Only now did Sonia notice that Ingrid had returned. She called out, "Quick, hop on the school forum and find the thread titled 'Setting Aside Strength, Is Miss Servi a Stain on Our School?'. Help me flame this original poster into the ground!"
"Adele, come help too! There are several scumbags in there repeating the same circular nonsense over and over. It's making my blood boil! Come flame them with me!"
Ingrid pointed at Sonia, turning to Adele with an expression of utter bewilderment.
Adele shrugged. "She's been egosurfing like crazy all afternoon. Whenever she sees a post praising her, she chimes in, and whenever she sees one bashing her, she fires right back... She literally can't stop."
If Sonia had previously only been recognized as a prodigy confined to the Swordsmanship Department—with students from other departments paying her little mind—the news of her summoning a two-winged sorcery spirit and felling the alchemical giant bear with a single sword strike during the Chief Bout at last night's social mixer had caused the Red-Haired Sword Princess's fame to thoroughly explode across Jialesi. On the school forum, the name "Sonia Servi" had been dominating the front page all day long.
Yet Sonia was not a gold coin, after all; where there was admiration, there was inevitably resentment. The forum swiftly split into two factions: one believed Sonia would become the new Sword Flower whose starting point was the Sanctuary and who had every hope of attaining Legend, while the other insisted she was merely a lucky country bumpkin who would soon fade into obscurity, and that having someone like her as Sword Flower's Chief could only be a disgrace to the university.
Ingrid pulled up the thread, her expression shifting slightly.
The original post rested primarily on three arguments: First, Sonia was not only non-noble, but she did not even belong to the ordinary burgher class, being merely an impoverished villager from the boondocks—"A barefoot peasant like her is very likely just using her sorcerer status to sell herself off for a higher price."
Second, Sonia had lost her father at a young age and her mother was a simple farmer, so where could she possibly have acquired the resources to study and attend school?—"She was probably already capitalizing on her beauty when she was a little girl."
Third, the fact that Sonia had become a Two-Winged Sorcerer in a single month defied all reason—even the most legendary of sorcerers had never achieved something so absurd—meaning she had definitely received outside patron assistance. But why would anyone sponsor her?—"Isn't it obvious she went and found herself a new 'father'?"
Good grief. Every single one of the three points was malicious libel and baseless character assassination, completely devoid of substance. Even Ingrid grew furious as she read: "Can't we track down whoever wrote this and beat them up?"
"It's a fresh account; you can't dig anything up," Adele said. "A whole swarm of zero-post burners popped up on the forum today, every single one created solely to slander Sonia. Hmph, these cowards know their arguments don't hold water, so they wouldn't dare confront us on their mains."
Ingrid asked in confusion, "Can't they just ban the accounts spewing these insults?"
"Sigh." Adele let out a breath. "Take a closer look. There isn't a single profanity in the poster's words. Every turn of phrase dances right along the edge of an insult, merely using suggestive tones to nudge people toward the worst conclusions. Even if we report it, the school administration can't officially classify it as harassment."
"I thought Sword Flower students would have better character than this..." Ingrid scrolled down through the rest of the replies, growing angrier with every line. "Even the people in my hometown wouldn't say things this vile!"
"Ha! Never mind Sword Flower University—even Truth University's school forum is full of toxic garbage like this. Higher education only filters for intelligence, perseverance, and family background; it can't filter for morals." Adele shook her head. "That's how our nobility behaves: smiling and laughing to your face, then spewing filth behind the Curtain."
Ingrid looked at Sonia with concern. "Sonia, are you all right?"
"Huh? I'm great! Look, another one was flamed so hard they don't dare reply anymore!"
The village girl rolled over onto her back. "What a coward. Definitely some wretch from the Wind Sorcery Department—so spineless they can't even hold a stance while hiding behind the Curtain."
Ingrid blinked. Sonia's reaction was completely different from what she had envisioned.
At that moment, Lois finally recovered from her hangover. Waving a hand, she remarked, "No need to worry about her. She's the type who gets more thrilled the more people curse at her."
"Why do you make me sound like some kind of pervert!" Sonia flipped back over, continuing to sprawl flat on her stomach across the mattress.
"Then tell me what part of you isn't perverted! Could a normal person advance a sorcery faction from absolute zero to Gold rank in a single month?!"
"Hmph, the sweet melody of jealousy sounds so pleasing to the ear."
"See? I told you so! Pervert, pervert, pervert!"
"Lois, your way of acting cute is really bizarre."
"Sonia, you giant pervert!"
When confronted with slander and defamatory gossip, people generally had three reactions. The first was to be fragile and thin-skinned: seeing such remarks left them tossing and turning through sleepless nights, suffering as if mentally bludgeoned, compelled to look away and hide.
The second was a steady composure: while anger might flare, it brought no deep distress; they did not cling to petty insults and simply went on as if nothing had happened.
And then there was the third kind—the iron-hearted breed, like Sonia.
You curse at me? I'll curse you back twice as hard! Not only will I curse back, but I'll rally everyone around me to tear into you together!
Rage was her fuel, words were her ammunition, and if she didn't flame you into total surrender, she counted it as her own defeat!
