Science/Magic

Half an hour later, the entire club but Diodora was reunited in the meeting hall on the eleventh floor.

"What club challenged us?" Bloed asked.

"It's called [Gathered Feathers]." Liu Ying replied. "Ranked 124. It's a relatively famous club outside the top 100."

"And what kind of challenge was selected?"

The girls looked at each other with serious expressions.

"… Tower Conquest. It's scheduled for tomorrow." Regina was the one that replied.

Bloed fell silent.

Tower conquest was one of the most popular challenge modes. In this kind of challenge, both clubs would compete using their headquarters as their bases.

The objective of the game was to invade the tower of the enemy and destroy the core inside it. The first club to destroy the enemy core was the winner.

The clubs couldn't hide the core; and instead, they must put it in a visible place on the first floor of their base. In other words, once the base is invaded, defeat is almost certain.

It was a rather simple game, but it tested the strength, strategic ability, and teamwork of both clubs. Due to it, it was very popular.

However–

"Tower Conquest is very disadvantageous for us." Liu Ying said with a smile. "In this kind of game, clubs with bigger numbers have the advantage. Meanwhile, our club only has nine members without including Regina, and one of them won't participate in the game."

Bloed nodded and tapped his forehead a pair of times, deep in thought.

"Do any of you knows any information about the club?" Bloed asked.

"I-I do." Prince Calisto raised his hand quickly. "I-I told my men to investigate the clubs when I learned we would be participating in the War of Clubs, and [Gathered Feathers] is included in the clubs I investigated."

The lionkin prince then passed Bloed a document containing information about [Gathered Feathers].

To Bloed's surprise, the document was very detailed. It included the number of members, their strength, their specialties, and the teacher in charge of the club.

It even included the strength and battle styles of the top powerhouses of the club.

Bloed looked at Prince Calisto with a praising look.

"Well done, Prince. This information is very useful."

"Hehe."

[Gathered Feathers] was a relatively small club. It had just thirty-three members, with a late A-Rank as the leader and five other A-Ranks as the sub-leaders.

Of the sub-leaders, one of them was at late A-Rank, and the other four were two at middle A-Rank, and another two at the initial stages of A-Rank.

Besides them, the club had twenty-eight other members, twelve of them were B-Ranks and the other fourteen were C-Ranks.

When Bloed finished reading the information, the expressions of the group were grave.

"… It will be hard." Aya said with a complicated expression.

Regina, Liu Ying, Gina, Sara, and the others nodded.

But to their surprise, Bloed shook his head.

"Quite the opposite, we are very lucky."

"Huh?"

Seeing the shocked expressions of the group, Bloed chuckled.

"You can say that this game was made for us. And you, Sara, will be the key to our victory."

"My lord?"

"Why are you surprised? You only need to do one thing. To destroy their core. With your abilities, it should be very easy."

Sara was startled. But soon, her eyes lit up.

"I see. I understand, my lord. I will not disappoint you."

"I know you will not." Bloed smiled.

Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina, who knew about Sara's abilities, became excited immediately. They could already imagine the results of tomorrow's challenge.

But–

"What about the defense, My hero?" Gina tilted her head and asked. "If the five A-Ranks of the enemy attack at the same time, we will be unable to stop them."

Bloed chuckled and put on a mysterious expression.

"Can't you see it with your abilities?"

Startled, Gina closed her eyes and used her ESP power.

The next second, she opened them with an expression of surprise.

"That is possible?"

"According to the rules, it is."

"My hero, you are amazing!"

Bloed chuckled again and patted the honey-haired girl's head.

At the same time, he looked at the confused faces of his club members and grinned.

"Did you forget the focus of our club?"

Liu Ying, Aya, and the others were still confused. Only Regina fell deep in thought before her eyes lit up.

"I see."

"Hey, can someone explain to me what is happening?" Liu Ying said with an exasperated expression. "Aya, do you understand?"

The cat girl shook her head.

"So it was not only me. Bloed! Explain."

Bloed chuckled at his girlfriend and started to explain.

Soon, the eyes of the entire group were shining in excitement.

…

In the headquarters of Wings of Liberty.

"Princess, what is the meaning of it!?" The now ex-leader of the club faced the princess of the Kingdom of Alterna with a furious expression. "What do you mean when you said you are leaving the club?"

"Wasn't I clear enough?" Eres stared at the leader of the club coldly. "I'm not interested in this club anymore, so I'm leaving."

"But you are the club leader!"

"You can be the leader if you want! I don't care."

The face of the young man turned ugly. He clenched his teeth and stared at the black-haired girl in front of him with rage, anger, and humiliation.

How could he allow this? If Eres leaves the club and then joins another club, the impact on [Wings of Liberty] would be enormous!

In the worst of the cases, the club could be disbanded!

After all, Eres was a famous princess of the greatest human kingdom. If rumors spread that the princess left the club to join another club, then many people would put in doubt the legitimacy of Wings of Liberty as the 'Human Club'.

The problem was that he did not know how to stop her.

Eres was Alterna's Princess. She was not someone that he could offend easily.

It was not as though he could force her to remain in the club.

But at that moment, his salvation arrived.

All of sudden, a voice came from the entrance.

"Eres, you should think about the consequences of your actions. As a princess, you can't be willful."

Eres's face turned ice-cold. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw a black-haired woman approaching her.

"Your majesty." She bowed slightly with a mechanical voice.

However, you could not feel the slightest emotional fluctuation in it.

The Queen smiled bitterly when she saw that.

"… You should call me mom, Eres."

"Please stop joking, Your Majesty," Eres said coldly. "As a princess, I can't be disrespectful to you even if we are family."

"Eres…"

But Eres ignored the queen and looked at the ex-leader of [Wings of Liberty].

"Her Majesty is right. As a princess, I can't be willful. Very well, I will not leave the club."

The ex-leader of the club sighed in relief. He hurriedly bowed at Eres and nodded.

"Thank you, Princess."

"Mm. If there is nothing more, I'll leave. Your Majesty, it was a pleasure to meet you." Eres then turned around to leave.

Seeing that, the Queen extended her hand to stop her, but in the end, she said nothing and just shook her head with a sad expression.

"… I'm sorry…" She said.

But Eres feigned that she did not hear it.

Once she left, Eres bit her lips and put on an unwilling look.

Just a few minutes ago, she learned that her brother's club had been challenged. In other words, he needed her help.

But if she could not leave this club, she could not help him.

"But I don't think brother wants to see her… And if I join brother's club, she surely will discover him."

Eres heaved a long sigh and put on a troubled expression.

"Brother, what should I do?"