Chapter 91

“Magung Academy Slayer Side Story.”

The Incident of Blue Flame

The Incident of Blue Flame focuses solely on the 1st-year life of the protagonist, Eve.

The reason is simple.

The Incident of Blue Flame is a sequel to the previous episodes of Magung Academy Slayer.

Magung Academy Slayer consists of three episodes in total.

The first two episodes, Butterfly of Fire, take place in different time periods.

Both are set in earlier generations compared to Butterfly of Fire.

I haven’t played the first two episodes much.

This is because one is a puzzle game, and the other is a bullet hell shooter.

As a fan of dot RPG games, they just weren’t my cup of tea.

Perhaps because of this, Magung Academy Slayer had a different fan base for each episode.

Among them, The Incident of Blue Flame is considered an appendix to Episode 2.

The game company released this sequel in RPG format to promote the third episode, Butterfly of Fire.

Because of this, The Incident of Blue Flame doesn’t have a particularly long playtime.

It’s evidence that it’s entirely about the first-year life at Ordo Academy.

In other words, right now Eve is a character who has finished her scenario.

And she’s the only episode I’ve played aside from the first two.

She strode confidently inside, her blue hair waving behind her.

“Blue Flame.”

“The only star of Ordo.”

Eve’s accomplishments in Ordo Kingdom are quite famous.

So it’s no surprise that other students seem to know of Eve as well.

“…So that’s Blue Flame.”

Isabel reacted as she looked at Eve.

It seemed that Isabel had also heard Eve’s name somewhere.

“Well, she was mentioned often in Butterfly of Fire.”

Eve is one of the six stars renowned in her generation.

The reason I decided to play The Incident of Blue Flame was out of curiosity about Eve.

From the game company’s perspective, it was likely intended to pique curiosity to make players buy the previous two episodes too.

A cunning move, but thanks to that, I was able to meet another episode’s protagonist.

I could feel the heat radiating from her.

This made me certain.

“I absolutely must transfer Eve to Jerion Academy.”

During the summer break, I wrapped up the event with the dean.

The dean agreed that if Eve was willing, he’d initiate her transfer process.

“I really went through a lot to prepare that.”

That’s why I hardly rested during the break.

Now all that’s left is Eve’s will.

But that’s the hardest obstacle to overcome.

Eve surely holds some affection for Ordo Academy.

Even if the people in Ordo Academy are envious and resentful of her.

“Finally, we’re all here.”

The only ordinary kingdom among the six stars, Zebara.

Rozly Academy from Zebara, the president stood up to head to the round table.

Then the other presidents followed suit.

The acting president, Iris, also rose and headed towards the round table.

Soon, those seated at the round table began the meeting.

I didn’t really pay attention to the meeting.

After all, the meeting was merely about discussing an international individual competition.

“While the power of student council presidents in academies shouldn’t be overlooked…”

Events of the scale of an international individual competition are organized and conducted by deans and professors.

So this meeting was merely formal.

In reality, networking with future officials at the party following this is far more important.

“But because of that…”

They engaged in conversations without missing a beat during the meeting.

Everyone present knew they were destined to be future representatives of their respective countries.

Falling behind here meant the same for the future.

A meeting bearing the national badge.

What a fierce power struggle it is.

“Yawn.”

Sharine seemed completely uninterested, letting out a yawn.

Isabel scolded her, but before long, she was nodding off.

My eyes were on Eve.

Eve sat apart from the Ordo Academy students.

The students from Ordo Academy chatted amongst themselves but didn’t bother speaking to Eve even once.

That arrangement clearly exuded distance.

Eve had displayed dazzling accomplishments to make her name known in other countries.

That made her an outlier among the Ordo students.

The fallen kingdom, Prelitz Kingdom was often mocked.

The students there had their self-esteem crushed and were cynical.

With a collapsed economy and a bleak future, the people were plunged into pessimism.

Once upon a time, Prelitz Kingdom shone brightly as the most illustrious among the five kingdoms.

But the growth of the kingdom couldn’t keep pace with that of its people.

As a result, society began to crumble, suicide rates soared, and birth rates plummeted.

Amidst this, the royal family and aristocrats rotted away.

The newly crowned king, despite ruling over a fallen nation, was criticized as the most incompetent king in history and burdened with blame.

Thus, Prelitz could not shake off the stigma of being a fallen kingdom.

The impact of this reality extended to the children, the future assets of the kingdom.

Children from the fallen kingdom no longer harbor hopes for the future.

No matter how hard they try, they can’t be happier than the adults who have poisoned the society.

Life itself feels precarious just to survive.

So the children abandoned their dreams.

Yet amid the abandonment of dreams, a star was born in Ordo Kingdom.

Unyielding Blue Flame.

Eve.

Those who had already lost their shine could not bear her light.

So what they chose was not to illuminate the star further but to turn away from it.

It’s better to avoid the star than to burn up trying to shine beside it.

This is why Eve was an island unto herself at Ordo Academy.

