Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
The wooden horse of Troy.
This was a legendary story that was quite the simple tale.
The Greeks had difficulties conquering the city of Troy, so they pretended to retreat ignominiously, leaving only a huge wooden horse behind.
The Trojans took the horse back inside their city with them. Later that night, the Greeks emerged from the secret compartment within the horse, easily overwhelmed the soldiers defending the city’s gates, and opened the gates for more soldiers to pour in, ultimately achieving victory.
Seiji felt this story had many weaknesses to it.
That was the simplified version of the story. There was a more complex one called The Odyssey, but there was no need to go into so much detail.
At any rate, Seiji felt that it was a subtly strange story. He didn’t understand why it was considered a classic back in his previous world.
But the Trojan Horse strategy was a definite strategy that came from this anecdote.
Seiji felt this ancient legend from his original world was quite fitting to describe the current situation.
Genaha High School was akin to Troy, while Shika Kagura was the Trojan Horse—a special existence which stood out way too much.
This type of special existence… the “Reaper’s Curse” would definitely attract any Yin Yang Master’s attention, making her seem like she wasn’t a spy sent by the enemy.
Of course, Natsuya Yoruhana wasn’t anywhere close to being as stupid as the Trojans. She investigated this “Trojan Horse” properly and didn’t find any problems.
But what if this was the enemy’s intention all along?
The enemy… Natsuya’s unknown opponent might never have intended for Shika Kagura to do anything at school in the first place.
As long as the “Reaper’s Curse” stayed within the school, even without doing anything herself, she might cause some incidents which would attract Natsuya’s attention and distract her from focusing on other important things such as maintaining the school’s spell formations… and so on.
The best part about this move was the fact that even if it didn’t work, the enemy still had another trick up their sleeve.
Shika and the unknown Snow Girl who was actually behind the incidents could swap with each other at a critical time to face Hitaka Shuho, the Spirit-branded Retainer which Natsuya would inevitably send out.
This way, Hitaka would unknowingly do battle with the “Reaper’s Curse,” and harm Shika, or even…
Just getting close to Shika Kagura could cause calamitous misfortunes to fall upon someone, so if a person injured her… or even killed her, what would happen?
…
Natsuya’s face slowly turned ashen white as she attentively listened to Seiji’s “inference.”
“Haruta-kun… There’s something I still haven’t told you yet,” she started slowly. “Actually… every single student and teacher at Genhana is meaningful to my spell formation here.
“They… provide spiritual energy for my formation, and the spell formation also has the… responsibility to protect them.”
Seiji raised his eyebrows at hearing this.
“Hitaka… and Rana are the defenders of this spell formation, and they’ll be strengthened within it, as well as having the same responsibilities as the spell formation.”
Natsuya slowly began clutching her own arms.
“That is to say, they’re the defenders of all the teachers and students at Genhana High School. And Shika Kagura… the ‘Reaper’s Curse,’ is also considered a normal student of Genhana High School.”
“If she changes places with the Snow Girl retainer, fights with Hitaka, and ends up dying by Hitaka’s hands…”
The student council president’s body was trembling slightly.
“What will happen?” Seiji furrowed his brows, but kept his tone of voice calm.
Natsuya looked directly at Seiji’s face.
“Hitaka… will definitely die! And it will affect the entire spell formation… the entire school! Every single student and teacher at Genhana High School… might have catastrophes befall them!”
Her complexion was ashen at this point.
Although Seiji’s expression remained calm apart from his furrowed brows, he slowly began to clench his fists under the table.
“It seems that my guess was closer to the truth than I expected.”
Something flashed in Natsuya’s eyes as she nodded.
“Yes, I… didn’t even notice this blind spot. But this is… too frightening. If the enemy does things to such a degree… they won’t get off lightly either.”
Seiji blinked.
“I don’t know what type of person your enemy is, nor do I know the average moral standards of Yin Yang Masters, or more specifically, their morals for duels.
“But I believe that blindly trusting the enemy… and ignoring something so terribly possible is beyond naivety.”
It was stupidity.
Natsuya understood his unstated meaning.
She was praising him in her heart.
“I’ll contact Hitaka immediately to tell her to be cautious when looking for the Snow Girl retainer!”
The president stood up from her chair.
“We also need to pay attention to Shika Kagura’s current movements,” Seiji said.
He didn’t mention that he’d already found out Shika hadn’t come to school today. After all, he had set back time. To the president, he came up with his “educated guess” right after hearing about the “Reaper’s Curse” for the first time.
Natsuya nodded once more.
“Thank you so much, Haruta-kun. No matter if your guess is true or not, you’ve been a great help.”
She showed a sincere smile.
“I… owe you yet another favor.”
Seiji smiled back at her.
“Don’t mention it, President. If what I just thought of is real, then my reminder for you is actually helping to save myself… and my friends.
“Oh, by the way…” He finally thought of another topic. “President, you made the entire school’s students and teachers… unknowingly become part of your spell formation. Isn’t this a little…”
Natsuya’s expression froze over.
She averted her gaze as her cheeks began to flush red. It was evident that she was panicking.
“I… I know, this is a little overboard… but… there was no other way. This was the only method I could make the school into a spell formation…
“I only let the students and teachers provide a minor amount of spiritual energy without them knowing it. No harm will be done to them. The only reason they might have been affected this time was because of the ‘Reaper’s Curse…’
“Besides, the spell formation will also protect them in return… It won’t let them get attacked by any type of demons or spirits… that’s why…”
Seiji looked at her quietly.
“Wah… Sorry…”
Natsuya Yoruhana, the student council president that everyone at Genhana High School idolized, the young missus with long straight black hair, was crying.
“I’m so sorry, I…”
“Yep, I’ve received your apology. I forgive you.” Seiji nodded.
“…Eh?” The young missus with long, straight black hair paused in surprise.
“I trust in your strength of character. Even though I haven’t known you for all that long, I believe in my own judgement of you.”
Seiji showed a smile to Natsuya.
“You… are actually a gentle girl.”
‘Probably… one of the kinder Yin Yang Masters around.’
Natsuya Yoruhana was stunned.
Faced with his handsome smile and gentle words, her face started burning up for an entirely different reason.
“Er… Um… Thank you…”
She barely managed to stammer out those words as she hurriedly turned around.
Her face was so hot to the touch.
Her heartbeat was also way too quick.
Why… was this?
The young missus didn’t understand.