Night. The closing ceremony was being held in solemn silence.
Maine was giving a speech using a "microphone" in front of him. I don't really understand by what kind of principle does a single microphone works in order to magnify the sound this much without the use of a speaker, but it seems it's an item that makes your voice louder, and Maine used it as if it were very natural for him. Quite a mysterious world indeed.
And, in the midst of this happening, were all the contestants, myself included, lined up in the center of the arena. For each title, a line was formed, with the current titleholder standing at the head of each one. However, the front of both the Eishou and Reiou lines were empty. And I was standing in front of the Issenza line.
After the speech, things moved on to the award ceremony. And considering that there were over twenty titles in total, this took quite some time.
I made a conscious effort to avoid looking at the current title holders being awarded. In part because this might affect my enjoyment during the summer games, but mainly because of jealousy. I am the one who was originally holding most of those titles. I don't really understand it myself, but I just can't come to terms with the image of others being praised as titleholders.
"Second Firstest Issenza, Eishou, Reiou."
At the very end, Maine called out my name.
By this point, the applause and cheers that were happening already suddenly exploded.
Seems I was tremendously popular. I never felt like I was this popular in my previous life. And I admit the beauty of this avatar might have something to do with it.
"You have achieved something unprecedented, the first triple crown――"
First triple crown in history. Yes, I am sure this is also part of the reason for my popularity.
As I listened to Maine's words of praise, I thought about what I was going to do next. I wondered how should I say what I wanted to express.
I had asked Maine in advance to "let me say some words". So, he will probably let me do that after receiving my award.
"――Thus, for this honor, I present you this commendation. I, Maine Castall, 18th King of the Castall Kingdom congratulates you, Second Triple Crown."
As the crowd erupted in thunderous applause once again, I received my certificate of commendation and was given a "badge" for each title, personally attached to my chest by Maine himself. Since there were three badges, it took some time to put them all on. All the while, the applause, and cheers never stopped.
"Okay, I'm done."
Maine said with a happy expression. Looking at my chest, I saw three badges lined up near the center, on my clothes: Issenza, Eishou, and Reiou. Still, there is a lot of space left. Maine then muttered to me: "There are more to come, right?" with a smile on his face. This made me chuckle a little, answering with a nod. He then nodded in response and made me line up with him.
"Quiet down!"
Maine's command was well received and the entire arena calmed down. Wow, the crowd's manners are quite good it almost incredible. As expected of the King, or should I say as expected of the King's subjects. Quite the refreshing view.
"Second Triple Crown would like to say a few words. Have a listen to them."
Well then, it's finally here. Time for my speech.
As Maine stepped back, I could see the eyes of the entire crowd, the eyes of tens of thousands focusing on me alone. No, it was not only the audience. The contestants, the title holders, everyone present in this place was looking at me.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly broke the silence.
"――Simple. It's simple. Why do you all think I was able to win a Triple Crown? Was it because I'm strong? Was it because I'm a genius? Wrong. There's only one answer, and it's very simple."
I turned around, overlooking the faces of the contestants in the arena.
Starting now, for my own selfish interests, I'm going to pick a fight with them.
"It's because you're weak! YOU. ARE. WEAK!!"
As they say, the one who hits first gets to hit twice. Being caught off guard, they look like pigeons about to get hit by a peashooter.
"Be serious. Pour your everything on it. Don't be complacent. Don't make compromises. There's still a lot to discover. There's a whole world out there that you don't know of yet. Learn. Fight desperately. Claw your way up. You want to win, right? Don't you feel vexed that I won three crowns? I'm going to get eight by next season, you know? Are you okay with that?"
It may be something unavoidable. It may be something impossible for this world.
However, if that is to change, if they are to change, right now is the time.
That's why. I will make you change. For my sake.
Notice it. Realize it. This is the greatest of worlds.
"Do you think it's stupid to bet your everything on Swordsmanship, Magic, or Summoning? It's okay if you do. Just don't enter the Title tournaments. If you see this as a game, keep the game to yourself. Here, listen up. This here, this stage, for me, is a place where I compete, betting 90% of my life. It's not a shitty place where you can just come to earn some money or fame out of your hobby. If you do this for those reasons, please stop. You will taint the titles."
I'll fan up the flames.
All so that they take this more seriously, all so that they can walk on my same path.
Think about it. If those guys were to come together and bet their everything in order to try and win the Title Matches, what would that mean? That's right, it would be ... My utopia.
"It's not easy to bet your everything, I know it. But if I could do it, so can you. It's never too late. Or, don't tell me you're fine with having a cheeky 17 years old brat keep three titles? ...Win, keep winning, win more than me. You have no other choice but to win. Nothing you've done before is going to work, you'll have to rethink everything from scratch. Still, you can use me as a reference. Observe. Study. Steal. Do everything that you think might work. Be desperate. Fight as if your life depended on it. Endure the loneliness. You have six months until the next season."
