The Distorted Truth

After the battle was decided, what followed was the awards ceremony.

It seemed that several of the teachers serving as judges tried various things to somehow make it so that Prince Felix’s team had won, but in the end they acknowledged my team’s victory as the official record.

“We won.”

After I said that, tossing back my long hair, Kate and Claris hugged me and smothered me.

My carefully chosen victory pose was completely ruined, and I was filled with the urge to protest, but the two of them were rubbing their noses against me and crying their eyes out, so I decided to forgive them.

With the championship, Kate’s and Claris’s evaluations also rose, and it seemed that starting next month they would be taking classes in higher ranks and classes than before.

It was immediately after the awards ceremony that I was summoned to a special reception room inside the academy.

(Are they going to tell me to hand over the victory, I wonder.)

I had thought it was going to become a hassle, and sure enough, that was exactly what happened.

“Say that you brought in a prohibited magic tool.”

The teacher and the man in black said that to me.

“If it is a fifth-class relic, the penalty will be minor. We promise to show a certain amount of consideration and flexibility regarding your grades as well. We will guarantee your future path too. We won’t make this bad for you.”

The flow of their words was smooth, and I could tell they had done this same sort of thing before.

“I did not violate the rules. If anything, I think he was the one who did something.”

“Him, meaning whom?”

“Roy Edwilde. Didn’t he bring in a magic tool that strengthens lightning magic?”

The adults did not answer my question.

They looked straight at me and continued.

“We are acting to preserve order. You may not understand yet, but this country is currently facing no small number of threats. Nobles plotting to usurp royal power. Though it has not been made public, multiple traces have been found of preparations to attack facilities connected to the royal family. A dangerous new type of bomb was also found in a hideout discovered recently.”

It seemed the situation had become quite dangerous.

“In addition, there are also stories that unidentified operatives are active within the country. They are said to possess extremely high-quality equipment and may already have infiltrated even this country’s major facilities. It sounds like an urban legend without proof, but even so, it cannot be completely denied.”

(Vincent’s operative team has somehow become famous…)

I was surprised, but since they were so competent they seemed like the real thing, it also felt only natural.

Thinking once again about how amazing they really were, I replied,

“I understand that this country is under threat. But I think that manipulating Prince Felix’s grades because of that is a different matter. Wouldn’t it be better to expand the knight order or something?”

“Of course, that is already being done. In addition to such measures, maintaining the authority of the royal family is necessary to preserve order in this country. In order to maintain public safety and bring peace of mind to the hearts of the people.”

“Is that so? It also seems to me that part of the reason is that if Prince Felix’s grades fall, it would reflect badly on your evaluations.”

“More people are involved in this matter than you imagine. Failure is absolutely unacceptable. If this result is made the official record, then as a consequence your precious friends may be hurt.”

“…What are you planning to do?”

“If I were to say that Kate Filthlet’s father, who is currently serving a prison sentence, might suffer an unfortunate accident, what would you do?”

“You’re even more vile than I imagined.”

“The situation is pressing. In order to protect this country, we do not choose our means.”

The man in black looked at me with emotionless eyes and said that.

(Kate’s father, who committed fraud, is serving time in a magic prison run by the state. No matter how skilled Vincent’s agent team is, protecting someone who is inside a prison would be impossible, even for them…)

In order to avoid an irreversible disaster, the most realistic and certain thing to do was to accept this deal.

Even though I could borrow Vincent and the others’ strength, I was still a child, and I did not have the power to protect the people important to me while making an enemy of the royal family.

(To live truly strong and noble, you must never get the order of what matters most wrong.)

After biting my lip, I said,

“I’ll accept the deal. I brought a fifth-class relic into the tournament. If that is what you want.”

The fact that I had violated the exam rules was announced immediately, and soon the entire academy knew of it.

This was the script the adults came up with.

As a transfer student, I did not know the detailed rules of the exam and had unintentionally brought in a fifth-class relic I usually carried for health maintenance.

It was a clear fact that this violated the regulations, and on the official record my team would be treated as disqualified.

However, the relic brought in this time was not one that affected magic, and the fact that my team and I had achieved exceptionally excellent results in the exam was more than worthy of praise.

Although the result of victory was revoked, it remained a fact that Kate, Claris, and I had performed brilliantly, and next month’s class reassignment would take that into account.

However, my classmates’ reactions were colder than the adults had expected.

“So she was cheating.”

“I knew something was off from the start.”

Probably because they were bitter about losing, some classmates stressed the fact of cheating all the more.

I had completely become the villain of the academy, and more and more of my classmates began keeping their distance from me.

(Oh my, in terms of villainess vibes, this isn’t bad either.)

By sheer coincidence I had gotten closer to what I was aiming for, so I did not feel bad about it at all, but Kate and Claris seemed to feel a little cramped.

“It’s awful. Mythia didn’t do anything wrong.”

When I told her about the deal in front of the rooftop after school, Kate clenched her fist and said that.

“That’s right. If anything, it was Prince Felix’s team that was cheating.”

Claris nodded as she said it.

“It’s fine. More importantly, are you two okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“I’m fine too.”

The two of them acted brave, but it seemed they were still being harassed after all.

Thinking I had to do something, I went around on patrol, pressured classmates who said nasty things to Kate, and delivered kung fu kicks to classmates who harassed Claris.

My reputation at the academy fell even further into the dark side, and people started calling me “the most dangerous one in the academy,” “the only existence delinquents fear,” and “the shadow boss who solves everything with force.”

I did not feel bad about it at all, but even so, the unpleasant sensation of unmanageable reality and distorted truth lingered inside me.

“I was wrong. I think I did something I could never apologize enough for.”

Felix said that after calling me out.

“The people around you are the ones acting on their own, right? It has nothing to do with you.”

“It’s all my fault.”

Felix seemed to take it quite seriously, and he began keeping an obvious distance from me.

He stopped staying with me as a shield from the wind, and people started whispering things like, “Maybe they broke up,” and, “They were never a good match to begin with.”

It was on one such day that Kate told me it had been decided that she would transfer.

“I’m sorry. This is because of me.”

Kate shook her head at me as I apologized.

“No, it isn’t. You didn’t do anything wrong, Mythia.”

“Of all the friends I’ve ever met, you were the coolest and the one I respected the most. I really wanted to stay together longer, but… my mother says I have to transfer.”

I threw a tantrum and said, “No. Don’t transfer,” but there were limits to what a child could do.

You could not change what adults had decided, and there were things that, no matter how much you hated them, you simply had to accept.

(Is there really nothing I can do anymore?)

I skipped my morning classes and went alone to the rooftop landing, lost in thought.

The shelf of romance novels I had brought in, the wineglass, the teacup, the sweets, the cushions, the board games, and the playing cards.

Remembering that time we had spent there, turning it into something like a secret base, made tears come out just a little.

My first school.

My first friends.

It had been so much fun.

And yet, the three of us could no longer be together like before.

I did not care even if the teacher got angry at me.

As I rocked my chair back and forth like a rocking chair and stared at the gray ceiling, something in my pocket began to vibrate.

It was the small communicator Vincent had let me keep after I talked him into it.

Thinking that, in the end, there had been no chance to use it, I pressed the switch.

“This is Mythia.”

‘Thank goodness you are safe, Lady Mythia.’

It was a voice full of relief.

“Did something happen?”

‘Please listen calmly.’

I could feel some taut, strained tension in his voice.

Vincent said,

‘Some armed individuals have seized control of the academy. The academy is now in a critical situation.’