WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 98: It’s Already Mine
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Some bishops, including Malias, disguise themselves or kill someone and steal their identity.
Or they manipulate perception to sneak in unnoticed.
In that regard, Climmud was fundamentally different from the other bishops.
His identity was entirely genuine.
The first place I saw Climmud in the original game was the Imperial Palace.
At the time, he was an Imperial Palace Scribe.
When he softened his expression, Climmud looked like a typical likable man, with a genial face and a bear-like build.
He appeared alongside a narrow-eyed male noble scribe character, and his role was to thoroughly blindside players who tried to identify the hidden mastermind by appearances alone.
Why was he here?
And as the attendant of an academy upperclassman, no less.
‘Could it be that? A fallen noble house...?’
Defeating Climmud briefly unlocked his backstory.
He was someone who had climbed his way up since childhood, stabbing others in the back by any means necessary.
The original game mentioned the Whiteusher Marquisate, a noble house that had once held immense power before falling into ruin.
Before becoming an Imperial Palace Scribe, Climmud had served as that family’s head butler, learning the ways of noble society and gathering information from within.
Then, using that as a stepping stone, he infiltrated the Imperial Palace as a spy for the Cult.
‘Looks like he hasn’t become a scribe yet at this point.’
Then that white-haired girl must be the young lady of the Whiteusher Marquisate.
“Miss. It’s too noisy here. Let’s go inside.”
“Fine. I don’t want to get involved with idiots like that either.”
Climmud was about to quickly leave with the Whiteusher young lady when our eyes met just before he disappeared into the crowd.
“...”
He didn’t seem to recognize me.
No, even if he had, he didn’t show any sign of being shaken.
‘Why did he come here?’
Was this the Cult’s intention? Or was it simply a coincidence, with him carrying out his duties as head butler?
One thing was certain. Right now, at this very moment, I held a definite advantage over him.
Climmud’s true identity wouldn’t be exposed until he revealed it himself.
On the other hand, I already knew who he was.
‘If I use this well, I think I can catch him.’
There was a chance. I had already defeated two bishops at a point when I shouldn’t have even encountered one.
If I could deal with Climmud as well, that would be even better.
The problem was that I had no grounds to say, ‘That man is a bishop.’
‘Should I discuss this with Alicia?’
As I stood there for a moment, lost in thought, the harassment of Aren reached its peak.
“Hey, I told you to answer! Are you ignoring an upperclassman, you first-year brat?!”
The upperclassman’s hand was about to shove Aren’s shoulder again.
“That’s enough.”
A voice came from behind us.
It was Eugene. Senia stood beside him in a purple dress that gave off an unmistakably noble air.
Senia quietly stepped back and smiled at Cecilia and me.
“What’s with you now? Did all you first-years miss etiquette lessons?”
“Eugene Reygal.”
The upperclassman’s face stiffened the moment Eugene said his name.
He was the heir to Count Reygal, the leader of the Noble Faction.
Even an upperclassman couldn’t afford to disrespect him.
“You said you went through hell on the front lines, didn’t you? Yet all you can do now is pick a fight with an Imperial citizen you were supposed to protect, and an academy junior at that?”
“Th-That’s because this bastard disrespected an upperclassman...!”
“The person you claim was ‘coasting on easy mode’ cleared the Evil God's Abyss. It’s a dungeon that would wipe out your family’s entire order of knights even if they all rushed in together.”
Instead of answering, Eugene stepped closer.
“You couldn’t possibly be unaware of that, Valerius Dran. So what is this childish provocation about?”
Eugene’s eyes sharpened.
“Did the Club Heads order you to test Aren Bright?”
“Th-That’s...!”
“Whether it was your own idea or someone put you up to it, I’ll make this clear. He’s ten times stronger than you. Get lost before you embarrass yourself any further.”
Valerius’s face flushed red.
“Fuck...! Just you wait, first-year bastards.”
