Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 223 (Part 2):
Shortly after the Matesis instructor bowed and left, Instructor Patricia exploded with anger.
“They won’t make the same proposal to Loen? They’re saying they don’t need to be cautious with us!”
It wasn’t to avoid offending Greta, whom they proposed to first.
If that were the case, they wouldn’t have suggested excluding Loen.
Matesis and Loen weren’t in a relationship where they were competing over Greta. In fact, the two academies had a rather good relationship.
In Baden, Matesis and Loen were close, with Greta on the opposite side.
In other words, Matesis judged that they could afford to reveal their strength to Greta, but not to Loen.
They deemed Greta an easy opponent that didn’t require caution.
This was their evaluation of Greta.
It was natural for the faculty, especially the instructors, to feel anger.
Professor Luxen responded calmly.
“Well, our selected members do appear young to them. They probably have information on Loen and thought it was worth preparing for them. But they must have judged that our members wouldn’t pose much of a challenge in a duel.”
Instructor Patricia raised her eyebrows.
“Are you going to speak so calmly about this, Professor Luxen?”
“What can we do? We’ll just have to show them in the tournament. We must not let their opinions affect our students’ pride. Friction in the dorms will only cause fatigue.”
“It might be good to hurt their pride. It could motivate them.”
Instructor Alan spoke up.
“Well, the swordsmanship students are sensitive to ranks and competition. It could be a good stimulus.”
Professor Luxen quietly agreed. His main concern remained Helmut.
*
Needless to say, Matesis Academy didn’t let it go quietly.
The Matesis instructor only explained to their selected members that Greta had refused, and thus the duel didn’t happen.
He didn’t explain the reason.
After all, as competitors, a bit of discord was better than getting along well.
The Matesis swordsmanship department adhered to the logic of power more than any other swordsmanship department.
They resented Greta’s refusal to duel, seeing it as a missed opportunity to learn.
Did Greta think they could compete equally without revealing their strength?
This almost arrogant resentment eventually found an outlet. As long as there were no physical confrontations, they could act freely.
Drawing that line, they moved relentlessly.
The most enthusiastic and diligent in practice among Greta’s selected members was Charlotte.
Even after coming to Renosa, she didn’t expect special treatment.
She wanted to showcase her skills fairly.
She hoped her efforts would pay off in the swordsmanship tournament.
But she also didn’t want to be eliminated early in a disgraceful manner.
Thus, Charlotte did everything she could and hoped for luck.
If she met a championship contender in the first round, the chances of being eliminated would be high. So all she could do was hope the draw wouldn’t turn out that way.
She had at least a minimal belief that Michael wouldn’t intentionally rig it.
The instructors didn’t hide their high expectations of her.
She received encouragement constantly. It was different from the absolute expectations on Helmut.
After all, being a first-year selected participant wasn’t something that could happen by chance alone.
Charlotte had skill, talent, and diligence. The instructors hoped she would perform well in the swordsmanship tournament.
Expectations grew.
To meet these expectations, Charlotte arrived early at the training ground.
She wasn’t given the privilege of a private training ground.
Renosa could only provide a temporary location, so they couldn’t give her that much preferential treatment.
Each academy was given a spacious shared training ground.
However, someone was already there today.
Charlotte stopped when she saw two Matesis Academy members practicing swordsmanship in the center of the training ground.
At that moment, she didn’t suspect they had any other intentions.
“Excuse me, this is the training ground allocated to Greta Academy.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Matesis members Robin and Taren greeted Charlotte calmly. She responded calmly.
“Please move to the training ground allocated to Matesis Academy.”
However, they didn’t leave willingly.
“Sorry, but this training ground is more comfortable. Our training ground over there is a bit uneven because of intense practice yesterday.”
“Since we arrived first, we’d like to use this one.”
“That’s nonsense.”
Charlotte looked at them in disbelief. She had a bad feeling.
“Understand. We’ve already warmed up, and moving is a hassle.”
“We’re in a hurry. We arrived later than expected, so we need to train quickly.”
Robin and Taren smiled and conversed nonchalantly.
Their expressions didn’t seem flustered or apologetic.
Charlotte firmly declared,
“That won’t do. Please move. Otherwise, it will escalate into an issue between academies.”