Volume 2 Chapter 3 part1
Airbike Race
It was the second day.
Now that I got a bit of payback against those idiots from the first day, my cafe was quite pleasant.
If I were to list a problem──
“Livia, that table over there has a request.”
“R, right.”
──it was that the two waitresses were working a bit clumsily.
When I was taking a cake from the kitchen, Raymond spoke to me.
“Are those two alright?”
“What happened yesterday had an effect. It would better if they hadn’t been misled by the words those people had said.”
Both Livia and Anjie were conscious of each other, but were unable to speak to one another.
“Let’s just wait and see what happens for the moment. Things will probably revert to normal before long.”
“I wonder about that. I think that differences in familial backgrounds are fatal when building friendships, though.”
That was what Raymond, with a slightly uncooperative attitude, had said, but I indeed knew what was going on.
For example, suppose that there were a rich and a poor person.
If they were asked whether or not they shared the exact same set of values, then the answer would be no.
The difference in values between the two would be big.
I watched the clock.
“Perhaps the two should take a break.”
Raymond pushed up his glasses with a finger.
“That might be good. There aren’t that many guests right now, after all.”
Since the first day was way too cruel, I felt that handling this wouldn’t be a problem for me.
Raymond seemed seriously worried about me.
“You know, with this, we’re really in the red.”
“It’s fine. Despite how it looks, I can make an earning on the final day using that.”
“Aah, by that, you mean gambling?!”
The last day of the school festival.
There were some matches scheduled as part of an exhibit. The reason for it was to show how much the students were learning in the school.
However, it became one of the highlights of the school festival, and each event had quite splendid rewards.
In addition, people made bets on who would win, and the gambling riled everyone up.
I thought about whether or not it was okay for something like that to happen at a school festival, but it was also a time for profits. At any rate, since I had Luxon──my chances of winning a bet would increase.
That thing was able to gather information, and through close investigation, calculate who would win with a high probability.
Raymond looked at me in shock.
“You really like gambling, don’t you Leon?”
How upsetting.
“On the contrary. I hate gambling.”
I hated things like gambling. However, I loved winning!
◇
Livia and Anjie walked around the hectic buildings in the school festival.
Normally, the two would be closer together, but today they were maintaining a subtle distance apart.
Livia didn’t understand Anjie’s feelings, and Anjie didn’t know how to address Livia. Until now, they hadn’t been that conscious about each other’s birth.
However, after the matter of yesterday, a gap had emerged between the two.
Anjie spoke up.
“These crepes are quite delicious.”
Livia replied.
“R, right.”
Their conversation didn’t continue.
There was a pause while the two both thought about what to do. In that timeframe, they both noticed a large bulletin board.
It was a chart for an airbike race tournament.
Each school year chose representatives, and only those who did well enough in one race would move on to challenge the next one. It would end with a final race between those who made it to the top.
There were also other events, but oddly enough, the airbike race was the only one that people watched with a special kind of excitement.
Livia looked up at the bulletin board.
“There are a lot of matches just for the airbike race.”
Anjie, perhaps thinking that this was something she could at least explain, started being talkative.
“People get excited about it every year. There are many other events, but the airbike race is the most popular one. While it’s simple, the bets are also interesting. Others choose who they think would win, but people also make bets on predicting the order. There’s a lot of profit when winning.”
Speaking in terms of the modern age, it was like horse racing or boat racing.
It caused a lot of money to circulate.
Livia was impressed.
“You know a lot about, Anjie.”
Anjie continued while delighted.
“I came here several times before enrolling in the school. Furthermore, despite the fact that top candidates are participating, the representative for the first-year students is Jilk. He excels at handling airbikes, and there are many fans who are looking forward to seeing who will succeed.”
“So Jilk’s skilled at an airbike. Ah, I see his name there.”
Livia was happy to spot Jilk’s name, but asked Anjie something.
“Leon isn’t participating?”
“Leon? His ability isn’t bad, and he has the capacity to just barely make it in as a player, but since Jilk’s here this year, there was no other choice.”
In the first place, Leon could do almost anything, and that naturally meant he could use an airbike.
However, he fell behind in ability compared to Jilk.
“If Leon participated, I would cheer for him, though.”
“Right. However, that guy would have no motivation. He’s been making a fuss about profiting through the bets.”
“I’d prefer if he wasn’t that crazy about gambling.”
“I agree.”
As the two were having a cheerful conversation, Marie was behind them, looking up at the bulletin board.
◇
Marie and Kyle went out to go shopping.
From behind the joyful Anjie and Livia, Marie looked at the airbike race tournament chart.
She also scanned the other events.
The names of Julian and the others were printed on each event.
“If everyone wins their tournament, we’ll soon be able to gather our target amount of money. With this, we won’t have to worry about living expenses.”
Marie and Kyle were carrying luggage in both of their hands.
Kyle had an exhausted expression.
“Why don’t you make bets on who would win using the money we’ve earned? Everyone’s a winning candidate, right? The benefits to reap would be immense if you win.”
However, Marie was surprised.
“That won’t do. Besides, I loathe gambling.”
──Marie hated gambling.
(It’s the same as with my previous life. A boyfriend I went out with was a good-for-nothing who lost almost all of the bets he made and carried severe debt. I’ll steadily make my large earnings.)
Steadily or not, Marie had bad memories associated with gambling.
(It’s the same now. Furthermore, my family is in debt because of gambling──I miss my family from my previous life. Those days were nice. My childhood was fun back then.)
Marie’s current viscount household could not be called a splendid family by any standard.
Marie held her luggage under her arms and headed towards her cafe.
