135~Fland
: What’s going on?
The cram session that lasted half a day has finished. Everyone was so worn out in the dead of night that Wenfu fell asleep from exhaustion. Only then did they stop, returning to their respective rooms to sleep.
Tillysha didn’t revert back to Dillin. Instead, she went straight to her room as Tillysha to sleep.
Elves require a very short amount of sleep, but their deep sleep is highly restorative. With only five hours until dawn, and an early rise needed for tomorrow, sleeping in an elf body allows for maximum rejuvenation.
When everyone was heading back to their dorms, Aistride glanced at Dillin’s room.
Ever since leaving the classroom this afternoon, Dillin hasn’t appeared again.
Was there something important he needed to do?
Considering tomorrow is the award ceremony where the principal personally takes the stage to award the Crown Team, Dillin does need to make some preparations.
With a thought, Aistride returned to her room and closed the door.
The next morning, before the sky was even light, Tillysha emerged from her room. After her usual routine of tidying her hair and appearance, she went to Dillin’s room. The bed shape showed there was someone beneath the covers.
Tillysha pulled back the blanket to reveal ‘Dillin’ still in his pajamas, eyes closed. Realizing Tillysha had uncovered him, he opened his eyes, sat up, and lifelessly stared at her.
Then, under Tillysha’s watchful eye, he walked to the bedside table, removed his pajamas, and put on the male school uniform that was placed there.
After setting the timer, Tillysha left the room, closing the door behind her, and instructed him to lock it from the inside.
Then she left the Crown Manor.
At eight o’clock, when the time was up, Tillysha returned to the Crown Manor as if she’d just finished her morning exercises. Right at that moment, ‘Dillin’ came down from the third floor.
“Miss Tillysha, are you back from your morning exercise?” Seeing Tillysha taking off her shoes in the entrance, Wenfu came over with short steps, her tail swaying with her movements.
“Yeah, I just took a little walk to wake myself up.” Tillysha was wearing the exclusive female Crown Champion school uniform today – cuffs and hem adorned with luminescent crystals, golden thread roses on her chest and both arms, paired with her platinum white silk hair, dazzling wherever she went.
“Mr. Dillin has come down as well?”
“Yep.” ‘Dillin’ gave a slight nod and smiled at Wenfu. “How could I miss the delicious dishes that Wenfu prepared?”
It was then that Aistride also came down from the third floor.
Princess Filisia went out for morning exercises. That self-disciplined knight princess didn’t even miss her daily training for an early meeting.
The four sat down at a table for breakfast.
Aistride instinctively looked up at Dillin. Due to Dillin waking up late yesterday, they didn’t have breakfast together.
How long has it been since they’ve casually and warmly enjoyed breakfast together like this?
“Huh?” Wenfu blinked her big eyes, looking at Tillysha then at Dillin, then furrowed her brow in deep thought.
“Mr. Dillin.”
“Hmm? What’s the matter?” ‘Dillin’ looked at Wenfu.
“Are you and Miss Tillysha fighting or something?”
“…” ‘Dillin’ and Tillysha both froze for a second.
“Wenfu, why would you say that? I didn’t fight with Mr. Dillin, okay?” Tillysha grinned mischievously.
“But why aren’t you two speaking when you’ve met today?” Wenfu tilted her head.
“…”
These words caught Aistride’s attention and she realized it too.
In principle, Dillin and Tillysha have spent the longest time together and endured hardships for each other during their toughest times. Their relationship shouldn’t be this distant and awkward, right?
“Is there? No, I don’t think so.”
“You definitely are, Miss Tillysha, you didn’t even look at Mr. Dillin when you came in just now.” Wenfu continued worriedly. “Did something upset you?”
“No, just… I think Mr. Dillin and I don’t need greetings, right? He’s used to it, isn’t he?”
At this, ‘Dillin’ nodded along. “I didn’t fight with Tillysha, you don’t need to worry.”
“Well well, is your little head full of nothing but gossip every day? If you focus all your energy on this, no wonder your grades are so poor.” Tillysha playfully tapped Wenfu’s forehead.
