"Ayato, have you really decided to do what she said?"
After returning to Seidoukan Academy, Julis immediately brought Ayato back to her dormitory, because only by talking in a private space could they ensure the greatest possible degree of safety.
Although even Julis herself wasn't entirely confident about that...
At any academy, powerful students received special treatment.
That was why academy rankings existed. The most elite group among them were the twelve people listed on the first page of each academy's rankings, the so-called Page Ones.
The strongest twelve students in each academy possessed certain privileges, the most obvious of which was having their own dorm room instead of sharing one with another student.
It was precisely because she had returned to her own room that Julis finally relaxed a little. Her tone also returned to normal, as though what had happened earlier had never occurred.
"Ayato, you should be able to tell too, right? That woman isn't anything like the Saintess people say she is, and nothing she says can be trusted."
"She definitely has some unspeakable scheme behind wanting you to participate in the Festa!"
Ever since Julis had fallen out with Elise long ago, she had never liked her very much.
But whenever she saw Orphelia getting along well with Elise, she found it impossible to control her emotions and easily did something impulsive.
So when Elise demanded that Ayato participate in three Festas, Julis immediately felt that something was wrong.
They absolutely couldn't do what that woman said. No one knew what consequences it might bring.
So Ayato should immediately give up on participating in the Festa!
But Ayato didn't think that way.
"Sorry, Julis. I have to participate in the Festa."
"The reason I came to this floating city was to find my sister..."
"From our conversation earlier, I could tell that Elise clearly knows my sister. It's even possible that she had something to do with my sister's disappearance."
"If I don't do what she asks, my sister could be in danger."
Ayato's eyes were filled with determination. In order to learn his sister's whereabouts and rescue her, he was willing to do anything!
Since Elise had said they would settle it with a best-of-three across the Festas, then he was willing to play along!
"..."
Looking at the incomparably serious Ayato before her, Julis's gaze gradually became dazed, but she quickly realized what was happening and turned away with a red face.
Ayato just now... was so handsome...
An image involuntarily appeared in her mind of Ayato wearing a white suit while she herself wore a wedding dress...
Smack! Smack!
Julis hurriedly slapped her own cheeks. She couldn't keep thinking about this!
"Julis? What's wrong?"
Naturally, such a strange reaction made Ayato look over at her.
"It's nothing!"
As though unwilling to let Ayato notice the change in her expression, Julis immediately turned around so he couldn't see her face.
"Since you've already made up your mind, then there's nothing we can do..."
"This year's Festa is the Phoenix Festa, which requires teams of two. Have you found a suitable partner?"
With her back to Ayato, Julis directly asked the question she cared about most.
Ayato, who had only recently arrived in the city, clearly wasn't very familiar with the Festa's rules yet. After hearing Julis's words, the atmosphere around them instantly became awkward.
"Teams of two?"
Registration was already close to ending, so trying to find a teammate at the last minute really wasn't reliable.
That was why Ayato made such an expression. He had only just arrived at school and barely knew anyone...
Even without looking at him, Julis could already predict Ayato's reaction. He had to be panicking right now, didn't he?
There was no helping it. At a time like this, only a kindhearted princess like her could become Ayato's partner!
"Right!"
Before Julis could turn around, Ayato suddenly seemed to remember something. He slapped his palm, his expression becoming excited.
"There's still Saya!"
Who?
Julis froze for a moment, but quickly reacted.
She had seen a girl named Saya in class before. Apparently, she was Ayato's childhood friend... Wasn't that extremely bad?!
Although Julis was the princess of a nation, she had still learned plenty about romance online.
After all, she was still an ordinary young girl. Wanting to experience a romantic relationship was perfectly normal.
According to the internet, there was one existence in romance known as the ultimate weapon of shipping wars—the legendary reunited childhood friend!
In other words, a childhood friend who reappeared later!
