Chapter 121: Heterogeneous Species (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 121: Heterogeneous Species (3)
The Great Forest—the place where the World Tree, the sacred tree of the elves, resides.
There lived the elven royalty, those who spent their lives protecting the World Tree.
They were the ones commonly known as High Elves.
And right now, they were making the most significant decision of their lives.
"No practice rounds. This is decided in one go."
"Everything according to the will of the World Tree!"
With those words, one High Elf held out a tightly clenched fist.
Several small branches from the World Tree were clutched in his hand.
"The two who pull the shortest sticks are going!"
Indeed.
They were holding a lottery to decide who would be sent to the Imperial Academy.
"Aaaaah!"
"Th-this is rigged!"
And so, two victims were chosen.
Their reaction was the polar opposite of the other races who had volunteered, but there was no helping it.
"Just give up."
"D-do I really have to go?"
"The shorties and the beasts are going. We can't exactly stay behind, can we?"
That was the truth.
The reason the elves were dispatching personnel to the Imperial Academy was simple.
If you do it, we do it too.
The arrogant elves felt compelled to match whatever the other races did.
The Dwarves and Beastkin are going to a human academy?
= We’re going too.
The Dwarves and Beastkin are sending royalty?
= We’re sending royalty too.
And so, the High Elves had committed first and thought later.
"So. Who’s going?"
"Anyone want to volunteer?"
"..."
"Let's just draw straws."
That was the conclusion they had reached.
"N-no... I heard stories from my grandmother! They kidnap you! They turn you into slaves!"
Yerisha, the High Elf who had lost the lottery, screamed in terror.
"They say it's not like that these days."
"I heard they perform human experiments on elven bodies and use us like lab rats!"
"That's only the Dark Mages. I heard humans don't do that anymore."
The High Elves who hadn't been picked tried to soothe her, but Yerisha squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
"I heard a Dark Mage visits the Academy every month!"
"N-not every month. M-maybe occasionally?"
"They come even occasionally?!"
"Maybe... once a quarter?"
"Ha..."
At the other elf's words, Yerisha staggered and collapsed.
The other High Elves quickly caught her, but then...
"...Wait, where did Yenika go?"
As they held Yerisha, they suddenly remembered the other "winner."
"That girl is trying to hang herself!"
Another elf whipped their head around. There, they saw another High Elf looping a rope over a branch of the World Tree.
"You crazy girl, what do you think you're doing in front of the World Tree?!"
"It is the will of the World Tree, so I shall die by the World Tree's hand!"
"Why are you being so pathetic? We agreed to go gracefully if we lost the draw!"
"Because I didn't know! I didn't think I'd be the one picked out of more than ten people!"
"Let go! Let go of me! I'll set the World Tree on fire and we can all die together!"
"Are these girls insane?!"
And so, the elven representatives for the Academy were chosen.
In a sense, it was the result of the most intense struggle among all the races.
Heterogeneous Species.
While it was a term accepted casually now, it was a word that had sparked much controversy in ancient times.
From a purely human perspective, it was a word used to describe any race that wasn't human.
Specifically, for those like the Beastkin, some took offense to the classification, interpreting it as "beasts that look like humans," which led to frequent conflicts in the ancient era.
However, as time passed, the terminology began to settle.
"Then what do we call you? If not the Canine Tribe, then what?"
"Our formal title is the Great Beings of the Earth and Prairie, the Runners of the Wind..."
"...Don't you think that's a bit too long? Isn't it a pain to say every time?"
"...Now that you mention it, 'Dog-people' seems fine."
"Not 'Canine Tribe'?"
"Why 'Canine'? If we're a race of dogs, aren't we 'Dog-people'?"
"...Huh? You're right."
It had been thousands of years since they had agreed on such quick and convenient names.
By now, no one questioned the names anymore...
But there was one race whose name carried the same weight both in the past and the present: the Dragonkin.
This was because they were the literal offspring of a Dragon and a human.
Beating the 1-in-500,000 odds, the miraculous beings born as half-dragon, half-human were the Dragonkin!
Therefore, without needing to negotiate with humans, they were able to keep their name as Dragonkin rather than "Dragon-people"!
"Daughter. Are you really going?"
"Yeah. I woke up from a nap the other day and suddenly missed Dad!"
In a certain dragon lair where a few such Dragonkin lived.
The Red Dragon Iphriti looked at her daughter with eyes full of worry.
"It's been 500 years since your father died..."
Since she was a dragon, her husband's face was still vivid in her mind.
But for her Dragonkin daughter, it would be difficult to remember the face of a father she had only seen briefly as a child.
"Yeah! So I want to go see some humans at least!"
"If that's the case, you could just sneak into a nearby village..."
"That's different! Didn't you say Dad went to a place called the Academy a long time ago?"
"Well..."
"And I heard Yenika is going too! Why can't I go?"
At those words, Iphriti narrowed her eyes in thought.
Those damn elves and their big mouths.
Since the lair was close to the World Tree, she usually appreciated the elves handling any annoying matters, but this was a bolt from the blue after three thousand years. Iphriti briefly contemplated whether she should blast the World Tree with a Breath for old time's sake.
"So, I'm going!"
"Hmm..."
Looking at her daughter's bright, energetic smile, Iphriti thought:
Well, whatever. Unless someone with the power of a Dark Mage or a Demon appears, there isn't a human alive who can touch her.
