Chapter 46 – Germaphobia Acting Up
Coleman was located at the continent’s forefront, an absolute neutral territory, a place isolated from war, and the destination that all scholars yearned for.
Coleman City’s residents were quite diverse, with almost every race represented. Due to its central geographical location and the fame of Coleman Academy built upon it, trade flourished. Combined with several hundred years of peace without war, the people under its rule lived and worked in contentment.
The city presented a scene of prosperity, with tiled houses clustered together, busy streets filled with traffic, and residents whose quality of life was generally higher than in other countries, especially the war-torn frontier regions.
It could be said that Coleman, this battleground city so close to demon-controlled territory, hadn’t become a wasteland largely thanks to the Coleman Academy built by the elves.
Therefore, the Coleman lords, who had some sense, just gave up trying and supported the academy in everything as long as it didn’t cross fundamental lines. Whatever land Coleman Academy wanted, as long as the funding was in place, it wasn’t a problem.
Coleman Academy was famous and wealthy. While Divine Maidens and Divine Sons at other academies had to queue and make reservations for training facilities, Coleman Academy had over a hundred professional training grounds for Divine Maidens alone, numbered in sequence. No queuing or lottery system needed – there were always idle venues available for use, and the professionalism and environment of the facilities were absolutely top-tier.
Afternoon, Venue 23.
Dilin came, but in another identity.
A blonde loli with strange wing-like headwear covering her ears crept stealthily to the audience seating. To prevent the embarrassing situation of being too short to grab a seat, she had secured her spot an hour early.
Supporting herself with her hands on the chair, her feet kicked as she climbed up onto the seat.
The initially sparse crowd gradually grew, and by twenty minutes before the match, Venue 23 was packed like sardines, without even standing room left.
“Uwu.” Tilisa sat with her arms crossed in the sardine-can-like audience seating, quite displeased.
Her face was expressionless, her cheeks puffed out by the surrounding crowd, with a very graphic red # symbol above her head.
Good thing she had the foresight, or she would have been squeezed into elf jerky.
But even with a comfortable soft seat, she felt terribly uncomfortable.
So many people coming and going, in and out – so dirty…
There was even a faint smell. Had they really bathed? Was it this afternoon? Did they change clothes this afternoon? They wouldn’t be wearing the same thing from morning to afternoon, would they?
Covered in so much dust, even bodily secretions and dead skin cells from metabolism – weren’t they embarrassed to go out like that?
Even if they had bathed and changed clothes this afternoon, after squeezing around in this crowd, they must be sweating, right? Wasn’t that the same as not bathing?
Just thinking about these people who hadn’t changed clothes or even bathed today rubbing against her made Tilisa’s skin crawl.
Of course, she knew these people didn’t mean it, and she was indeed overly sensitive, but she just couldn’t help feeling this way.
She preferred to avoid physical contact with strangers.
Tilisa covered her mouth and nose with one hand while hugging her hair like a blanket, her wary little eyes like those of a protective kitten guarding its food.
The fabric was already compromised – if even her hair got contaminated with dead skin and bodily fluids, she would definitely lose it!
Tilisa leaned against the armrest on one side, defending her territory to avoid being squeezed out of her little plot of land by this torrent.
The match hadn’t even started yet and it was already this crowded. You could imagine just how terrifying Astrid’s popularity at the academy was.
Faces from the morning matches, faces she hadn’t seen – everyone was here. Saying they didn’t come for Astrid, Tilisa didn’t believe it.
Some might ask why so many people were watching instead of attending classes.
This involved Coleman Academy’s rules and regulations. During the new Divine Maiden tournament days, all Divine Sons, mages, alchemists, and other students got time off.
So Venue 23’s audience now consisted of Divine Son students of various grades, mage students, alchemist students, and Divine Maiden students who hadn’t yet had their matches scheduled.
The academy had its own considerations for this arrangement. For new students, the top priority was finding compatible teammates and forming teams. This arrangement helped increase Divine Maidens’ exposure and let interested Divine Sons see them.
So the Divine Maiden tournament and the vacation given to other professions wasn’t for fun – it was for them to come watch and find Divine Maidens they liked.
After finding someone appealing, the next phase was socializing. Talkative Divine Sons with maxed social skills, as long as they weren’t completely incompetent and had some ability, wouldn’t worry about not attracting Divine Maidens to their teams.
The academy was deliberately cultivating Divine Sons’ communication abilities. After all, as a team captain, you had to resolve whatever issues arose in the team. Other professions could get by with weak social skills, but not you. Even if you weren’t naturally sociable, you had to learn some conversational techniques.
This forced Divine Sons to communicate and socialize.
You could learn if you didn’t know how, but if you lacked even the courage to learn, stuttering unable to say a word when facing Divine Maidens, then sorry – once other Divine Sons snatched up all the Divine Maidens, you’d become a lone commander.
Smart Divine Sons had figured it out – the first round of elimination for Divine Sons had already begun. Only the foolish Divine Sons thought these days were really vacation.
The new generation Divine Maiden tournament wasn’t just a competition among Divine Maidens, but the beginning of intense competition among Divine Sons.
Tilisa wasn’t unaware of this. She had seen through it long ago. Rather than saying she didn’t want to compete, it was more that she couldn’t.
Her hardware conditions didn’t allow it. Even with her Divine Analysis enhanced to godlike levels, she only had one Divine Son skill, making her appeal rather limited. What’s more, with several persistent troublemakers interfering, her chances of being chosen by a Divine Maiden were even slimmer.
Besides, she currently didn’t need teammates. Having teammates would actually be more troublesome – with a three-person team always missing someone, even idiots would get suspicious over time.
Moreover, she had no capital. Why drag someone else into taking a beating with her? At this point, even her transformation after Divine Maiden-ization was mostly gambling. Tricking others into joining her shabby little team – wasn’t that just harming people?
The first match quickly concluded. Though the audience was large, there was little cheering or sighing.
Clearly, everyone wasn’t here for the first match.
Speaking of which, where was that idiot John? Don’t tell me he couldn’t even get a seat?
As Tilisa looked around, she suddenly caught a flash of silver in her vision