It referred to two childhood playmates who liked each other when they were young, were separated because of certain circumstances, then reunited and fell in love again after growing up.
Men and women like that had an extremely high chance of getting married as adults!
Looking at it that way, wasn't that girl named Saya exactly Ayato's reunited childhood friend?
No. I absolutely can't lose!
"Ayato!"
At this critical moment, Julis suddenly spoke, drawing all of Ayato's attention toward her.
"What do you think of me?"
"Huh? Julis is very pretty."
Clearly, Ayato hadn't immediately understood what Julis meant. And the moment he said that, it sounded as though he had already chosen Saya as his partner and Julis had nothing to do with it, making Julis grit her teeth in anger.
"I mean, how about choosing me as your partner for the Phoenix Festa!"
"I'm one of Seidoukan Academy's Page Ones, after all. My strength is definitely reliable, and I absolutely won't hold you back!"
Julis practically shouted out all of her advantages, making it clear that she was definitely better than that Saya girl.
But Ayato was obviously still hesitant.
"But Saya..."
"Saya doesn't seem to have said she wants to participate in the Festa, right? Would it really be okay for you to trouble her like this?"
"In comparison, I'm already looking for a partner for the Festa. Besides, I absolutely can't stand that woman, and I don't want to see her smug expression after winning!"
"So let's take the championship for ourselves, Ayato!"
This move was indeed brilliant. Julis knew that Ayato was a hopelessly nice person who wouldn't easily trouble others.
Now, the scales had completely tilted toward Julis.
"You're right. I shouldn't trouble Saya over something like this..."
Just as Julis expected, Ayato ultimately agreed to form a Phoenix Festa team with her, and the two would begin training after a while.
All according to plan!
Everything was unfolding exactly as Julis wanted. Even if Saya learned about it afterward, she wouldn't be able to change anything, because the registration form had already been submitted.
She, Julis, was Ayato's partner!
Even a reunited childhood friend couldn't defeat Her Highness the Princess!
...
"Orphelia, hurry over here!"
After saying goodbye to Ayato and Julis, Elise didn't immediately take Orphelia back to their dormitory. Instead, she headed toward a rather special place.
When this floating city was first established, dividing the territory had actually caused many difficulties.
Every Foundation wanted to occupy more land here, which led to a series of subsequent conflicts, some of which had yet to end even now.
Although the Foundations ultimately compromised on the surface, with each one occupying roughly the same amount of land and everything appearing peaceful, things were different beneath the surface.
The struggles in the shadows had never stopped, and the number of casualties continued to rise.
In order to better deal with the other academies, every academy had established its own complete intelligence organization.
They had to prevent other academies from taking their territory while simultaneously finding ways to seize territory from others.
The struggle among the six academies had never stopped, and that naturally gave other forces plenty of opportunities. For example, the Golden Bough Alliance, which Elise had joined, had successfully established its own secret base within this floating city.
Although it had very few members, every one of them possessed exceptional abilities.
Elise, the Church's Saintess. Dirk, the Tyrant. Madiath, the chairman. Valda, the mind controller.
Even before Elise joined, the organization had already been extremely powerful. After Elise joined, it became even more unstoppable.
Because one of the Integrated Enterprise Foundations had been infiltrated by Elise, hiding their activities from the remaining Foundations became even easier.
Of course, the only reason Elise did all this was because she found it interesting.
It wasn't often that she got the chance to play the so-called great villain. Naturally, she had to put some effort into it!
"What is this place?"
After following Elise for a long time, then spending an extremely long period inside an elevator, Elise and Orphelia entered an extraordinarily vast space.
This was beneath Asterisk!
Who would have thought such a vast space could exist underground?
Orphelia looked at their surroundings. Even she, a former member of the Golden Bough Alliance, hadn't known about this place, yet Elise did?
"It's the training ground we chose."
"Unlike the academy, there are no surveillance systems here, and no one will discover us..."
"No matter what we do here, no one will know."
