*Buzz*
Vaan's SIC vibrated,
Just like Professor Levander said, the details of tomorrow's challenge were updated on his SIC.
*Buzz*
While Vaan was reading all the details of the challenge, his SIC vibrated again.
"V-Vaan…"
Suddenly, Elara called out.
Vaan turned towards her, and Elara pointed at her SIC, Vaan noticed another page that was opened up.
"Is that an Article?"
He questioned as he narrowed his eyes.
As an invention created by the Magic Engineering Division of the Agresia Academy, the SIC wasn't just a random Identification Card that was given to every student.
It served countless other purposes and Articles was one of them.
These Articles were published by the Media Division, different students belonging to different clubs were part of this Division, and the clubs had different levels of popularity depending on the quality and timing of different posts they published.
The more 'following' a club had, the more 'reach' its Articles had.
It was similar to news channels broadcasting news articles on modern Earth, the better the channel, the higher its reach.
Anyways, the SIC allowed the students to read these Articles, some Articles even required Academy Points to be read, but that was a topic to be talked about at a different time.
This was the 1st day of the Academy, so students didn't expect there to be any new articles, that expectation, however, turned out to be false.
Right after Vaan received the Details of his tournament, an Article was published by one of the most popular Article clubs in the entire Academy titled, 'The Vesta's hope against a growing swordsman.'
"The Vesta's Hope, huh…
They are making it quite dramatic."
Vaan chuckled as he read the article that was published on his and Elara's SIC.
Just from the title alone, he could tell how it was worded. He continued reading and just as he expected,
It first talked about how the Vesta Family lost their House before then proceeded to talk about the achievements the Vesta Students of this generation have made so far, compared it to the Vesta Students of the past Generation, students like Astra, Risia, and Draven.
The article indicated how the new generation of the Vesta Family is lacking compared to the past Generation Vesta Family and then they finally mentioned how Vaan joined the Academy and instantly challenged a swordsman to a duel.
It printed him like a 'Hero', the 'Hope' of the Vesta Family, and although it may sound like the article was rooting for him,
Vaan was 100% sure that the one who wrote this letter worked for the Swords Division.
The Article even contained all the details of the Challenge, the details that he had officially received just now,
There is no way a mere club run by a group of students would have the power to get their hands on these details this quickly.
The only person who came to Vaan's mind was Professor Levander.
Although he didn't have any evidence, Vaan was sure that she was the one behind this article, she was the one who went to this club and told them to publish this article.
Yes, he was framed as a hero, however, Vaan could tell that it was only done to place him to a certain level before pushing him to the point where he would never stand back again.
Making it the hope of the Vesta Family and then crushing him in front of all, it would not only humiliate him but the entire Vesta Family.
It was a way to 'Mark' the fall of the Vesta Family.
'All Seeing Eye huh…'
Vaan remembered the name of the Club that published this Article.
To go against the Vesta Family in such a way, even if they were ordered to do it, it was not something Vaan could ignore.
'The Family's situation is worse than I thought…'
Vaan noted. No power in the outside world would ever dare to pass such comments against the Vesta Family, even if they were forced to do so, in the Academy however, for an article like this to be published…
'So that's why mother sent me here…'
A grim look appeared on Vaan's face.
Seeing that expression, Elara teared up. "All of this happened because I used Man-"
She was about to blame herself but Vaan simply placed his hand on her head and,
"You have a bad habit of forgetting the things I say to you, it is quite annoying."
"B-But-"
"Don't worry, whatever they are doing is good for us.
They want to paint me as the Hope of the Vesta Family, don't they?
I'll turn that into a reality.
I'll become the hope.
A Hope that they will never be able to crush in their entire life.
A Hope that will crush all their Hopes."
A wide smile appeared on Vaan's face.
"But the one you will be fighting is a swordsman, you have never fought a swordsman before, won't you need time and experience to plan the battle out?" Elara questioned.
"Heh, the only thing I need to do right now is to get rest."
Vaan chuckled as he then grabbed Elara's hand and,
"Let's go to our room, Elara. It was a long day so I was quite tired. I need to be with you so that I get proper rest."
"B-But it is only evening…"
Elara complained.
"As I said, it was a long day, I am still not used to such a hectic schedule, so I am much more tired than I thought, aren't you the same?"
"I-It was hectic but I still think we should train instead of…"
"We can't overtrain, I need to be in the best shape for tomorrow's battle."
"But we haven't even trained, how are we on the overtraining part already…"
"Don't think too much, just come with me."
In the end, since he couldn't think of any other excuse, Vaan directly picked Elara up like a princess and walked into their room.
"A-At least let me change my clothes…" Elara requested, her face was red because of how embarrassed she was.
"Right, the uniform…"
Vaan realized.
"We should freshen up before we rest, I agree." He nodded as he then turned towards the bathroom.
"N-No!"
This time, Elara's resistance was stronger than Vaan expected, unknown strength filled her body as she jumped away from his arms, rushed into the bathroom, and locked herself in.
"I-I will do i-it alone!"
"Tsk…"
Vaan sighed in disappointment.
He was trying to act as naturally as he could, but it was too difficult to fool his fiancée. In the end, he just sighed and moved out of the room, walking towards another bathroom.
"You seem quite calm for someone who is about to fight a swordsman."
Just as Vaan was about to open the door of the bathroom, he heard a voice and paused.
Then, a smile appeared on his face as he sighed,
"Should I rather be scared, Father?"
Vaan questioned as he turned around and glanced at Orion.
"Seeing how you don't seem surprised, it seems that you were expecting my arrival."
"I thought you would come at night, but you came here earlier than I expected," Vaan replied.
"Do you have a plan?" Orion questioned. "You didn't accept their challenge out of pure arrogance, did you?"
"Do you truly look down on your son to that extent?" Vaan questioned back.
"This is the Agresia Academy, Father.
I do not have absolute power on my side here, I will not act recklessly, please trust me."
"Your actions seem quite reckless to me," Orion commented.
"First you went against your own Professor, then you baited him to your side using Elara's status as the Star Student, then you even went as far as raising your voice against the members of the Disciplinary Hall and threatened the Academy using the Family Status,
If this is not reckless, I do not know what is." n)/0In
"Everything did settle down eventually, did it not?
I even became the Hope of the Vesta Family, doesn't that put me in a better position compared to other Prospective Heirs?"
"You are not thinking about the Battle of Heirs at a time like this, are you?" Orion narrowed his eyes.
"It would be quite disappointing if you were, son."
He commented.
No matter what, the Battle of Heirs was the Vesta Family's own matter, if Vaan was thinking about something like this when he was facing the rest of the world… then he was still mature enough to come to the Academy.
"Father, Alex is a 3-Star Swordsman, he is not someone who can be my opponent, especially if he stands 100 meters away from me in tomorrow's duel.
Don't you think I should use this opportunity to take complete control over the Family members inside the Academy instead?
My opponent right now is weak, but the same won't be true when I face Declan Dawncrest and Isabel, the two Star Students of the Swords Division.
The Dawncrest Family is targeting the Vesta Family, they were the reason why we lost the Vesta House, and now that I am here, they won't sit back and do nothing,
They will come for me and at that time, I would need the Vestas to stand behind me and it won't happen if we are still busy fighting amongst each other to gather as much support as we can.
We need a leader who can unify our strength, I aim to become that leader before I face the Dawncrest Family, and now, is the best time and opportunity to do that."
Vaan spoke with a solemn look on his face, an expression completely different from the usually careless and easy-to-go Vaan.