“Hm…”
“Just eat already, the award ceremony is coming up soon.”
“Will Princess Filisia be late?”
“Don’t worry, Princess Filisia has a better sense of time than you.”
As they ate, Wenfu ate at a normal pace, while Tillysha and Aistride were the type who appeared to eat slowly, but were actually quite fast.
While washing the dishes, Wenfu noticed the leftovers on Dillin’s plate and looked puzzled.
“Mr. Dillin, did you not like today’s breakfast?”
“Oh, no, I must go.” Saying this, ‘Dillin’ quickly put on his shoes and left.
“No need to worry about him, maybe he’s just nervous about the upcoming grand award ceremony where everyone will be watching.” Tillysha explained.
“Oh, so that’s why?” Wenfu nodded obediently.
“That, Aistride-san, and Wenfu-san, I’ll leave with Mr. Dillin first, alright?”
“Alright.” The two also thought that since Dillin and Tillysha were the main stars of the award ceremony, they needed to arrive early to prepare, so they let them go while they stayed behind to wash the dishes.
“Huff…” On the way to the plaza, Tillysha let out a sigh of relief.
Playing two roles at once was too energy-consuming and full of blind spots and unrealistic details.
Dillin and Tillysha have indeed spent a long time together, but they’ve never actually met, so how would Tillysha know what her normal reaction to seeing Dillin should be?
Taking a look at Dillin walking shoulder to shoulder with her.
No, this Dillin was not the previous puppet Dillin.
This is Tillysha’s new toy, oh no, a newly acquired style.
That day, Dillin spent nearly fifty chips on pool draws, which wasn’t without its merits. Accumulating lots of fragments, these fragments were enough for Tillysha to trade for a completely new high-end puppet.
Tillysha knew from the experience of using low-end puppets in times of lack; they could only provide temporary relief, but their quality was simply not reliable. Not only would they deceive the great ones easily, but even Aistride would get suspicious.
After careful consideration, Tillysha decisively decided to spend all these fragments on a more advanced puppet.
This high-end puppet was exchanged by Tillysha at the expense of all her accumulated fragments. The biggest difference from a low-end puppet was the much more intelligent imitation of aura and behavior.
The original magic cube was more like a kind of illusion spell, with rather shabby body-simulation results. The new version has achieved a qualitative leap, capable of perfectly mimicking every single strand of hair, scent, and even behavior of the copied object.
Of course, it still couldn’t mimic a divine princess, at most imitating ordinary humans without divine authority.
Tillysha had just used her inner memories of Dillin’s daily behaviors to simulate Dillin’s routine, but had to switch back to the control mode to answer Wenfu’s questions, playing two roles.
Hopefully, today’s award ceremony will go smoothly.
It was said that this year’s award ceremony was a little special, with the principal conducting the awarding personally. Tillysha didn’t know if this idea was Didelai’s sudden thought, but once the old man wanted to play, she couldn’t do much about it.
She only hoped that this high-end puppet wouldn’t be exposed at a glance.
This is exhausting.
Neither Tillysha nor Dillin’s characters liked these crowded, noisy scenes, and probably Aistride wouldn’t either. If she didn’t have to go, Tillysha would rather stay at home reading a book and petting her cat.
The Coleman Plaza was located in the central area of the academy, adorned with a large crystal and cast from imperfect marble that was deliberately selected for its flaws. The square, with white stone as the main tone, formed this large circular square. Gigantic tree branches like arms embraced the entire square, casting shade and filtering light through scattered spots.
Under the shade of the tree, the stone pillars of the square were adorned with colored ribbons. Students entered the plaza with their various magnetic cards, voices overlapping with the sound of footsteps.
Looking at the scene, it seemed as if everyone had successfully found their formal partners and were getting along quite well.
The annual freshmen celebration and the Crown Champion Award Ceremony were events in which all teachers and students had to participate.
A certain half-elf instructor looked as elegant as ever, dressed in formal attire today.
In previous years, his appearance on stage would usually trigger screams and praise from many female students.
Fland would look composed with a calm expression, pretending to be above all the fuss, showing himself as pure and detached from the world.
