"...come again…?"
The vice headmaster, Syon Gemleware, leaned forward and gasped, staring at Rotsard as his eyes widened.
"I need you to mess with the results of my exams if it will be necessary. You see, I want to write them with a peace of mind, giving my best, but if Justin ends up scoring lower than me, you will adjust my result so that it will be lower than his."
The bleached-blond-haired youth repeated, and ended up reaching out and patting the head of the man in front of him.
"You can do that much for me, can't you? Something like, this answer was too advanced, he must have cheated. Excuses like that. Well, only if that would be necessary. There is an option that Justin will beat me fair and square, so you might not need to lift a finger. So don't make that face."
Rotsard added, smiling softly at the pouting Syon.
"Let me get this straight… In case you will score BETTER than the commoner student, you want me to fix results AGAINST you?"
"Correct."
Syon closed his eyes while frowning and inquired in utter disbelief, but Rotsard merely nodded, not backing out of what he had already said.
"WHY!?"
Syon couldn't hold back anymore and blew up, staring daggers at Rotsard… but not backing off or even attempting to shake off the hand that was patting him.
"..."
To answer that, Rotsard had to consider a couple of factors.
How to make it sound so convincing that Syon would not question him…
How to make it so that it would encourage Syon to cooperate and then join Justin's group later on, but not too soon…
And so on.
Luckily, since the midterm exams were just around the corner, Saria was on Rotsard's mind pretty often. He realized what connection he could make that would fulfill most of the criteria.
"There is a secret investigation within the Vallhall family regarding the branch families going on. I need to appear as desperate as possible and be the bait that draws out the suspects, but I really can't share more details with you. Even with just that, I already shared too much."
"...!"
Syon's eyes widened even at the vague explanation. He was smart, in this case, he was too smart, and he instantly made a lot of assumptions in his head with just the crumbs of information Rotsard fed him.
"Everyone else already believes that Justin and I are at each other's throats, so the best way for me to appear unhinged and at my wits' end will be through a chain of constant defeats. That would make me look vulnerable and easy to take yje advantage of... a chance like that will not come again."
To drive his point home, Rotsard added even though he knew it wasn't necessary, but it certainly did make it look as if he really wanted to tell Syon as much as he could.
"...I see… but then how about the life and death duel young lady Treedor challenged you to? It's already a well-known fact… Is that a part of your plan, too?"
"Everything is a part of the plan."
Syon furrowed his brows and muttered before glancing hesitantly at the bleached-blond-haired youth who answered him with a solemn nod.