I love time travel the most!

For nobles, death was not frightening; what was most unacceptable was being humiliated in front of others.

But Loki knew that Bronson was not one to dwell on superficial elegance, because he deeply understood just how dark and terrifying the truth hidden in the orphanage truly was. His words were clearly a rebuke for not demonstrating the power of an angelic automaton and for losing in the very first round.

Loki remained silent.

Bronson turned around, his face darkening, and said, "Most importantly, why did you do this without my permission?"

"Uh……"

Loki was momentarily speechless, his palms sweating profusely.

"I'm asking you," the gentleman said in an icy voice, "Why did you give up seventh place and drop to ninety-ninth?"

Loki's neck tingled with goosebumps, and he forced a trembling voice to say, "...because I judged it to be a necessary action in the plan."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"Frei's chances of winning are less than one in ten thousand. If we are to compare the performance of [Gam] and [Angel], we have to eliminate that guy."

"Hmph, and then the result is that you lost?" Bronson's voice grew even colder.

"sorry."

Loki simply apologized.

Bronson is results-oriented; if he can win, he'll generously forgive his opponent's mistakes no matter what, but if he can't...

Loki's heart leaped into his throat once more.

Just when everyone thought the punishment would come down immediately, Bronson asked in surprise, "Why didn't he take your gloves? Was it just a simple act of humiliation, or...?"

He had already ascertained the relationship between Kobayashi and Frey, and was very interested in this guy who suddenly appeared and claimed to be able to use magic.

"never mind."

Bronson, surprisingly, didn't blame him. Instead, he squinted and said, "Loki, you should be glad your glove wasn't taken away, or your heart would have stopped by now."

"...Yes, thank you very much."

"Not thanks, Loki, but a repayment."

Meeting Bronson's enigmatic smile, he said, "You are my proud son, so I forgive you this time. Tomorrow is the day the rabbi will fight that man... as it should be. But your Gabriel hasn't suffered much damage, so I ask that you join the rabbi in facing that man at the night meeting tomorrow."

Whether it's what he thinks or not, let him observe carefully tomorrow night.

"Loki, I have high expectations for you. Just give it your all. It's for Frey's good too."

“...Of course, Father.”

Whether Bronson noticed or not, Loki's brow twitched slightly.

"Go back."

Upon hearing the order, Loki respectfully bowed and left the room. Turning his back to Bronson, he gritted his teeth tightly.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Why didn't you take his gloves! Are you an idiot? You're an idiot!"

The haughty young woman leaned closer to Xiaolin, her beautiful eyes filled with obvious anger as she rebuked the man in front of her for missing such a great opportunity without realizing it.

"Let me ask you first, you should know the rules of the night party, right?"

"A chaotic free-for-all, right? Don't mistake me for that idiot Akabane-kun."

Xiaolin muttered to himself.

"Yes."

Charlotte said, "The battle ends as soon as one side gets the other's glove, and the ninety-eighth person will join the battle the next day, and the ninety-seventh person the night after that. In this way, a new enemy will appear on the battlefield every night, and this rule will be enforced except during the interruption."

However, it wasn't always a one-on-one battle.

The deadline for the battle is midnight... When the clock tower shows midnight and the bells ring, the ball will end, unless a winner is decided before then...

"You should know what that means."

"The battlefield will become even more chaotic."

"And coincidentally, the ninety-eighth and ninety-ninth place winners were that brother and sister pair..."

"Won't Frey use her right not to appear on the show?"

Do you think this situation is possible?

Kobayashi's rather naive words made the proud and arrogant Charlotte roll her eyes.

The right not to play

This means that if the 99th person is not defeated by the 100th person, and the 98th person is attending the night party, they have the right to refuse to participate. The premise is that the 98th person... that is, the person in a higher position, has not invited them.

“Don’t be so angry, Charles.” Sigmund jumped off her head and said, “You should know very well how strong Kobayashi is. Although I understand you are worried about the person you like, at least you should trust him more for now.”

"What...! This...! Stupid...!"

Charlotte's face turned red, and the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat, unable to come out.

