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Chapter 13
“Well, more or less. This month is fine, but the real problem starts in May. Just thinking about interviewing the athletes already gives me a headache……. Blanca, you didn’t forget that since you participated in both the hunting competition and the winter sports tournament, I ended up doing everything alone, so you promised to handle about ninety percent of the summer tournament coverage, right?”
Owen narrowed his eyes as he spoke. Since Blanca had participated in the hunting competition between Saint John’s College and Relta Military Academy, as well as Wood College’s winter sports tournament, he had practically written all the event articles by himself.
“Ah…….”
Blanca covered her mouth as if she had only just remembered the promise she made in exchange for being allowed to compete — that she would handle more than half of The College newspaper articles during the summer tournament.
“I completely forgot about that…….”
Remembering her promise to show Genevieve around Myon Academy, Blanca looked at her with an apologetic smile.
“It’s fine. I’ll go get an interview with one of the winners.”
Genevieve spoke with a little confidence mixed into her voice.
Usually, getting interviews with winners was difficult. Most champions preferred interviews with newspapers from their own schools or major news companies.
“It would be nice if our school won a lot.”
Blanca let out a deep sigh.
The events Saint John’s College excelled at were always the same: the women’s polo club and the men’s rowing team. Those two events were the pride of the school, but honestly speaking, they were not exactly fresh anymore.
“Why isn’t the fencing club coming?”
Even though her soup bowl was already empty, Franz still had not appeared. According to her plan, she was supposed to hand the documents to Franz and be done with it, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe he’s eating lunch separately like James?”
“That could be it. Why don’t you try checking the fencing hall?”
Her friends’ suggestion sounded reasonable enough.
On the way to the fencing club, Genevieve decided she should at least memorize Charles’s group’s faces. She never knew what kind of trouble they might cause. After all, they said that if you knew your enemy and knew yourself, you could win every battle.
“……What is this?”
But the closer she got to the fencing training hall, the more students she noticed.
Even the students she thought were merely walking in the same direction were heading toward the fencing hall. The moment she realized that, Genevieve instinctively felt that something had happened.
“……They said he’s fighting the scholarship student!”
A second-year student hurried past Genevieve and shouted excitedly.
‘Scholarship student?’
A bad feeling crept over her.
Fencing hall. Scholarship student.
There was only one scholarship student who would likely be there right now.
“No way…….”
Genevieve hurriedly ran toward the training hall.
The fencing hall was crowded from the entrance.
The crowd size was abnormal. If nobody had shouted the words “scholarship student,” she would have thought a public training session had started.
But public training sessions were held one week before leaving for Myon Academy, during the final class period rather than lunchtime.
“Excuse me, excuse me…… let me through for a second.”
Genevieve squeezed herself into the crowd. Some students who were accidentally bumped into complained at her, but Genevieve hardly cared.
Even if Edward was not here, she still had a decent excuse to meet Franz. Genevieve briefly looked at the agreement form tucked between the textbooks she held in her arms.
Since the spectator seats were not open, everyone had gathered around the arena itself. There was barely room to stand. Considering that only club members and related personnel were normally allowed inside the arena, the crowd was completely abnormal. As she moved closer to the piste where the fencing match was happening, cheers like “Oh!” and “Wow!” could be heard.
Only after moving a few more steps did Genevieve finally understand the situation inside the arena. Through the shoulders of the male students standing in front of her, she could see the piste.
A bout was underway.
Two players were facing each other. The fencer on the right wore black pants, while the fencer on the left was dressed properly in white.
“……s! Charles! Charles!”
Since both players wore masks covering their faces, she could not tell who was who, but hearing the students near her chanting made her assume the fencer on the left was Charles.
It was certainly an effective way to encourage the person they supported. Though at the same time, it was also rude spectating meant to intimidate the opponent.
“Ednerd, what’s he even doing right now?”
Genevieve desperately hoped the opposing fencer was not Edward, but unfortunately she heard them mockingly shout “Ednerd.”
At the table where the scorekeeper and timekeeper sat, there was a scoreboard.
