Chapter 116
Chapter 116
The club room for Noble was on the top floor of the second-years main hall.
A man was walking on a carpeted floor while overlooking the beautiful landscape of Kizen, it being surrounded by mountains, rivers, and castles. As the man walked past a few second-year students, they all started to whisper to each other.
He was someone who had no choice but to become an issue within Noble.
Malcolm Randolph, the first-year Special Admission No.10. He was summoned to Noble.
Swish.
A second-year girl waiting in front of the door waved lightly. Malcolm silently bowed, then turned his gaze to the door.
"Are you ready, first-year?"
"Well, I guess."
"Prince I mean, President. The first-year had arrived."
The woman opened the door for Malcolm.
Behind it was a luxurious room. However, the lights were very dim, making the antique furniture, tables, and fruit on plates look drained of color.
On one end of the table was a man sitting on a large chair reminiscent of a throne.
It was Andre, the President of Noble and the third prince of the Dresden Kingdom. He was arrogantly sitting with his legs crossed and chin resting on his hands.
"Have a seat."
"Ok."
As Malcolm sat down in his chair, Andre gestured. A woman in a maid uniform approached with silent steps and set a teacup and refreshments down in front of Malcolm.
Malcolm was filled with amazement deep inside.
'How crazy.'
This woman wasn't a servant.
To think that Andre would dress a fellow second-year Kizen student, someone in the same position as himself, in a maid uniform and order her around like a servant.
As if also ashamed of the situation, she just kept her head bowed.
'The rumors were true.'
He didn't know what kind of weakness Andre took advantage of, but if the student council or teachers found out, it would turn the school upside down.
However, even if someone exposed this fact and publicized it, the public would only hear it to be an immature prince's prank, and Andre, a member of the royal family, would only receive a light punishment. That'd be the end of it.
On the other hand, the whistleblower would face horrors beyond all imagination.
Having been used to seeing this kind of irregularity in this world, Malcolm also quickly adapted to the situation. He also gestured to the senior student as if she were a real maid.
She bowed her head and left, and Andre smiled as though he liked what he saw.
"Do you have any idea why I called you here?"
"Not at all."
Lightly answered Malcolm as he raised his head.
"Just my setting foot in here must worsen Noble's reputation."
"I know. You're a son of a lowly gang leader, after all."
Malcolm's eyebrows twitched at the word lowly, but he didn't react any further.
After all, the key was the third prince of the Dresden Kingdoms reason for calling him.
And what Andre said afterward was more than compensation enough for Malcolm holding back his anger.
"I'll give you a chance to join Noble."
The maid-student from earlier came over and carefully put down a quill and registration form.
"If you have a working brain, you'd know that this is an important turning point in your life."
""
Andre leaned over and locked his fingers together.
"It's a chance for the trash gang to connect with the main powers of the Dark Alliance. If this news were to be delivered to your father, he might go insane from joy."
Gangs were violent organizations that committed crimes, but they had to collude with local and state authorities to make business run smoothly.
If they could enter this organization full of powerful members from the Dark Alliance, the gang could grow several times larger than it was now.
"And what are the conditions?"
Letting a gang leader's son into Noble was like splashing shit on expensive pearls.
Why would they do this despite how it would hurt the external image of Noble? Malcolm thought there was a high chance that the conditions would be absurd.
"It's nothing special."
Andre smirked.
"I heard your Duel Evaluation opponent this time around is Special Admission No.1 Simon Polentia."
"That is correct."
"He turned down our offer to join us."
Andre brushed his hair back.
"There's no disgrace like this. If it were other students, I'd just brush over it, but it was the first time in 20 years that a special admission no.1 turned down Noble and entered another club. Yeah, you heard that right. 20 years. A very important custom has now been broken."
Andre clenched his teeth.
"Of all times, while I'm President of Noble."
""
"They're already scorning me for it outside, so at this rate, even after I graduate, I won't be able to look the other senior presidents in the eyes."
Andre sighed softly as he leaned back in his chair with a tired face. Then, he raised the wine glass beside him and took a sip.
"So is it revenge I'm supposed to give?"
"No. It's not revenge but performing a custom."
Said Andre with a gleam in his eyes.
"Isn't it common knowledge in Kizen? Watch out for Noble. Turning Noble into an enemy is the worst thing one could do. Even if something seems to be going well, if you're out of favor with Noble, everything will go wrong. It's just repeating those common customs all over again."
Andre took something out of his pocket and threw it to Malcolm.
It was an artifact engraved with the coat of arms of the Dresden royal family.
"Senior, it's against the rules to borrow artifacts from others in the Duel Evalua"
"It's not borrowing."
Andre grinned.
"That's a downpayment. From now on, that artifact will be yours. You can register it as yours in Kizen."
"!!"
Malcolm's jaw dropped.
"In front of countless spectators, use this artifact to crush Simon with overwhelming force. And perform this mark the moment the duel is over."
Andre moved his hand, drawing an R in the air.
It was the mark of the Dresden royal family.
Yes. He meant to defeat Simon and give the credit for the victory to Noble and Andre.
"I understand."
For Malcolm, there was no reason not to do it.
It was also easy for him to see what was going on.
