Chapter 151: Eliminated (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 151: Eliminated (2)
The RoFan male leads held out remarkably well against the onslaught of those wicked Magic Spammers.
If things had proceeded normally, they probably would have overcome the Magic Spammers without much trouble.
However, the enemy leader, Boradori, dug right into the male leads' weaknesses.
—D-Daisy?
—Why?!
…He dug into them far too well.
—Be my points!
To think he’d target not just their physical weaknesses, but their mental ones as well.
Under Boradori’s plan, Daisy—blushing as if she were about to confess her love—left the RoFan male leads completely dazed.
It felt as if flower petals were exploding in the background, creating a rosy, romantic atmosphere!
…Actually, it wasn't just a feeling; it was reality.
Boradori had used magic to produce those very special effects!
Unaware of the trickery, the RoFan male leads were stunned by the sight of Daisy’s flushed face, which was actually filled with shame and self-loathing at being forced to go this far.
—Now!
In that opening, Boradori’s forces activated an encirclement and annihilation formation. In the end, even the RoFan male leads suffered casualties.
“…So you saw the whole thing?”
The first one to be eliminated, and the only one so far.
It was Asran, who was making me seriously wonder if it was time for him to officially strip the "Minor Sword Emperor" title from his name.
“I saw everything…”
To be fair, Asran did have a bit of a grievance.
The moment they realized they were surrounded, the RoFan male leads chose to break through a single point.
When even that was blocked by Boradori’s anticipated plan, Esid made a call.
—Scatter!
Since the breakthrough hadn't been completely thwarted, Esid accurately judged that if they each pushed through a weak point, at least a few would survive.
It was better than everyone dying together, and indeed, someone could have survived, but…
—No, why are you only following me?!
In the process, sacrifices were inevitable.
Being the wicked Magic Spammers they were, they tenaciously focused their fire on Prince Ellen and Asran, which led to Asran being the first to get knocked out.
However.
“Still, Ellen managed to slip away just fine.”
Despite being under the same concentrated fire—actually, despite facing even more Magic Spammers than Asran—Ellen had successfully escaped.
Asran had failed.
No matter the excuses, the reason Asran was eliminated was a pure difference in skill.
“Call him Ellen when he’s around, too. He seemed pretty hurt by the ‘Prince’ thing.”
Asran seemed to be trying to change the subject out of embarrassment, but…
“Not a chance.”
Until he cleaned up his act as a RoFan brat, the title of "Prince" wasn't going anywhere.
“Are we even friends?”
I’m doing this to help you snap out of it because we’re friends.
To think he doesn't understand my deep intentions.
“If you hadn't been so distracted by Daisy in the first place, you might have had a chance.”
“B-But! Anyone who saw her like that would—!”
“……”
Anyone would think Daisy had used a honey trap.
She literally told him to "be her points."
I wasn't sure if I should call this the fatal charm of a RoFan heroine, or if I should just blame the pitiful fate of RoFan male leads struck by a RoFan Death Beam…
Or perhaps.
“You idiot…”
Maybe this guy was just plain stupid.
…The latter seemed the most likely.
“You’re saying that out loud…”
“Ah, my bad.”
“That didn't look like a mistake to anyone?!”
Asran flared up, but it didn't change anything.
“Just try your best to get revenge on Day 5.”
“Look who’s talking, you’re eliminated too…! You were out before me!”
Asran shouted with a look of utter injustice, but I had plenty to say in response.
“…I took those guys on alone.”
“……?”
“And that was after I thinned their numbers.”
“……”
I wanted to show a video to Asran, whose expression asked what kind of nonsense I was spouting, but unfortunately, the eliminated could only watch the live feed.
Thus, the only thing left to do was…
“Ellen! You are the pride of Leon! You mustn't lose to those Magic Spammers!”
“Yeah! The 2nd and 3rd rankers of the Swordsmanship Department are both out! At least the 1st ranker has to survive!”
…To cheer him on.
*
??? - Ah. I want to retire.
There is a saying that with great power comes great responsibility.
It’s a phrase used even for a hero in tights operating in a single city.
So, how much responsibility must weigh upon the Emperor of the Elleras Empire, the master of the largest and most powerful nation on the continent?
Thus, Alexei, the Emperor of the Empire, thought as he stood before his numerous ministers.
‘Ah. I want to retire…’
What were his children even doing?
Back when he was a prince, he had done his absolute best to become Emperor just to survive.
Of course, he had worked hard to ensure that the things he experienced back then wouldn't happen to his children—or rather, to future generations.
Thanks to those efforts, the current generation of his children hadn't smelled blood yet, but the price was that his retirement felt like it had been pushed back by at least ten years.
Of course, that hadn't mattered until recently.
But in the last few years, white hairs had begun to sprout rapidly on his head.
‘That damn Imperial Academy. I can’t even shut it down.’
It was all because of the string of incidents occurring at the Imperial Academy, the pride of the Empire.
Granted, incidents were common in the Empire.