All the kids who feared burning near the star avoided her.

At that moment, sensing my gaze, Eve lifted her head.

Her blue eyes locked onto mine.

At first glance, her expression seemed apathetic, but I could definitely feel the solid confidence behind it.

Just as one would expect from the unyielding Blue Flame.

Suddenly—

I felt a poke in my side.

Upon turning in surprise, I saw Isabel pointing her finger at me.

“What’re you staring at?”

For some reason, Isabel’s eyes were filled with displeasure.

She seemed to have noticed that I was looking at Eve.

“Wherever I look is my business.”

“Scolding me is my business too.”

Isabel’s retorts seemed to sharpen with every passing moment.

Is she continuously growing in this direction?

To avoid Isabel’s fiery gaze, I reluctantly shifted my attention away.

After all, we’ll end up having a conversation soon enough.

＊＊＊

The meeting concluded successfully.

The reason for its success was simple.

Despite the efforts of the others, Iris took the lead in the meeting.

The empire’s princess.

Moreover, she stands a high chance of becoming the emperor.

No matter how royal one might be, it was daunting to directly oppose Iris’s statements.

Thus, Iris conducted the meeting however she pleased.

Seeing her in such a position reminded me anew that she was indeed royalty.

“Hanon.”

After the meeting concluded, it was only when she spread her arms before me in the assigned break room that she spoke.

There was a strong intent in her gesture to invite me in.

Isabel was staring at me intently.

It was as if she was asking whether I was really going to go for it.

“Hanon?”

Iris tilted her head.

It was a prompt urging me to jump in right away.

I quietly inhaled and then exhaled.

At this rate, I felt like they might end up quarreling again.

It was time to draw the line.

This has gone a bit too far.

“Lady Iris, you’ve been quite mischievous recently. Even I might find this troublesome if you keep this up.”

I spoke to Iris very politely.

And then I gazed firmly at her.

It seemed Iris had some awareness of her behavior, as she repeatedly clenched and opened her outstretched hands.

She was not someone who didn’t understand reason.

Her excessive behavior today likely stemmed from Isabel provoking her possessive feelings.

She was definitely capable of restraining herself if she chose to.

“I’ll gladly assist you if you want to sleep comfortably, Lady Iris.

But that doesn’t mean you can keep doing this; it would tarnish your name, Lady Iris. Besides, I’d find it troublesome as well.”

Neither Isabel nor Sharine is the type to blab to others.

However, if someone were to witness this, it would become a huge headache.

No matter how you look at it, it’s not great for an 18-year-old man and woman, even if they are cousins, to be acting like this.

Especially for Iris, being a princess, this could spiral into some bad rumors.

There’s always someone looking to exploit imperfections in her otherwise flawless image.

“…Okay, I’ll only do it when we’re alone.”

Does that mean she won’t stop entirely?

But Iris did show her willingness to exercise restraint.

I then turned to look at Isabel.

She nodded as if to agree that Iris was justified in scolding me.

Isabel, you’re the same.

“And Isabel, you’ve been meddling with me quite a lot lately.”

Isabel flinched at my words.

Having developed feelings of love and hate for me, Isabel has been interfering like a childhood friend would.

I let it be since I understood her anxiety, but her obsession had been intensifying over time.

“I know you dislike me disparaging your friend, but can you stop?”

I reminded Isabel of the fact that I had badmouthed Lucas.

Recently, it didn’t seem to hold much power, so I hadn’t been doing it, but we both originally were rivals.

We had gone through multiple phases before evolving into rivals.

Yet, this was certainly not a relationship that should be friendly.

“……”

Isabel averted her gaze to the ground.

Having given her this much warning, she should refrain for a while.

“Lastly, Sharine.”

And before long, I called out to Sharine, who had slipped into the room and was happily munching on popcorn.

“If you look at me with those interested eyes one more time, I’ll give you a German Suplex.”

“Mmm?”

I couldn’t decipher what she was saying as her mouth was full of popcorn.

I desperately wanted to pinch those puffed-up cheeks of hers.

However, I stopped short, knowing that I’d end up on the receiving end of a German Suplex if I did!

“Alright then, everyone take a break. I’m going to get some fresh air.”

Not wanting to remain in this atmosphere, I quickly made my exit.

Fortunately, nobody chased after me.

I finally escaped from the room and took a breather.

Today, I learned one thing.

The compatibility of Isabel and Iris is the absolute worst.

Moving forward, I think it’s best to avoid putting those two together.

As I contemplated that, I was moving along.

Near the window in the hallway, I spotted some blue hair fluttering.

Seeing that familiar hair color made my eyes widen slightly.

It was Eve.

As soon as Eve saw me, she walked straight over.

As if I were her target from the start.

Her gaze was locked onto me directly.

True to her role as the protagonist of the side story, an unusual energy emanated from her.

“You.”

Eve called me out directly.

Immediately, my body froze.

“You’re caught up in the Magic of the Ice Dragon.”

This was an unexpected turn of events.