Blade of the Goddess-Chapter 30 - Disappearing Students

In a room on the other side of the school, a girl rocking light blue hair and grey eyes was sitting in a chair with a male student in front of her. Behind the girl was another young lady with purple hair and brown eyes.

"I can promise you that once I become Queen, I'll promote your family from a viscount to a count if you lend me your support." Currently, Crystal, the princess, was recruiting supporters for her war for the throne and it was not going well.

"If my family supports you, then there will be a target on our backs." The boy said nervously. "While I understand your position, I also have to look out for my family and people, and I don't think we can handle the fallout if you happen to lose."

"I promise you that won't happen," Crystal reassured, but her confidence was non-existent. She knew too well that she was sure that she would lose the war, maybe even die in the process.

"Even so, my family isn't equipped to handle a confrontation between four dukes, the church, the magic tower, the knight's order, and the royal family. I don't think I'll be able to help you, sorry." The boy stood up and left the room.

Crystal was used to this, being rejected. Over the years, she had asked numerous influential families and important people to aid her in the succession war, but each time, she was met with rejection.

No one wanted to fight a losing war, and siding with her meant that they would. Being born the child of a maid, Crystal's life was already set up for failure. Her only saving grace was her father, the king, and her mother's family who happened to be nobles, viscounts to be exact.

"Are you okay, princess?" Zia asked, worry etched in her words.

Crystal sighed deeply before responding. "At this point, being rejected is so normal that I wouldn't be okay if my offer was accepted." She stood up and grabbed some water to quench her parched throat.

"Princess, hear me out. What if we asked Lidia and Zion for their support."

Crystal pondered that. She too wondered if they would support her. But she also knew that their families had been approached before by her siblings and they were declined. If they didn't support her siblings, they wouldn't support her.

"They won't agree. My siblings were rejected by them after all." She smiled wryly.

"Maybe they could have changed their minds. They are the only people who could be considered your friends besides me."

"They're more like close acquaintances than friends," Crystal confirmed. "Besides, even if they want to, they still need their house head's permission."

"I know, it's just that, you've asked over 100 different noble families, you can't ask the magic tower or knight's order because of your siblings, the church is completely against you, and all the other important people think this is beneath them. We're desperate, princess."

"I know Zia, I know." Crystal was well aware of her situation, and she hated it. Her maternal family begged her to drop out of the succession, but she didn't want to, and now it's coming to bite her in the ass.

The two of them were walking to class trying to get their minds off of their failed attempt at gaining support when they ran into Zion.

"Oh, Zion, how are you?" Crystal asked, shocked but happy to see him.

"I'm doing well. I'm headed to the isolated training grounds. And you? How are you doing?" He asked, his killer smile on full display.

"Could be better, but I'm managing. Why are you going there?"

"My aunt wants me to enter the tournament coming up so I'm preparing for it. Gotta get stronger you know."

"I see. Well, I hope everything goes well. I'll be rooting for you." She smiled.

"Thanks, I'll see you later. Hey Zia, I'll see you around." Zion waved them goodbye and headed to his training.

"Princess! That was your chance! Why didn't you ask him?!"

"I don't know." Crystal sighed. "I don't know."

---

"Hey did you hear? Apparently, some students are going missing." Bryan whispered to Zion. Bryan was one of the friends Zion made and was someone he planned on recruiting for his cause. He is a genius alchemist and Zion would always welcome more great minds.

"That's a fake rumor. Students do that all the time to scare the first years." Zion confirmed. He had been at school long enough to ignore the false rumors and such.

"It's real man, one of my friends, Nicole, saw it happening. She said she was on the training grounds where she saw two people wearing cloaks and masks dragging an unconscious student somewhere."

"And did she report it?" Zion asked

"Yeah, but apparently, there was a letter in her room saying that she was going back home for a bit."

"So she went back home."

"Noo! Zion, it was staged. They wanted it to look like she left on her own accord."

"You know Bryan, for being a smart alchemist, you sure as hell look too deep into these horror stories."

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"Zion, you're just too strong and influential to care about anything happening to you."

"Okay, fine, I'll indulge you. Is there a pattern? Something that seems odd?"

"Haha! I knew you would come around. Okay so look, I did some digging and I found out that every student that went missing are commoners."

"So why aren't you missing yet?"

"Yeah, real funny. But that's not all, every student who went missing was promising to some degree."

"Like outshining a noble promising?" Zion asked

"Yes! That promising!"

Zion's interest started to be piqued. Sure nobles may try to sabotage a commoner's chances of growing, but kidnapping was something they would never stoop to. If anything, they would straight up kill them.

"Is there a location pattern? Like they were in so and so area?"

"Not that I know. I heard that it happened in the training grounds, in the dorms, in the library, and a few other places. I didn't find a pattern with the locations." Bryan said shaking his head.

"Okay, I'll talk to my aunt about this. Also, let me meet with Nicole, I want to hear her side of the story. If what you're saying is true, then that means even you are at risk. After all, you just outclassed Ryan Goberman yesterday, and his family is known to be the best of alchemists."

"Oh shit! Do they hold grudges?" Bryan asked nervously

"Oh yeah, they hold them for generations. Even my family isn't allowed to purchase their goods anymore after my eldest sister outshined their oldest son in a competition. They are a bunch of petty bastards."

"Don't worry though, if you go missing, then I'll truly believe what you're saying." Zion laughed and left his seat as the bell rang and class was over.

"When you finally believe me, I want you to remember that I told you so." Bryan clutched his book and left the class.

Walking back to his isolated training room, which had become a daily rutine for the past month, Zion passed by many students and heard some commotion that caught his attention.

"Did you hear? Alice from Class 3-A just beat Trisha Goldman in a sword fight."

"I didn't just hear that, I saw the fight!"

"I heard that it was a one-sided beatdown."

"Yeah, Trisha couldn't do anything."

Trisha Goldman, a noble who was part of a family that prided themselves as the best martial family in the Astir Kingdom. Their egos were almost as big as the Gobermans.

Trisha herself was in his homeroom class, meaning she was an S-class student.

"Well, things are getting more and more interesting." Zion thought to himself as he headed to his training room.