“Now, let’s work hard to earn money. Lend me a hand, Kyle.”
“I have no other choice, do I? I’ll do my best to earn a salary.”
The two separated from Anjie and Livia to return to the cafe filled with women who created a commotion and surrounded Julian and the others.
◇
It was the third day.
It was the day for all kinds of matches to be held, the centerpiece of the school festival.
I looked down at the field from a lounge that costed money to enter.
I sat on a sofa while gazing at the pointlessly large field.
Gold coins, silver coins, and bills were piled on top of a low table.
I grinned while counting the rolls of banknotes. I couldn’t stop smiling.
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[Master, it seems that in the next race, several people are taking action in order to ensure that a specific player wins. So, my prediction for the next game has moved from twelve to four.]
I heard Luxon’s voice.
Luxon had concealed itself and gathered information on players in the field, the waiting rooms, and other such locations.
Due to that, I had been continuing to win bets.
“Waiter, I’ll change my bet for the next race from number twelve to number four. Just this amount of money.”
I handed rolls of banknotes to the waiter, and bought a ticket.
While seeing off the waiter who hurriedly left to process my purchase, I laughed while resting both of my arms on the back of the sofa.
“Winning is fun!”
Anjie and Livia were looking at me with cold eyes. The two were sitting next to each other, sipping juice while spectating the matches.
“You really do like to agitate the people around you.”
“Leon, you’re going to get hurt betting too much some day.”
There were some people around that lost a lot of money from gambling.
Such people could only look at me in hate as I continued to win.
“It’s fine, I won’t lose. Even if I did lose once or twice, it’s fine since I’ve been winning without a hitch.”
The gold and silver coins piling up were glittering brightly.
As Luxon had predicted, number twelve took first place, and number four took second.
A large amount of money once again found its way into my hands.
“I can’t stop smiling!”
I had already earned money to laugh off my losses from the cafe.
In the next race, Jilk had finally appeared.
Jilk──Jilk Fier Memoria was from a noble viscount household of the royal court.
He was Julian’s foster brother, and the character that played the role of being his best friend. He had long green hair and a gentle smile, but in reality he was black-hearted.
This guy handled airbikes skillfully.
He had enough skill to be the only candidate named by the first-year students.
So, make some profit for me, Jilk.
[Master, a minor setback has arisen.]
However, as Luxon gave a report, the situation started becoming ominous.
I pressed my fingers against my temples to continue listening to Luxon.
[The representative who appeared for the first-years is Jilk, but it seems that he’s being targeted.]
──Jilk was being targeted?
When I made a serious expression and looked down at the venue, Livia noticed and asked something.
“U, um, did you want to participate as well, Leon?”
“Huh?”
When I tilted my head to the side, Anjie made an apologetic expression.
“…Sorry. The decision for who would participate was a majority vote by the executive committee. It was difficult for me to hold back my opinion.”
“Hmm?”
It seemed that the two believed I wanted to participate. I definitely tried becoming a candidate, but it was just that the boy candidates had already been decided for even the least popular event.
I didn’t particularly want to be out there, so I had no problem with scheming for profits through betting.
However, this convention was a great opportunity to appeal to ordinary boys.
If one played an active role, the girls’ opinions of them would change. In other words, obtaining a victory was very beneficial for getting married.
Due to that, each event had many boys that were participating seriously.
There were occasionally those that were obsessed with winning and resorted to underhanded tactics.
However, it was different with Jilk.
The situation was strange from the start.
It seemed that Anjie soon noticed it.
“Jilk’s being marked.”
If a first-year student was a good player, it wasn’t strange for them to be marked, but the way he was being targeted was thorough.
He was being surrounded and clashed against others──it was obvious that some kind of attack had been launched against him.
Livia seemed gloomy when seeing that.
“W, why is something like that happening? I feel bad for Jilk.”
It was as Livia had said.
I had placed bets on Jilk, and I would be troubled if I lost.
Leaving my troubles aside, could it be that Livia’s worry for Jilk was based on some kind of instinct that Jilk might potentially be her lover?
──It didn’t concern me, I suppose.
Anjie muttered something.
“I see. Those guys are the followers of an earl household’s daughter, Claris.”
Livia tilted her head to the side.
“Clarice? Um, who’s that?”
As the race was transitioning from the middle stage to the final stage, Jilk broke through the upperclassmen surrounding him in the match. He forcibly slipped through using some acrobatic movements, and he passed each player one after the other.
“It kind of seems like that guy’s bike was illegally modified.”
Didn’t it seem like the performance of the bike was quite different from that of the others? As I was thinking about it, there was a great clamor in the venue from his massive overtaking.
I was happy as well, since if Jilk won the match, I would win the bet.
Luxon informed me of something.
[Jilk cannot qualify for the finals even if he does win.]
When Luxon heard me reply “There’s no chance?” in a whisper, he reported an injury Jilk had.
[He has a bone fracture. Him being attacked by the surrounding people injured a bone, and the excessive movements he was forced to make fractured it. Even in a world where handy things like healing magic exist, there wouldn’t be enough time for him to make it to the next race.]
Jilk just barely took the lead and reached the goal.
Once Jilk returned his airbike to an airship, he collapsed and medical personnel gathered to place him onto a stretcher.
When Anjie was about to leave the lounge, I asked about her intentions.
“Where are you going?”
“The first-year class needs a troubleshooter. We need to check the state of Jilk’s injury and prepare a substitute for him if necessary. I’m going to talk with the executive committee.”
Since Livia accompanied her as well, I decided to tuck the banknotes and coins into my bag and ran after them.
