This Heroine's Friend Has the Power of Botany

Chapter 108

Justice

"Ellie, you know this competition isn’t as fair as you claim. I’ve never had the opportunity to learn potion concocting, while you were lucky enough to study under a 4-star level apothecary. How can you call this justice? I feel like I’m being taken advantage of!" Nara shouted, unable to hold back her frustration. The louder she spoke, the more attention she drew from those around them.

Although the registration area for the potion concocting competition wasn’t in the same place as the other events, it was still within the same building, just on different floors and in different rooms. This was why the central building was bustling with people.

Ellie paid no mind to the gazes of the onlookers. She looked at the ranting Nara with pity. How could the woman in front of her be the heroine of the story?

In the novel, there were many instances where the heroine clashed with the antagonists, and the narrative often portrayed Nara as having faced previous injustices, which swayed readers’ sympathies entirely towards the heroine. Ultimately...could she be seen as one of the villains now? After all, from the heroine’s perspective, it was Ellie who was using her advantageous position to defeat the other side.

The story might turn out like this: "Ellie," the villain who was the Setter family’s people, naturally received the opportunity to be trained in potion concocting by a mysterious 4-star level apothecary, honing her skills. Meanwhile, the heroine had to rely on self-study to learn. One day, the heroine and the villain Ellie competed against each other. The heroine, unable to understand why the villain always obstructed her path, asked directly, feeling a sense of resentment towards fate. In contrast, the villain Ellie disregarded the heroine’s efforts and simply said they should compete based on their abilities, even though Ellie’s abilities had already placed her near the finish line.

This could be the kind of story where the author wanted to make the heroine seem even more pitiable—a lone fighter betrayed by her close friend. Such a plot would surely incite the readers’ anger.

But even so...it’s truly a shame to say this, but the story where the heroine Nara was the center of the world had changed. From now on...it’s Ellie who will be writing the next Chapter!

Ellie shook her head slightly as her eyes met Nara’s red-rimmed ones. The heroine, convinced she was being bullied and treated unjustly, hadn’t even thought back to the day she became a user of light elemental power and was accepted by Professor Lucien.

Everyone had their own opportunities. It just depended on whether you seized them or destroyed them...So, was it really fair to blame others now?

The smaller girl let out a slight chuckle, not flustered by Nara’s accusations at all. She even responded with logic and reason.

"Nara...by saying this, you acknowledge that you don’t have the ability to compete[PL1] , right? Do you understand the purpose of the competition at this institute? The institute is currently looking to select capable individuals to represent it in competitions against other institutions."

"Our institute is ranked number one today, do you know why? Because it is widely recognized for producing outstanding students. And that recognition is based on the annual competition that is about to take place."

"If you know that you don’t truly have the ability for the potion concocting competition, then shouldn’t you have signed up for something else that you’re capable of? Why insist on entering a competition you know you can’t handle? I don’t understand."

"This competition is meant to find representatives to compete against other institutions. Why enter a competition for something you can’t do? If others knew you were signing up despite knowing you couldn’t compete, they might think you’re the one taking advantage of others. You want to be the representative for first-year students in potion concocting, right? Knowing that the first year doesn’t have formal instruction yet, you exploited that loophole to sign up and easily take the points while others have to struggle hard to compete, is that it?"

"Now that you see I’m signing up too, and I have the ability to win, you want me to step aside so you can get the points as you planned, right? Is this the fairness you’re talking about? Why do I find it more of a joke!"

How long had it been since Ellie last used her sharp tongue to her advantage...

She had intended to stay quiet and avoid this annoying heroine, but the girl still kept bothering her! Hadn’t she learned her lesson from the last time Ellie punished her, which led to her being expelled from being Professor Lucien’s disciple? How could she not understand that they were on completely different levels!?

By now, a crowd had gathered around them. All of Ellie’s words were met with general approval. Moreover, Nara’s reputation was already tarnished. Whenever there was any gossip about her, it was usually negative. No matter how hard Nara tried to change people’s perceptions, her selfish nature always made her revert to her old ways.

This selfishness made it clear to everyone that Nara was someone not to befriend with. Some people tried to give her a chance, but she always ruined it, just like now...Instead of sincerely connecting with others and using this competition to showcase her skills and build trustworthy friendships, Nara selfishly and shamelessly entered the potion concocting competition, where no other first-year students had signed up, just to get the points.

Had she not wasted time arguing with Ellie, she might have already secured those points. After all, Ellie hadn’t signed up for everything; she chose only 2 events she was skilled at.

Unlike Nara, Ellie didn’t need to shamelessly pursue points. In truth, Ellie could have signed up for every potion concocting competition and taken all the first-year points with her abilities, as there were no other first-year competitors.

But Nara sought trouble for herself. Her desperate actions and fear of not getting the points only exposed her true nature. Ellie didn’t hesitate to reveal Nara’s intentions to everyone. After all...when Nara accused her and spoke of fairness, she hadn’t considered the damage to Ellie’s reputation. So why should Ellie let Nara tarnish her name unchallenged?

