The Entrance Ceremony (2)
The main stage of Survive the Academy was, of course, the academy itself. That meant the place was a magnet for every kind of incident—and, further, that someone was pulling the strings behind them.
So who was that mastermind? The hint was simple. They didn't look remotely like a villain, and they sat in a position no one would ever dare suspect.
Why in the world is the imperial princess the final boss…
A vast empire claiming a third of the continent, ruled by a single sovereign: the Emperor. That Emperor had four children, and among them the First Princess, Estelle von Siegfried, was the ultimate mastermind plotting to overthrow the academy.
…And she was a heroine of Academy Survival, too.
That bastard of a developer definitely has a villain fetish.
Why on earth make Mad Dog Sylvia and Viper Estelle romanceable? They'd even put real effort into those routes, from the look of it. I'd never played them myself, but everyone who had ended up a card-carrying member of the Estelle fan club.
Anyway. That's not what matters right now.
Estelle was a mastermind working from the shadows to bring the academy down. She wasn't on the side of the evil god, the darkness of the continent, but within the academy she was more dangerous than that god. The evil god played in the dark. Estelle's hand reached into the light as well. The moment she marked you, academy life flipped into the hardest of hard modes.
No matter what happens, I cannot stand out.
Estelle was the sort who kept a hit list written neatly in her heart. Onto it went anyone who might obstruct the overthrow of the academy—the talented, the exceptional. A plain, unremarkable student was, if anything, safe. Panic just because she'd sat beside me, and she might decide there was something to me worth watching.
Do that, and my odds of dying start pumping like a stock chart!
I hadn't planned to stand out at the entrance ceremony to begin with, but with Estelle in the next seat, standing out was even more forbidden. No matter what, I had to play an ordinary student.
"…?"
I was turning all that over while putting on a desperate performance of sleep when I felt Estelle suddenly tap my shoulder. A small voice followed.
"New student. The entrance ceremony is about to begin. You really ought to stop sleeping and wake up!"
The seats were certainly full, and I could hear something being prepared up on the stage. Ignoring her now would only look stranger. I cracked my eyes open and looked at the Estelle sitting beside me.
She looks exactly like her illustration.
Hair the white of molten platinum, vivid golden eyes—the very symbols of the imperial house. The smile on her lips was unbearably kind, and every gesture so elegant she might have been a white stoat. True to a heroine, she was stupidly, unfairly beautiful. Of course, knowing her true face, she looked to me more like a demon wearing a human skin.
Managing my expression is everything.
I hid the fear and put on a flustered, fluttering look—the part of a clumsy commoner faced with a beauty. After about three seconds I layered on a start of surprise, the gesture of someone who had only just realized who she was.
"I greet the First Princess, sister to all the people!"
"Now, now. Don't you know every student is equal at the academy? Stay seated."
I'd been about to shoot to my feet and bow my head to the floor when Estelle put on a stern face and pressed my shoulder down. The very image of a friendly royal unbound by authority. But I had once stolen a look at her diary in the game, so I knew her inner self, at least in outline.
Her acting is incredible. On Earth she would've been a star.
Estelle was a woman mad for power. She thought of herself not as the human Estelle, but as the Empire's First Princess. She loathed being treated as a friend and was satisfied only when addressed as a liege. Not authoritarian? Friendly with everyone? It was nothing but an act, and anyone who fell for it would find their name written on her hit list.
"How could I? Wherever I may be on this continent, I will not forget Your Highness's grace."
"I told you not to. Come on, say it with me. 'Estelle, nice to meet you~.'"
"Estelle… nice to meet you…"
When I said it, reluctant, Estelle smiled brightly. With that I had neither refused her command nor treated her with easy familiarity—a tidy bit of social navigation that drew no interest and gave no offense. She wouldn't speak to me any further than this. All I had to do was sit through the ceremony as I was.
"I sincerely welcome every new student gathered here today. We will now begin the three hundred and twelfth entrance ceremony of Arbel Academy."
The ceremony proceeded in the ordinary way. The host declared it open and briefly introduced the distinguished guests who sponsored the academy, and once everyone had joined in the school anthem—which doubled as the Academy Survival soundtrack—the basic preparations were done.
"Ahem. A pleasure to meet you, new students. I am Gustav von Neumann, and I have the honor of serving as headmaster of Arbel Academy."
"Waaaaah!"
Next came the headmaster's address. Ordinarily the most boring part—but when the man giving it was one of only three eighth-rank Grand Mages on the continent, that was a different story. The freshmen, especially those of the Magic Faculty, shone with the bright eyes of fans meeting their favorite.
