Margaret’s popularity in her class was not bad at all. Everyone liked her.

“Upperclassman Aesphyra, you too. I’m... not very good at practical combat, so please bear with me,” Connie said carefully.

“It’s all right. Your name is Connie, yes? Connie, you just need to do your best to protect yourself later. I’ll help you.” Aesphyra smiled gently, and her easy, unhurried confidence infected Connie, who lacked confidence badly. In an instant, a blush rose on the latter’s face.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Seeing this scene from the side, Vinny clicked his tongue.

This player queen really was something. Every word and every action was flirting unconsciously even when she did not mean to flirt. Her passive was switched on at all times.

They were in a large Training Field with four combat zones, which could support four matches at the same time.

After the opponents were assigned, Vinny waited at the side, searching for Shicodale. He was rather curious about that little fool’s grouping situation.

Then he saw the somewhat timid Shicodale standing beside a tall, upright girl with dark-red shoulder-length hair. Her skin was dark, and she had a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} piece of grass in her mouth that no one knew where she had found.

The two of them seemed to be talking about something. Vinny grew curious and went over to listen.

“Don’t be scared, Upperclassman Dale. Don’t be nervous. Go ask around in our class. I’m one of the top three strongest people in our class. Anyone who sees me has to call me big sis. Don’t be afraid. This big sis has got you!”

All right, then.

Vinny was a little speechless.

For a moment, Shicodale’s group made it impossible to tell who was the upperclassman and who was the junior girl.

All that could be said was that Shicodale possessed a certain kind of charm. Wherever he went, he never lacked people who would take the initiative to stand up and protect him.

“All right, you’ve all finished assigning opponents, yes? You know what your opponents look like, yes? First round of battles. Teams whose names are called, along with your opposing teams, go onstage for your duels. First, Skud, your group and your opposing group, come up. You’ll duel on Field One.”

“Second, Vinny Facilis, your group and your opposing group, go to Field Two for your duel.”

Vinny had not expected to be called in the first round, but he still stood up immediately.

After seeing Vinny stand, Margaret also silently followed behind him and went onto the field with him.

Now, everyone saw it even more clearly. Vinny and Margaret had been assigned to the same group.

For a moment, a certain human instinct instantly ignited: the desire for gossip and the desire to watch drama unfold.

Those two had actually been assigned to the same group. Supposedly, they had even had a conflict in front of the classroom before.

This was far too interesting.

Vinny’s group instantly attracted everyone’s attention, but it was obvious they had all come to watch the gossip. No one cared about the match itself.

The true and false Facilis. Was there anything more exciting than that?

As for who was true and who was false, there was no suspense there at all.

Someone had not even been born with the right sex, yet still dared say he was a Saintess?

When Vinny’s surname was called, the entertainment effect could only be said to have reached its peak.

Margaret, who was practically confirmed as the legitimate Saintess, was listening right beside him. Not only that, she had to cooperate in battle with this person pretending to be from her family. Who knew what she was thinking right now?

However, that Margaret seemed to be a kindhearted and tolerant girl.

Now this really was interesting.

Ah, ah, what a pity.

There were even quite a few fun-seekers below feeling sorry that Vinny was not a girl. If he were, wouldn’t they have been able to see two Facilis girls tear at each other’s hair?

Though even if Vinny were a girl, he still would not have any Facilis traits.

Their relationship was interesting, yes, but no one paid any attention to the result of the match. The reason was very simple.

Vinny plus Margaret. What was there to fight? What was worth fighting? Leaving aside whether those two worked well together or not, who could beat that combination?

That was what everyone originally thought. But when they saw the silver-haired girl also stand and walk toward Field Two, they all froze.

All right. They took back what they had just said. Now the outcome was hard to predict again.

Vinny versus Aesphyra?

Now this was worth watching.

Vinny had previously passed the fourth-ranked student in the year, Eric, easily and without injury. Now, he was facing Aesphyra, the number one student in the year.

Damn it. This was an all-star lineup.

This match drew even the attention of those who also had to compete. Originally, they had been focused on their own matches, but after seeing who was in the combat zone beside them, their attention was pulled over.

The true and false Facilis, a duel between two of the top four second-years, and even the first-ranked first-year mixed in.

This was simply too interesting.

“Everyone, don’t just stand there watching. Your turns will come soon, too, so warm up.” The teacher reminded the students who were focused on watching the show.

Vinny went onto the field, where the referee specifically responsible for Field Two was already standing at the side.

“Before the match, everyone put on your belts properly.” The referee distributed the damage-taking belts to them. “Second-year students, help the first-years. They may not know how to use these very well.”

“You don’t need me to help, right?” After buckling his own belt, Vinny looked at Margaret.

“I’ve already put it on, Upperclassman Vinny.” Margaret did not make Vinny trouble himself. She had already fastened her belt.

Margaret took a deep breath, adjusted her star-shaped hair clip, and tidied her appearance. Whether it was because her teammate was him, or because her opponent was Aesphyra, she seemed somewhat nervous.

On the other side, the first-year student named Connie took some time to buckle her belt. After the referee finished checking it and confirmed she had worn it correctly, both sides stood facing each other.

Vinny and Margaret stood together on the opposite side.

“Before the match begins, I’ll make this clear first. This is only a training match. Second-year upperclassmen, you should understand the procedure for a training match very well. In a moment, I will activate the field isolation barrier. At that time, you will only be able to move within this small area. Whether it is magic or you yourselves attempting to leave, the barrier will block it,” the referee announced.