Chapter 186: Is it funny to be forced to team up with your nemesis?

In the Elysium examination, Charlotte was not the only one being targeted; Elsa, who was equally outstanding, was also subjected to focus-fire from numerous witches at the beginning of the exam. She was forced to flee deep into the Mist Forest to hide.

It seemed that many witches decided that Charlotte was too powerful, and targeting her would yield no benefits. So, they turned their sights on Elsa, who was ranked second in strength. At the very least, Elsa’s performance wasn’t as outrageous as Charlotte’s. If enough people worked together to surround her, they could probably manage to trap her.

Because the witches chasing her all held this attitude, Elsa was particularly exasperated.

“Hey, hey, hey, what am I lacking compared to that Charlotte girl? Why are you all treating me like an elite monster to hunt?”

In any case, relentlessly pursued by these witches, Elsa was forced deep into the Mist Forest, where she hid in a discreet clump of grass to rest for a moment.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she relaxed, she ran right into Charlotte.

The two stared wide-eyed at each other, looking awkward, before sitting down together to rest as if they had reconciled.

“Are you being hunted too?” Charlotte asked, looking at Elsa’s dusty face.

“Yeah, I can’t believe those guys actually teamed up to hunt me for a mere 180 academic credits! It’s infuriating. I helped them resolve so many difficult commissions before, yet not a single one of them came out to help me when it mattered most!”

Elsa complained with her arms crossed over her chest.

Compared to Elsa’s plight, Charlotte was relatively lucky. At least she had Yuffie on her side, although Yuffie was also manipulated by Sista with academic credit rewards.

“Oh? You’re being hunted for 180 academic credits? I guess I have you beat again. I’m being hunted for 200 academic credits!”

Charlotte smiled smugly, which only angered the competitive Elsa further.

“Are you going to try and take first place in bounties too?”

“I’m not trying to take first place! They set the rules that way; it has nothing to do with me! Since my bounty is higher than yours, it means I’m generally perceived as much stronger than you!”

“Damn it, I’ll surpass you eventually, don’t get too smug!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll wait for the day you surpass me! By the way, with your current skill level, you shouldn’t be forced into such a pathetic state, should you?”

“Are you completely refusing to fight back?”

“I want to fight back, but my item is very rare! If I accidentally blow it up, I’ll lose a fortune! So I have no choice but to endure it silently. Patience is key; take a step back and you’ll find freedom.”

“Hmm? What are you looking for?”

“I don’t know the exact name of the thing, but it’s a very rare small mushroom.”

“Eh? I’m also looking for some kind of mushroom. Don’t tell me we’re looking for the same thing?”

“How could that be? If that were true, wouldn’t we be forced into a battle against each other?”

Charlotte fell silent for a moment. If Instructor Sista arranged it, she might very well put the rarest item on both Charlotte and Elsa, the two superstar apprentices in the fourth year of Starsea Magic Academy, just for fun.

“In any case, we’re in a similar situation now, both being fiercely pursued by so many witches. One person alone can’t handle all these magic attacks at once. How about we form a temporary team?”

Charlotte proposed this to successfully complete the promotion examination.

“You want to team up with me? Let me think about that.”

“What’s wrong? Are you looking down on me now?”

“Otherwise? Every time a commission starts out well, you mess it up by the end, causing me to lose a large number of academic credits as well. Don’t you have any self-awareness about this?”

“I didn’t mess it up on purpose!”

“Who can resist playing ‘Guding Wine Fire Kill’ when an opponent uses an ‘Empty City’ strategy?”

Elsa sighed in displeasure.

She was one hundred percent unwilling to team up with her nemesis, Charlotte.

However, there were really no other options right now. At least Charlotte’s strength wouldn’t hold her back. As for reliability, that was another matter.

“Fine, a team is a team. It’s good to have someone watching your back. But don’t you dare hold me back!”

“I should be the one saying that!”

Although Charlotte and Elsa had formed a non-aggression pact, both were dissatisfied with the other. This unbreakable alliance would likely fall apart very soon.

The two began to search together to pass the examination, but after searching the Mist Forest for half a day, they couldn’t find a single trace of the small mushroom.

“Damn it, could the mushroom have already been destroyed by those witches?”

During lunchtime, Elsa complained while gnawing on a luxurious large chicken leg.

Replenishing stamina was a vital part of a witch’s examination strategy.

To ensure Elsa successfully passed the examination, Nicole, her maid, had prepared a feast beforehand and packed it into Elsa’s dimensional space.

A dimensional space was like an Ender Chest in Minecraft; no matter how heavy the contents inside were, it wouldn’t affect the user’s movement speed.

However, to maintain the dimensional space’s stability, the user had to constantly maintain a minimum level of magical power. The more items stored inside, the more magical power was required.

Once a user’s magical power dropped below the required level, the dimensional space would collapse, and all the contents would fall out like a death penalty drop in a game.

Compared to Elsa’s feast, Charlotte’s small bento box looked quite shabby.

In Elsa’s eyes, this didn’t even qualify as lunch.

“Hey, is this all you have for lunch? That’s too pathetic! It seems your maid’s cooking isn’t very good either! She’s far inferior to my Nicole. Do you want me to share my chicken leg with you?”

An unprecedented sense of superiority swelled on Elsa’s face. She had finally surpassed Charlotte in terms of lunch.

Charlotte, however, was unfazed.

“A bento box just needs to fill your stomach; making it extravagant is just superficial. Besides, I don’t think Lillian’s handmade bento loses to your feast, because this small bento box is full of her care and affection!”

“Are you kidding me? You think my feast would lose to your small bento?”

“If you don’t believe me, try it yourself, and you’ll know.”

Saying this, Charlotte held the bento box out to Elsa, inviting her to pick a piece and taste it.

Elsa frowned slightly.

“You want me to taste the lunch of a commoner?”

Although she looked disgusted, Elsa picked up her chopsticks and put a piece of grilled sausage into her mouth.

Instantly, Elsa’s eyes widened in shock, as if she were tasting an unprecedented delicacy.

The bento didn’t lose its original flavor just because it was ordinary. Instead, under the passage of time, it had become even better.

A dimensional space couldn’t keep food warm, so by the time Elsa was hungry enough to take out her feast, it was already cold, and the taste had significantly deteriorated.

However, Lillian’s bento box didn’t have this drawback. In other words, this bento box was prepared specifically for Charlotte’s current circumstances.

Realizing this, Elsa frowned.

It was clear she had lost to Charlotte again in the lunch competition.

“Damn it, don’t think you’ve won just yet! Compared to our royal family’s supreme delicacies, your bento is still far inferior! After this promotion examination, I’ll show you the true definition of delicious food in this world!”

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