Unable to contain his anger, he led his group into the banquet hall.
The students who had been watching the commotion scattered as well.
“What a pathetic bastard.”
“Thanks for helping.”
“I wasn’t helping you. I just couldn’t stand watching someone tarnish the name of nobility.”
After replying curtly, Eugene glared at me and walked into the banquet hall.
Senia, though, was still there.
“You don’t have to go in with him?”
“It’s fine. It’s not like the people gathered here don’t know about our relationship. We just need to show them we get along at the entrance, then dance once inside, and that’s it.”
Was that how it worked?
With those words, Senia linked her arm through Cecilia’s.
“What is it? Does Halibal only want to be alone with Cecilia after all?”
“Sis?!”
Senia had been smiling playfully, but then she looked at Aren.
Her smile vanished in an instant, replaced by an icy gaze.
“You didn’t need to step in. You could’ve just left it alone. Right, Halibal?”
“...”
Was she still unable to forgive Aren?
Just then, Richard muttered as he glared in the direction the upperclassmen had gone.
“Is that really all the second-years are capable of?”
“They were obviously expendable pawns, weren’t they? They pick a fight with the star of the banquet first to see how he reacts. Then they decide whether to bring him into their club based on that reaction.”
“Looks like the people who gave the order didn’t show up themselves.”
The two of them seemed to have some idea of what was behind that provocation.
After hearing the word club, I realized it too. I thought they were simply trying to pull up the ladder behind them, but had the Club Heads of each club ordered this?
Starting in the second semester, the Club system would unlock.
It was a system for rapidly boosting growth.
The characters’ stats rose sharply after vacation, and there was only so much they could improve through classes alone.
Joining a club allowed for additional training.
You could allocate afternoon class time to club activities and raise your stats efficiently without wasting time.
Still, Ruidel’s clubs were clubs in name only. In reality, they were closer to guilds or factions.
Power struggles between Club Heads weren’t uncommon either.
That was why they were trying to screen capable first-years in advance for the next semester.
Naturally, the Club Heads would want exceptional talent. In the original game, Aren had received offers from most of the clubs.
If Senia was right, Valerius’s provocation had probably been part of that recruitment process.
It was like a high-pressure interview to see whether Aren was worth bringing in.
Once I looked at it that way, I began to notice the movements of the other upperclassmen too.
Upperclassmen clung close to promising first-years, keeping a close watch on them.
Now that I looked, there was one beside Elier and another beside Ran as well.
Of course, every club likely had a different character, so it didn’t seem like all of them were picking fights as crudely as Valerius had.
‘Will someone come to me too? Who will it be?’
That wasn’t the problem, though.
‘Climmud Raju.’
He wouldn’t do anything reckless here.
Adeline was coming, Killien was coming, and so were Regnar and Viktor Grace.
Even for a bishop, revealing his identity outside a dungeon would be the perfect way to get himself killed.
That made this an even better opportunity to deal with him.
More than anything, I was concerned about the Whiteusher young lady he served.
If the original game was anything to go by, her family would fall within a year. Yet the process of that fall was never properly shown.
Climmud had surely been involved somehow, and if I didn’t deal with him, an innocent noble house might disappear.
Just then, a female student who seemed to be Richard’s partner came hurrying over from a distance.
“R-Richard...! Let’s go together!”
Had this guy abandoned his partner to stand around here?
“Phew... I’m going in first. See you later.”
Richard threw out those curt words and headed inside alone.
Only Aren and the three of us remained.
“Did you come alone?”
“Yeah... I didn’t have anyone else to go with.”
“What about Ran?”
“Haha. Ran doesn’t really know about my situation...”
Going with a male partner would have been difficult, but she didn’t even have a single female friend to bring.
Aren, once an alpha male, had become a socially isolated female.
In fact, other young noblewomen who seemed to be waiting for their chance were gathered around her.
Valerius’s provocation had only made an already burdensome situation worse.
“You’ve got it rough.”
