-721- Those aren't my companions

The situation that followed was basically as Rozen had suspected. Even though the Walpurgis Night continued, one by one, the participants were executing their right not to participate, resulting in most of the following Walpurgis Nights having no participants.

In the academy, students could only see that day after day, there was only one person, Veyron, who would enter the stage and carry out standby duties. The rest of the participants seemed to have disappeared entirely.

The Walpurgis Night had entered this somewhat eerie situation.

"What's going on exactly?"

"Are they all preparing not to participate anymore?"

"Are they that afraid of Fimbulvetr's Winter and Tyrant Rex?"

"Even if that's the case, shouldn't there be someone coming out to carry out standby duties besides Last One?"

"Who knows."

"Could it be that these people have already conspired to not participate at all and are waiting until Marshal enters the stage?"

"Then it's going to be a real spectacle."

People speculated one after another, making the Walpurgis Night seem to enter a period of calm, but the lively atmosphere in the academy only increased, becoming even more noisy.

Under these circumstances, night after night passed.

As a result, over a dozen nights went by, and during each Walpurgis Night, there was still only Veyron carrying out standby duties, and each time, he would leave after waiting for an hour, showing no intention of initiating a battle, only impatience on his face.

The people in the academy were one by one watching the Walpurgis Night, curious about how it would develop next.

Especially those with sharper perceptions seemed to have noticed something unusual and were increasingly paying close attention to the Walpurgis Night.

And so, a full half month passed.

Until the day when it was Rosenberg's turn to enter the stage, the opposing side showed no hurry to participate. Instead, they executed their right not to participate, delaying the Walpurgis Night by one more day.

If it were anyone else, facing such a situation would likely have already caused their mental state to become imbalanced, right?

However, this might be Rosenberg's objective.

But it was only for that one day.

The next day, people higher ranked than Rsenberg would enter the stage.

On this day, Rozen couldn't delay any longer.

In other words, today marked the beginning of the long-awaited battle.

"It sure is lively."

When the Walpurgis Night arrived, Rozen, along with Yaya, descended to the battlefield and finally reentered the arena of the Walpurgis Night.

Looking around, Rozen noticed that tonight's audience was particularly large, and most of them were high-ranking students.

"It seems like smart people have finally noticed the abnormality in the Walpurgis Night."

Rozen made this evaluation.

In other words, someone had finally discovered Rosenberg's plan.

They must have confirmed that tonight's Walpurgis Night would finally start with a long-awaited battle, right?

Otherwise, why would there be so many spectators tonight?

Rozen even spotted familiar faces in the VIP seats.

"Rozen-sama!"

In the VIP section, Hinowa appeared and waved to Rozen. Her pretty face had a hint of blush, showing a mixture of joy and excitement.

"That guy really degraded to 85th place?"

"I thought that was just a rumor."

Subaru and Mutsura stood behind Hinowa, performing their duties as bodyguards while looking at Rozen's entrance, one with a displeased expression and the other with surprise.

Before this, except for the opening ceremony on the first night, Hinowa, Subaru, and Mutsura hadn't come to observe the Walpurgis Night. As a result, they didn't know about Rozen's voluntary downgrade and what had happened during these past Walpurgis Nights.

It wasn't until today, when they confirmed that Rozen would be entering the battle, that the three of them finally left behind various tasks to come and watch.

"Even though it's a bit ruthless, our main concern right now should be our clan."

"Although Subaru's words sound somewhat heartless, I also think we should see what's going on with our clan right now."

Subaru and Mutsura spoke to Hinowa like this.

But Hinowa didn't listen at all.

"Our clan has Grandmother there, so it'll be fine," Hinowa said firmly. "Recently, Hinowa has had very little contact with Rozen-sama due to family matters. Tonight, Rozen-sama will face a formidable enemy, and no matter what others say, I, Domon Hinowa, must be here to witness it."

Hinowa was determined in this way.

"Why is it always that guy!?"

Subaru couldn't help but feel envious when he saw that Rozen was the only one left in Hinowa's eyes. If the situation were different, he might have wanted to punch Rozen.

"Just accept your fate, Subaru. You've been losing to Rozen since you were a kid, after all."

Mutsura patted Subaru on the shoulder with a somewhat comforting tone.

On the other hand, Hinowa, who was looking at Rozen entering the stage, muttered quietly.

"I hope 'that' will be of some help for Rozen-sama."

These words were unheard by both Subaru and Mutsura.

Of course, Rozen hadn't heard any of this either.

Now, Rozen stood in the arena, basking in the attention of the entire audience and looking ahead.

Yaya stood a step away from Rozen, her expression equally serious.

The reason for their seriousness was that a girl had entered with a servant ahead.

"Look!"

"She's finally entered!"

"Isn't that 'Elf Speeder'?"

"It looks like there will be a battle tonight, after all!"

The students in the audience seats became excited.

It was Alice's grand entrance.

This girl, who had only briefly crossed paths with Rozen, now greeted him with a warm smile, exuding a friendly atmosphere as she walked in Rozen's direction.

On the other hand, Shin followed behind her, maintaining his silence, his face adorned with an almost perfect smile, resembling a flawless butler.

The two of them approached Rozen.

"We meet again, Arneet."

This was Alice's friendly greeting.

Her words continued:

"Do you like the gift I gave you?"

Alice spoke as if she had indeed presented a gift to Rozen.

Rozen remained indifferent but replied, "Since we've rarely managed to create a military formation, why don't you enter with your companions?"

Alice raised an eyebrow and then smiled.

"Those aren't my companions," she said, her smile undiminished. "I don't have companions; we're just using each other to achieve our goals."

It was clear that this girl wasn't just saying it casually. Alice seemed to consider this her life's creed and had acted accordingly. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone so far as to impersonate Cedric.

If this deception were exposed, both the Academy and the Granville family would show her no mercy. Even with the Bernstein family's support, Alice would be in deep trouble.

To have the audacity to do such a thing demonstrated just how daring and perhaps even reckless she was.

With all this in mind, Rozen had one question he wanted to clarify.

"Why are you targeting me?" Rozen finally asked.