Chapter 111

Head pats.

Simonia, with warm eyes, is gently stroking my head.

I knew there was a story behind her being a villain, but I didn’t expect her to show such kindness, leaving me in a state of confusion.

“Um…”

“Oh, sorry. Did I make you feel bad?”

Simonia quickly withdraws her hand.

Yet, she keeps glancing at me as if she’s a child who has just made a mistake and is checking for a reaction.

The cunning woman I saw in AOE seems to have vanished, replaced by her pure reaction.

“No, it’s not that.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Only after hearing my reply does Simonia seem to relax.

Her slippery response brings back a possibility I had forgotten.

In AOE, due to the constraints of the system, I couldn’t do this.

That is, to recruit a villain as an ally.

‘Hmm.’

I subtly turn my gaze to look at Simonia.

With a much softer demeanor, she extends her hand toward my head.

Her actions appear to be testing the waters, so I take her hand and place it on my head.

“Here.”

“Oh, okay.”

With a gentle, sheep-like response, Simonia awkwardly pets my head.

Watching her, my conviction grows stronger.

‘If I play this right, I might really be able to do it!’

If this world applies the same rules as AOE, this would have been an impossible task.

However, this world is similar to AOE but not identical.

If that’s the case, perhaps I could become friends with Simonia and even turn her into an ally?

If she were a truly evil person, I wouldn’t even consider it, but strictly speaking, she is someone who had no choice but to become evil due to her environment and experiences, leaving room for redemption.

“Ahem.”

Now that I have settled on a policy, I was just about to speak to Simonia when…

[Edu Nimbusday student, Edu Nimbusday student. After this match, you will be facing Wikut Chehman student. Please wait.]

The voice from the announcement speaker in the corner of the waiting room interrupts.

Upon hearing this, Simonia stops her hand.

“So it’s time for the match now?”

“Yes.”

“Then I guess I need to stop here. Excuse me.”

She says this with a hint of disappointment but turns without delay to leave the waiting room.

Oh? No way!

Before it’s too late, I call out to her with all the cuteness I can muster.

“Uh, Simonia!”

A somewhat ordinary address mixed with an awkward charm.

However, the growing charm stat, approaching 350, that Edu had ignored changes the power of those words from a simple sound to a disaster.

“!!”

Simonia’s body freezes in place.

As if rewinding a video, she turns back, creaking.

“Wait, what did you just say…?”

Simonia’s expression is stiff.

I worry that I might have acted too familiar, so I quickly apologize and bow my head.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I acted too informally, didn’t I?”

My body, which was about to lower, is suddenly halted by something.

Simonia extends her hand to stop me.

“No, no. That’s fine—”

Shaking her head, she responds.

“More than that, what did you just say…?”

“Oh, ‘sis’? You’re a woman and an adult like me, so it’s ‘sis Simonia,’ right?”

I cautiously ask, glancing at Simonia.

“Didn’t you like it?”

“No, it’s not that…”

She scratches her cheek, trailing off.

“…It’s just that it’s the first time someone has called me ‘sis,’ so I was a little surprised.”

Such a cute response, almost like a girl.

I can’t help but smile.

“I see.”

“…Yeah. So, why did you call me?”

“I think I didn’t hear why you were looking for me earlier.”

Simonia flinches slightly at my words.

“Oh, that…”

Trailing off, she seems to be lost in thought.

The truth is, I didn’t ask her this because I was unsure about why she approached me.

Knowing her personality, it’s not just about figuring out who I am; she probably also wants to gauge my abilities to plan her future responses.

But that doesn’t matter.

I asked her this to create an appropriate excuse.

“Well, that is—”

As expected, Simonia struggles to articulate her thoughts easily.

Seeing that, I give her some space before continuing.

“If it’s something difficult to talk about here, do you want to discuss it later?”

“Oh, okay. Should we do that?”

“Yes, then let’s exchange contact information.”

“Contact info? Oh, you mean the ID number.”

Talking to herself, not realizing it, Simonia hands over her ID number without a hint of suspicion.

[Sender Simonia Hallet, an ID number exchange request has arrived. Do you approve?]

“I’ll approve it.”

[Code confirmation, proceeding with the ID number exchange with target Simonia Hallet.]

Thus, Simonia’s contact information comes into my hands.

Heh heh heh, just as planned.

“Then let’s talk again later, Sis Simonia!”

Waving my hand with a bright smile, Simonia carefully mimics my gestures.

“Uh, okay. See you later.”

She turns and exits the waiting room.

The sound of her fading footsteps.

“Well, that went well. I’ll be back, Nisia.”

“Yeah, be careful!”

With Nisia seeing me off, I leave the waiting room.

“Let’s go, Bungbungi.”

[Beeep. /⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝]

I pass through the long corridor and enter the arena.

Cheering echoes around me.

Upon entering the dome in the center, I see a familiar but not-so-welcoming face on the other side.

“Edu…!”

A boy’s voice filled with rage.

The same chunky physique and height that are part of his identity remains unchanged, but it feels lacking since he’s not accompanied by his partner who always stuck to him like glue.

One of the infamous trio of hopelessness, the big guy.

But that kid’s name was Wikut Chehman.

It seems quite sophisticated while not matching his character at all.

Anyway, I never imagined seeing him here, so I can’t help but express a bit of admiration.

“Oh, you made it up here, huh?”

