Within the envelope that the chairman passed to Yinuo, there were two letters included. The one she was reading currently was from the prominent Vilerion family, one of the top sponsors of the school, petitioning for Quinlan to drop out of school.
The grounds for the expulsion request were "Endangering the safety of other students due to his failure to manage the security of his Doppel," which was quite reasonable... If no foul play was involved.
Yinuo frowned. Not because of what she had read, but rather because of the blue window popping right in front of her, describing the entirety of the situation to her.
[Warning! Due to your extreme actions, the timeline was messed up. Quinlan's expulsion wasn't supposed to happen. Emergency Quest activated!]
[Emergency Quest: Avoid Expulsion by winning the Duel]
[Success Rewards: Spiritual Artifact - Sun Breaker]
[Failure Punishment: Immediate Death]
'Duel?' Yinuo tilted her head, reading this part of the quest.
Curious, she decided to read the other letter and found that it was a letter from the Saleema family, another top sponsor and investor for the school. The content was, however, the complete opposite of what the Vilerion family sent and used rather strong words, doubting the validity of the previous mock battle.
In the end, their petition was simple: redo the duel between Benno and Quinlan, and this time, ensure that both sides play fair.
"I wouldn't mind redoing the duel," Yinuo replied with a straight face after some time considering.
After all, as a sword cultivator in the past, she had gone through countless life-and-death battles, so she was confident that she could destroy her opponent no matter how strong they were.
"Quinlan, do you even know what that means?" The chairman asked, cupping his mouth with his hands and leaning against his table. "Are you in any condition to pilot your Doppel? You have memory loss, don't you?"
"Doppel? Pilot?"
Yinuo was confused. As she read the "duel" part, she thought it was something like a mano-a-mano battle between the two parties. However, the mention of the mysterious weapon called "Doppel" made her brows furrow.
"Dad, as expected, this wouldn't be fair to Quinlan." Melody chimed from the side, the blush on her cheeks now almost faded completely. "His Doppel was pretty much destroyed completely in the last match. It would take him an entire month just to build it up again alone!"
The chairman sighed, nodding his head. "Right. I know. Fortunately, the Saleem family did offer to lend some of their AI-Robot builders to him for a week, until the eve of their battle. If it's with that, then he'll make it in time, right?"
Melody frowned, thought for a bit, and then nodded her head reluctantly.
"If he gained help from bots, then I believe he can make it in time... But that's still too rushed! And there's still the matter of finding the culprit who tampered with—!"
"MELODY!"
The chairman raised his voice, stopping Melody from saying what she was about to say. Her face turned sour and sorry, lowering her head and looking away from Yinuo.
'Culprit? Was there some fishy business going on that led to Quinlan's death?' Yinuo accurately grasped the heart of the matter from the small hints in the father-daughter interaction.
Wanting to find more information about what the two were talking about, Yinuo tried to contact Quinlan through telepathy, but for some reason, a red window appeared before her.
[Action banned! As you caused this situation to happen due to your rash actions, you need to fix everything with your own hands.]
[Telepathy Blocked! You can't initiate contact with Quinlan Gaudin until the Emergency Quest is completed.]
"..."
Yinuo's face paled.
She had no idea about what the two were talking about, and from the flow of their conversation, it looked like she needed to fix some weapons before the duel could even be established. With the quest forcing her to go along with the duel, she was unsure of what to do.
"Quinlan..." Melody mumbled, her face filled with worry.
As if she'd gathered all her courage, she took a powerful step forward, exerting herself against the chairman, her father.
"Dad! I want to help Quinlan repair his Doppel! H-He doesn't have any memory other than his name, after all. Without someone to remind him of what to do, it's impossible to repair his Doppel at all!"
The chairman's frown deepened even further, causing his face to look extremely scary from a bystander's point of view. The nurse was even shaking slightly, even though she was just a tagalong and wasn't really involved in the talks.
His sharp eyes, the same green as Melody's, stared at Yinuo with doubt. "What do you even see in him that you're so head over hee—mmmph!"
"Waaah! Dad! Don't say it in front of him!" Melody, her face turning as red as a ripe tomato once more, jumped to block her father's mouth.
After a short bout of struggling, the chairman finally managed to pry his daughter away, breathing roughly as he panted, out of breath. "Were you trying to kill me?!" He shouted back, but rather than anger, one could detect joy in his voice.
With a stomp, Melody roared angrily at her father. "If you continue what you were about to say earlier, then I really will!"
"Huh?! Even if I don't say anything, with you wearing that boorish necklace all the time, he would—!"
*BAM!*
A swift turn, followed by a sharp kick. The chairman, hit by the heels right on his face, went flying toward the wall, slamming against it and causing the books on the shelf beside him to tumble and fall. The nurse went speechless, seeing the merciless kick that Melody gave her father.
"Chairman!"
The nurse, after returning to her senses, ran to the chairman's side. His nose was bleeding, and his eyes were almost half-closed. However, a smile was plastered on his face, as if enjoying everything that just happened. "A-As expected of my daughter... What a fast kick; I couldn't even block it."
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that her kick was impressive. After all, even Yinuo almost whistled in amusement, seeing the speed and accuracy of her kick. "This girl has quite a great martial talent. I planned to use her earlier, but it looks like training her would be a better choice."
A smile appeared on Yinuo's face for a short instant before she coughed lightly to straighten her face.
"Ahh, then, Princess Melody, can I ask for your help? I do feel like I won't be able to repair my Doppel alone..."