Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

“Aria, you…”

I trailed off, feeling an inexplicable chill. I wasn’t sure what I had just witnessed. Could Aria really smile like that? It didn’t suit her usual image at all.

“Yes? What’s the matter, Mira?” Aria, now with her usual innocent and overly bright expression, tilted her head in genuine confusion.

For a moment, I thought I might have imagined it. Aria looked so pure now that I almost believed I had been mistaken.

‘…It wasn’t a mistake, though.’

I was certain of what I saw. That chilling smile on her innocent face. The wide grin and eyes curved like crescent moons. The unsettling aura that had emanated from her.

That moment wasn’t a figment of my imagination—

“Mira, are you alright? You look pale. Are you feeling unwell?” Aria suddenly leaned in, almost touching my lips. I could smell her unique scent mixed with her breath, and I instinctively moved back a bit.

Had she come any closer, our lips would have touched. The distance had been that close.

“…No, I’m fine. It’s nothing. I think I just misunderstood something. Sorry for worrying you.”

“Hehe, Mira, come on. You’re not nervous, are you? You seemed fine just a moment ago.” Aria chuckled lightly, showing no sign of the previous eeriness. She was once again pure and beautiful, like the protagonist of a novel.

‘…Did I really see that wrong?’

Maybe I did. It all happened so quickly. Before the chill I felt could dissipate, Aria had returned to her usual self. Perhaps the light had played tricks on me, making her smile seem distorted.

Priscilla and Rosalia always said Aria was the epitome of kindness, to the point of calling her a pushover. Someone like that couldn’t possibly have smiled so chillingly. I tried to shake off the discomfort.

“You know you’re making a really funny face right now, Mira?” Aria laughed, poking my cheek. Her laughter was as bright as the midday sun.

“So, I still haven’t heard your answer. What about the bet? Are you going to do it?”

“…I can. So, I have to bet that Brynhild will win?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You’re not secretly plotting with her to trick me, are you?”

” Brynhild may be mischievous, but she wouldn’t go that far in a situation like this. Despite appearances, she has quite a competitive spirit,” Aria asserted confidently.

I was hesitant, but I accepted her words. Once the bet was accepted, Aria, with her hands clenched tight, assured me that Brynhild would absolutely lose.

“I’m back! I got first place!” Brynhild returned, effortlessly defeating her opponent, just like the scammer she was, with both of us excluded from the odds.

Next was Aria’s fight, which was textbook but decisive. She deployed defensive magic on herself, used light magic to restrict her opponent’s movements, and finished with a powerful blow. While it sounded ideal in theory, implementing it effectively in a real battle was quite challenging. Especially when both opponents were magic users, counterattacks flew back and forth as they both had similar strategies in mind.

However, Aria, the model student, effortlessly executed her plan. Her opponent was completely overwhelmed, unable to win in any aspect of magic—be it power, range, casting speed, or durability of defensive magic.

“…Aria suggested making such a bet?” I confided in Brynhild about the bet while waiting for Aria. I had heard that speaking out could clear misunderstandings.

“Sorry. I’ll stop with the childhood friend thing for today, Aria.”

Aria’s prediction turned out to be accurate. Brynhild declared she would stop with the childhood friend act just for today, her eyes filled with determination.

“Um… then, shall we make a bet too?”

It was the natural course of action, but Aria made another bet with Brynhild. Unlike the vague and ambiguous terms of our bet, their wager involved desserts—a limited edition muffin that only a hundred were sold in a day.

“That muffin wasn’t very tasty.”

I remembered trying a few that Beatrice had bought before; they were overly sweet. Beatrice had asked why I wasn’t eating them if they were so sweet, then proceeded to eat them all herself.

“It’s quite a gloomy feeling to say this as a teacher… but I hope you can control your strength a bit. We should evaluate your opponent fairly, shouldn’t we?”

“I understand.”

Then it was my turn, and as soon as the starting whistle blew, I knocked down my opponent in 0.1 seconds, knowing I would have to ask Professor Jake directly for such a favor.

Returning to the waiting area, I noticed Aria and Brynhild staring at me with eyes as if they were seeing a demon. The gaze of the others around me was similar.

Afterward, the number of students gradually decreased. As the bracket became small enough to progress through one round at a time, students began to emerge who couldn’t showcase their abilities due to exhaustion from consecutive matches.

Even that was included in the scoring criteria. How well could they gauge their own strength and distribute it wisely during the battles? They had to be careful not to exhaust themselves now, only to give an easy win to their next opponents in the next round. Conversely, being too conservative with their energy could result in defeat against weaker opponents.

Of course, those who relied solely on their strength and strategy would be reflected in their scores by the professors. It was all part of the psychological warfare.

