Chapter 189
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 189
With the underworld civil war finally at an end, the new semester began.
Unlike the break, which had lacked a formal closing ceremony, the Chairman gathered the student body for a simple opening ceremony to mark the start of the term.
As the students assembled in the Grand Auditorium, the Chairman greeted them with a warm smile.
“It is a pleasure to see you all again. I trust you had a wonderful time returning to your homes, however briefly, to see your parents and relatives.”
After offering a few words of encouragement, the Chairman moved on to the official announcements. He provided details regarding second-semester course registration and the competitive match schedule, and announced that there would be upcoming inspections for the clubs participating in the school festival.
“Finally, I would like to express my deepest regrets for the unfortunate incidents that occurred last semester. In response to feedback from your parents, we have reinforced security within the Union. Elite soldiers, selected from various prestigious families and kingdoms, have been stationed here, so please rest assured.”
From Gillean's attack during the practical exam and the gremlin assault at the athletic festival to the massive merman offensive during the summer training camp—the list was extensive.
The parents might not have known the full truth behind this series of events, but it was inevitable that they would doubt the Union's security capabilities. Increasing the security personnel was the natural next step.
Having finished his announcements, the Chairman concluded his short speech with one final remark.
“I hope you all have a safer and more enjoyable school life. That is all.”
*
Intermediate Introduction to Magic.
Or rather, it was now Intermediate Practical Magic.
Unlike the theory-focused classes of the first semester, the second semester would center mostly on practical application. Of course, this change only applied to required major courses, so I wouldn't have to learn Divine Magic, which wasn't my forte anyway.
After briefly explaining the curriculum for the term, Professor Martelzier concluded the lecture.
“Since it's the first day of the semester, we'll wrap things up here for today~ But starting next week, we'll be moving on to practical lessons, so please keep that in mind~”
A murmur rippled through the lecture hall at the professor's words.
Practical lessons meant it was time to personally cast the spells they had only studied in theory until now. It went beyond simply solving formulas and making calculations; they would have to manipulate mana and actually manifest magic.
This required not only a brilliant mind but also innate mana and talent. Even if a student had earned high scores on the written exams in the first semester, they could still fail miserably in the second semester's practical lessons.
As Professor Martelzier made her announcement, the eyes of the room turned toward me. Perhaps it was because I was the person who best fit that description.
“...”
Everyone was well aware that my written exam scores had improved significantly lately. However...
‘The fact that Roen can't cast magic on his own is also an open secret.’
In fact, up until last year, Roen had received the worst grades in practical classes. How could he get a good score when he couldn't even cast a single Fireball?
The only magic he could use—alchemy—wasn't covered in the first-year Introduction to Magic curriculum, so it wasn't even part of the evaluation. Naturally, his scores had been close to failing.
‘Of course...’
That was all in the past now.
*
“It's been a while.”
After the lecture ended, Beatrice greeted me, with Yuliana in tow.
Has it been two months?
I looked up at Beatrice while packing my books. She didn't look well. Her once fair face was now beyond pale, bordering on pallid, with dark circles hanging under her eyes. The color had drained from her lips as well.
“You look quite haggard.”
“...I'm still weary from my travels. You don't look so great yourself.”
Of course I didn't. I had been bedridden until just recently.
I shrugged and said, “Yeah, a lot happened during the break.”
I had gone beyond the Wall and been beaten to a pulp by Amur, spent a few weeks training with the knights, and then crossed the continent in a carriage. As soon as I returned to the Union, I jumped right into the underworld civil war and got beaten up by Carmilla.
I was constantly getting knocked around, so my body never had a chance to fully recover.
“I heard rumors that you went to the Wall. Were you summoned by Duchess Aslan?”
Beatrice was referring to the expedition beyond the Wall. However, it seemed she hadn't heard the rumor that I'd fought Amur. Well, only a handful of people knew about that incident, so it was only natural.
I gave a vague answer.
“Yeah, thanks to my sister, I saw some interesting sights. But I wouldn't recommend it. Don't even think about going beyond the Wall out of curiosity.”
“I wouldn't go even if you told me to.”
I turned my gaze to Yuliana. “What did you do during the break?”
“Same as you, I went back to my family's home. Nothing special. But... are you going to be okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“The practical lessons start this semester. Unlike in the competitive matches, you can't use artifacts or scrolls in class.”
Unlike the competitive matches, which evaluate a student's overall combat ability, magic lectures only assess one's achievement in magic itself. Just as Yuliana said, you couldn't rely on the power of artifacts or scrolls in practical lessons. She was warning me about that.
“Are you worried about me?”
“W-Worried? Of course not! It'd be great for me if you failed to get an A and had to step down as Student Council President.”
“How would that be great?”
“Uh... well, that's...”
I cut off the flustered Yuliana and stood up.
“Anyway, stop by the Alchemy Club room after school. We need to prepare for the school festival, and there's that club inspection too. If you're not feeling well, though, you can skip it.”
At that, Yuliana raised her hand.
“Then I'll go in her place, Your Highness. You should get some rest.”
“I would appreciate that.”
*
After the Intermediate Practical Magic lecture, I attended a few boring elective classes before heading to the Voltimir territory for my Spiritology lecture.
