Volume 2 Chapter 62 - Overview of the Olsyvia Academy’s Student Associations (2/2)

If he had lost to one of the girls from the Rose Society, he could stand it as everyone was wealthy and it just happened that the Rose Society was wealthier, but he wouldn’t be able to forget the shame he felt after losing to Bellina. Bellina had already left but she had left quite the impression on Carlos, who was already plotting how to get revenge on her.

Bella had already left the school building, as after the ranking for the entrance-level nobles was confirmed, the next event was a banquet. Bella didn’t have much interest in this banquet, as all it was really was just a continuation of the ‘business’ that had been taking place before the start of the auction.

Bella didn’t like enjoy that kind of atmosphere and she also knew that now wasn’t the time for her to confront the Golden Legend. After Bella left, the members of the Rose Society quickly followed her out the door as they also didn’t like the atmosphere inside.

Bella didn’t know yet that Carlos had already let his imagination have its way with her quite a few times already if she hadn’t left Carlos would probably have put some strange things into her wine.

“Bella-nee, the people here are so strange! Why are they so interested in one of my failed experiments, yet no one wants the thing that I succeed in making? I don’t understand…:”

【Origin of Plagues] Betia had a confused look on her face as she asked Bella a question that she had been holding in since ever since they had left the reception hall. The ‘Elixir of Life’ that had appeared earlier was one of her failed attempts at creating some sort of poison. Betia didn’t only know how to create poison, she was also able to create such things as the ‘Elixir of Life’, but the ingredients that she used to make it were all incredibly poisonous by themselves. Betia herself didn’t actually know that she was creating ‘Elixir of Life’, but some more poison, it was up to Mia who coordinated with her to create it so that the ‘failed’ product of Betia’s creation was this ‘Elixir of Life’. Betia still had yet to find out why her experiments always failed when she worked with Mia.

Bella couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth to the uncontrollably sinister loli, that her successful creations were basically all poisonous, and ones that could wipe out entire continents at that too, it was only natural that they weren’t widely welcomed!?

___

Olsyvia Academy’s northern branch, some distance from the main office building of the Rose Society located within the Filomina branch’s school grounds.

Within the Olsyvia Academy, apart from the shared public spaces like school buildings, living spaces like student and teacher dormitories as well as the teachers’ offices. The rest of the academy was divided into many pieces of land, each of which was managed by a student association. The student association could do basically whatever they wanted within their territory as long as it didn’t break any of the academy’s rules, and it was one of the most important determining factors for an association’s performance grades.

Based on the prosperity, location, and size of their territories, the student associations would be able to obtain a certain amount of association points. At the end of each semester, each branch’s student council would tally up the number of association points that each student association had and decided how much activity funds to give to each association as well if the association had the need to continue existing. Of course, territory couldn’t be taken by brute force or else brawls would breakout everywhere all the time, but that was the only limitation to the expansion of an association’s territory.

Bella was a little shocked when she had first learned of this system, as this was quite literally the alternate world’s version of how gangs ran?! Even though there was a rule that one couldn’t take another’s territory through force, but large-scale fights between student associations were a common occurrence in the Francis and Olivia branches. Due to the excuse of territory changing hands through a ‘martial exchange’, not even the Disciplinary Committee had a good reason to intervene in their brawls.

Under comparison, the competition for territory within the Filomina branch was more peaceful. The association who currently possessed the most territory was naturally the first ranked Brotherhood. Apart from the Church’s St.Louis branch, the Brotherhood held territory in all four other branches. Within The Filomina branch and the neighbouring Euphemia branch, the Brotherhood was the association that possessed the most territory on the school grounds.

In the year leading up to now, the territory of the Rose Society had almost been completely overtaken by the Golden Legend. The last remaining sanctuary for the Rose Society was the building in which their office was located, having lost all else of their previously owned territory.

“Jenny-senpai, this is all that the Rose Society has left?”

“I’m afraid you’re right, Duchess Bellina. The president of the Golden Legend, Carlos has always held something against us and if you don’t join us, we’ll lose this last territory to them within a week. Anyways, you don’t have to call me senpai anymore, I only entered the academy a year earlier than you, but my age is the same as yours. Just call me Jenny.”

“Then you don’t have to add my peerage in front of my name anymore, I don’t care if an outsider calls me Duchess, but you don’t have to do so. You can call me Bella, it’s what all my friends call me.”

“Am I not an outsider? We’ve barely known each other for a day.”

“Do you think that you’re an outsider? Jenny, I think that we were brought together by fate~”

“You sure are an interesting girl, Bella. I think that it the right decision to let you join us. Let’s go, I’ll introduce you to the other sisters of the Rose Society.”

Bella and the others followed Jenny towards the Rose Society’s main and only office. From a distance, they were able to see a bunch of students with an armband that the image of gold coins gathered around the building. These students blocked the Rose Society’s path to the outside world, even though they couldn’t stop the Rose Society’s members from entering and exiting their territory, they could stop anyone who was delivering articles for daily use to the association from doing so, after a while the Rose Society would be forced to abandon that place after they could no longer keep the area running.

This was something that the Golden Legend had done many times and had always succeeded, using it to annex large swathes of territory originally belonging to the Rose Society, now they were already perilously close to the last sanctuary of the Rose Society.

“What are you all doing here? You’re blocking our path.”

“Duchess-sama, we’ve just rented out the lower level to enjoy some tea, I don’t think that this goes against any academy rules!”

Jenny could only helplessly pull on Bella’s arm and signal with her eyes for Bella to follow her and leave. The member of the Golden Legend who spoke had a devious smile on his face, seemingly confident in the fact that Bella wouldn’t dare to do anything to her. This was the Filomina branch academy for nobles, and a duchess like Bella wouldn’t publicly use force and beat him.

“Oh alright, but all of you better finish your tea, or else none of you will be able to leave~!”

Bella followed Jenny into the building after leaving behind some words that no one understood and some rather confused Golden Legend members. None of them noticed that Betia, the toxic loli, had secretly poured some strange powder into their tea under the cover of Noesha’s dimensional wall…