“Well, we thought so too, but Aria looks surprisingly fine, doesn’t she?” Brynhild and I naturally agreed, but what surprised us was the fact that Aria was unexpectedly strong in close combat. As the number of opponents decreased, she naturally encountered some who were at a disadvantage, but she effortlessly defeated them all with her skills.

“You got second place in the entrance exam, right? There’s no concept of majors in the entrance exam. To get a high score, you have to excel in various fields.”

Thinking back, Aria always held the top spot in the original work. I momentarily forgot because she was usually so quiet.

“I will now grant a short break! The real battle begins after this!”

Finally, the bracket was down to the last four, and we were given a short break. As everyone predicted, it was Aria, Brynhild, myself, and another girl. The audience took this opportunity to settle their bets, openly showing their joy or disappointment, which the professors completely ignored.

“The break is over! Next up, to the arena!”

I listened to the booming voice as I faced the girl in front of me. She was from another class, so we hadn’t met, but I had heard about her from Priscilla.

She was known as a miser or a money-grubber. Any nickname related to obsession with money applied to her, and her name was Ibrante. She was incredibly talented and skilled but had a poor reputation among the professors because she often skipped classes to focus on making money. The reason for her obsession with money was that her parents were killed by monsters, and she had to take care of her younger siblings by herself.

“Ah, hello! Please take care of me!”

“Sure.”

She seemed timid, but that was an act. Even pretending to be shy was a strategy to fully utilize her status as a beautiful girl. I drew out my sword and, at the signal, charged at her. I deliberately clashed our blades, creating a binding and pretended to struggle in a cross guard.

“Grrr…!”

While I pretended, the force behind her attack was significant, and Ibrante gritted her teeth, trying to maintain her balance. I asked her quietly, minimizing my lip movements.

“I heard you’ll do anything for money. Is that true?”

“Anything… is! Not true…!”

Ibrante answered as she struggled to push me back. I pretended to be pushed back and then quickly grabbed her sword-wielding wrist, pulling her towards me while bending her elbow inward.

As her sword neared her neck, Ibrante quickly released it. Then she drew a dagger from her waist with her other hand and aimed it at my neck. I grabbed her dagger-wielding hand and twisted it.

Our bodies naturally got closer. Simultaneously, Ibrante’s dagger got closer to her own neck.

“Not anything?”

“I don’t do… pervy jobs…!”

Despite struggling to break free, Ibrante answered every question. I wasn’t planning to ask her to do anything indecent anyway.

“That’s good. How about taking a job from me later?”

“Grrr…! What kind of job…?”

Finally, the blade touched her neck. The numbers indicating damage started to rise gradually.

“Killing bad guys.”

“K-Killing is pretty expensive…!”

Despite the situation, she didn’t outright refuse. I applied more pressure. The damage counter sped up significantly, likely because the blade was touching her neck.

“An advance payment of two platinum coins. If you complete the job, you’ll get the same amount again. Plus, fifty gold coins for each head of a bad guy.”

“……!!!!!!”

Ibrante’s eyes widened at the staggering amount. Just as she was about to say something, a warning sound signaled that the inflicted damage had reached its limit, and the distance between us was forcibly widened.

As I listened to the victory announcement, I spoke calmly.

“If you’re interested, come to my club room after the exam. I’ll explain in detail.”

With that, the duel was over. Rosalia approached and took the still-stunned Ibrante away. Although Ibrante didn’t show much during the fight, the professors would handle that.

“Next! Leona Brynhild and Aria April!”

Aria and Brynhild stepped into the arena. Brynhild confidently took her stance, aiming her holy sword.

“Do you think you can win against me, Aria?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Aria smiled and took her stance, pointing her staff. A blue magic circle appeared at the tip of her staff. Brynhild scoffed at the sight.

“Is that your preparation? You know sleep spells don’t work on me.”

However, Aria’s smile remained unchanged.

“Do you know something, Leona?”

“What is it?”

“The holy sword protects its wielder. That protection includes complete immunity to various mental attacks.”

“Of course I know that. So what?”

While they talked, the magic circle completed. Aria, with a pure and beautiful smile, raised her staff.

“But it can’t protect against mental attacks with no malice behind them.”

“Huh…? What…?”

At that moment, Brynhild’s knees buckled. She collapsed onto the arena floor. The audience erupted in murmurs.

“Sweet dreams, Leona. Whether they’re about me or Mira.”

“You… you cheater…”

Brynhild couldn’t finish her sentence before closing her eyes. Soon, the sound of her even breathing filled the arena. Jake, bewildered, declared Aria the winner, and the audience’s murmuring grew even louder.

“See? I kept my promise, Mira.”

Aria smiled brightly.

“Now it’s just the two of us.”