But who would have thought that when it was his turn to arrive on stage this time, there was absolutely no response from below, as if no one even noticed him, which made Fland quite annoyed and confused.
Oh well, never mind.
His mood was good today since he just got back from a business trip, and he had carefully examined his posture looking into the mirror multiple times upon waking. He flaunted his half-elf ears, looking superior as ever.
He didn’t know who the Crown Champion of this year was.
Only having returned to campus this morning, he didn’t keep his ears open much. He didn’t bother to ask either. Anyway, whoever was this year’s Crown winner didn’t matter much; everyone would still have to show him a bit of respect, right?
He was a mentor with elvish bl**d after all, incomparable to those with regular identities.
With his noble status, he never needed to look at anyone’s face, it was always others who had to gauge his expressions.
Pacing gracefully (though his steps might be a little more self-important than usual), he walked to the mentor seats with a glass of red wine cup in his hand and didn’t even glance at the other mentors.
In his eyes, the only worthwhile people to talk to were the elves from the Elf Clan; the others weren’t even worth a second glance.
However, a more unusual scene unfolded.
Fland sat down and noticed that no one had greeted him voluntarily??
Those younger mentors usually flattered him a lot. Why was it so different today??
Fland glanced at those mentors and saw their focus was entirely on the venue.
“Miss Brice, isn’t this year’s Crown Cup Award Ceremony a bit unusual?” Realizing he was sitting next to somewhat familiar Blyth, Fland asked in a polite tone.
“Hmm? Mr. Fland, don’t you know? This year is different, the principal himself will personally present the award to the champion,” Brice replied.
“The principal himself will come??” Fland immediately widened his eyes as if the glass of wine in his hand didn’t even matter. “Miss Brice, are you sure??”
“If you don’t believe me, you can ask others.” Brice seemed to have little patience for Fland and responded casually.
The principal personally awarding the champion was unprecedented.
Unless…
Oh.
Fland suddenly displayed an expression of understanding.
He got it.
Princess Aistride won the championship, so the principal came to personally present the award.
That’s natural, if the princess won, it would be impolite for the elder, himself, not to show up, right?
Fland understood everything.
The circular audience seats gradually filled up, and with the solemn announcement, the award ceremony officially began.
“Third place of the Crown Cup, the Crown Princess of the White Glass Kingdom, Filisia Zhesha!”
Amid roaring applause, Filisia, adorned with her streaming double ponytail hairstyle and in her school uniform, walked out from the stage gate at a slow and elegant pace, stepping onto the center stage together with her former team.
Huh, Filisia was naturally no match for Princess Aistride. That was normal.
“Second place of the Crown Cup, the princess from the Elf Forest, Aistride Aureniam!”
Just as he said…. Huh??
Fland wondered if he had heard wrong.
Second place??
What happened? How could Princess Aistride be in second place? Was there a mistake?!
Looking at the elves walking on stage with Aistride, Fland suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.
“Miss Brice, what’s going on??” Fland became restless, pointing at the stage center.
“What’s going on? Mr. Fland, if you don’t specify, how am I supposed to know what you’re referring to?”
“Aistride-sama, why is she in second place?? Who’s the first place?? The Crown Champion undoubtedly rises by stepping on the first and second places, but Fland couldn’t figure out who had such capability to step over Aistride and claim the final throne.
“Hmm? Oh, as you’ve just returned, it’s normal that you don’t know.” Realizing something, Brice’s tone towards Fland gained a hint of mockery. “Mr. Fland, why don’t you guess who the Crown King of this year is?”
“Miss Brice, don’t joke, there are so many students this year, how could I possibly guess?”
“No, if it’s you, you would surely guess correctly.” Brice smiled sweetly towards Fland. “She’s one of the few students you know.”
“Miss Brice, what are you talking about, among the students I know, there’s no one apart from Princess Aistride capable of winning the championship…”
“The final moment! Let us congratulate the champion student who will forever be inscribed in the history of Coleman Academy, battling fiercely, moving forward without hesitation, and invincible – Tillysha!” Before Fland could think any more, the announcer’s voice resonated throughout the square…