“Hmph, that’s the obvious result. Our lineage is fundamentally different from vile ones like yours!”

The big guy raises his voice as if to roar.

At that, the admiration that had sprouted in my mind fizzles out, along with my interest.

“Hmph, is that so?”

“Yeah! Last time you escaped with a cowardly tactic, but you won’t get away this time!”

Such a confident declaration.

However, he has come up here without even a single crisis, except when fighting Nisia. What confidence is he talking about?

Anyway, it seems he doesn’t trust the skills I’ve shown so far.

Or perhaps he’s unwilling to acknowledge it and is turning a blind eye to reality?

Even if he knows the truth in his heart, sometimes it can be hard to accept it in one’s mind.

As those thoughts cross my mind, a good idea comes to me to tease him.

“Then how about a bet? The loser does one thing the winner says.”

A simple proposal.

“What? A bet?”

“Yeah, you have such a noble lineage, so you shouldn’t lose so easily, right?”

His reaction, mixed with a suitable provocation, causes the big guy to fume.

“Fine! Just don’t say anything afterward if I lose!”

Riding the wave of the moment, the big guy accepts my proposal with a loud voice.

“You’d better not say anything afterward either.”

As soon as I respond, the voice of the announcer echoes across the dome.

[Then, from now on! The second round of the finals, the sixth match! We will start the match between Edu Nimbusday and Wikut Chehman!]

The match begins.

The big guy grabs his gear tightly with his thick hands and raises his voice.

“Gear Release!”

His voice reverberates as the gear he holds takes the form of a weapon.

A halberd that requires quite some technique, befitting his hefty frame.

But I don’t release my gear.

“Hmm?”

The big guy notices and scowls at me.

“What’s up! Why aren’t you releasing your gear?”

He raises his voice at me.

To him, I just smile slyly and raise only my index finger, gesturing him to come over.

“It’s a handicap, come on.”

The reason I don’t release my gear is simple.

There’s no need to.

The big guy isn’t as quick as Nisia, nor is his level comparable to mine.

Even if I provoke him like this, what can he really do!

“You arrogant…!”

As expected, the big guy reacts exactly as I anticipated.

His large, chubby body pounds the ground.

“Uuaaa!!”

He roars, putting his will into it.

As I watch him, I declare loudly.

“Summon armor! Colossus!”

A mana sphere appears in the air.

The swiftly extending blue wave transforms into a six-meter giant.

Clang, thud!

Colossus stands before me, having planted itself firmly on the ground.

After taking a quick glance at the big guy rushing straight toward me, I issue a command.

“Colossus?”

Whoosh—thud.

Even though I’ve only called its name, it understands my intent and lifts its fist high.

“Candy punch!”

Bam—

With a sound like a crack, a solid blow lands on the big guy’s crown.

Clang!

“Gah!”

Unable to withstand it, the big guy collapses straight to the ground.

His barrier lights up red, lying flat on the ground, like a frog.

– [Ah! Wikut Chehman has lost in one blow!!]

The announcer’s voice rings out from beyond the dome.

After hearing that declaration, I command Bungbungi.

“Bungbungi, can you go over to him?”

[Beeep. /⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝]

Keeping Colossus summoned, I approach the fallen big guy.

He shakes his body, stuck to the ground.

“Ugh…”

“Hey, big guy.”

The big guy, who had been squirming at my call, lifts his head.

“You lost, so you have to keep your promise, right?”

“Ugh…!”

While he grumbles, he doesn’t deny my words.

Even if he’s denying it in his mind, perhaps after experiencing my overwhelming strength firsthand, he seems surprisingly compliant.

Indeed, overwhelming might does facilitate smooth conversations.

As I think this, he looks up at me with a somewhat anxious expression.

“Speak! I won’t be crushed by any further humiliation or contempt—”

“Hmm? I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you have, but I won’t make you do that, so don’t worry.”

I firmly cut off the big guy’s words.

At that, his eyes widen in shock.

“All I want you to do is find out about that lineage yourself.”

“…? My lineage?”

I guess my words were quite unexpected, for now, his anger seems to have significantly abated as he questions me.

“Yeah, you kept bringing up lineage, so I want you to look into it and tell me what you find.”

“What are you talking about! You’re rejecting our lineage—”

The big guy flares up again.

I sigh and cut him off.

“Hey, hey. Don’t go off the rails on your own; that’s not what I meant. So here’s what I’m saying.”

“???”

“All those things you say about lineage, you’ve only heard them from your parents, right? I don’t intend to deny that, but you should find out when and why those stories came up.”

After pondering my words with a frown, he slowly opens his mouth.

“So you’re saying I should find out how those stories about lineage came to be?”

“Exactly, it’s not too difficult, is it?”

What I said is truly not very difficult.

However, for the big guy, the concept of lineage is part of his identity. Once he learns the truth about the royal blood ideology that permeates Sunrise Street, he will likely be in for quite the shock.

A dark truth contained in a poisoned apple, the royal blood ideology.

“…”

But the big guy, unaware of that truth, nods with a peculiar expression.

A smile rises involuntarily.

“Okay, then tell me about what you find later, alright? Good luck! Let’s go, Bungbungi.”

[Beeep. /⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝]

Waving goodbye, I walk away.

The big guy, Wikut, kneels on the ground as he quietly gazes at my departing figure.