In her long dragon life, she hadn't seen a Dark Mage very often.
As for the Demon Tribe, she could count those encounters on one hand.
Therefore...
"Not all humans are as strong as your father. So be very careful..."
Without much worry, Iphriti granted her daughter permission to enter the Academy.
The fact that the Imperial Academy was a "demonic realm" unlike anything she had experienced in her entire life...
"Have a safe trip."
...was a realization that would come in the somewhat distant future.
"The winner, Daisy!"
"That's seven wins in a row!"
"Daisy, you really are the pride of our Magic Department!"
"Wait, didn't they say Daisy's record against the Magic Department is ten wins in a row now?"
"Shut up. Read the room."
Listening to the cheers of the Magic Department, Daisy thought:
...How did it come to this?
To be honest, this wasn't bad.
Because of the Magic Sword she had happened to pick up, she discovered she had a talent for swordsmanship.
After much deliberation, she had transferred to the Swordsmanship Department this year.
And the unexpected wave of duels sweeping the Academy... was surprisingly fun, but...
...I haven't been able to do any club activities lately!
Regardless of everything else, Daisy had not forgotten that she was the president of the Flower Arrangement Club.
"Ugh..."
After quickly crushing her second duel opponent of the day, Daisy managed to slip into the club room under the pretext of resting.
"...There's no one here."
The club room had always been noisy until last year.
But this year, even though the number of members had increased, it was nothing but silent.
Of course, she knew the reason.
After her friends were trapped in that... space that was hard to even mention.
Various rumors had circulated, causing her friends to visit less frequently.
Then there was the time she herself had run away.
And now, most clubs—not just the Flower Arrangement Club—were participating in duels, leaving only the clubs primarily composed of General Department students to carry out regular activities.
"Ugh..."
Seeing the club room not just empty but gathering a light layer of dust, Daisy made a tearful face.
"Fortunately, it looks like none of the 'children' have died..."
As she watered the pots in the room for the first time in a while, Daisy thought:
H-how can I bring the Flower Arrangement Club back to the way it was?
It was such a difficult task.
To think he was doing this so effortlessly.
She felt a sudden, growing surge of respect for the former president, Senior Bellian.
But she couldn't give up yet.
Hadn't she promised him? That she would keep the Flower Arrangement Club going!
"......So, that's why I'm asking. What should I do?"
Thus, Daisy went to the person she trusted most, Violet, and asked for advice.
"Can't you just ask him?"
"Huh? Ask who?"
"The former president."
"But the Senior became an Imperial Civil Servant..."
"No, I saw him at the Academy."
"Eh?"
"He's a graduate student."
"......???"
She had received an answer she never could have imagined.
"Phew."
The day of Bellian, the Humanities Department TA, was ordinary.
He woke up a bit earlier than he did during his Academy days and arrived before the students.
Then, he would prepare the materials for the professors' lectures.
Once the professor arrived, he would serve a light tea or coffee.
After that, he just sat in his seat and killed time.
While other TAs were running around busy with various tasks, Bellian's only job was to stay in his seat.
At first, he was bewildered by the fact that he was getting paid just to sit still.
But aren't humans creatures of habit?
After about two months, it had become his daily routine to relax and have a cup of tea alone in the professor's office.
Knock. Knock.
However, a sudden knock at the door shattered Bellian's peace.
"Who is it?"
Unaware of what was coming, Bellian simply thought it was a student visiting the office.
This was a tragedy born from the fact that he had been given no information.
In the first place, the professor's office he belonged to was a position held by someone meant to facilitate the infiltration of Imperial agents.
It was a professor who supposedly only did research at the Academy without giving lectures... a professor no one should ever have a reason to seek out.
"Ah! I found the right place!"
Bellian couldn't help but panic at the very familiar voice that responded to him.
"..."
He gripped the doorknob, lost in thought.
Why was Daisy here?
What did she mean, she "found the right place"?
How did she know he had returned to the Academy?
Did she happen to see him? That seemed unlikely, as he only commuted during times when no one was around except for wandering graduate students.
Unaware that a subordinate of a foreign secret agent, who was in contact with an Imperial agent, had casually revealed Bellian's location...
Bellian ran through tens of thousands of possibilities in his head.
"Um. I'm coming in?"
"Wait? Huh?"
The door was definitely locked, but seeing the handle turn with a sickening crack, Bellian was forced back to reality.
"Hello, Senior!"
"O-oh... hey?"
"I heard your goal was to be a civil servant, but I didn't know you'd come back to the Academy like this!"
"Uh, well. You see..."
I was hired as a civil servant, and I'm working right now.
...If he said that, not only would he be fired from his 3rd-Grade Civil Servant position, but he might also be sent straight to the Imperial dungeon. All Bellian could do was offer a hollow laugh.
"If you were here, you should have told me. I'm hurt."
"I-I'm sorry..."
"If you're that sorry... could you do me a favor?"
"A favor?"
"Yes. It's about the club..."
He was being naturally apologized to, and the atmosphere made it feel like he had to grant a favor as a sign of apology.
However, Bellian had an invincible shield.
"I'd like to, but I have to ask the professor..."
"Ah, right..."
He thought he could surely refuse this way.
—Proceed.
"Pardon?"
—Do it.
Bellian had no idea that the only reason he had been allowed to be a "salary thief" until now was for this very moment.