Anyone else might have shed tears over these vicious falsehoods, but Sonia was different. The rural village where she grew up was by no means an idyllic, innocent haven; from childhood, she had honed her verbal fluency by exchanging insults. Facing the underhanded smears of noble brats on the school forum, Sonia felt not the slightest ripple of distress—she almost felt like laughing.
Is that all you've got?
The squeaking of city rats wasn't even half as shrill as that of country rats.
Ingrid studied the replies to the thread more closely and asked, "Is that 'Did the Sword Princess Eat Today' account Sonia?"
"No, that's me," Adele said. "Sonia's alt is the reply right below mine."
Ingrid's expression turned slightly odd. "'President of the Paws-Out Club'? What does that mean?"
Sonia looked over at her, still lying flat on the bed. Arching her rear into the air, she extended both arms as far forward as possible to stretch her lower back, limbering up like a cat and narrowing her eyes in sheer contentment. "This is pawing out."
With lightning speed, Adele snapped a picture. "Don't worry, I won't post it. Keeping this one for my private collection."
"Of course you can't post it," Sonia said. "Even if I post casual daily photos, it'll have to be after I've put on my combat outfit and proper makeup. Besides, the lighting in this dorm is terrible; we need to buy a fill light..."
Watching Sonia's antics, Ingrid couldn't help but sigh. "I used to think geniuses were all aloof and detached, completely unapproachable—Professor Trozan was my quintessential image of a genius..."
Never in her wildest dreams could Ingrid have imagined that a true genius was not only far from aloof, but would also spend entire afternoons obsessively egosearching forum threads about herself, using burner accounts to flame detractors online, and fussing over lighting angles for snapshots...
"Your impression wasn't wrong," Lois chimed in. "The fault lies with the stars—they must have gone blind to bestow their favor on Sonia. No wonder there are so many stories out there about 'poor boys winning over princesses'; turns out they have some basis in reality after all."
"You're badmouthing me again." Sonia sat up. "Still, I'm in a good mood today. Not only will I overlook your petty jealousy, but I even intend to treat you all to a meal!"
"Awesome!" Adele hopped up with delight. "What are we having?"
"The campus cafeteria!"
"You won the Chief Bout and you're treating us to the campus cafeteria?!"
"Come to think of it, you're right." Sonia cupped her chin thoughtfully. "Since I'm the one who won the Chief Bout, you all should be treating me instead. Why should I have to pay?"
"How bizarre," Adele remarked. "Sonia, you didn't used to take advantage of people like this, but lately you've been getting more and more shameless. I wonder who you picked that up from... Let me state for the record, it wasn't me!"
"You know me," Ingrid said mildly. "It wasn't me either."
"I'm basically the one Sonia takes advantage of." Lois was also rather curious. "Aside from us, the only people Sonia frequently spends time with are Felix and Professor Trozan, but neither of them seems like that sort of person... Could it be you've been secretly dating behind our backs?"
"Let's go eat." Sonia hopped down from the bed to change, retorting peevishly, "It's rare that I grant you all an opportunity to treat me to a meal. I advise you not to be ungrateful."
"Deflecting the topic!"
"Putting on airs!"
"Woman, you have caught my attention! Hand over your man this instant, and I shall spare your life!"
The roommates clamored noisily as they headed out together for dinner.
...
At eleven that night, Sonia arrived at the Meditation Building as usual, preparing to enter the Void Realm.
There was so much to discuss tonight: she had learned a new miracle in her dream, advanced her swordsmanship faction to Gold rank, and successfully summoned a new two-winged sorcery spirit;
she had won the Chief Bout and would be participating in the Intercollegiate League as Sword Flower's seeded contestant;
Demilo appeared to have ties with Vosloda, and Star Hall was very likely an organization under the command of the Starry Law Master...
At these thoughts, Sonia could hardly wait to step onto the Time Continent and show off her triumphs to the Watcher.
She summoned her newly gained two-winged sorcery spirit, 'Sword Shadow,' locked onto the Gate of Truth within its core, and descended into the second layer of the Void Realm—the Time Continent.
As her consciousness sank into the Void Realm, the village girl slowly opened her eyes. Finding herself seated in the front passenger seat of the sports car, she turned around toward the back and began, "Watcher, Witch, you'll never guess what I did last night—"
Mid-sentence, Sonia trailed off.
She stared at the Witch, and the Witch stared back at her. The two looked all around, but there was no sign of anyone else.
"Where's the Watcher?" Sonia asked blankly.
"It wasn't me!" Diya hastily disclaimed all responsibility.
The two quickly noticed a note taped to the front windshield:
'Tied up tonight and can't make it. Take the car out for a drive yourselves—just don't wreck it.'
'By the way, Sword Princess, our exploration last night went very smoothly, and we didn't badmouth you. If you don't believe me, ask the Witch.'
Sonia turned her gaze toward Diya. "What kind of bad things did you say about me last night?"
Diya looked thoroughly lost. She started to speak, then stopped, began again, and hesitated once more, her expression contorted in agony as though she were suffering severe stomach cramps.
After conferring with her sisters for a brief moment, she finally decided to follow the Black Butler's suggestion. "Actually, the Watcher was lying."
"How was he lying?"
"Our exploration last night didn't go smoothly at all. The Watcher got run over and killed by my car the moment he arrived in the Void Realm, so we never had the chance to badmouth you."
Chapter 269