Andre's pride had suffered greatly, and he was under pressure from external sources. So, he wanted to make Simon pay the price for refusing him and straighten out Noble's authority. For this, he would accept Malcolm as Noble's chess piece.
It was understandable. A noble's pride was more important than their life here.
"I've been playing safe these days because of various issues, but I can't help it. I need to show what happens to those who go against us by using the downfall of Mr. Special Admission No.1. Soon, everyone will realize. That Simon Polentia didn't deserve to join Noble from the start."
Now Malcolm knew exactly what Andre was thinking.
"I'll accept the order, but wouldn't it leave the biggest message if you stepped forward and crushed Simon by yourself, Senior?"
"You don't know what dignity means, do you?"
Andre chuckled.
"Even ignoring that, there are professors who favor Simon Polentia. What do you think it meant that the Curse Research Society and Saddam stepped out to recruit Simon? Professor Bahil and Silage are behind him.
"Alright. Then I'll destroy him head-on through legal routes."
Malcolm gulped down the hot tea in front of him. Then, he took the artifact, placed it in his pocket, and drew the letter R of the Dresden Kingdom.
"I'll show the crowd that Noble still lives."
Andre smirked.
"That's the spirit."
* * *
* * *
Simon could hardly concentrate in class today.
Because
"Mister! Gelen has finished making your subspace artifact. He said to come pick it up today!"
The subspace dedicated to the Overlord had finally been completed.
He was in class, but thoughts of the artifact filled his head. His body was in the lecture room, but his mind was in Rochest.
As soon as class ended that day, Simon ran straight to Mutants club room.
"Senior! Hurry up!"
Simon pestered Benya to prepare, then used Kevin's stable route to get out of the castle wall.
"Woah, so a place like this existed in Kizen, huh? You're still a first-year, but you know this place well, mister!"
Exclaimed Benya in admiration as she crawled through the narrow tunnel. She looked curiously at the stalactites and the bubbling underground water that she saw all over the place, then looked in front of her and said,
"Mister! Can I go in front?"
"No."
"Hm? Why?"
"Ahem In any case, no."
And just like that, the both of them safely passed through the narrow tunnel and entered Rochest. The meeting place was a quiet, empty lot on the citys outskirts.
"Maam! Simon! I've been waiting for you."
Gelen placed his fedora to his chest and bowed his head. Perhaps his hair had thinned out again in the meantime, Simon felt a sense of pity towards the empty center of his head, but he pretended not to notice and greeted him back.
"Gelen! Is it really complete?"
"Yes! I stayed up all night, but I'm glad I was able to meet the deadline! Here it is."
Gelen held out a ring case. Simon immediately took it and opened the case.
If the subspace ring he had worn before looked like a glistening gem, this one was like brilliant gold.
When Simon, who had roughly tucked the case into his pocket, quickly tried to put on the ring, Gelen added,
"Ah, that ring must be worn on the left hand."
"Oh, is that so?"
Simon put it on his left hand as he was told.
"Then let's try it right away. The motion to open the subspace is to relax your left hand, then open and close your fist, open and close your index and middle finger at the same time, then open and close your fist again."
Simon nodded and did the motion as instructed.
Then with a whirr, a subspace opened behind Simon's back.
"Woah!"
It was a custom size that would be densely packed when the Overlord was in it. But Simon intended to only put the Overlord in this subspace, so it was enough.
Simon took out the Overlord from his original subspace and then joined forces with Benya and Gelen to put it into a new subspace.
Voom!
Vwooom!
When the Overlord entered, a magic circle lit up on the floor of the subspace. Soon, the entire subspace became bright, as if a light had been turned on.
"Let's turn on the main subspace to figure out the features. The preparations are complete. Please pour jet-black into the ring."
"Okay!"
As Simon applied jet-black to the ring, a black pattern appeared on its smooth surface.
"First of all, the basic features. This ring reads the user's will. Try to visualize opening a subspace within 5 meters of yourself."
"That'll work?"
"Yes, it will."
Simon swallowed his saliva and looked over to his right. Then
Whirr!
A subspace opened up immediately. Almost by habit, Simon controlled the Overlord's thoughts.
Fwwwiiiiip!
The Overlord's limbs flew out of the open subspace.
"Woah!"
Exclaimed Benya in surprise as she gave a short little clap. Gelen also nodded in satisfaction.
'Certainly, thoughts should be delivered cleanly and without disruption. It makes a huge difference, huh?'
Simon looked back.
There was a hole in the floor just below the Overlord's torso, and the Overlord was pushing its legs through it.
When Simon controlled its thoughts and inserted a tentacle a little further, he saw the Overlord's tentacle protruding a little from the hole in the subspace. It was proof that the two spaces were properly connected.
"How's the connection of thoughts?"
"It's great! Perfect!"
After a few more tries, Simon felt it was more than perfect.
There was no need for Simon to give an order to the Overlord to insert its legs. He just had to open a subspace in the air and give the order for it to attack the target, and the Overlord automatically pushed its legs in.
He was able to completely erase the previous actions from his head and focus only on the battle.
"It's a work that born from thinking about what method would be the best for you while doing hundreds and thousands of image trainings of you handling the Overlord, Simon."
"Haha, it's somehow a bit touching."
"But it's too early to be surprised."
Something shone within Gelens eyes.
"Because the most important function of this subspace is right after this one!"