Chapter 220

Chapter 220

Eve dug the tip of her shoe into the ground. The sight of Lorca immediately brought back memories of the league, and a rare flush of embarrassment crept over her. Still, she resolved to make good on the promise she had made to him during the competition.

He didn't seem inclined to bring it up himself, and frankly, it was a bit late to do so now.

She took a deep breath, about to speak, when Lorca also chose that moment to open his mouth. Their voices collided.

"I was saying..."

"Xiao Fu..."

Both froze, then fell silent. The wind whispered, rustling the clematis vines twined around the marble pillars. Eve's embarrassment deepened. She turned her head away, her gaze unfocused, and mumbled, "Never mind, you go first."

"It's really nothing important," Lorca said with a light laugh. "During the league, you gave me that substitute puppet, and you never took it back. I just wanted to ask when you're free so I can return it."

Eve shook her head. "No need. That thing was originally foisted on me by your uncle anyway. It served its purpose during the league and has no other use now. Your Oliver family can keep it."

"But didn't you advance with both identities? Without a substitute prop, can you maintain the other form properly?"

"I've been wondering about that too," Eve sighed deeply. "The problem is, even with the prop, it wouldn't help much."

The next league opponents wouldn't be those university students just fooling around—they'd be equally young and talented elites from the Alliance. The Empire and the Alliance had had no contact for ages, and this league marked the first exchange between them in decades. It was hard to say whether it was more about friendship or competition. From the nobility of both nations down to ordinary curious citizens, countless people would be watching this match.

If slacking off was still possible during the Five-School League, there was absolutely no chance of that when facing the Alliance. The substitute puppet could only mimic the most basic actions anyway; for advanced operations like combat or even piloting mechs, the prop was utterly useless.

She would have to find another solution on her own.

But since Lorca had brought up the league, Eve smoothly continued the topic.

"Back during the competition, I said I owed you a favor... Actually, it's more than one. You lent me your mech in the second round, let me use your Spiritual State on the Sacred Mountain in the third round, and then pulled me out of the floodwaters in the end. That's at least three favors right there." She took a deep breath, the more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. She hadn't realized it before, but now that she counted, the debts she owed him had piled up like a mountain. "Even though you don't seem to expect anything in return, favors should be repaid. So I wanted to ask if there's anything you need me to help with?"

"......"

Lorca stroked his chin, his expression oddly serious.

After a long pause, just as Eve was about to be defeated by the heavy silence, he finally spoke hesitantly, "Seems like there are quite a few. If I want to save these favors for later, how far into the future can I save them?"

He hadn't deliberately kept track of how many times he'd helped Eve. To him, it was just a matter of helping if he could, whenever she needed it. Even if it weren't Eve but just a good friend—like Qi Ying, Luo Wenzhou, or other classmates from the league—he would have done the same. He was just surprised that Eve had quietly kept count of how many "debts" she owed.

Originally, Lorca thought Eve’s awkwardness upon seeing him was because his recent closeness had made her uncomfortable. But now it seemed it was just because she felt heavily indebted to him.

Even though he’d figured out the reason, Lorca didn’t feel any better. Instead, he grew just as stifled as Eve, like the sticky, humid air clinging to the skin after a sun shower—even more uncomfortable than the rain itself.

Why did everything have to be calculated and divided so clearly?

He hummed softly, thought for a moment, and suddenly said, "Then let me use one now—are you free to come back to the Oliver estate this weekend? Alice should be finishing up her procedures at the military department by midweek and returning home. Mom just got back from the Alliance not long ago and misses all the kids. Of course, she misses you too. It’d be a good chance for everyone to get together, especially since we’ll soon be leaving for the new league."

At this, Lorca pursed his lips almost shyly. "It’s just a small family gathering. There won’t be many outsiders. If you’re willing to come, you don’t need to prepare anything special. Just showing up is enough."

"Of course I can," Eve said. There was no reason, personal or practical, to say no. Even if Lorca hadn’t used it as a favor, she would have agreed. "This doesn't count toward the favors I owe you. You can think of something more important to use them for later."

"This is the most important thing!" Lorca said firmly. "Complete this first, and we’ll talk about the rest later."

......It’s just a meal. Why is he being so serious all of a sudden?

But getting one favor cleared was still a good thing. How he chose to use it was up to him. Eve wasn’t one to go back on her word, so she let it be.

She scratched her head uncomfortably, mainly fiddling with the clematis flower that had been tucked into her hair earlier. After a moment’s hesitation, she ultimately decided not to remove it.

-

The day after the rankings were announced, the official publicity department of the Five-School League came sniffing around First Empire Academy. They claimed they were there to interview the league’s contestants, but they were really making up for interviews they’d missed earlier.

According to past conventions, publicity should happen once before the competition and once after, to generate hype twice. But this year, probably because the organizing committee knew early on that there would be an additional match against the Alliance after the regular Five-School League, they deliberately held off on the pre-league interviews. Instead, they scheduled them for the delicate timing between the end of the Five-School League and the start of the additional league. Even before the interviews began, one could imagine how much extra content the publicity staff would sneak in.

