This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

The night the match ended, the students were immediately sent back to Moonlight Marsh and then off to their homes to continue winter break. The efficiency was almost frightening.

Only Rita was kept behind. She hadn't even had time to dig up any winter snow before GodDraw77 brought her to the principal's office.

In her hands, she clutched two tiny comets identical to her soul fire—one crimson, one azure. Both irregular, radiant spheres glowed brightly in the night, reminding her of that fat moon in Wrathful Moon.

They were what remained after the beams from the individual and fun matches had transformed at the end of Divine Game. She still had no idea what they did.

She landed lightly on treetops. This was her first time visiting the principal's office, and to her shock, it sat at the very top of the Moonlight Forest's great tree.

In an instant, Rita's career plans shifted—forget becoming a teacher at Moonlight Marsh, she wanted to be the principal.

As they neared the flower-shaped nest surrounded by clouds, she couldn't hold it in anymore and said to the figure walking beside her, "Don't you have to call my parents for this? Some things you could just discuss directly with me and my parents."

GodDraw77 glanced at her with a smile. "She's already here."

Rita tensed immediately.

She had a rough idea of the consequences if her dangerous skill had been discovered—at worst, a temporary suspension. She'd be back in August to go straight into fourth year.

Moonlight Marsh wouldn't rewrite its rules for her, but they also weren't stupid enough to throw away a third-year student who had just won two Divine Game championships.

And even if she was suspended, she wasn't worried about being left without a school—at least thirty-nine principals had already expressed interest in taking her in.

But thinking about Lightchaser… that made her uneasy.

During past breaks, Lightchaser's tolerance limit was about one month. Near the end, she'd toss Rita to a shadow clone and make her spar with it.

When Rita had first followed Lightchaser away from Gilane, it had been an adventure—arenas, sneaking into noble manors, working at the Burrowbug Tavern. At first, she thought it was all some kind of elite curriculum.

Years later, she saw through it—this was just Lightchaser's way of slacking off.

As long as she kept a skill monitoring her at all times, she could dump the kid somewhere and go live her own carefree life.

She admitted she had learned a lot from those "courses," but her favorite lessons were always the ones she picked up on the road from the Burrowbug Tavern to Garbage Street.

The only problem was that the road was too short… She'd deliberately fly slowly, and sometimes Lightchaser would humor her and walk at an easy pace—until inevitably speeding up, because she thought standing still on Asaein's streets was idiotic.

Rita could always tell how happy Lightchaser was at the start of term. This time, if she really had to go home until August, she didn't know if Lightchaser would be angry.

Her theft skills hadn't been discovered, but… [Moment of Reversal], the one she'd never told Lightchaser about, had caused trouble.

"You look like you've got something weighing on you," GodDraw77 said.

"A little… Do you think Lightchaser would want to keep a very well-behaved prodigy kid around while working and having fun?"

"I think she would not." GodDraw77 paused, then added, "You could always consider switching to a teacher who does want a prodigy kid tagging along."

"…What was that pause supposed to mean?"

A third voice cut into the conversation, sharp-edged even when quiet.

"What she means is, sometimes you're a real headache."

Rita turned to see Lightchaser, leaning against the flower house doorway in brand-new leather armor. The tree-top wind whipped her black cloak into the air, nearly twisting it into a rope.

Her tension vanished instantly. She lit up and flew over. "You really came? Did you see me win? Two! Third year—two championships!"

"Not bad," Lightchaser said. "If you weren't taking the second half of third year off, I'd call it a perfect match."

Rita froze.

GodDraw77 said gently, "You can leave her with me."

Lightchaser gave a short laugh and flicked her eyes toward GodDraw77 before grabbing her apprentice by the back of the collar and hauling her into the principal's office.

From the outside, it looked like a flower house. Inside, it was a tranquil paradise.

The Moonlight Marsh principal, Mistake, was lying by a lakeshore, chewing on a petal.

Beside him was a stone slab holding a pot of flower tea and several cups, with a simple cushion nearby.

Lightchaser set her student down, sat back on the cushion, and picked up right where she'd left off.

"Taking next term off is fine, but there has to be compensation. It was the school's oversight not catching her dangerous skill, not her fault. Letting a promising kid fall half a year behind her peers—it's only right to make up for that."

Mistake said, "I didn't say there'd be no compensation, but isn't fifty-five million gold a bit much?"

GodDraw77 and Rita: …

They both had the same thought—this was probably the exact amount she owed Wail.

This was going better than Rita had dared hope. Not only no punishment, but compensation?

The elf and the unicorn haggled for a while before Lightchaser finally relented. "Besides the Divine Game champion rewards, give her a unicorn's blessing as a suspension bonus."

Mistake agreed. He looked at Rita with warm eyes. "Child, your performance in Divine Game was excellent. I'm proud of you. What reward do you want?"

"Three-point-one million gold," Rita said without hesitation.

GodDraw77 and Mistake: …

Lightchaser turned her head toward the lake and stared as if something fascinating had appeared there.

In the end, the unicorn gave up on conversation entirely. He set fifty SSS-grade scrolls on the ground and let the student pick two as her prize.

Rita noticed the effect of her [Refuse Cold Violence] skill kicking in… but didn't care. She thanked him and happily dove into the pile.

Sitting cross-legged beside Lightchaser, GodDraw77 poured herself a cup of tea and sighed. "After all this time, one championship still only gets one skill reward."

Lightchaser looked away from the lake. "It's been ages since Moonlight Marsh got a championship, and this time she brought back two. The reward should've been upgraded."

"This is the upgrade," Mistake replied. "These are all top-tier SSS-grade skills."

Ten minutes later, Rita finally picked two scrolls.

She flew back to Lightchaser with them, holding them out. "What do you think of these?"

Without even glancing, Lightchaser flicked them back with two fingers. She was about to say, "Can't handle such a small decision yourself?" when she noticed GodDraw77 shift slightly in the corner of her eye. She snatched the scrolls back.

"Alright, let the teacher take a look."

GodDraw77: … She had only been reaching for the teapot.