Unfortunately for the magic students, Gustav was a headmaster determined to live young.
"An old man shouldn't go stealing time from the young, should he? We'll leave the address here and move along."
"Nooo!"
"At least finish the story you started!!"
The headmaster answered the Magic Faculty's cries with a booming chuckle and vanished backstage. What followed was the freshman representative's oath and the announcement of each faculty's first- and second-ranked students. The representative was, of course, Estelle, and the top ranks were all people I knew—not that I was close to them. I'd simply seen them, and spoken with them, inside the game.
"With this, we conclude the entrance ceremony. New students, please remain on standby until the faculty come to guide you."
And so the ceremony ended, and the faculty all disappeared backstage. Those left in the Main Auditorium were only the freshmen. There was nothing to do but wait for a guide, so the cadets began chatting with whoever sat beside them to fight the boredom.
"How was my representative speech? I was nervous, but I tried my very best. Was it all right?"
"…."
For the record, the friend beside me was Estelle. I was sure she'd lost interest, yet for some reason she'd been talking to me for a little while now. I wanted to ignore her, but that would only displease her, and if it did, the odds of her dragging me into a scheme rose considerably. I had to prevent that, no matter what.
"It was superb. Your voice was beautiful, and your diction so precise it was a pleasure to listen to."
"Really? You're not just flattering me because I'm a princess, are you?"
"The other students will have felt the same. Not only me."
"Mmm~ All right, then. I'll take your word for it."
I answered as carefully as I could, so as not to grate on her mood. Every reply felt like a step through a minefield, but I meant to get through it on positive thinking. Once today was over, Estelle—different faculty, different class—would be someone I never had to meet. And this little exchange would be over soon enough.
It should be starting any moment now.
The tutorial of Survive the Academy: an event that taught the player the basic controls while showing off the production values on the side. The Entrance Ceremony Raid was about to begin. If memory served, it started at exactly noon…
"GRAAAAAH!"
Boom. A grinding rumble. Bingo. Just as I remembered, the moment the clock struck noon the side wall of the Main Auditorium came crashing down. What emerged through the breach was a drake, one of the large-class monsters—a subspecies of dragon, the wingless terror they called a dragon without wings. I am not exaggerating. That thing alone could bring down a small city.
"W-what? That's a drake!"
"A large monster appeared in the middle of the academy?!"
"Run first! There's no time to talk!"
The freshmen fell into a panic at the sight of the roaring drake. Some fled screaming; others sank where they stood and froze. But this was Arbel Academy, the continent's foremost educational institution—a place so thick with prodigies you could trip over them, where a genius of the age turned up now and then. Quite a few cadets kept their composure even before a monster as dreadful as a drake.
"Everyone, calm down! If we evacuate carefully, we can all get out!"
"Judging by the size, it isn't a fully grown drake. Something like that, we can hold off."
"Prepare for battle! Hold out a little, and the professors will come to support us!"
The cadets drew their weapons, and the fight began. A truly heroic sight—exactly what you'd expect of freshmen at Arbel Academy, a school that raised heroes. Not that it was any of my business.
You all go grind yourselves ragged. I'm out.
Naturally, I had no intention of fighting the drake. I wasn't a student burning with justice, and I didn't possess the knightly spirit to die for honor. Above all, I hated standing out. Respond calmly here, and people would mistake me for someone special, wouldn't they? My plan was to wear a suitably frightened face and slip into the crowd of evacuating students.
All right. Time to run—
I had just risen to flee when I saw something so absurd I could hardly believe it.
…Why was Estelle still sitting there? Every student around me had fled until the seats were empty, and in the middle of that, no one had taken her with them?
"Heh heh heh."
Estelle's smile hardened, and shadow fell across her face. The faint grind of teeth reached me. Anyone could see she was furious, and with that exact expression she turned to look at me. The look said, You're going to leave me and run, too?
Son of a—
Run off alone here, and Estelle's affection would slam to negative nine hundred ninety-nine. Then my entire academy life would be weirdly, relentlessly unlucky, and I'd get dragged into attacks all the time. I wanted absolutely none of that, so I swallowed my tears and held out a hand.
"Your Highness, please follow me! I will stake this body of mine to protect you!"
"You don't have to go that far. I'll borrow your hand, though."
Soft. She must take good care of it.
Thinking that, I led Estelle toward the crowd of evacuees.