"..." The military academy students from the Seven Guardian Star Systems of Elbert, each with their mouths agape, finally sighed, "We’ve heard Elbert is an oddity, and thought it was an exaggeration, but we didn’t expect the reality to be so much worse."
The nobility, elegance, romance, and restraint etched into the bones of the Galaxy Empire were completely absent in Elbert.
"How can they curse at people?"
"And curse so vulgarly?"
"Doesn’t the principal manage them?"
A Mozambique military academy student covered her face in shame, "Stop it."
"Sorry! We forgot that the principal of Elbert Military Academy is your Duke."
Everyone quickly apologized, only realizing that Lin Fu, the pompous one from before, was their Duchess when the students from Immolus Military Academy stayed silent.
"What a mess," a student from Romand Military Academy couldn’t help but complain.
Everyone cast meaningful glances.
"Have you guys noticed a very strange phenomenon?"
"Traditionally, Lin Fu, Nolan, they should have been attending the First Military Command College, and Mervin, Duke Celia should have gone to the Royal Starship Academy. But instead, they all went to Elbert, which had no prior connection."
Since Celia had become the Duchess of Grihuade, out of respect, one should not address her by name alone, but add on the title of "Duke" to show esteem. If Celia graduated from the military academy and joined the military service, her comrades and superiors would be able to address her by her military rank.
This is also why many people address Fu Xing as Major General, rather than Duke Fuxing.
If Fu Xing were to return to his fief, then the citizens of Immolus Star System would address him as Duke Fuxing, or Duke.
"Maybe Elbert is really on the rise, who knows!"
"Heh, I’m not optimistic about Elbert. There are already four major academies teaming up against them. There will be a good show in tomorrow’s final."
"Tonight might be very busy."
Saying tonight would be busy was an understatement.
After dinner, the military academies and teams began contacting each other in private; the coaching instructors didn’t intervene or meddle, allowing the students to operate on their own. This was an unwritten rule, to lay the foundation for students joining the military service.
Making friends, expanding horizons, practicing tactics, uniting teams—these were the initial intentions of hosting the freshman competition.
In the hotel area where the competing teams were staying, there were many people coming and going from each building, some probing each other, some gathering intelligence, and some discussing alliances against others.
The quietest was Building No. 3 of the hotel.
After dinner, everyone gathered in the conference room.
Xu Jinglan first summarized the situation of the day’s preliminaries; the flying team she led, consisting of twenty-two members, suffered no losses, advancing ranked ninth overall.
"The ninth place in the preliminaries was to avoid drawing attention, but today’s alliance of the four Royal Starship Academy schools is obviously targeting us. And that’s just what has surfaced; there’s definitely more against us in the dark," she mused.
Lin Fu stood up, self-deprecating, "Thinking about it, we from Elbert really have terrible people skills. Why do so many academies dislike us?"
Everyone covered their faces.
"Sister Fu, let’s not talk about that."
"We have to shoulder the troubles our predecessors caused."
"Our own people skills aren’t that great, either. Now the Star Network is full of talk about us being arrogant, rude, and boastful. If it weren’t for our uniform this year being publicly praised as the most beautiful, and receiving awards for the best design and aesthetics, our reputation would be even worse."