Mid-February, on Valentine's Day in the Southern Continent.
7:15 a.m.
"Come to think of it, today is the day Valentine Priest is executed. Why are all these couples celebrating? Aren't they afraid of being executed too?"
A light-blue-haired girl sat at an open-air café on a street corner. She wrote in her notebook while voicing a question that had puzzled her for a long time.
The Little Reporter had a mana-recording camera hanging around her neck and two press badges pinned to her chest. She sipped her hot coffee as if she were on vacation.
Besides being the Student Union Secretary, Lu Weixier was also a reporter for Hutton Times.
"Senior, aren't there always lots of bouquets in the trash cans every Valentine's Day? Doesn't that count as being executed?"
Kukulkan, whose hair was a deep crimson, sat beside Lu Weixier and asked seriously.
After transferring from the Academic Visiting Group of Yarolan Royal Academy to Ikelite Academy, she had begun learning on-the-job from Senior Lu Weixier. Now, she had also joined the understaffed Student Union and become its newest staff member.
Her elder brother, Kuse, was the eldest son of Earl Pacas, a noble of the Yarolan Kingdom. He had likewise once been the strongest fighter among the third-years at Yarolan Royal Academy, but two years ago, he had suffered an unfortunate accident while visiting Ikelite.
Even now, Kuse hid at home and dared not go outside. Forget fighting—even when a servant from his own household approached, he would be frightened, afraid that someone was about to beat him.
There was no doubt that Sage Institute Dean Loren had been behind the accident and had served as the referee and presiding judge over that arena match.
Although she felt that her brother had brought it upon himself to some