“So the first event is a yearly competition called the King of the School Year Competition. The winner receives a special item from the school. It’s impressive, I guess.”
It had to be a valuable magical item or something. But that wasn’t the only prize.
“And the winner gets one more thing: the Right of the King. Yeah, yeah, don’t gimme that look. I think it’s stupid too.”
Ms. Elena looked annoyed as she explained what the “Right of the King” entailed: it gave the winner total control over the school for a day. It meant you could order the other students around and stuff—within reason, of course. Honestly, I was more interested in the item. But the boys had lust on their minds.
“Ms. Elena, d-d-does that mean I could make the girls wear sexy outfits and give me a m-m-massage?”
“Yeah, I think that would be possible.”
“Are you serious?!”
The earth-shattering cry boomed through the classroom. I managed not to add to it…barely.
But then it hit me. Could I use the Right of the King to earn a ton of LP? My struggle with the Death Chains had made me realize just how weak I was. I needed to stop fooling around and get stronger. I would probably have to tap into my inner well of desire to do it.
“You’ve still got time, so you best get training,” said Ms. Elena. “A little after the King Competition, we have an inter-school competition.”
Other kingdoms had hero academies too, and we had an agreement with our sister school. We weren’t going to pull our punches, even though it was just a school tournament. Three representatives of each school were selected to compete to determine the ultimate winner.
“Our representatives will be the three kings of the school. That’s it.”
One from the first, second, and third year, I guess? Maybe, if I worked hard, I could count myself among them.
After that, class went on as usual. We spent the whole morning listening to Ms. Elena lecture, and at lunch, Emma and Leila came over to talk to me.
“Heya, wanna eat together?” I asked.
“Sounds good,” said Leila. “Where should we sit?”
“I brought a lunch for you too, Noir!” said Emma.
“You’re a lifesaver. Olivia ate everything, even my leftovers.”
I was touched by her thoughtfulness, but Leila looked a little uncertain. She was hiding something behind her back, but it was too big to fully conceal it. I had a feeling I knew what it was.
“Oh, I, um, uh,” she stammered. “I kinda made lunch for all three of us.”
It was a huge basket.
“I probably shouldn’t have presumed.”
“Oh, not at all,” Emma said with genuine cheer. “Thank you so much!”
She stepped in and gave Leila a hug, and the act of intimacy soon drew attention. Our classmates all looked at them and smiled.
Leila had only just joined S-Class, and she wasn’t a member of the nobility, but she’d already amassed an impressive number of fans. I could hear the boys whispering to each other.
“Man…I love Leila.”
“Me too. She’s a little tough. I like that.”
You’re not gonna like it when you’re on the receiving end of her Demon Fist.
The three of us went up to the roof. There were always a lot of other students up there, so we found an empty corner to sit in and laid out our lunches.
Emma had brought bread stuffed with a mix of roasted pork, beef, and chicken. It was both bold and creative.
“Is this a new invention of yours?” I asked.
“Not mine! I promise it’s tasty, though. Go on, have the first bite.”
“I see, you want me to be the taste tester. Very well.”
It was quite a challenge to bite into, but it was way tastier than I’d expected!
“Uh, um, would you two like to try mine?” Leila asked. “O-only if you feel like it.”
She had some egg salad sandwiches and a fruit platter in her basket.
“Ooh, how luxurious.”
Emma seemed happy to have expensive-looking fruit for dessert. I crammed the meat-filled bread into my mouth. It was as delicious as you’d expect. It was so kind of Leila to think of us too.
“How have things been going with Lahmu lately?” I asked her.
“Well…there’s been a bit of an issue, but I think it’ll work itself out.”
She seemed a little uncomfortable. Emma and I belonged to Odin, while Leila was in our rival guild, Lahmu. I supposed it was a little unnatural for us to be fraternizing.
“You know, if you ever need help, you can come to us,” I said. “If there’s anything I can do, I would be more than happy to.”
Emma pouted. “Ugh, why are you being such a white knight, Noir?”
“Wh-white knight?”
“You know, a guy who always says nice things to any girl he meets, you big dummy.”
“I dunno how big I am, but you’re probably right about the dummy part.”
“Th-that’s not what I meant.”
“Really?”
Emma looked like she wanted to explain, but she was a little embarrassed. Her cheeks turned red. “Y-you may be a dummy, but you’re big…in my heart.”
“In your heart?!”
“It’s embarrassing! So I had to find a weird way to say it. You’re such a big dummy, Noir!”
Emma seemed a little agitated. She stood up and ran off, although she made sure to secure an egg salad sandwich and some of the fruit first. I mean, they were extremely delicious.
“Was she trying to prove something?” Leila mumbled gloomily.