And then, enjoy the REAL Mobius Online together with me.
"...I'll be waiting for you all."
Alongside that last message, I handed back the microphone to Maine.
Applause echoed from one corner of the audience seats, most likely belonging to our servants. Aside from them, the other spectators were sparingly clapping their hands.
When I returned to the line for the Issenza title, a handsome blonde man who was right behind me complimented me by saying "Good speech". He's Chérie's big brother. Jerez Lumberjack, was it?
"Good speech? Are you for real? Don't you feel frustrated?"
"Yes, I do feel frustrated. It was very effective at making me feel frustrated. That's why I went ahead and called it a good speech."
"...You're a strange one, I guess like brother like sister."
"Hahaha, I've heard that quite often."
He's a little weird, but well, as long as this got him motivated, I guess it's okay.
By the way, I should have invited this guy to tomorrow's launch party. I mean, I invited almost all the contestants from the five titles we've participated in. So far, four people have responded: Alfredo, Muratti, Alpha, and Capito-kun. Other than them, I don't know if the rest are coming or not.
"Are you coming tomorrow?"
"Of course I will. I will also bring Chérie."
Okay, that makes it six people now.
But I'm sure there will be more.
I'm really looking forward to it. Both tomorrow, and a few months from now.
＊ ＊ ＊
"How preposterous. I mean, he was already preposterous to begin with... Anyways, how preposterous of him!"
"Chérie-sama. Please calm down."
"But Mariposa! Didn't you hear him too!? He just made an enemy out of all the title match contestants! And didn't he also say he'd get eight crowns!? He's way too overconfident!"
"It is as you said."
"How far ahead of me does he plan to go!!?"
Chérie was together with Mariposa, the maid, listening to Second's speech in the audience seats.
Mariposa tried to calm Chérie down, all the while holding her head in the same fed-up manner that she usually saved up for Jerez.
Chérie had yet to earn the right to compete in the Reiou title match. At the moment, her only way to earn experience was to go around, clearing the lower-class dungeon, Ngultrum. So, her goal seemed to be still a long way off.
"You just feel impatient～ because you think you might not catch up to him～. Master."
With a grin, the great earth spirit Terra, who serves her, teased her.
"Shut up! It's not like that! I just… can't get a clear picture on how I'll be able to beat him!"
"Ahh～. Isn't that impossible～...?"
"Hey! Don't just throw the towel! I'm sure there's a way, surely there's some kind of weakness..."
Chérie finished the sentence with a mutter and continued to murmur to herself.
At that moment, a visitor approached her.
"Excuse me, Chérie-sama."
"Oh my? You're here, Sherry."
"Yes. It's been a while since we last saw each other."
It was Sherry, from the Frist Royal Court Magician Division. The relationship between these two had been a good one since 'that' incident.
"A while indeed. Did you also come to watch the matches?"
"Yes. And also, how to say it... I somehow felt like I had to share with someone that 'outrageousness'."
"Ohh, I get you. I completely understand. About that guy, right?"
"Right. I feel like I can do nothing but laugh."
"Absolutely. I was really surprised too. And it scares me to think that he'll probably end up getting eight crowns in the summer..."
"He surely has a screw loose. No, I suppose even then I should call him amazing?"
"Yeah. He's amazing, even while having some screws loose."
The pair kept laughing with each other, making it look like they were criticizing Second, but in fact, they were praising him. In a kind of roundabout way that only those who were not honest with themselves could. But even with such a casual talk, one could see the two girls got along very well.
Afterward, they had dinner together and talked about the man named Second to their heart's content.
The next day there was a party being held at his house. So, let's hope they didn't drink too much...
"Ohh god, this is bad. I feel like I'll pass out. Wasn't he way too cool?"
After the closing ceremony, on the way back to the hotel.
Capito, a young man of the dog beastmen race, walked next to Eko's father, Sho.
"...Was it okay for him to say something like that in that place?"
"Yeah, it's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it."
"However, won't his reputation go down if he provokes them that much? Won't he be hated by many people?"
"Rather, I think Second-san might want to make an enemy out of everyone."
"..."
Capito's nonchalant comment caused Sho to become lost for word.
"That person wants us to grow. He's urging us to get on the same level as him, waiting for us. That's why I'll chase after him with all my might. Everyone should want to chase after him. There will be some that chase after him as their aspiration, and there will be others that do it because they can't stand him. But from Second-san's point of view, it might not matter whether they are doing it for yearning or hate. All he wants is for us to chase after him desperately, to bet our lives on it."
