Chapter 88: Graduation (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 88: Graduation (1)
Before I knew it, our last night in Rias had arrived.
The Academy students, myself included, were able to take a lot away from our time here.
First, the ordinary students gained experience.
Starting with basic common sense regarding dungeons and monsters and moving on to actual combat experience, the students of the Swordsmanship and Magic Departments—who used to treat each other like strangers—now viewed each other as decent enough comrades, thanks to the group projects. Though, of course, they weren't as close as our group.
"Those bastards."
"It’s been terrible knowing you. Let’s never meet again."
Of course, that wasn't the case for all students... there were those who suffered through the catastrophe of the group projects...
But since there are always a few students who tank their grades no matter where you go, let's just move past that.
And our RoFan female lead, Daisy, obtained a badass Magic Sword.
Right now, it was just a mass of mana, but even so, it displayed incredible destructive power.
If the day ever came when Daisy figured out how to manifest Sword Energy, even Ellen might find it difficult to maintain his position as the strongest in this world.
"When will I lend it to you again? Depends on how you behave."
Of course, she kept trying to use that Magic Sword as a bargaining chip...
But my hands still remembered the sensation of holding it, making it hard to refuse.
As for the RoFan male leads... they seemed to have grown closer through the incidents they faced.
"……"
Well, one of them felt a bit more distant.
But then again, an Emperor is supposed to be a solitary being. He wasn't being bullied; he was just excluding the rest of the world.
As such, the person who gained the most from this journey was the Academy’s official outcast.
No, the man who outcasted the Academy—Esid—had grown a bit distant from those around him, but he had gained the full support of the Academy students and some of the residents of Rias.
How should I put it?
He was a bit too much to handle up close, but from a distance, he was someone you couldn't help but admire.
Since Daisy had already set a precedent, in a sense, you could say he had taken a step closer to being a true RoFan male lead.
Finally, what I gained was, first and foremost, the power of fire and ice through the Yin-Yang Pill.
Despite its flashy appearance, it wasn't very practical and had the worst mana efficiency imaginable.
However, it was a satisfying ability for the sole reason that I could use it to annoy the Fire Spammer.
Of course, that wasn't its only use.
According to Aren, it would keep me from feeling the heat in the summer.
Conversely, it would keep me from feeling the cold in the winter.
In this world where Lord Carrier—the greatest inventor of all time and the rightful owner of the Nobel Peace Prize in my heart—had not been born, there was no ability more convenient than this.
Sure, there were magic tools more effective than air conditioners or boilers.
But the cost of the mana stones required to maintain them made the electricity bill bombs of my past life look like a joke.
Plus, it looked cool, so the Yin-Yang Pill was a satisfying result.
On top of that, I was finally able to set down one of my burdens.
"Where there is a meeting, there must be a parting!"
"But, Bell!"
"Enough. We have no need for tears. For the day we meet again will surely come."
"……"
I stared at Bell, who was acting out a tearful goodbye with Boradori, despite having spent the whole time eating and sleeping in my room.
Those two had been playing together happily while I was out there suffering.
Now that the day of parting had come, they were clinging to each other.
"……"
Honestly, maybe the true irresistible woman was Boradori.
She seemed to have a supernatural knack for charming only the female characters.
"Stop it already and let him go."
"Aren't you being a bit too cold?!"
"He's going home. We have to send him back."
"No! I want to raise him! I'll feed him three meals a day and take him for walks twice a day!"
"Stop talking nonsense."
I peeled Boradori off and grabbed Bell by the scruff of his neck, handing him over to Bell's Father, who looked like he didn't know what to do.
"Uh, um. Thank you."
"If you're thankful, please open up some trade routes with Leon."
"Mm. Discussions with the Chieftain are finished. A report has also been sent to the Beast King."
The report had reached the Beast King, who oversaw all beastkin, not just the tribe.
It seemed Bell's claim of being close to the Princess was actually true.
"Bell!"
"Wait for me! I'll be back soon!"
Watching Bell and Boradori start another melodrama in the midst of all this...
"Daisy!"
I had no choice but to summon Daisy.
"Nothing actually happened."
Stepping off the airship, I yawned as I looked at the Academy.
I was sleepy.
Since nothing happened when we left, I naturally assumed there would be a terrorist attack on the airship during our return.
Maybe the dark mages were suffering from a manpower shortage because we kept hunting them down lately.
Or maybe, as Boradori had said, they were too busy with their own internal war to worry about the outside world.
Because we returned to the Academy so peacefully, all my efforts to prepare for a terrorist attack by staying up all night had gone to waste.
"Still, at least this year ended safely."
Unlike a typical field trip that lasts a few weeks, we had stayed in Rias for over two months.
Even if we had gone to Rias as soon as the second semester started, enough time had passed for more than half of it to be over.
Since the beginning of the second semester was spent on Founding Day Festival preparations and events, it was already time for the semester to end.
"Well, whatever."
I couldn't let my guard down yet.
This was an Academy in a RoFan world.
It was a place where anything could happen at any time, anywhere.
"So, I'm about to head back. Should I buy some presents?"
...That thought naturally faded after two weeks passed without a single incident.
