Deron wanted to be the best. Though the second place isn’t bad, to achieve his dreams, he can only be the best. That’s why he is now walking with brisk steps toward the infirmary clinic.

Rumors of Alfir committing suicide have spread far and beyond the academy. At first, Deron didn’t believe the rumors and just ignored it. However, when he realized that Alfir isn’t present on the first day of class, he decided to check if the rumor is really true.

Maybe this is Deron just being romantic. Thinking of Alfir as his rival, it would be in his best interest for him if Alfir were not to die… commit suicide… give up… or do anything at all.

Reclaiming the victor’s crown sounded egotistic and selfish, but Deron is speaking purely from his heart. When he was by the clinic’s door and was about to knock, someone called to him.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Turning from where the voice came from, Deron met eyes with Lorie, another competitor that Deron strongly acknowledge.

“A visit.” He succinctly replied.

“Me too.” Lorie didn’t even bother to knock as she pushes the door open. Deron followed her, conscious of his manners.

Seeing the Academy Doctor Celine casually idling in her desk, Deron gave a polite bow. Lorie frowned at Deron’s over-politeness. Because she is an imperial princess, Lorie knows how to keep up appearances. So like Deron, she bowed too.

“We are here to visit Mr. Alfir.” Deron asked the fatigued Celine. The Academy Doctor looked overworked and is barely hanging on.

“Hmm… go on,” Celine grunted, finally, she can’t take it anymore. She took a pillow from out of nowhere, placed it over her desk, and then bent over to have a quick shut-eye.

Deron scratched his nose rather embarrassed. But Lorie didn’t mind. She checked the clinic’s partitions one by one.

“Hey! What’s your problem?”

“A-ack… Privacy, woman!!”

“Ugh… My stomach hurts.”

Lorie without regard for boundaries ignored the patients’ cries. She reached Alfir’s partition in no time at all. Deron hurriedly apologized to the disturbed patients and closed their partition.

“What the?” Deron suppressed his shock.

“Hmmm…” Lorie is as shocked, but she tried her best not to show it.

The person in front of them looked too unrecognizable. Is this really the same guy they fought in the tournament setup?

Make no mistake. Though the public eye sees Alfir to be lacking in strength, Deron and Lorie are quite sure in their judgment.

Especially Deron. He was at the stand at that time when he watched the most baffling fight in the academy ever.

Lorie also knows the stories. As an imperial princess, she would definitely pay close attention to her political rivals like Zia Zaratul.

Though the two don’t understand what happened at all, they have their own considerations. Zia Zaratul is a dangerous and difficult opponent, and Alfir made a rug rat out of her.

It is true that the result of the tournament setup’s finals was too out of their expectations. Because they lack a great amount of information about Alfir, the two of them lost… But that’s not really it either. If they think hard enough, they can make more excuses.

However, that is not the point.

The point is… they lost. And for that, they acknowledged Alfir’s strength. It doesn’t make sense to them why such a guy attempted a suicide.

Covered in bandages from head to toe, and in deep sleep, Alfir looked pathetic.

“What do you think? Is it really just luck?” Deron warily asked Lorie. As the expert in understanding luck, she must have an answer, right?

“…”

No, she doesn’t. Still, Lorie offered a conjecture of her own.

“Coincidence and luck are actually parallels. The former happens because of a series of chains of events coming together. Meanwhile, the latter only happens because of belief.”

Deron has that ‘I-don’t-know-what-you-are-talking-about’ face. Lorie massaged her forehead annoyed that she even bothered giving her own opinion.

“Hmmm… Peasant, listen carefully. I won’t repeat myself twice.”

“Yes, princess!!”

“Luck is intangible and cannot be quantified. Coincidence is a different matter, it can be machinated. An example of luck is… you pick up a four-leaf clover and blessed by luck, you suddenly won the lottery. That’s luck. It’s superstitious, chaotic, and cannot be reasoned.”

“Umu… Okay, princess… I understand. That means your Special Ability is only limited by your imagination and is not determined by a logical function.”

“…”

Lorie is starting to regret expounding her conjecture to Deron. But as a person who likes to keep appearances, she continued anyway.

“What happened to this bastard is—“

“Who’s the bastard?”

“…”

Lorie pointed at Alfir lying in his bed.

“Oh, whose bastard was he? So, his father abandoned him?”

“…”

Lorie felt like smacking someone. Was he playing her a fool? Is he? Well, she can’t imagine it happening. Come on!! It’s Deron who we are talking about? He grew from an orphanage at a young age, and is sensitive to words related to ‘orphan’… ‘Bastard’ kind of belong in that category.

“Ahem,” Lorie faked a cough and continued. “What happened to this basta— Alfir, is too coincidental. His fight with Miss Zia Zaratul is the only fight that I could think to be sincere. The other fights? I don’t think so. It looks like we’d have to investigate ourselves. Even the finals felt like a lie, you know? Even now, I am in denial.”

“You are suggesting that someone manipulated it behind the scenes.” Deron frightfully asked, subconsciously reaching for his sword in his waist. But there was nothing there.

They have classes an hour later, explaining why Deron is currently unequipped. When he noticed he was trying to reach for his sword, Deron wryly smiled.

…

Lorie left earlier than Deron. She’d love to interrogate the bastard who stole her luck, but that can be left for another time.

Looking around the empty backyard of the academy, Lorie cautiously made sure that there is no one around. If anyone learns what she is about to do, there would be a big scandal.

Touching the pendant on her neck, she activated her [Inventory Storage]. She summoned what can be described as a picker and a sack.

The picker looked modernized, it’s the kind of thing you’d use to pick trash, dead leaves, and stuff. Lorie carried her sack and started her community service, the daily trash collection!!

One might ask. What is she doing? Is she being punished by the academy? Or maybe, the princess has a strange fetish?

It might blossom into worrisome misunderstandings, but there could only be one truth. This is for her Special Ability— Luck or Fate.

Since her enrollment at the academy, a lot of her luck was used. Though it would recover over time, which would be for the far future, Lorie prefers to have something more immediate. That is where her knowledge of mysticism comes in— Cycle of Karma…

By doing good deeds, Lorie is able to earn some of her luck back. With this sacrifice, she hopes to return to the peak of her strength.

“E-excuse me, what are you doing?”

“Hi-hiiik~”

‘Busted, I am dead-dead-dead-dead-dead---‘

Lorie slowly turned around, only to grow more anxious. The person who called to her… it was JANA!!!

Lorie wanted to be the best. Whether she likes it or not, she is sharing second place with Deron. Though the second place isn’t bad, to achieve her dreams, she can only be the best.

That’s why she is now working hard at taking care of the trash and maybe gaining some of her luck back while at it...

However, all of that hard work might come crashing down on her right at this moment.