Chapter 99: Post-Tournament Blues

- ??? - ??? POV -

[And you are sure she won't care once she finds out that you're only there to gather information?] - ???

[My sister is not the sharpest pickaxe in the mine, she'll believe that I'm only here to gauge her newest students on the behalf of the Council rather than for anything nefarious.] - Big Brother

After the unexpected conclusion of the events in Abelis Academy Town several days ago I'd increasingly found myself contacting each of our wide-spread and varied assets. And, while most of them were routine and unexciting status updates with little to do with current events, some of them were actually interesting uses of my time that would have incredible implications in the long run. The first and least immediate had been an urgent communique from one of my intercontinental agents stationed in the Fae Lands across the sea. Normally restricted to annual status updates due to the difficulty of sending a signal over the vast distances the oceans between the continents span, this unexpected update had come as quite the surprise. It seems the Elves, as well as various allied Fae, were readying themselves for some kind of large-scale conflict. Worrying, but for the future rather than immediate.

The second person that had contacted him with something worth his time had been an asset in the Dwarven lands of Kel. A young lad from an old family that had used their connections to regain some of his family's lost status, he owed his group quite a lot and up to now they'd gotten quite the boon from his debt to them. That was, however, subject to change. And with this whole Summoned Hero fiasco in some backwater Tournament, it could throw a massive wrench in our Master's plan. Especially that Rose character.

The rumors about the girl, while suppressed by state actors as much as possible, had still reached us through various channels and, while possibly a future threat, she was an incredibly interesting factor in an otherwise boring play. One that frankly I still wasn't sure how to deal with. Allegedly a successor to the previous pretender to the throne, the Demon Lord of Calamity, she could become either our greatest asset or most damaging foe. Regardless we needed more information and the person that contacted us had exactly what we needed to make a decision on what we would do about her going forward.

[Good, you know what our organization will do if you're exposed...?] - ???

[I'm not a child that needs to be coddled, of course I understand! Signing off.] - Big Brother

Inwardly sighing as I listened to the stupid, immature brat displayed in the image stone speak I decided to lightly remind him of our secrecy. After all his own wellbeing rested on keeping these interactions completely off the radar. If he was even suspected of having dealings with our organization he'd be completely erased by the most powerful individuals on the continent. Those people, like those Grandparents of our current target of interest, were monsters that played by a completely separate set of rules and messing with them was a one way ticket to the afterlife. It was, on top of everything else, another consideration on whether to remove the potential threat that Rose might pose or risk it and allow her to go about her business unmolested. If we made the wrong choice here we'd lose several assets at the minimum and possibly set back our plan by several hundred years while we waited for them to die of old age. So we had to be discerning here when gathering our data as another setback was unacceptable when our long awaited goal was so close to fruition.

We especially couldn't count on young children that were less than a hundred to be able to make the judgement calls needed on whether to act or not. Unfortunately in this case that was our only option as the boy blustered and boasted of his so-called adulthood. The fool only proved that he was a loose end, fast approaching the end of its usefulness.

[Haa.... I said that because you are a child, young one...] - ???

- Dwarven Settlement, Calidus, Sens Estate - Lolianne's POV -

It was amazing! Big Brother had always been too busy to come visit at my teaching job at the Academy and each of my visits to our family estate had missed his appearance by only a few days according to our family servants, but this time not only had he been present during her visit he'd also been able to see her current students as well! It had felt amazing showing off the skilled lineup that I'd been handed this time and, while we'd had a few hiccups with the whole peeping incident, he'd taken it in stride and volunteered the training area for our group’s use fduring the next few weeks.

Big Brother, as the current head of the family, was the only one able to give permission and as such she hadn't originally planned on using her family's personal gym and dojo. Instead she'd initially planned on using the powerful wildlife and environs around the city as a way of toughening up her students, so having access to the state of the art facilities that an older family like hers could provide was much preferred. And safer if she was being completely honest.

[Big Brother? We've been called to dinner, are you able to join us? Ah?! I'm sorry did I interrupt your call?] - Lolianne

And so I wandered around the estate looking for any sign of my Big Brother, his portion of the history-soaked mansion making up a large amount of the oldest part of the centuries-old building. Being an old family we had many traditions and old rules that had followed us since antiquity and one of them had to do with the areas that were allowed to certain members based on their rank or proximity to the family head. Our grandparents, the Patriarch and Matriarch, occupied the oldest part of the building with the current head being only one step down. My own rank, as an unmarried sister of the current head, was more uncertain which was the only reason it was overlooked when I bent the rules slightly to enter places I wasn't technically allowed. Our Aunts and Uncles, vocal dissenters of the current head, would have loudly spoke out about my improper presence and would have been even louder in their disagreements had they caught wind of my students being allowed to room at the estate beforehand. The only saving grace was the fact that the majority of my students were nobles themselves and as such they were able to ignore the problem by reasoning that it could be used to further the family by forging critical alliances with their parents. Not that I cared about the moronic political manoeuvring going on behind the scenes, as I had left an active role in the family for exactly that reason in the first place.

