---

136. Nebia Chromag (5)

My mouth hung open at the scene that just unfolded. It was a stunning situation indeed.

Right now, it’s one of the trials that occurs when playing as Mirona.

Running in the election for president, she appeals to her charm during the festival by distributing cookies.

She wants to be acknowledged as the daughter by her father, the Emperor. Motivated by this desire, she recklessly entered the race, but through it, she learns about connections.

Classmates, loyalty, cooperation, friendship.

All the things she had never dared to dream of within the palace were right here in this academy.

Though there were some kids trying to undermine her title as princess, the kind treatment she received from the students was sweet.

They taught her various disciplines without knowing anything, and even when she accidentally spilled water and soaked a book, they didn’t harshly scold her.

This is what building friendships with classmates is all about.

Nebia was at a stage of happiness, realizing how great school life could be.

‘Is this really where it all ends…?’

Sudden incitement and betrayal.

The shock of discovering that someone she thought was a friend was a spy was quite significant.

‘I don’t want to see blood. I absolutely can’t hurt anyone like last time…’

I just need to shoulder everything myself.

In exchange, the suspicion that I had put parasites in the cookies begins to spread.

The friendships built up until now were about to turn into nothing, and the bright school life was on the verge of crumbling.

“Better to end this without injury?”

Huh?

“What kind of fool do you think I am?”

Suddenly, an unknown girl barged in with a kick.

How should I put it? Her flashy outfit was eye-catching enough to be awkward.

But it wasn’t just her outfit; her words also drew considerable attention.

“Who are you?! How dare you speak to the princess that way!”

“That statement just now is a serious offense!”

The knights, raising their spears cautiously.

Regardless of how Mirona was treated in the palace, a princess is still a princess.

Openly insulting royalty was also a serious crime, so they couldn’t just ignore Nebia.

“What do you plan to do with that broken spear?”

“Eh?”

At Nebia’s lonely remark, the knights felt a sense of unease.

Thinking back, they had completely forgotten that the princess had just severed that spear.

“Ah…”

After a moment of confusion, the knights discarded the broken spear and drew their swords from their waists.

“Anyway, that statement cannot be overlooked!”

“Declare your purpose right now! And surrender peacefully…”

“Alright! Alright! I’ll comply later, just don’t take me in right now.”

What the heck is she saying?

I never expected self-centered Nebia to say something like that.

‘What if she gets caught…!’

『Hey, just a moment, throw yourself in there and you’ll drag me along.』

‘What do you want me to do? If something happens to her, it’ll be a headache for me!’

『Still, it seems worth watching. Just look at Nebia’s eyes, you can tell.』

‘You expect me to trust that?’

『Do you think I’ve eaten more than you’ve lived?』

Even though I didn’t quite trust this snake, she has clearly lived longer than I have.

At the very least, it means she might be more perceptive than me.

And before long, Nebia began to speak again.

“Before that, let me ask you one thing, aren’t you unreasonably feeling wronged?”

“Huh?!”

“Isn’t it a bit irritating for you, uncles, that the princess you serve is about to be unjustly accused?”

It was an irrefutable statement. I didn’t know who she was, but I couldn’t deny what that girl said.

No matter how much status she had, the reality was that Mirona’s influence was low.

Moreover, they were facing the Royal Guard led by a saint.

Since they were equals in power, if they clashed, both sides could be wiped out.

Thus, despite being in an unreasonable situation, the knights merely let out a sigh.

“And what’s worse is the princess. Knowing she’s being unfairly accused and still thinking it’s fine to let it slide?”

“You little brat, how dare you speak like that!”

Despite the knights threatening her and raising their swords again, Nebia showed no sign of flinching.

“Yeah, do whatever you want. At this point, being caught by either side makes no difference for me.”

“….”

The knights were astounded, and I was, too.

I couldn’t understand what gave her the confidence to act like that.

‘What’s with her? It’s not like she has nothing to lose…’

『….』

Muto only smiled, watching silently.

Just then, the ‘slaved one’ who had been sent flying earlier stood up again and approached with heavy steps.

“Was it you who threw me away?”

“….”

He approached while trying to suppress his anger, as his hands trembled at the memory of being struck by an insignificant person.

Usually, he would’ve dragged someone out of sight and severed their limbs, but the ‘slaved one’ endured it and smiled.

“Hahaha! There’s no need to be overly tense, so relax. We are deep-hearted believers. We never resort to useless violence.”

“….”

Nebia maintained her expressionless demeanor but laughed internally.

The Royal Guard, serving under the saint, did not recognize her disguise as the saint.

This meant that the Royal Guard itself had not become followers through formal means after leaving the ‘slaved one’.

But to introduce herself as a ‘faithful believer’…

“Ha ha ha!”