The Easy-to-learn Spiritology lecture continued as a theory class in the second semester as well.
‘Aptitude for Spiritology is far rarer than talent for magic.’
Even without a talent for magic, one could change their path to practical fields like potion-making or magical engineering. But a Spirit User could do almost nothing if they couldn't command spirits. That was why theory and practice were strictly separated in Spiritology.
Living up to his excellent reputation, Professor Isley didn't dive into the material on the first day, instead making some small talk before ending the class early.
“Well, now that we've all seen each other, let's end it here. I look forward to working with you all this semester.”
As Professor Isley finished and disappeared, the students began to leave the lecture hall in small groups. That was when I spotted Kiriel and her friends. Unlike their usual cheerful selves, they all seemed completely drained.
I called out to Kiriel as she was passing by.
“Why the long faces?”
“...You don't need to know.”
It wasn't just Kiriel; her aides standing next to her, Silphy and Lina, didn't look too happy either. Was it because they were stressed from preparing for the school festival?
“If you have a problem, you can come talk to me. I'll help if I can.”
“Hmm.”
Kiriel stared at me doubtfully, contemplating. Then Silphy and Lina, who were beside her, chimed in.
“Why don't you just tell him? You have nothing to lose, right?”
“Yeah~ Besides, Roen is super rich, right~? Maybe he'll help?”
Why were they suddenly talking about my money?
Just then, the hesitant Kiriel slowly parted her lips.
“The budget...”
“...?”
“We don't have enough.”
“You're out of money?”
I tilted my head, but I quickly grasped the situation.
Voltimir, one of the Four Great Academies, was out of money. It sounded strange at first, but it wasn't entirely unbelievable.
Eredor was overflowing with money thanks to backing from the Empire and the Magic Tower, and Seintea was always well-off due to donations from the Holy Kingdom and the Church. Ishtal fell a little short of those two, but it was primarily sponsored by various noble families; with support from prestigious houses like the Knight Kingdom of Gilbert, Devalis, and Gunhild, it rarely suffered from a lack of funds.
Voltimir, on the other hand, was more like a loose federation of various races and tribes. Compared to the other major academies, its budget was on the smaller side.
‘It's mainly based on elves and beastkin who live in the forest, after all.’
There was no way they could be rich. The elven kingdom was relatively wealthy, but I knew the beastkin tribes weren't very well-off.
Kiriel continued in a cautious voice.
“We tried to be frugal, but we recently had to hire a lot of security personnel...”
Kiriel claimed they'd spent a lot of money recently to expand the Union's security force. But...
‘Even if they increased their security, they shouldn't be this short on funds.’
Voltimir's lack of money was only relative to the other major academies; it wasn't an institution that would tremble over a budget of a few billion. Putting together the various pieces of information, I deduced Voltimir's current situation.
“Don't tell me you saw how successful Freya's athletic festival was and decided you had to make the school festival even grander... you didn't change your plans like that, did you?”
To which Silphy and Lina replied:
“That's exactly it.”
“You guessed it~”
“Expanding the festival's scale without a proper plan? What were you thinking?”
Kiriel stammered out an excuse.
“I-I couldn't help it. The school festival is the Union's biggest event. It's supposed to be spectacular and grand. But Freya did such a good job before... I got a little greedy.”
“How much are you short?”
“A lot.”
“I heard you're building a stadium. Is that the reason?”
Silphy, beside her, answered.
“Yes, the old stadium was too dilapidated, so we're building a new one. It was also one of President Kiriel's campaign promises.”
‘So that's why they're out of money.’
For massive construction projects like a stadium, it's common for costs to exceed the initial estimates. Without proper planning, it becomes a money pit—especially if you change the plans midway or decide to build it even bigger.
After thinking it over, I spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Well, if it's a money problem, that's easy to solve. I could lend you some.”
“It's incredibly expensive. No matter how much money you have...”
Most students knew that Roen was rich. He was a scion of the great noble House Devalis and was known for spending money like water, so it was only natural. Still, it seemed she didn't think I had enough to cover the construction costs of a stadium.
However...
“I have more money than you can imagine.”
“I heard you hit the jackpot with stocks~ But this might be an amount even that can't cover~?”
“No. Nothing is difficult for me.”
How much could it possibly cost? A few hundred billion at most? Even if it cost that much, it wasn't a problem. I was scheduled to receive thirty percent of the underworld's shares in cash, so I could easily afford to lend it.
This wasn't the place for a detailed discussion, so I wrapped it up.
“Well, if you need help, just ask anytime. It won't be free, though.”
*
After school.
The Alchemy Club room.
I had told them to gather in advance, so quite a few members were already there. The Alchemy Club currently had a total of twenty members. The number of members had steadily increased since the athletic festival, and I heard that applications exploded after Beatrice and Yuliana joined.
But they couldn't accept every student who was only interested in the prestige, so only those who passed the strict entrance exam administered by the club president, Trish, were admitted.
With all the members except Beatrice gathered, I stepped forward and laid out the announcements.
“Everyone, listen up. I have a few things to go over before we start supplying drinks for the school festival.”