Thinking about all this as I wandered I finally heard the telltale sound of muffled speaking that sounded familiar. Wanting to invite my Big Brother to dinner I immediately walked into the room I'd heard the speaking coming from only to immediately realize that he'd been speaking with someone through a personal image stone, the telltale blue glow from the displayed image fading into thin air as I walked through the door.

[Hmm? Ahh Lolianne you needn’t to worry about that sort of thing, I will always make time for my beloved little sister. Ahem! Your students... will be there correct?] - Big Brother

[Yep! I'm sure you'll be super impressed by all of them, they're far more advanced for their age than either of us were at that point!] - Lolianne

[Yes. I'm sure their abilities will be... informative.] - Big Brother

[Hmm? Well whatever, come on then!] - Lolianne

Smiling from cheek to cheek as I pulled on my Big Brother’s hand I tilted my head slightly at the strange way he'd responded to my statement but decided to leave it be as it wasn't important in the long run, especially when an evening with him was on the line!

- Dwarven Settlement, Calidus, Sens Estate Hallway - Rose's POV -

[So, what's up with Argent anyway?] - Rose

[You seriously don't know?!?] - Veronica

[Ver she's been roughing it in the woods for the last 5 months of course she doesn't!] - Malaise

[But it's sort of obvious!] - Veronica

[W-Well yeah but...] - Malaise

[Don't worry about it Rose has been extremely dense when it comes to things like this since long ago.] - Karen

[B-But she's only 7 at most right?] - Urz

[...] - Everyone

[I-I''m sorry I just assumed!] - Urz

[N-No you're right I've just known her for that long afterall.... yeah.] - Karen

[R-Right. Regardless let's get back to the point!] - Malaise

[Right so Rose has been missing all sorts of-] - Karen

[Okay enough! What am I missing that's so apparently obvious to everyone else?!?] - Rose

The last hour had been a hectic one. After catching one group of boys that had somehow succeeded in sneaking BEHIND the waterfall that fed the girl's hot springs Legal Loli Sensei had apparently cleaned up two more, smaller, groups of boys that had failed to make it past the various traps she'd apparently laid out along the long path to their vantage point. And even then the only thing that had allowed the group, led by Yeetsil, to even make it that far was the distraction caused by another group triggering the traps and pulling away a number of the armed guards that would have been in the group's way. Instead what they got was an eyeful of steam and a long distance view of almost no actual skin since most of us were already in the water itself and not visible at that distance.

Of course that sort of thing didn't really excuse their actions and besides only two exceptions the rest were being harshly punished by being forced to meditate underneath the massive waterfall streaming from the ceiling. They were meant to cleanse those worldly desires in the waters from above. The catch? The waterfall was entirely composed of nearly boiling temperature water. They'd look like giant lobsters by the time they were finally released.

Now as far as the two exceptions were concerned they were only let off because their intended purpose hadn't been to peek. One of them, Yeetsil, had been pressured into guiding the group through the various traps and his ignorance of non-goblin culture gave him the benefit of the doubt. It also helped that he was the only one to fess up beforehand and he'd also apparently kept his eyes closed through most of the ordeal. Urz had also made quite the large appeal for his innocence, shyly blushing the whole way too. Cute. The second exception was awarded to our resident fighting maniac, Ogi. Ogi, not realizing that the rest of the group were intending to peep, had tagged along because of his rivalry to Argent. Apparently planning to use her unprepared state to pull off a win he'd also been the only one of the boys that actually got an eyeful of any of the banquet before them. The dumbfounded look on his face when he'd realized what he was seeing had been a bit amusing, even.

Of course since then Argent had been completely silent, her red face surprising considering her normally prideful demeanor. It was almost like...

[Argent's in love with Ogi.] - Malaise

[Oh well that makes sen- Wait what?!] - Rose

[You seriously didn't realize? I thought it was pretty obvious? Right guys?] - Veronica

[Well yeah.] - Malaise

[Yup.] - Karen

[...yes.] - Shade

[W-Well... MmmHmm...] - Urz

[Seriously?! Even Shade and Urz noticed?!?] - Rose

And the biggest shock of them all. Argent, that self-absorbed narcissist with a penchant for using explosion magic, was in love with her on again off again rival? Unbelievable.

But apparently my gauge into the feelings of love between my classmates was faulty because not only did Karen, Veronica and Malaise nod an affirmative but even Shade gave an acknowledgment followed by the shy newcomer, who fidgeted slightly before nodding nervously.

[Don't feel too bad Austin Sauce... it's not like you're completely helpless when it comes to romance. Just mostly.] - Karen

[Yeah that doesn't help in the slightest...] - Rose

[Who's Austin Sauce?] - Urz

And so as I was lost in despair over my complete and utter inability to notice what was apparently an obvious fact we were once more struck with a hard question from our shy newcomer. We REALLY needed to stop talking about things as a group in front of other people...!