But had this place truly been discovered by the Golden Bough Alliance?
Of course not!
Although Madiath and Dirk were both extremely capable, creating a space like this was completely unrealistic.
This place could practically be called a miracle!
After all, Elise had created it herself. By using spatial compression and folding technology, she had successfully stored an enormous space beneath Asterisk. Even if ten thousand Senju Hashiramas fought inside it, there would still be no problem.
After all, Elise's power was incredibly great. She had long since surpassed the continental level and reached the point where she could destroy a planet, so accomplishing something like this wasn't particularly difficult for her.
At the same time, this was also something this world couldn't achieve in the short term. Elise hadn't even told Dirk or Madiath about it. The only people who knew were the three little girls who had traveled between worlds with her, along with Orphelia from this world.
"Orphelia, you've never participated in a team competition before, have you?"
"Then let's practice here, so we can win next year's Gryps Festa!"
Back when Orphelia had been used as a tool by Dirk, the only Festa she had participated in was the Lindvolus.
After all, back then, she had still been the Lonely Venom Strega. Anyone who approached her would be attacked by her toxic miasma, making it completely impossible for her to form a team.
Learning to adapt to teamwork was also an important matter for Orphelia.
Even if Elise wasn't in this world in the future, Orphelia would still be able to live normally, right?
"Then let's begin."
"Yes, Lady Saintess!"
...
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The sound continued ringing, indicating that messages were arriving.
But the woman sitting in the chair didn't move at all, seemingly having no intention of checking those messages.
"The Gryps Festa..."
"You really are cruel, choosing a plan like this..."
The blonde woman covered her eyes with one hand, no one able to tell what she was thinking.
But soon, as though she had given up, she let out a heavy sigh.
"I understand. After all, I'm only the humble student council president of Seidoukan Academy."
"How could I possibly have the ability to resist the Church's Lady Saintess?"
When she moved her hand away, her beautiful face appeared beneath the sunlight, making her identity obvious.
Claudia, the student council president of the academy attended by the protagonist, and one of the protagonist's future harem members.
However, when Elise had last come to this world, Claudia had inexplicably approached her, snapped a cane in half, and sworn loyalty to Elise...
That scene had left a very deep impression on Elise. She had even thought another reincarnator had appeared, only to discover that the Elise from Claudia's prophetic dreams had told her to do it.
Because of that, Elise had remained cautious back then and hadn't fully trusted Claudia.
But the current Elise was different. She had already obtained incomparably powerful strength and no longer needed to act as cautiously as before.
So Elise had directly contacted Claudia and asked her to help with her work, which often consisted of troublesome matters.
Although Claudia constantly complained about it, she still obediently did what Elise asked.
"All right, I understand."
After saying that final sentence, Claudia finally turned her attention toward the sounds from earlier.
When she opened the messages, sure enough, everything was exactly as Elise had said. Julis and Amagiri Ayato had formed a team and were preparing to participate in the Phoenix Festa!
With that combination, they should definitely be able to win the championship, right?
After all, there weren't any especially powerful competitors participating in this year's Phoenix Festa, so their chances of winning were genuinely very high.
"So please don't worry. After this Phoenix Festa ends, I'll invite Ayato and the others to form a team for the Gryps Festa."
"By that time next year, I suppose we'll have to fight you."
"Please show some mercy then and don't hit us too hard."
Looking at Elise's photograph on the virtual display, Claudia smiled before deleting everything.
Her relationship with Elise couldn't be made public for the time being. Otherwise, it would cause an extremely serious butterfly effect.
So for now, they could only communicate secretly in private... and Claudia was rather dissatisfied about that!
"But it doesn't matter. As long as that war can begin smoothly and come to a successful end, everything will have been worth it!"
"When the time comes, you'd better reward me properly, Lady Saintess."
Who would have expected that one of the protagonist's group, someone who could even be called their strategist, would be the first to defect to the enemy and become a mole...