Chapter 285 (Bonus chapter from donations)
At the registration desk for the cross-dressing competition in the Temple's main hall.
I had pulled my hood down deep to make sure no one would recognize me.
"Um, excuse me, Teacher."
"I'm not a teacher, but is there something else you'd like to say, Reinhardt?"
Please, don't say my name!
I'm somewhat famous, and someone might recognize me by my name!
There were students all around me, registering for various contests, and here I was, standing at the empty cross-dressing contest registration booth!
They're looking at me with those eyes!
Oh, look at that person... Are they really participating?
How embarrassing.
At least they had the sense to wear a hood.
But, in the end, they'll have to show their face during the contest.
That's what their gazes seemed to say!
"Um, about the cross-dressing contest... Can you keep my identity a secret...?"
"Ah, so you want to participate but keep your identity hidden, is that correct?"
Please, don't say it so loudly!
But the receptionist seemed to understand, and offered a quiet smile.
"Please refer to this pamphlet for detailed contest information. Rein... Ah. Um. Hmm."
Sister, don't look at me like that.
Are there many people like me...?
No, I have my reasons.
That stubborn fool wouldn't listen to my achievement points, so he ended up saying he'd raise my power if I participated. How could I not take that offer?
I quickly left the Temple's main office after completing my registration, worried someone might see me.
"Damn it..."
I muttered under my breath, hurrying to avoid being seen.
This is so humiliating.
So humiliating, so humiliating.
So humiliating!
Thankfully, I didn't run into anyone I knew.
—---
If the fact that I participated in the cross-dressing contest becomes known, it's all over.
Why did you participate in that?
There's absolutely no excuse for it!
People who participate in and watch those contests are all considered perverts, and if it's discovered that I participated...
It's practically a death sentence.
You... actually enjoyed that kind of thing?
Ellen, Harriet, Olivia, Bertus, Charlotte.
Everyone I know would be shocked.
But there's no way they'll find out. I asked for my identity to be kept a secret, and I'll be introduced as an unidentified cross-dressing man.
It's written as such in the participant's pamphlet.
[If a participant requests protection of their identity, the organizers will 'absolutely' guarantee secrecy.]
It's a contest prepared for those with peculiar hobbies as well.
I'll change my face with a ring... If I'm caught later, I'll just say it was good makeup... Of course, I shouldn't be caught in the first place.
No one will recognize the unidentified cross-dressing man as Reinhardt since I'll be participating with a different face. There's no reason for the royal class guys to attend the cross-dressing contest either.
The announcer suddenly says it's first-year royal class student Reinhardt!
As long as they don't say anything like that, I'll never be caught.
I just need to be careful of people like Kono Lint.
Should I threaten them, saying I'll kill them if they go to the cross-dressing contest? No, if I say something like that, they might suspect that I'm participating.
With a surge of magical power level 5, there came an increase in anti-magic resistance.
It was a tremendous stride towards mastering magical power, and yet, the reason for the increase in anti-magic resistance seemed somehow obscure.
It was certainly a good thing, and the likelihood of victory had greatly increased.
Why couldn't they just be happy about it?
Why did they always have to go through such antics when trying to share their power with others? Just give it for free! Why did the reward have to be greater when enduring humiliation rather than risking their life in battle?
"Next up. The preliminary match between Royal Class first-year A-11, Reinhardt, and Dardia Class first-year C-32, Olanken von Istua. Please take your positions."
Their mental state was so shaken that they could hardly focus on the current situation.
This was a preliminary match to determine the finalists in the first-year tournament.
In the enormous preliminary match arena, not only here but all around, matches were taking place.
They couldn't even make out their opponent's weaponry or face.
Their mind was in turmoil.
So much so, they felt they might lose control.
"......"
The other side, being from the Royal Class, seemed visibly nervous.
"Begin."
With the referee's signal, they charged straight at their opponent, discarding the practice sword they had been holding.
In their current state, holding the practice sword felt like crossing a line.
They opted for their fists.
They had just heard their opponent's name, but they had already forgotten it.
"Sorry, friend of unknown name."
Thud!
"Argh!"
"Reinhardt wins!"
Anyone facing them today should consider themselves unlucky!
