Chapter 3: Would You Like To Bet? (Part 1)

Hearing my words, the priest calmed his stern expression and opened his mouth.

“What do you mean by that?”

“That’s literally what I mean.”

The priest in charge of the summoning ceremony looked bewildered and asked me. But I had no intention of changing my decision. It was because I understood exactly how this summoning ceremony worked.

‘Isn’t this completely unfair?’

As a result of carefully examining the gachas of other cadets, I noticed that even if I had the right to summon a certain summoned beast, it seemed that I could not summon it immediately. It looked like I could only summon it by consuming soul power to activate the summoning circle and then placing the so called “heirlooms” there.

‘That sounds crazy.’

If I used a confirmed summoning ticket that could only be obtained by consuming a certain amount of resources, wouldn’t this summoning cost me even more resources that the usual? If this had been the same case in the game, the users would have complained saying that the developers were charging double the amount! 

But this was reality, so who the hell would I complain to?

You can’t even pray to God!

But the priest heard me and shook his head. “It cannot be. The summoning ceremony is a sacred event.”

“Sir.”

“Tell me.”

“My heirloom that was supposed to be sent from home hasn’t arrived yet.”

“It is really unfortunate, but…”

“I’m not asking you to let me do something wrong, can’t you just wait one more week?”

“Uh, uh…”

The priest began to worry. It was natural. In this academy, which was said to have been built to nurture excellent summoners, it wasn’t an unreasonable request to ask them to wait about a week to get a better summon.

‘Now, if I push it just a little more, it looks like I will succeed.’ So I opened my mouth for a finishing blow.

“If that’s the case…”

“Don’t waste our time, why don’t you just do it?”

A sharp voice from the side pierced my ears. I turned my head to confirm the owner of the voice.

‘Stella Eritz.’

The main heroine of the game and the signboard heroine, who always ranked in the top 5 in popularity polls, had suddenly poked her head out.

‘Why all of a sudden?’

‘Did she hear what I said before? Is she doing this because of that, and arguing against me?’

I smiled, pretending not to know, and asked her, “What?”

“Did you say your name was Ian Clark? It’s a family I’ve never heard of… so at best, you must be from a barony stuck in the frontier.”

I didn’t understand. Why is she doing this, what does she want?

“Therefore?”

“That heirloom will come from a poor family, so it must be nothing special.  So don’t waste your time and give up.”

“Do you have that authority?”

“Authority? This is a suggestion. This is personal advice.”

Even she had no authority to interfere in my summoning ceremony. But even if people won’t fall before authority, they would collapse in the face of power. 

I checked the priest’s expression. It really didn’t look very good. Even if I ignored her words, the priest wouldn’t be able to ignore her. Because she was the eldest daughter of Eritz family, one of the only four dukes in the empire.

‘Then…’

I’ll just have to take advantage of this situation.

“So, you’re saying that I should give up because there will be a one-star summon anyway?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“What if I choose a 3-star summon?”

“What?”

Stella’s face hardened. At this place today, there wasn’t a single person except for her who had managed to summon a 3-star summon. Among the cadets who had yet to try, there may not be even one who had the possibility to summon a 3-star summon… it wasn’t that easy, it wouldn’t be a big deal for her to summon a 3-star summon otherwise.

“A week later, when the summoning ceremony is held again. What if I summon a 3-star pet?”

“There is no way that would be possible.”

“Are you scared? The daughter of Eritz?”

“You…”

Stella’s eyes turned sharp. Had it not been for the fact that we were in the academy, I would have been dragged away by her subordinates and beaten to a pulp. However, this was the academy, and in the academy, everyone had to follow the rules of the academy.

‘Equality. That’s a good thing. Especially when I’m just a nobody.’

The first Emperor of the empire came from a commoner background, and luckily summoned a 5-star summoned beast. Ever since then, all those who were talented enough to become summoners were treated equally.

This was also the reason why the protagonist in the game could spit out insults towards the heroines who were the heirs of the dukes and marquis without having any titles himself. Therefore, within the academy, I and her status were the same. If it was after graduating, I would be a bit afraid to do this, but after graduating, I wouldn’t be here anyway.

Of course, if I summoned a 1-star or 2-star summon, I’m going to be demolished…

‘I can’t let that happen.’

I will draw a 3-star pet… somehow.

“Ok, fine.”

After a very brief thought, Stella pointed her finger at me and declared.

“I’ll wait a week. But be prepared, if you summon a weak summons in a week.”

“If?”

“It’ll be shameful to be in the same academy with a liar who doesn’t even honor his words, so you should leave the academy.”

“Great. So what if I succeed?”

“If you succeed… what?”

“Postponing the summoning ceremony is something anyone can ask for, but you were the one who stopped it, right? I put conditions on such a situation, so there should be a reward when I succeed.”

“Ha, that’s funny.”

Yeah, it must’ve sounded quite funny. Even if I knew that I was arguing with all sorts of sophistry that was based on empty logic, but I had to push forwards in order to succeed.

“Ok, fine. What do you want?”