And Capito's words were correct. Second had stirred everyone up this much in order to realize his own utopia.
"I see...Still, what about the feelings of the fans? For example, the previous one, was it Vogue Reiou? I bet she had a lot of fans, didn't she?"
"Oh, Vogue-san? I'm sure she was very popular. She was beautiful and strong after all. Rothman-san too, he reigned over the Issenza title for over twenty years. He too was very popular as the absolute champion."
"But, to treat them this poorly in front of their fans... Don't you think those fans won't have a very good opinion of him? Let alone the contestants, won't the general public have a completely ruined opinion of him? Maybe even hate him?"
Some unsettling words came from Sho's mouth. He worried about Second's fearless remarks. But more than worried about him, he was worried about his daughter, after all, he had entrusted her to Second, and was beginning to see him as his future son-in-law.
After hearing Sho's comments, Capito looked back at him with a look of confusion.
"Ah, hahahahahaha!"
He then laughed out loud.
"Did I say something funny?"
"Not at all. It's just that, I thought if it was Second-san, he would answer with something like this–"
He then faced forward after clearing his throat, making a dashing pose, and spoke with a fierce expression.
"――That's something for Vogue and Rothman to be concerned about. If I win, my fans will be happy. If they win, their fans will be happy. That's all there is to it."
And yeah, it was something Second would totally say.
"Wait a moment, Ernte Kisenshou."
Immediately after the closing ceremony.
Alfredo, the blind archer, stopped an old man that was about to leave the capital Vinceton.
"What do you want? I'm in a hurry."
"I'm not trying to stop you from leaving. Just leave the Mix sisters here."
"...I was going to do that from the beginning. If you want to keep them, then be my guest."
Dee and Jay Mix, who were trying to follow Ernte, were taken aback by the words of the old man, who was supposed to be their mentor.
"Master! Are you saying you're resigning from the position of the Mix household archery instructor!?"
"That's no longer my problem, and it seems like that blind man over there wants to take over."
"Still, that's not something you can just decide all of the sudden...!"
"...Right now, I don't have time to be teaching students."
Ernte left, coldly shaking off the sisters that still tried to cling to him.
"...You can't..."
"What are we, supposed to do now..."
The sisters were left shocked.
Then.
"It seems like his speech worked really well. All you had until now were your lies and schemes... that's just a path for misery, old man."
Alfredo muttered, looking at the old man's back, which now seemed smaller than it once was.
On the way back, at night.
A group of about a dozen boisterous girls was heading from the arena towards the dormitory of the Royal Magic Academy.
Needless to say, they all belonged to the huge organization called 『Second's Fan Club』.
"These were the best days of my life, to say the least. I could die in peace right now."
"Yeah, I totally get it, I feel the same."
"BUT WAAAAAIT! If we die, we won't be able to see Second-sama anymore, you know!?"
"If I wouldn't be able to see him anymore, I'd rather be dead."
"Oh my god, you're not making any sense..."
"Eh, wait. What should I then do if I love Second-sama so much that I don't know what to do with it?"
"I think laughing should be fine."
"Hey, wait. Then, what if my face is already laughing on its own?"
" "...We're not waiting." "
"Alright, seems like the popular phrases have been decided."
"Look, look. I made a ranking for my lovely Second-sama."
"As expected, the analysis team sure works fast. Let's see."
１．Unprecedented triple title crown in his first appearance.
２．The only Lightning Attribute magician in history.
３．SO FUUUUUUUUUCKING GORGEOUS.
４．One that treats all other contestants as babies.
５．Picks a fight while lecturing all the contestants.
６．A self-destruct by Fifth Form victory in a match.
７．His Majesty's best friend.
８．"Two-piece" one-sided victory against the Kisenshou.
９．The spirit and monster he uses are clearly weird.
"Oh my fucking god. Great. They all deserve first place."
" 'In the middle of the final yet begins to teach' isn't there. Do it again."
" 'Defeating a dragon with his bare hands within an hour (undamaged)' isn't there. Do it again."
"Uwaaaah..."
"Oh, a Leopard Kakidori. How rare, at this time of the night."
"I heard they don't build their own nests. Maybe it doesn't have a place to go home?"
"...Or rather, if it wasn't Second-sama the one we were talking about, wouldn't just doing one of these feats be considered legendary?"
"That IS true."
"Yeah, but then I think we should exclude the third and seventh one, because Second-sama's level of beauty is something only Second-sama can achieve, and his meeting with His Majesty Maine was also something only possible due to Second-sama's personality."
"Okay, okay, let's do it like this then, you crazy woman."
And so, the night went on...