They were incredibly irritable!
Whack!
Thump!
Thud!
Crash!
In the C-group preliminary match venue, a monster was rampaging.
"What... what is that?"
"They're from the Royal Class..."
They had no weapons. Regardless of whether their opponents wielded swords, maces, or spears, they charged in at a speed that was almost impossible to follow and finished the fight in one swift move.
Weapons generally meant distance. If one secured the advantage in distance, they had the initiative.
That's why, in the battlefield, swords were more advantageous than bare hands, and spears more advantageous than swords.
Yet, despite willingly embracing the overwhelming penalty of fighting barehanded, they charged and overpowered their opponents without giving them a chance to attack – in a situation where a single effective hit would result in defeat.
"No matter how skilled they are, they're still a first-year, just like us..."
"They're quite famous even among the Royal Class."
Like most students, they admired the Royal and now-defunct Orbis classes.
Admiring the Orbis Class wasn't a matter of great envy. Those students had earned their positions through hard work.
However, the perception of the Royal Class was different.
Talent.
They were the ones who entered solely based on their talent.
As such, they were targets of envy and contempt. Not as much as the Orbis Class members, but there was still envy as everyone admired them.
But after witnessing the monster that ended every fight within five seconds, all the while wearing a permanent scowl, everyone couldn't help but change their minds.
The overwhelming physical prowess that renders all the weapon techniques learned by the students so far meaningless.
Is that what it means to be a part of the Royal Class?
What have we been learning all this time? What have I been tirelessly training for?
The existence of the Royal Class evokes a sense of injustice, but witnessing their abilities firsthand induces self-deprecation.
What does it mean to aspire to be a knight and major in close combat? There's no way we can be on the same level as that monster.
And, reluctantly, we have no choice but to accept it.
At that level, such treatment seems only fair.
If there's a place that breeds monsters like that, a place with individuals that can render us entirely powerless.
It's only natural for the empire to grant them special treatment.
"I...I want to forfeit. How can I beat someone like that?"
Even though he's not their direct opponent, those in Group C will ultimately have to face that monster.
Students who forfeit without even fighting begin to emerge.
Group C of the preliminaries.
The group I am in.
We compete in a tournament-style preliminary within each group, and the ultimate winner of each group advances to the main event.
There will be a total of thirty-two main event contestants.
Over the weekend, thirty-two group preliminaries will take place.
I fight whenever I am called upon, going wherever they ask me to, and participating in the preliminary matches.
Before I know it,
"Due to the last contestant's forfeit, the winner of Group C is A-11, Reinhardt from the Royal Class."
I stare silently at the back of the contestant across from me, who doesn't even consider fighting and leaves the arena.
Only then do I look around.
All the students eliminated from the preliminaries are staring at me as if I were some monster.
I check my condition, without a single drop of sweat or a scratch on me.
In the examination hall, I notice the distance between me and the students looking at me with awe.
Is this the distance?
Even though they say there are those in the Royal Class who are no different from the regular classes.
In the end, it's a place with individuals possessing incomparable talent and skills.
Those who disdain me as a worthless individual, drowning in self-pity like Erich de Lafaeri, would easily subdue those people if they were to participate in the preliminaries here.
I see the distance I feel from their gaze.
I am very far from these people.
I've grown distant.
I know that gaze.
I know what that gaze signifies.
That gaze was the one I occasionally gave Ellen.
Unknowingly, I have become someone who is looked at with that gaze, rather than looking at someone with it.
The way they look at me is too distant.
It's a gaze that sees me as a being from a different dimension, one they can't even acknowledge as the same human.
I can never be like them again, not now, not ever.
Group C champion. I easily secured my spot in the main event.
In the main event, contestants are divided into four groups—A, B, C, and D—with eight participants each.
The winner of each group fights against the winners of the other groups to determine victory or defeat, and the last ones standing battle for the championship trophy.
In the preliminaries, I didn't encounter anyone from the Orbis Class or Ludwig.
The organizers must have had their considerations, balancing each group. They wouldn't foolishly place all the contenders with high chances of advancing to the finals in the same group.
After all, this is a tournament and a spectacle for the festival.