Apparently, this was the second game, and the first bout had already been won by Charles.
12 to 4.
Anyone could tell Charles completely controlled the match.
Since fencing matches were won either by reaching fifteen points first or by scoring more points within three minutes, the chances of Edward making a comeback in the remaining time were slim.
“……I think I understand why the original story chose fencing now…….”
Even Genevieve, who knew almost nothing about fencing, could tell Edward’s movements and posture were incredibly clean and refined.
But she could not shake the feeling that he was not showing his full ability.
Edward defended against Charles’s attacks and crossed blades with him several times, but he never attacked first. In fact, he did not even look like he intended to attack.
In a sport where gaining attack priority was important, Edward barely moved unless he was defending himself. The way their blades timidly touched made him look like someone who did not know how to attack at all.
Not long later, Edward finally attempted an attack.
But perhaps even the referee overseeing the match was part of Charles’s group, because the attack he barely managed to land was immediately declared invalid.
‘Why did they stop it?’
That was when it happened.
Charles suddenly called for a timeout.
It was unusual for the player currently dominating the flow of the match to request a timeout. The strange action caused murmurs throughout the arena.
Charles removed his mask.
Then he shouted toward Edward, who was catching his breath on the opposite side of the piste.
“Ednerd. I told you I’d let you join if you beat me, didn’t I?”
The childish provocation made the watching students burst into laughter.
“Ha…….”
Genevieve was speechless.
Were they really calling this an entrance test?
Every club had different entrance tests, but there were always certain people who absolutely had to be present: the club supervisor, the coach, a professor, and the club captain.
But none of them were here.
This was not an entrance test.
It was simply low-class bullying.
Her head throbbed painfully. Frowning deeply, Genevieve pushed through the gaps between the students standing in the front row.
Instead of approaching Charles or his group, Genevieve walked directly toward the student sitting at the middle table handling the scorekeeping.
“Excuse me, you’re not allowed to enter during a match.”
The male student who had been jeering at Edward immediately straightened his posture politely when he noticed Genevieve.
“Really? Well, Professor Sally told me to deliver this.”
Genevieve slightly showed him the agreement form peeking out of the envelope.
“I’ll deliver it to the captain for you.”
After checking the contents, the student reached to take the document, but Genevieve pulled it back with a light smile.
“I’ll deliver it myself. When is Franz coming?”
“……Understood. He usually arrives around forty minutes past.”
The scorekeeper stared blankly at Genevieve when she did not leave after finishing her business.
“Are you doing an entrance test right now?”
Genevieve asked while putting on an innocent expression.
Perhaps because she was so pretty, the male student’s face turned slightly red. Then he eagerly started explaining the situation.
“Ednerd suddenly said he wanted to join the fencing club. Honestly, doesn’t it make no sense for a commoner to join a club like this? So Collins is teaching him to wake up and face reality. Hah, his posture looks decent enough, but his attacks are pathetic. Between us, don’t you think it’s shameless for a scholarship student to try joining the club? The club runs on donations from people like us……. He already attends for free, yet he still has no shame.”
It had been a while since she had heard such nonsense.
While the boy kept talking without noticing her expression, the match resumed behind them.
“So basically, you’re all doing this just to bully one person?”
“…….”
The smile vanished from the male student’s face at her sharp response.
“Did you get permission to let all these people into the arena? This isn’t even the spectator section…….”
Genevieve asked in a genuinely concerned tone.
Normally, anyone who was not related to the club needed a proper reason to enter the arena.
‘There’s no way these idiots have one.’
No matter how rich these students were, they were not allowed to misuse school facilities. Especially with the summer tournament so close, the school was extremely sensitive about information leaks.
This was truly a stupid mistake made by stupid people.
When Genevieve realized they might even try to blame everything on Edward, she decided she should report the matter to a professor before things got worse.
Only then did the male student seem to realize the seriousness of the situation. His face turned pale in shock.
He jumped up from the scorekeeper’s seat and hurriedly ran off somewhere