She had given Nara many chances in the past, but Nara still hadn’t realized what she had done wrong. At this point, she was beyond redemption.

Just like before...if Nara had shown any remorse and apologized to Professor Lucien from the beginning, her heroine aura might have worked and Professor Lucien might have forgiven her. Or if Nara had sincerely befriended others and helped each other, she might have made it through the first year. Instead, she now found herself utterly alone!

As long as she continued to think only about her own benefits and saw others as fools who couldn’t keep up with her schemes, she would face severe consequences like this.

"I, I’m not what you say! It’s not just about signing up for points, but I...I studied everything by myself. Whether it’s potion concocting or herbs, you can’t accuse me like this!"

"Really? You must have had plenty of free time to read books and become confident in everything."

"So what? Is reading and signing up forbidden? Should only someone who used the Setter family connections to study with a 4-star level apothecary be allowed to sign up?"

"Hmm? I never said you couldn’t sign up. And besides...you seem to be mistaken about me using the Setter family connections to have Lady Celey teach me potion concocting."

"I don’t believe it. No one here does. When the apothecary taught you, it must have been because you used the power of..."

"It’s not the Setter family connections, Nara. I didn’t use the Setter family connections at all..." Ellie didn’t let Nara finish her sentence. She interrupted her with a devilish grin. Seeing that Nara wanted to say something more, Ellie cut in again.

"I didn’t use the power of the Setter family. I used the power of Professor Medik instead."

And yes! Ellie didn’t feel the need to explain herself to someone like Nara or the fools who believed her words. During their missions together, many people had seen how well she could concoct potions. Many had seen that even 1-star level apothecaries couldn’t achieve the perfection she did. So, if anyone wanted to say she had no real skill and only used connections to learn, let them think so.

If she had to pay attention to every word people said, she wouldn’t be able to do anything else. Just stepping out and hearing someone talk, should she stop walking? If someone asked why she was breathing heavily, would she have to stop breathing altogether!?

Living and working in a company, she had more enemies than colleagues. She had dealt with living under others’ scrutiny countless times. But in the end, other people’s words didn’t earn her more money or fill her stomach. That being said, it’s not like others’ words were useless...if used correctly, they can be incredibly beneficial!

"Pro-Professor Medik?" Nara was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Ellie, who was in the middle of denying, to admit outright that she used someone else’s influence to learn potion concocting.

Instead of feeling triumphant that Ellie admitted to using connections, Nara found her throat drier and couldn’t even swallow. She felt a tightness in her chest.

Professor Medik, Ellie’s botanic professor. Nara also once had Professor Lucien, who promised to support her in everything. But in the end, her relationship with her professor was destroyed by the person in front of her. Now Ellie was proudly claiming she had Professor Medik backing her.

Was this an admission? Nara felt it was more of a mockery! Seeing Ellie’s current expression, she felt the other girl was enjoying admitting it rather than feeling cornered.

"It’s actually not entirely right to use Professor Medik’s reputation to learn from Apothecary Celey. But lately, Professor Medik has been very busy with royal palace missions. Having the apothecary teach me allowed me to learn the basics of potion concocting. Otherwise...if Professor Medik weren’t so busy, I might have learned advanced potion-concocting techniques by now."

Ellie’s words emphasized even more how regretful of not having a mentor as a backing. Nara, feeling a surge of anger, clenched her fists tightly. Ellie’s words must have stung deeply!

"Is Lady Ellie registering the potion concocting competition? In that case, we might as well withdraw."

“Indeed. In previous years, we had to sign up because our professors asked us to represent the institute. No student wants to collect points easily just to lose miserably to apothecaries from other institutes. But this year, since we have Lady Ellie, we can sign up for other competitions instead, right?”

“We’re counting on you, Lady Ellie. Show the other institutes that we have talent too.”

“Lady Ellie is Professor Medik’s disciple. No wonder she has a talent for potion concocting. And she’s only a first-year student! Please keep striving for our institute in the coming years as well.”

Several students voiced their thoughts upon witnessing the scene. They knew Ellie was handling Nara on her own. Hearing that Nara had no real skills and just wanted to sign up to get points to pass the year only made the upperclassmen look down on her even more.

Some students, already eager to please Ellie, joined in. Others, who despised Nara, added fuel to the fire. Those who couldn’t stand Nara’s cries for justice, knowing she also played dirty, joined the fray. As a result, Nara became a pariah, with no one wanting to be near her!

"Actually, I didn’t want to sign up for every potion concocting competition. But after you accused me of being unfair and wanting to cheat you out of points...well, from now on, I’ll enter every competition and take all the points for myself. Then you’ll see what real injustice looks like."

Ellie smiled at everyone before stepping closer to Nara. She spoke her final words loud enough for only the two of them to hear and then walked into the registration room, leaving Nara standing dumbfounded outside.

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