Oran Knight is out (1/3 chapters for today)
Signs of a Ceasefire
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A few days after Heinz returned to the academy, Maria brought the information.
“A temporary ceasefire? Are you sure about this information?” (Heinz)
Maria answered Heinz’s question with a firm “Yes”.
“It’s information from my family. The official announcement will come a little later, but there’s no mistake. The engagement of the ruler of Remnos will be announced, and they’re planning a ceasefire as part of the celebration.” (Maria)
“The princess’s engagement announcement… Beretta’s?” (Heinz) (TLN: This time, the raw says 王女/princess, not 公主/ruler.)
“You didn’t know?” (Maria)
“No, this is the first I’ve heard of it. Well, the engagement itself doesn’t surprise me since I know her fiancé well, but the announcement is news to me.” (Heinz)
“Maybe this is also an effect of the journal?” (Maria)
“…I see… That makes sense. I understand.” (Heinz)
As Heinz and Maria continued their conversation, the rest of us struggled to keep up.
“Hey, explain it in a way we can understand.” (Ratt)
Ratt-kun interjected into their discussion. Seeing him, the two apologized, “Sorry, sorry”, and began explaining. In short, using the journal to bring up discussions between the two countries was good, but Heinz’s father thought that wasn’t enough on its own. A reason that both nations’ people could easily understand was also necessary.
The proposal was “the princess’ engagement”. They would hold a celebration for the engagement of an allied nation’s princess and temporarily withdraw their troops. It was a clear and comprehensible reason. Thus, the engagement announcement of the princess was hurriedly planned.
The fact that Heinz didn’t know likely meant it was decided very recently. Since it was just an announcement and not the wedding itself, they could proceed with the rest at their leisure. This would require careful coordination.
First, a formal engagement announcement would be made in Remnos. Then, at the right time, both countries would deliver their congratulations and simultaneously announce the temporary ceasefire. The timing of the announcement also had to be simultaneous to avoid accusations of copying each other. It seemed to be about national pride.
How tedious.
“The announcement from Remnos will be made early in the new year. The year-end advancement of the tournament might also be related to this.” (Maria)
“That would be amazing!”
We exclaimed joyfully, but Heinz wore a somewhat puzzled expression. I noticed it and asked, “What’s wrong?”.
“Ah… The developments are happening too quickly. How much did my father, or perhaps our (Remnos’) ruler plan for this? Something about it feels off.” (Heinz) (TLN: The ruler in this sentence is 公主. So, whether the princess is the Remnos’ ruler/Heinz’s auntie or Heinz’ female cousin isn’t confirmed yet.)
When he put it that way, it did seem suspicious how smoothly everything was progressing.
“You’re such a worrier, Heinz. Can’t this wait until later to think about?” (Sonia)
“You’re right… Yeah, I suppose so.” (Heinz)
Heinz muttered, nodding as if to convince himself.
—
“This evening, we’ll hold the lottery draw. All team knights (Ritter) should gather in the auditorium.” (Fol)
Fol-sensei announced with his usual lack of enthusiasm during the morning assembly. At the moment, we were in the clubroom, huddled around the stove and sipping tea, waiting for Maria to return with the lottery results.
“Why don’t we visit Linkert-san during the next break?” (Heinz)
Everyone agreed to Heinz’s suggestion. Now that Heinz was back and we had the ceasefire news to share, it seemed like the right time. Though, as the chairman, Linkert-san might already know about it.
“Oh, let’s bring some sweets from Holland-san’s shop as a gift. He’s releasing a new product.” (Ratt)
“I’ll take care of buying them, degozaru.” (Hana)
Hana, who was also in charge of articles about the city, took on the task.
As we chatted, Maria walked back into the room.
“Oh, you’re back? How was it?” (Sonia)
Sonia called out leisurely.
In the latter half of the competition, first-year students weren’t treated as special. There were no preliminary practice matches, and opponents were chosen completely at random. It wasn’t uncommon for first-year teams to face each other.
Frankly, we didn’t care who we were matched against. In the previous tournament, we had a goal and that was to defeat the culprit behind the cat abuse. This time, win or lose, we were determined to give our best effort while keeping it relatively relaxed.
“Well, about the matchup… It’s Team B from Class 2-C.” (Maria)
Maria said, looking a bit troubled.
“2-C… The team you faced last time…?” (Lev)
Lev asked since she wasn’t there.
Zess, who the culprit behind the cat abuse we defeated last time, belonged to Class 2-C and was the Knight (Ritter).
With the Ritter expelled and given a dismissal order, what happened to that team?
“Gentis was dissolved. Since just splitting the remaining members into two teams would have skewed the numbers, they redistributed the leftover members across other teams regardless of class or grade.” (Maria)
Maria answered my question.
Well… That’s unfortunate. Zess caused all that trouble.
“So, it’s a rematch of sorts?” (Lite)
Lites, who, like Lev, did not participate in the first half of the inter-team competition, said this with amusement.
“It’s not really a grudge match… ‘That’ was resolved, and we have no lingering issues.” (Frank)
When Frank said that, Lites shook his head and spread his arms in an exaggerated manner.
“You don’t get it, Frank. Sure, you’ve settled things properly, and it was all Zess’ fault, so they have no right to complain. But think about it. For 2-C, losing to first-years and having their team disbanded would sting. Even if they understand, emotions are another matter.” (Lites)
I could see his point, but it was still a hassle.
“You might be right. The Knight (Ritter) from 2-C made a fist when the matchup was announced.” (Maria)
It seems they’re ready to fight.
“Well, that’s unavoidable. Let’s just do our best.” (Heinz)
But Lites raised his hand to stop him.
“Hold on. It’s better to settle this properly.” (Lites)
“Properly?” (Heinz)
“The easiest way is to beat them so thoroughly they’ll have no choice but to think, ‘If it’s these guys, losing is fair’.” (Lites)
Is that really the simplest solution?
—
*Today’s Diary*
Our opponent is 2-C once again.
As Lites says, maybe there’s some kind of connection.
Meanwhile, Saxon’s team, Earl Crush, will face off against Team Mogi, who had been harassing Team Geller from 1-A.
Roy-kun’s Blue Shell got unlucky and will face a 3-A team.
If we advance, we’ll face a seeded team, that Saras-senpai belongs to.
Another thing is that the team led by Geller from 1-A will be playing against a team from 2-A.
Geller defeated second-years in the last tournament, but what will happen this time?
As for Lites’s suggestion of “complete victory,” I’m not sure if it’ll solve anything, but it’s one potential solution. It’s just a “maybe” though.
A complete victory… yeah. I’ll think about it for a bit.
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