While waiting for her interview, Eve, under the identity of "Lu Qing," received a reply from the Imperial Research Institute. Their attitude was quite enthusiastic, stating that she could visit the institute anytime she wanted, but it would be best if she came before the new league began.

So urgent?

As far as she could recall, the institute shouldn’t have any projects specifically requiring an Alchemist lately. Even if they did, they could always borrow one from the Alchemist Association. Before her doubts could fully form, Eve was already hiding backstage, secretly tapping on her terminal to ask why she needed to go so early.

The person on the other end had probably just sent the reply and hadn’t left the communication page yet. After a brief "typing..." indicator appeared, a response came through: "We’ve prepared a special little gift for you. For your Spiritual State."

A special little gift? For her Spiritual State?

......Could it be that, because she’d never publicly displayed her Spiritual State, the institute assumed she was born with a deficient one?

Given the notorious alchemy master who loved promoting her own inspirational story to scam royalty fees—single-handedly cementing the public’s stereotype of alchemists as eccentric and tragic—it wasn’t hard to understand why the institute might suspect such a thing.

Thanks to Agnes causing trouble and then skipping town, Eve’s Spiritual State restrictions still hadn’t been fully lifted. The institute’s offer now coincidentally aligned with her needs.

She’d heard they weren’t particularly fond of alchemists. For the institute to have secured such a stable position in the Empire—a place with such an bizarrely advanced tech tree—they must have some real skills. Maybe they really could fix the mess Agnes left behind.

Eve raised an eyebrow, calculating the time. Lu Qing also had a dedicated interview, but based on rankings, it was scheduled much later.

Whoever wanted to wait that long could wait. She couldn’t.

She quickly asked, "Can I come today then?"

"Doesn’t your school have interviews today?"

"Fame means nothing. Devoting oneself to science brooks no delay."

"。"

It was hard to say what complex emotions lay behind that perfectly round period, but the person from the institute soon retracted the rather hastily sent message and replied, "Then come today."

"Don’t I need to bring any reports related to my Spiritual State?"

"No need. The best and most precise Spiritual State detection machinery in the entire Empire is here at the institute. We don’t trust external reports."

Such arrogance.

Eve’s eyelid twitched. A teacher from the academy came over, gesturing for her to prepare for the interview. She set down her terminal and walked steadily to the stage.

The interviewer was a young girl in an orange uniform who didn’t look much older than the students she was interviewing. But her professional skills were solid. She fluently recounted several of Eve’s highlight moments from the competition and asked some harmless questions like, "How do you usually train?" and "What are your goals for the upcoming competition?" Eve answered politely with the most official, rehearsed responses. After a long back-and-forth, the seemingly youthful and lively league reporter finally revealed her cunning true colors.

"It seems Student Eve is very confident in her abilities," the reporter said, holding the microphone toward Eve with feigned mystery. "But according to inside information, in the next league, you won’t just be facing students from the Empire—you’ll also be up against elite youths from the far reaches of the star systems. Facing unknown opponents, do you still believe you can win?"

What kind of riddle is she trying to spin? In this universe, the only notable polities besides the Empire are the Alliance, right?

Eve’s smile didn’t falter. "Although I don’t know who the opponents will be, I believe we should meet soldiers with generals and floodwaters with earthworks. No matter who the opponent is, as long as I do my best, that’s enough. Of course, what I mean is, no matter how impressive these mysterious opponents may be, I absolutely won’t go easy on them!"

"Really the same style as before, truly worthy of the first-place winner of this Five-School League. Now, let’s move on to the final question, also the one netizens voted as the most curious about."

This sudden, lengthy preface made Eve’s heart sink with a sense of foreboding. The official reporter beamed cheerfully and asked with a smile the last question of the day:

"—At the end of the third round of the league, that is, during the event on the Sacred Mountain, Student Eve was originally with her classmates. But when the Ark of Hope arrived with rescue, everyone realized you were no longer there. Because the cameras only focused on the most noteworthy scenes in each instance, yet your points kept rising, many netizens are curious: what secret mission were you carrying out during that time?"

"......"

What secret mission? She practically went to the summit of the Holy Mountain to throw the game.

"Actually, I didn’t do much. It was too dark at the time, and everything around was chaotic—I just accidentally got separated from the others," Eve said with an awkward laugh. "As for the points increasing, I have no idea why. I suppose the judges were tallying up earlier scores ahead of schedule."

The reporter didn’t seem entirely convinced by this answer: "Would someone like Eve really get separated by accident?"

Instead of answering directly, Eve countered, "If I were really on a secret mission, the broadcast camera would have surely focused on me by now."

That did make sense. Regretful that she hadn’t uncovered any sensational topic, the reporter had no choice but to let her go. Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, Eve left the auditorium and sent her teacher an excuse about having an urgent matter. Without waiting for a response, she hailed an unmanned hovercar via her terminal, setting the destination to the research institute, and took off without a second thought.

After all, "Lu Qing" was notorious for skipping classes, training sessions, and even matches—she was guilty of every kind of skipping. What was one missed interview in comparison?