Since so many nations and peoples were bound under the name of the Empire, it was impossible for there to be no opposition.
To be honest, the Empire’s wars of conquest had ended over a hundred years ago. These were matters that had nothing to do with the Emperor himself, so he felt a bit wronged!
However, most incidents across the Empire were within the realm of understanding.
An anti-Empire movement broke out among a certain ethnic group?
That was plausible. If you impose Imperial rules on a people who have lived independently for thousands of years, there’s bound to be backlash.
A former royal of some kingdom declared independence?
That could happen. Most of those guys were just the second cousin twice removed of a former king, with barely a drop of royal blood. Usually, it was a conspiracy involving someone using such a person as a puppet.
Besides those, there were frictions with neighboring countries, monster waves breaking out, revolutionary forces appearing, and so on.
Alexei had even reached the point where he could graciously accept things like: "We tried to develop the mountain out back, but an Elf claiming to live there popped out and hit us," or "There was an armed military group in front of the border guard, but it turned out to be the Leon Knights who got lost during training."
Friction with neighbors happened to every country, monster waves were a natural occurrence, and while the Empire had a lot of them, there were always "revolutionary wannabes" who blamed the world instead of accepting their own faults.
As for the crazy naturalist Elfs and the sword-obsessed Leon bastards, they were just like that. Rather than dealing with them using common sense, things were surprisingly easy to resolve if you spoke according to their own logic.
But the Imperial Academy was different.
When he first heard the news that the Academy had been attacked, his blood ran cold.
To think that dark mages had incited rebels, revolutionaries, and all sorts of problematic groups to pierce into the very heart of the Academy.
Even their leader was Silence—a being who made even the stiff-necked Tower Masters tremble and whose very existence threw Dale into a panic.
When he heard that such a man had died due to the exploits of the Academy students, he had wondered if it was some kind of conspiracy.
But compared to what happened afterward, that wasn't even that strange.
At least in that process, there had been help from a Leon agent and a student who had awakened as a Saintess by divine calling.
Since then, not only did dark mages visit the Academy periodically, but they had even set up a base nearby to mass-produce magic swords.
And barely after they had been crushed, dark mages invaded again…
When he told his son to come home for the break because it was dangerous, the boy—blinded by a woman from a rural border family, even if she had become a Saintess—ignored his father’s request and left for the Holy Kingdom, where he proceeded to carry out a grand reformation.
That alone was enough to make his head spin.
But after the break, when students were sent to Rias for practical training to inspect the Academy, not just dark mages but even Demons appeared.
Demons. Weren't they legends from mythology?
Why were they suddenly popping up?
But that wasn't the end of it.
Once they started appearing, they just kept coming…
By this point, hearing that a dark mage had appeared felt like hearing a goblin—no, maybe an orc, since they were slightly rarer—had appeared in a rural village.
At least a dark mage appearing was more understandable than the story of a Demon appearing during an Academy volunteer activity.
Various other things were happening too.
A group of heterogeneous species, whose reasons for coming were a mystery, were scheduled to enroll starting from the second semester of next year.
And just when he thought Aken Island, beyond the Academy, had been breached by dark mages…
He received news this morning that the dark mages had actually hidden there quite a while ago, and there were even Demons stationed there.
“Haa.”
Having organized all these thoughts, the Emperor of the Empire thought:
‘I want to retire right this second!’
Damn those children.
They were excellent on average, but why did each one have a fatal flaw?
Thinking especially of Erild, whose single flaw was far too dangerous, the Emperor spoke to his ministers with tears in his heart.
“So. What are your thoughts?”
Stationing a dark magic response agency and Heresy Inquisitors from the Holy Kingdom at the Academy.
This had been discussed since the end of last year, but many had opposed it, fearing it would create a sense of unease at the Academy.
“It seems we have no choice.”
There was a limit to everything.
Even Marquis Heryld, the leader of the opposition, had no choice but to wave the white flag with a look that said, ‘This is a bit much…’
However.
“What if they operate undercover rather than officially?”
“Undercover?”
“Yes. Since most of the Empire’s agents are already there as students, professors, or TAs…”
“Hmm…”
Since the Academy was already crawling with agents from their own country and others, he was suggesting that the dark magic task force and Inquisitors also operate as students or staff.
“No. We should announce their presence to intimidate the dark mages…”
“If those bastards were the type to be intimidated by such things, would the Academy be in this state?”
“Wouldn't it be better to use the Academy as bait to catch the enemies?”
“Using the buds of the future as bait?!”
“Does anything change if we don't?!”
Opposing views clashed, and the meeting became a mess—no, it dragged on a bit.
Eventually, seeing the two factions reach a compromise, Alexei thought:
‘……Is this right?’
Special forces of the Empire, Inquisitors, and heterogeneous species were all scheduled to enroll from the second semester.
It had already strayed far from normal, but he wondered if this could even be called an Academy anymore.
For a moment, the Emperor of the Empire made the mistake of forgetting that he had to worry about the summer break in between first.