When I offered a few comforting words, Senia poked me in the side and gave me a look.
“Halibal. Aren’t you Cecilia’s partner right now? Why are you only looking at someone else?”
‘Is that so? Well, she’s right.’
Just as I was about to respond, Cecilia shrugged first.
“I’m fine with it.”
“Cecil, you don’t mind?”
“Hm? Halibal agreed to lend me his arm for today. He’s already mine, so what could be the problem?”
At her bold declaration, the three of us other than Cecilia all fell silent at once.
Then Cecilia confidently pressed her right arm against mine.
“Haa... Fine.”
After staring at her for a while, Senia sighed and let go of Cecilia’s arm.
“I’ll get going too. Oh, and Halibal.”
She looked straight at me.
“Please take good care of our Cecil. If some strange woman comes after you, get rid of her right away.”
“That won’t happen.”
“Hehe. You never know, do you?”
With that, Senia slipped into the banquet hall.
Only Cecilia, Aren, and I were left at the entrance.
Yet Aren’s gaze had darkened even further.
What was wrong with her now?
“You should go in too. If you keep standing here, someone else might pick a fight with you.”
“Y-Yeah. I will. Then... see you later.”
“No.”
Cecilia firmly cut Aren off.
“You don’t need to wait today. See you tomorrow, Aren.”
“...Okay.”
Her retreating figure looked especially dejected as she disappeared into the banquet hall.
“She must be having a hard time.”
Was it because she was the protagonist?
When I thought that I might have been in her position too, I felt even more grateful to Cecilia and Regnar.
“Hm? What did you say?”
“No, I just meant it must be hard getting as much attention as the protagonist.”
I must have said it out loud by mistake.
“Well, it probably is.”
Cecilia spoke softly as she watched Aren walk away.
For some reason, her face carried something like a victor’s smile.
As the night breeze gradually turned cold, I held out my arm to Cecilia.
“Let’s go in too.”
“Okay.”
Cecilia naturally linked arms with me.
Together, we passed through the doors of the banquet hall.
The moment Cecilia and I entered, the nobles standing near the entrance all turned their eyes toward us.
“Look over there. The Sword Princess of the Ren House and... the Funeral Sword?”
“Huh... So the rumors were true?”
“Is there no room for us to intervene?”
Hundreds of eyes swept over me, weighing my worth.
It was a different sort of blatant pressure from facing the killing intent of monsters in a dungeon.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Unlike me, who wasn’t used to such looks, Cecilia seemed to enjoy them.
“Are you nervous?”
“It’s just annoying.”
“You’ll have to get used to it. It’ll be like this all night.”
She smiled brightly.
“It might keep being like this from now on, too.”
I swallowed a sigh and quickly scanned the banquet hall.
In the distance, Alicia was greeting major figures of the Empire on the stage.
Aren stood awkwardly beside her. It looked like Alicia was introducing her to people.
Then my gaze moved to the servants and butlers lined up along the walls of the banquet hall.
Termina, the young lady of the Whiteusher Marquisate.
Climmud stood directly behind her like a shadow.
He was the one I had been looking for.
‘There he is.’
At that moment, Climmud whispered something to Termina.
Termina nodded and began moving somewhere with a group of upperclassmen.
Climmud naturally followed behind her.
‘What is he trying to do? Should I go after him?’
The moment my feet moved on instinct, Cecilia pulled my arm.
“Halibal. Let’s go greet Father first.”
Regnar was where she pointed, talking with several nobles.
“...All right.”
Unfortunately, it couldn’t be helped. I had come to enjoy the reception, not capture a bishop.
After memorizing the direction Climmud had gone, I nodded.
⁎⁎⁎
“So you’re the Funeral Sword everyone’s been talking about?”
“...Yes.”
A little later, I found myself in a private audience with Termina Whiteusher.
Beside me, Climmud wore a cordial smile as he poured wine into her glass and mine.
Footnotes:
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