CH 272

“Nii-sama! Nii-sama!”

“Hmm….”

“The awards ceremony is about to start.”

“Awards ceremony? Oh… the award ceremony…”

At first, I couldn’t understand what she was saying. But little by little, I began to understand the situation. As I recall, the survival battle had just ended….

“Can you move?”

“Hmm… there’s no problem”

I can’t say I was in great shape, but I had recovered enough to be able to do things like walk normally with a bit of leeway.

I tried to talk to Bequa and the others in the waiting room, but they all looked away from me. If I tried speaking with them, they moved away quickly. Is this a new kind of bullying?

In the midst of all this, the 4th place started to enter the stadium. We were in first place, so we were the last to enter.

“Now we will present the trophies! Representatives from each country, please come forward!”

“Please wait a moment!”

There’s no Pope in this country, so the trophy was presented by the king. Before the presentation, however, the Saint called out loudly.

“What’s wrong?”

“We, the Holy Taglion, have cheated in the survival battle.”

The audience was astonished. Anyone would be surprised if they were suddenly told that they had cheated.

“We used the magic tool of enchantment to charm all the members of the Lingaria Kingdom except for Zeros-sama and Sophia-sama. Furthermore, we also threatened them by lying that only the Kingdom of Lingaria would die within the stage by cutting the exit mechanism of the magic tool.”

No, I don’t think that charm was from a magical tool. Basically, any effect with a magic tool is weaker than the original skill. I don’t think it is possible to charm those 8 people perfectly with the performance of a magic tool. Even if it were possible, it wouldn’t be a magic tool that could be easily taken out of the country for the purpose of inter-school battle.

I’m also uncomfortable with the fact that it’s a lie that we’ll die on stage. If it was a lie, it doesn’t make sense that she tried to make Bequa and the others commit suicide.

“The government will make a formal apology for this later. For now, please place the Holy Taglion in fourth place due to the injustice.”

From there, there was a bit of a flurry of activity on the part of the committee members. The people who were in charge of organizing the battle against the school started to move hurriedly and began to talk in a whisper about something.

It was strange for a saint to suddenly start talking like this. I looked at Sophie behind me with a sideways glance. Then our eyes met and she smiled at me cutely. No…she’s cute, but that’s not going to cover it up this time! I’ll ask for more information when we’re done!

In the end, the conclusion was that the Holy Taglion came in fourth place. However, they’ll be confirming the facts from now on. For now, they have decided to go with 4th place based on their self-report.

The award ceremony was prolonged because of the saint, but we returned to the waiting room again after finishing the ceremony without incident.

“………”

“………”

In the waiting room, however, the air was so heavy that it was hard to believe that we were the winning team. No one was talking about anything.

“Well…everyone, isn’t it time to say something?”

When Sophie said that, everyone turned around and bowed their heads deeply in my direction.

““I’m sorry for dragging you down.””

Then all eight of them apologized together.

”…Sophie, what have you infused into everyone?”

“I just spent about half an hour explaining in detail how much trouble you were having because of their brainwashing.”

“Okay, I understand now that this is Sophie’s fault.”

In other words, everyone feels responsible because Sophie told them what had happened straight away, for better or worse.

“This time it was the wrong people. It could have been me and Sophie who were under the spell. We just happened to be resistant to it and didn’t get hit, so don’t worry about it.”

If Sophie hadn’t been a bro-con and I had not been a siscon, we’d have been charmed. I can’t tell anyone that I was saved from being charmed because of my sis-complex.

“But…”

“I’m glad you say you forgive me, so I’ll let it go. If there is any lingering sense of inadequacy, we just have to wipe it out from now on.”

“I guess so.”

Elira stopped Bequa, who was still about to say something. After that, the meeting was immediately broken up. We are going to do some sort of review meeting tomorrow. I’m already tired today.

“Oh, you can go home first, Nii-sama.”

“…… Don’t overdo it.”

“I understand.”

I went home separately from Sophie, which was unusual for me. I think Sophie is probably going to the Saint’s place. I don’t know what she’s going to do, but I hope she doesn’t overdo it. I’d like to go with her just in case, but right now I want to lie down and rest…

“Darling, you did a great job today!”

“…Why are you here…?”

As I was walking home alone, someone suddenly tapped me on the shoulder and spoke to me. I was in seclusion, but did they know I was the one who was in the competition?

I turned around and there Im was, dressed as an adventurer like the first time I saw her.

“Hey, can I talk to you alone for a minute?”

“…… okay.”

If she were to go on a rampage in a city like this, there would surely be deaths. I quietly moved with Im to a secluded place.