Suddenly bursting out loud laughter, Nebia watched as the friendly face built by the ‘slaved one’ crumpled.

“Don’t embarrass yourself trying to act wise just because of the looks. What kind of nonsense is it to declare yourself a believer?”

“What did you say?!”

“With a dirty mind under a clean facade, insisting you’re a believer. It must be really easy to become a cleric in this world!”

Crunch—

He ground his teeth tightly, blood trickling from his clenched fist.

Initially, he considered just letting it slide for the sake of being observant, but if she persisted, it was a whole different story.

“Do you even know who we are?!”

“I do. The immediate Royal Guard of Saint Nebia. And you’re the leader, Slave Replicant.”

He was surprised to learn that she knew him very well.

If so, then he was aware that his actions would reach Nebia and incur the sect’s judgment.

“Knowing that, you dare kick me? What exactly are you up to?”

Nebia couldn’t help but feel baffled at his words.

No matter how different their voices and appearances were, how could they not recognize the saint’s disguise?

But the reason was simple.

They were merely superficially loyal followers. In reality, they were filled with thoughts of using her.

With no trust whatsoever, how could they communicate properly?

‘Trust…’

Thinking about it made her step on a landmine.

It was as if the word trust she had been denying had just slipped out from her lips.

“How pathetic.”

“What do you mean ‘pathetic’?”

Nebia, who had looked grumpy moments ago, now smiled and said.

“It’s you parasites who spread that around.”

“What?!”

“You thought I couldn’t see through your scheme to pin it on the princess?”

A twitch ran across the Slave Replicant’s face.

His heart raced with the realization he was caught, but he fought to pretend otherwise.

“What are you talking about? The one who made the cookies is the princess. There are witnesses to that!”

The ‘slaved one’ tried to act cool, but his heartbeat was racing unnecessarily.

The witness female beside him was practically trembling.

That sound eavesdropped exceptionally well on Nebia’s ears.

No matter how clean the facade was wrapped, if you could hear their voice, you could tell what lay beneath.

“You’re lying.”

“Lying? Do we have any means to prove we are lying? Who are you anyway?”

“….”

Nebia stepped forward instead of answering.

Taking slow steps, she approached the witness female delicately.

Sensing something wasn’t right, the female began to back away and turned to flee.

As she was about to dash away, Nebia grabbed her wrist and froze her in place.

“Heek!”

“Are you really a witness? Or are you just a spy from Nebia’s Royal Guard?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Did you infiltrate under the Royal Guard’s orders, secretly pouring parasites into the ingredients to pin on the princess?”

The female’s heartbeat sped even further.

Anxious psychologically, she began to babble.

“No! I’m just a member of the Cooking Club who loves cooking… I couldn’t just stand by and watch the princess’ doings with the cookie ingredients…”

“Is that it? You just said, ‘no’ right now?”

Nebia infused a bit of mana into her grip on the wrist.

In that moment, a small tattoo-like mark appeared on her arm, which matched the symbol of the Royal Guard.

“What the hell is this mark? Didn’t you just say you were not part of Nebia’s faction?”

“That…”

“Everyone, see this? This so-called witness is actually a fabrication crafted by these guys. All to sabotage the opposing candidate.”

The symbol caught the attention of the crowd.

Finally, the people began to think and doubt.

“Don’t you think it’s strange how on cue with someone suffering suddenly, they appear with a cure?”

“You… who are you?!”

The slave’s face twisted grotesquely.

He had reached the point where the facade of kindness could no longer be maintained.

“It’s clear you’re not just any ordinary girl, given how you’ve deciphered that mark.”

The Nebia faction secretly marks themselves to discern their allies.

They do this to prepare in case the opposing side engages in the same scheming.

That Nebia discovered this showed she was no ordinary person.

“Yes, you’re correct. Not ordinary at all. Because…”

Ignoring the vile face of the Slave Replicant, Nebia maintained her composure.

Instead, she whispered softly in his ear.

“She’s absolutely insane.”

“…!”

“But you’d better hurry and distribute the cure. Otherwise, your precious saint’s approval ratings are going to plummet, all because of you.”

Upon hearing that, the members of the Royal Guard hurriedly began to distribute the medicine.

They needed to put out the fire of their revealed deeds rapidly.

But their leader, Slave Replicant, had already lost all sense of rationality.

He could no longer make sound judgments.

“You bastard!!”

He generated a razor of mana on the back of his hand and charged at Nebia.

That sharpness was more than enough to pierce her heart.

Yet he couldn’t reach her.

“Cough…! What the hell…?”

Something invisible grabbed the back of his neck.

It felt as if an invisible rope was tightening around his throat.

Muto had wrapped around his neck, but without the ability to sense spirits, it would be invisible to the Slave Replicant.

“Attacking a girl so openly—your so-called honorable Royal Guard’s reputation must truly be a lie!”

