HBWnovel Chapter 63
Chapter 63
"Lady Laura, a guest has arrived."
The moment I heard those words, I realized it immediately. I was dreaming of those days.
The time when I was not Aurora, but Laura Iris. A fragment of the ten years I spent in the world of Labyrinthos.
I placed the teacup I had been drinking from down on the table.
"A guest? If I remember correctly, I don't think I had any scheduled appointments."
"You are correct, my lady."
"I see."
In other words, someone had come to the Iris Ducal residence without notice.
Even when the imperial family visited, we exchanged several letters beforehand. When I considered that, it meant this guest was being exceptionally rude.
So, under normal circumstances, I could have had them sent away without issue.
"Who is it?"
"It's Lady Cecilia."@@@@
"...Cecilia, huh."
At the mention of that name, I frowned slightly. In some ways, she was the most troublesome person in the world.
"Let her in. I'll see her myself."
"Understood, my lady."
The butler withdrew, and soon after, a girl appeared in my tea room.
Her hair was stark white, as if all color had drained away. Her skin was pale to the point of being ghostly. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, giving off a faint blue hue.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature was that she was seated in a wheelchair. It was well-known at the academy that Cecilia was quite frail.
While it wasn’t unusual for Cecilia to look unwell, today, she couldn’t hide it from my eyes. There seemed to be more scars on her limbs than I remembered, and parts of her dress were torn.
"It's been a while, Lady Laura."
"Lady Laura, is it?"
I thought to myself after hearing that title. So she’s giving me permission to treat her as an inferior.
"Yes, it has been a while. You look quite different from usual. What happened?"
"There was an accident. I apologize for showing up in such an unsightly state."
"An accident?"
"Yes."
Cecilia nodded.
"I’ll be direct with you. The academy has been overrun by the gate. Could you help us, Lady Laura?"
EYEAI Official @EYEAI_official
Guess the Winning Team of the EYEAI LabyrinthosVR Tournament!
Vote for which team you think will win!
We’ll randomly select 20 people who guess correctly to win gift cards!
Current poll results:
Spring Team (45.4%)Fall Team (38.2%)Summer Team (10.1%)Winter Team (6.3%)
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[General] Is Spring Team the favorite to win?
Yeah?
[Comments]
Spring Team is the favorite for sure. └ (OP) Why? └ Rinko is their coach, and the 2nd-gen members are skilled.If it’s not Spring, then Fall will win.One thing’s for sure, it won’t be Winter, lol. └ (OP) Even with A-chan as their coach? └ The 6th-gen kids were playing horror games for fun last time, lol. └ The 6th-gen members are all rookies. Even if Laura herself showed up, they wouldn’t stand a chance, lol.
[General] Opening match: Spring Team VS Winter Team, lol.
They’ve got no luck with matchups, lol.
Sunday, September 22nd.
The day of the EYEAI LabyrinthosVR tournament had finally arrived.
[How are you today, Mother?]
I muttered to myself.
I had a dream about something like that today, and now we were playing on the Academy map. It made me feel a bit nostalgic.
[Lo... Laura?]
"The Academy map is an outdoor map, but the buildings are spread out."
I explained.
It’s somewhat similar to the Ghost Town map that Sora had played before. It emphasizes outdoor combat, so it tends to play like urban warfare.
The key difference is that the buildings aren’t clustered together like in a typical city. Each building is huge, and some even have secret rooms or underground facilities.
“Ban the Assassin.”
The Academy map is wide open with few places to hide, so it’s important to keep an eye on mobility. Assassins, with their speed and ability to take advantage of open spaces, had to be banned.
After we banned the Assassin, the Spring Team banned the Cavalry.
Their intention was clear—they didn’t want us to take advantage of the wide map either. It also felt like a direct shot at Chel.
"Next, ban the Necromancer."
I chuckled. We had no intention of using Cavalry anyway, so their assumption worked in our favor.
Next, they banned the Archer. This was clearly aimed at Inagika, preventing her from sniping from rooftops.
‘That’s Rinko’s handiwork.’
To be precise, it was Spring Team’s coach—Kisaki Rinko—making these decisions.
She was clearly trying to limit the character pool of our team.
"Finally, ban the Tech Mage."
We didn’t care much about their picks. Once our strategy was in place, victory would be ours.
But we couldn’t allow them to use Tech Mage. Its map-hack ultimate was too dangerous to leave unchecked.
Spring Team’s final ban was the Bard. They were wary of the team-wide movement speed buff, while also further restricting Sora’s character options.
With that, the bans were complete.
"Inagika, pick the Martial Artist."
[O-Okay...!]
Inagika locked in the Martial Artist.
Now it was the Spring Team’s turn to pick, but they hesitated. There was a moment of silence in the pick window.
Were they caught off guard by Inagika picking the Martial Artist? That wouldn’t be surprising, given her usual preference for backline roles.
After some deliberation, the Spring Team chose the Beast Tamer. While not as fast as an Assassin or Cavalry, the Beast Tamer had decent mobility, especially with their giant wolf mount, and was better suited for rough terrain.
Since this was a snake-style pick, the Spring Team had the next choice as well. They went with the Gunner, clearly intending to kite the short-ranged Martial Artist.
“Chel, pick the Hunter.”
Chel locked in the Hunter.
The Hunter has tracking abilities and excels in vertical combat.
Incidentally, it was also Rion’s main character in Labyrinthos. Given that the Hunter is a cat beastkin, old archives of Nekozuka Rion’s streams showed her playing the character a lot.
Now, it was Sora’s turn to make the final pick.
“Sora, can you handle it?”
I asked.
I already knew how she would respond, but I needed to confirm one last time.
[I can do it. I’ve practiced.]
“Good.”
I nodded.
If Sora was confident, there was nothing more to say.
I spoke up.
“Sora, pick the Dark Knight.”