Sigmund bowed his head and apologized, "Sorry. It seems that what I said just now was really too much of a tease. Just look at you lately, you take this kind of thing more seriously than staring at a ball of fire."

"Shut up! Or I'll replace the chicken in your lunch with milk powder!" Charlotte was both embarrassed and annoyed.

Sigmund gave a wry smile, covering his face with his tail as if he hadn't heard, while Charlotte started to sulk and couldn't help but pull hard on Sigmund's wings as punishment for his slip of the tongue.

In the end, it was Kobayashi who saved it.

He said to the proud girl who was worried about him, "Don't worry, I won't lose. Even if the two of them team up, the result will be the same."

Brief, yet confident.

Charlotte looked at Kobayashi seriously, and seeing that he was not joking, she turned her head away and snorted coldly, thus letting him off the hook.

"...Don't die."

"what."

Having received a definite answer, Charlotte turned and left.

Sigmund, who was being held, said, "Although I have confidence in your abilities, please be careful. Charles is very fond of you."

"...What nonsense are you talking about, Sigmund! Replace your luncheon chicken with sand!" Charlotte, who hadn't walked far, heard her dragon-shaped automaton say this and immediately turned into a golden kitten with its fur standing on end.

Sigmund rubbed his forehead and whispered, "Finally... has my lunch gone from being edible to inedible?"

"It's not a big problem, I'll feed you secretly." Xiaolin tapped its dragon head.

Sigmund nodded in satisfaction and said, "He truly is the man I admire, and it hasn't been in vain that I've been praising him so highly."

"...What you're doing is completely unnecessary."

"really?"

Sigmund asked a question in return, and before Kobayashi could answer, he broke free from her embrace, flapped his wings, and chased after Charlotte, who was striding ahead.

Xiaolin scratched his head.

Although I know Sigmund is old and his voice and tone sound mature, what's with this practice of secretly trying to match his daughter with someone else?

Why does this feel so familiar? Did some kind of hellhound do something similar?

With these mixed feelings, the second day of the rendezvous arrived.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

I don't know if it was intentional or accidental.

Today is Monday.

Although the party had started, only a portion of the students had connections, so naturally, classes continued as usual.

However, the atmosphere reached its peak instantly at the start of the Sunday night party.

Therefore, after all classes ended and school was over, as the sun set and it was six o'clock in the afternoon, the students gathered again at the edge of the battlefield where the evening party was being held.

Some people come to see the spectacle they missed, while others come for research purposes.

In short, today was even more lively than yesterday.

Tonight is the Silent Roar—the night Frey makes her appearance.

Kobayashi arrived at the battlefield early to warm up, and the students watching the excitement whispered among themselves.

"Look how motivated that guy is."

"Ah, after all, he defeated the Sword Emperor, so he's a man not to be underestimated."

"A dark horse, an absolute dark horse!"

While the students were discussing it—

"Hush! The silent roar has arrived!"

The conversation subsided, and Kobayashi also looked in the direction the students were looking.

A female student with flowing pearl-colored hair and a very delicate appearance walked over, followed by a dog-shaped automaton whose fur looked like that of a wolfhound.

It's Fleur.

Although she was a year ahead of Charlotte, she didn't look older at all... except for her chest.

There was no secret signal to start the match at night; the duel began the moment they stepped onto the battlefield.

Kobayashi did not launch an attack immediately.

Looking at Frey, she smiled and said, "So, rescuing Yomi alone isn't enough, is it?... Well, I can probably guess how that man will blackmail you."

"...I'm...sorry." Frey trembled and lowered her head, looking very apologetic.

Kobayashi shook his head and said, "I don't mean to blame you. Everyone standing here has their own principles, so you don't need to feel sorry. It's just..."

Looking at the rabbi beside her and Yomi not far away in the audience, Kobayashi was a little curious.

"Why didn't you invite Yomi along? Maybe you felt embarrassed?"

"...No...because Yomi...it's temporarily unable to...adjust...well..."

This is the drawback of the dog-type automaton; it cannot be prepared as quickly as the angel-type automaton Gabriel.

At this moment, Loki joined the battle from the other side. Apart from some bruises on his face, he had fully recovered.