The highly favored winners wouldn't be placed in the same group during the main event either.
Therefore, in the main event, I wouldn't meet Ludwig or any potential Orbis Class participants from the start.
If it's an Orbis Class representative, it's highly likely that it would be first-year A-1, Grayden Amorel.
Originally, he would have been the runner-up, defeating Ludwig and then losing to Ellen in the finals. I wonder if he participated.
If he did, could I win?
If my Magic Body Strengthening works properly, I should be able to compete.
In Ludwig's case, I would win, but for Grayden Amorel, I would need to take it more seriously.
The grade-level tournament is held on Monday and Tuesday. The main event group matches take place on Monday, and on Tuesday, the semi-finals, finals, and ranking matches are held for the group winners.
On Wednesday... well, there's the cross-dressing contest.
On Friday, the festival's grand finale, the Mister and Miss Temple contest and the Unrestricted Class Tournament final are held.
The Unrestricted Class Tournament preliminaries will also take place today and tomorrow.
The Unrestricted Class Tournament is, in fact, the biggest attraction.
After the grade-level tournament winners are determined on Tuesday, the Unrestricted Class Tournament main event will proceed from Thursday.
I plan to participate.
Meanwhile, I wonder how Harriet is doing...
I know she has her preliminaries today.
I won easily because I was against first-year students, but it wouldn't be surprising if Harriet were eliminated in the Unrestricted Class Tournament, which is mostly attended by upperclassmen.
If she can't even make it to the main event, wouldn't she be really hurt...
Contrary to my expectation,
"You won?"
Harriet nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders.
"…How?"
"What do you mean 'how'? I won all the matches, so I'm the winner."
What exactly did she do?
Did Harriet manage to overpower upperclassmen in close-quarters combat?
Harriet refused to tell me and stuck out her tongue before dashing out of the dormitory, apparently heading to the Magic Research Society mansion.
How did she manage that in just a few days?
No.
No, that's not it.
'I will try harder.'
Harriet had been working to become stronger for a long time. Even before that, she had been striving since she was upset about not being able to go with us to Darkland.
Harriet had been continually trying to become a magician who could hold her own, or more precisely, to become accustomed to fighting.
This must be the result of her efforts.
By the way, that girl.
Did she specifically come to the dormitory to brag about winning her group preliminaries to me?
Why is she so adorable?
Sunday.
"…Your Highness, I must have misheard."
"You heard right…"
"…"
I had indeed raised my voice at Eleris many times before.
However, this time, even Eleris seemed unable to understand. I understand, though. I certainly, certainly understand.
"You need a dress...?"
"That's what I'm saying..."
It would be strange if this made sense.
A cross-dressing contest.
I need clothes. A wig might be necessary as well. Of course, I could use Sarkegaar's ring to make my hair longer.
If it were Liana, she might be shocked that I'd participate in such a bizarre event but would eventually laugh and help me try on various outfits.
Obviously, there's no way I could choose that option!
Considering how Ellen and Cliffman would view me for the rest of my life, I feel like strangling myself.
But, of course, I don't have an eye for these things.
That's why I'm confiding in Eleris, the only person I've told about this.
I'm asking her to help me choose a dress.
"A cross-dressing contest...?"
"...That's how it turned out."
"Why...?"
Eleris's lips were quivering.
Our child... was already strange, but now they've become even stranger...
Her gaze is like that.
"Anyway, it's an incredibly important and necessary thing for me. It's difficult to explain in detail."
"...Is it related to the future?"
"Well, you could say that..."
To be precise, it's related to my growth. Eleris was still visibly confused.
"I... I can't possibly see the connection between Your Highness cross-dressing and preparing for the future... I just can't..."
Eleris's pupils were shaking violently. Eleris... I'm a million times more distressed than you are...
"But you must have a plan, Your Highness."
A plan, indeed...
Some bastard said that if I win the cross-dressing contest, my abilities would skyrocket... that kind of dog-like plan...
"I... Good luck, Your Highness."
Eleris seemed to know that I wasn't taking this lightly, watching my expression as it withered.
Eleris comforted my shoulders, which were slowly dying in misery.
As expected, the only one who understands my heart is Eleris.
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