“What are you…?!”

I used Muto to pull the Slave Replicant toward me.

Then I glanced around.

Now, what’s good to use?

“Hey! Can I borrow a fishing rod over there?!”

As expected, being in the famous Aligieri, the number of festival spectators was incredible.

And there was surely no chance of finding someone who didn’t know how to fish in a place with rivers connected to the sea.

“Too bad I can’t use the secret blue fishing rod.”

“What?”

“You should consider yourself lucky today.”

With a swift swing, I let loose.

The Slave Replicant took a hit to the face from the swinging fishing rod and flew far away.

He crashed into a big tree, losing a tooth in the process.

That was quite a hit. But if he only ended up like this, I guessed his durability wasn’t just average.

“Boss!”

The Royal Guard members scrambled to check on him.

In the meantime, we slipped away into the park.

It seemed no one was chasing after us.

Although he would probably hunt us down for revenge, with his disguise, it would take him forever to find us.

“You’re quite amazing, thinking of jumping into a flashy political fight related to that power broker.”

“One of those power brokers is me!”

Well, it made sense that a nominal leader wouldn’t let others dictate things without their say.

Of course, it was problematic that they couldn’t recognize his face.

“And when you hurled insults at that saint, that’s self-inflicted karma.”

“….”

Nebia, unable to respond, wore an irritated expression.

Just a moment ago, she had referred to “that saint you all revere,” which was ironic as it directly referred to herself.

Moreover, she would incur significant losses from this incident.

“But are you okay with this? Regardless of form, those are your underlings. If they screw up, the backlash will inevitably fall on you.”

Earlier, Nebia’s faction would have suffered a major loss.

It had become clear that they were the ones who spread the parasites.

Now Nebia’s path to winning was just a few steps farther away.

“I’m just angry.”

“What?”

There Nebia spoke up.

“I’m just irritated that they dare to make moves without my permission. I’m the actual leader, but my voice is unheard, and they call them my subordinates?”

“….”

“That’s what this is about.”

Thinking about her acting in this way when she was supposed to lead, it was astonishing.

She probably would have sought to become student council president even if it meant using underhanded methods.

Just how much of a butterfly effect had been set in motion, she couldn’t imagine.

“Wait a moment!”

It seemed someone was already chasing after us.

I prepared to bolt immediately, but when I saw the face of the person, my legs froze.

“J-just… a word…”

Panting and stumbling was a red-haired girl just managing to catch up to us.

She may look like a clumsy student on the outside, but she was undeniably a princess of the empire.

“What brings you here, Princess Mirona?”

When high-ranking individuals from the country initiate conversation, fear often follows.

However, there was no need to feel that fear with Mirona.

“If you leave without a thank you, that would be disappointing.”

See? It was just a simple reason.

Seeing she was alone, the guards were probably busy handling the situation.

“Is that all it took for you to leave the scene?”

“Yes, at least, can you share your name? If you’re a student like me, maybe we could be in the same class…”

Her typical reaction as Mirona made me admire her.

In contrast, Nebia couldn’t help but burst out in laughter at how ridiculous the situation was.

“Haha, do you not remember just a moment ago when you spoke casually and called me a fool?”

“Eh? That was…”

“Now changing your speech sounds shameless, but you won’t even say that it’s inappropriate?”

She astutely pointed out Mirona’s issue.

It seemed she hadn’t studied imperial governance, which was concerning for a royal.

No matter how heavy the family burden, it was a problem she needed to correct as long as she was a princess.

“If you continue like this, it’ll be tough to survive in that position. No matter how well you wield a sword, if you can’t respond to the behind-the-scenes schemes, it’s all futile.”

It wasn’t an incorrect statement.

Today, due to the unjust situation, her academy life, once like spring, was nearly shattered.

“Seems like anyone these days can stand at the top.”

“Huh?”

“Just like you, princess, and how Nebia manipulates her subordinates like that. All of them are unqualified but walk around with grand titles like princess and saint.”

Yet another audacious remark, but since there was no one around, I felt relieved.

In response, Mirona showed no sign of rebuttal.

Nebia reflected on what she had just said. It truly was an easy world to become a cleric.

“It’s a remarkably easy world to rise to power.”

With those words, Nebia gracefully walked away.

I bowed my head politely and followed her.

The sun was already setting.

Nebia and I emerged from the shadowy alley and headed towards the brightly lit area illuminated by the sunset.

Mirona remained behind, lost in thought in the darkness.

*

What had she just witnessed?

Angela, who had been following them the whole time, could not contain her shock. She had seen everything that Nebia had orchestrated from start to finish.

Could that truly be the untrustworthy saint?

Angela still found it hard to believe.

‘….’

Standing at the boundary where sunset and shadow met, which was the real Nebia?

Surviving as the Academy Scammer.

 

---