-Hmm... I heard there's a region in the Empire famous for its wine. Buy a few expensive bottles from there.
Since our midterm and final exams had been handled through practical experience in Rias, the first-years were spending their days peacefully, unlike the other grades who were groaning under the weight of their exams.
The only variable was a terrorist attack.
But it seemed even dark mages were human and needed their vacation time.
-Right. Prepare well for your return. Just use Teleport to get back this time too.
Before the summer break, the Commander had insisted that using teleportation gates consecutively from the Empire to Leon was a waste.
However, after the continuous incidents at the Academy and the news of a demon appearing, he had reached the point of suggesting I use Teleport for safety.
"That works for me."
It was safer and saved time.
Since nothing would happen at the Academy in the meantime...
"The Flower Arrangement Club President is confessing to the Saintess!"
"……?"
Just as I was letting my guard down, an incident broke out with only a week left before the break.
"As expected..."
Was the hidden mastermind of the Academy, Bellian Eric, finally making his move?
Recalling the saying from my past life that physiognomy is science, I ran quickly toward the eye of the storm.
"It's graduation."
Did my seniors feel this way too?
Bellian Eric looked at the club room with wistful eyes.
When he first came here, he never thought he would feel this much lingering regret.
But during his four years at the Academy, the Flower Arrangement Club had brought him stability and peace.
"...Maybe not all four years?"
Unimaginable things had been happening since the beginning of this year, after all.
If there was one stroke of luck, it was that the first-years had gone on a group field trip to the Rias territory just when he needed to wrap up his time at the Academy.
Thanks to that, he was able to focus entirely on his studies and successfully pass the Empire 8th-Grade Civil Service Exam.
"Still... it wasn't bad."
How many people would get the chance to teach flower arrangement to the Princes of the Empire or famous Kingdoms?
He knew they were full of ulterior motives, but remembering them struggling to learn flower arrangement despite those motives brought a natural smile to Bellian's lips.
"If this is a memory, I suppose it's a good one."
It was something worth bragging about over a drink after retiring from civil service.
Back when I was at the Academy! The Imperial royalty and the royalty of Leon and Dale called me 'President'! They were practically begging me to teach them flower arrangement!
"I'll be lucky if I'm not called a senile old man."
With a chuckle, he watered the last flowerpot.
It was really over now.
Next week was the Academy's graduation ceremony.
So now, he had to do what he needed to do, just like his seniors before him.
"It has to be Daisy, after all."
That was, deciding on the next President.
Most clubs decided on a President through elections, and unusual places like the Swordsmanship Club decided through competition where the strongest became the leader.
However, in the Flower Arrangement Club, all authority rested with the Club President.
The reason wasn't that the President had immense power.
-Since they go through so much trouble, we should at least let them have the pleasure of bothering someone one last time, right?
Rather, because they had so little authority, they were allowed to choose the successor who would inherit the suffering they had endured.
"Well, I'm sure that won't happen to Daisy."
Being a Club President was a position with surprisingly many responsibilities and a hell of a lot of work.
Maybe it would have been different at first, but considering Daisy's current position, even the Student Council President wouldn't be able to touch her.
"Well, that would be true even if she weren't the Saintess."
Though she officially had a lover, he knew it was fake.
Thinking of the other club members who were still full of ulterior motives...
"It really won't be easy."
I'm glad I'm a fourth-year. If I were a third-year, I would have had to experience this for another year.
"Well then."
Feeling relieved, Bellian took out stationery and an envelope.
Just in case there was any misunderstanding—though he doubted there would be—he used a businesslike white envelope and white paper.
"Um... let's see..."
This was also a long-standing tradition of the Flower Arrangement Club.
A letter from the predecessor President summoning the successor.
Bellian smiled as he recalled the anecdote of a former President who had screamed that he would rather receive a challenge to a duel.
"I should write something similar."
Bellian had become the President almost by force because he was the only remaining member.
He, too, had the experience of being summoned by a letter of 'history and tradition' from the previous President.
"This should do it."
Thus, it didn't take long to write the letter.
Many things had happened.
The reason the Flower Arrangement Club hadn't been disbanded and was maintained during his time was thanks to his own courage at the beginning of the entrance ceremony, and thanks to Daisy, who had joined the nearly ruined club as if rewarding that courage.
He started with a message of gratitude and ended it by asking her to take good care of the club, just as his seniors had done.
All that was left was to deliver this to Daisy and tell her when she came to find him: "From now on, you are the President!"
That was why Bellian had asked Violet to deliver the letter.
She was the closest to Daisy, and while he had nothing to hide, he felt a bit awkward asking the other members.
And so, after school.
After finishing the end-of-semester classes that were practically pointless, Bellian headed toward a secluded spot in a corner of the old school building—the place where he himself had been chosen.
"……?"
What's this? There aren't usually many people here.
Was it just his imagination? It felt like there were a lot of people today.
'What is going on?'
The further he walked, the stranger it became.
Normally, there should be fewer people as he approached his destination, but weren't there actually more?
"……"
And the moment he reached his destination, he realized.
This... somehow...
'I think they've seriously misunderstood something.'
Feeling the strange pressure emanating from his surroundings, Bellian couldn't help but swallow hard.