The Commendation Ceremony (3)

Footsteps approached, and a secretary who looked to be in her mid-twenties stepped out of the dean's office. She was the same woman I'd seen plenty of times in the game — the dean's personal secretary. It was nice seeing her again after so long.

"Award recipients, please come inside."

The five cadets filed into the dean's office one after another. The first things that caught my eye were the leather sofas arranged side by side on a luxurious carpet, and the solid wood table sitting between the two rows of couches. A massive, ornate chandelier cast its light down from above, while sunlight streaming through the windows lent the room an almost theatrical atmosphere.

I'd been so overwhelmed by the lavish surroundings from the moment I walked in that I only belatedly noticed the figure seated in the place of honor. The dean, who'd been waiting in his chair from the start, met each of our eyes in turn as we entered, then clapped his hands and spoke.

"Well, well! All of Victoria Academy's finest, gathered in one place! Haha!"

Clap, clap, clap.

The dean clapped away enthusiastically all by himself in the otherwise silent room, until the secretary gave him a couple of taps on the arm. Only then did he stop and continue.

"Ah, sorry about that. I get a little carried away with the mood. I called you here so I could get a look at today's award recipients beforehand. I'll be presenting the awards myself, you see."

The secretary handed each of us a sheet of paper. Lucy and I each received two. The papers laid out the awards we'd be receiving, along with a rough diagram of our stage positions and movements.

"The commendation ceremony is scheduled for ten o'clock. They should be getting ready for rehearsal around now, so head over to the auditorium and run through a light rehearsal. Ah — you two, stay behind for a moment."

The dean glanced at Lucy and me, and the secretary ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who'd been standing behind him stepped out of the office.

"Please follow me."

Elise, Mun Su-rin, and the second-year male cadet followed the secretary out, leaving Lucy and me standing there alone.

"L-Lee Ho-yeon. What's going on? Why are we the only ones left?"

"It's fine. Just stay quiet."

She still hasn't figured it out? This should be obvious enough. We're receiving a separate award at the commendation ceremony — of course it's for taking down Felix.

This wasn't just being slow on the uptake. Maybe she was forcing herself not to think about anything related to Felix — a defense mechanism, keeping her mind from going anywhere near that subject. If that was really the case, I was going to feel pretty damn guilty.

Once the cadets' footsteps had completely faded, the dean spoke.

"You've probably already guessed, but we intend to reward the two of you for identifying and subduing the Demon Felix."

Lucy's face went pale in an instant.

"W-what? H-hold on!"

I tightly gripped Lucy's hand just as she was about to speak. She turned to look at me, startled, and I shook my head. Stay quiet, for now. Lucy worked her lips as if she still wanted to say something, then finally closed her mouth.

"Hmm, of course you'd be nervous. Unlike the outstanding cadets, you two will be receiving your awards alongside the hunters."

That explained why the outstanding cadets weren't on the movement diagram we'd been given — we were receiving our awards separately. For someone telling us not to be nervous, he sure had a way of making it worse. Sure enough, Lucy's trembling only intensified.

But something felt off. The award was too big. Sure, a cadet capturing a Demon who'd infiltrated the academy was a massive deal, and it deserved a substantial reward — but from Victoria Academy's perspective, this wasn't the kind of incident they'd want to blow up this large. They'd covered up my last incident, after all. This place was full of self-serving types like that. But I couldn't exactly ask why the award was so unusually generous, so I decided to just keep my mouth shut.

"So, we've been deliberating over what kind of compensation to give you. It's more or less decided, but there's been some opposition."

On top of the movement diagrams, we'd also been given confidentiality agreements. Just how big of a reward were they giving us that we needed to sign an NDA?

The dean must have taken my expression for nervousness, because he gave us a warm, good-natured smile.

"Don't be nervous, either of you. Think of yourselves as the stars of the show and hold your heads high. Once this ceremony is over, all the slander against you will disappear."

"...Yes. Thank you."

The dean told us that was all, and to go join the rehearsal. We left his office.

"I-I can't accept this."

Once we'd gotten a fair distance from the dean's office, Lucy suddenly grabbed me.

"Lucy."

"I didn't do anything. I got captured by a Demon like an idiot, passed out the second you came to save me, and when I woke up I was in the infirmary. So why am I getting an award? I can't take it."

Lucy's eyes were trembling. Her resistance was stronger than I'd expected. But it wasn't like I could just announce that I'd caught the Demon all by myself at this point, and canceling the ceremony wasn't an option either.

I supposed I should be grateful — the reason she didn't want the award was because she felt guilty toward me. If she'd simply hated anything related to Felix, I would've had to consider dropping the ceremony for the sake of her mental health. This wasn't the worst-case scenario. That was a relief. This at least gave me an opening.

"Lucy..."

"I'm sorry. I really am, but this is just too..."

"Lucy. Do it for me."

"..."

"If I say I took down the Demon by myself, the attention on me is going to get way too big. People who are jealous of me might even become a threat."

The truth was, I had no idea how much aggro I'd pull while seducing the heroines, so I'd already given up on keeping a low profile. Honestly, I wasn't even sure whether attention would actually put me in danger. But Lucy had no way of knowing that.

"...Okay."

"Thank you. For thinking of me."

"Don't mention it. Getting an award is good for me too, right? It'll look great on my resume later!"

Lucy had bought my persuasion. Once she realized that accepting the award would actually be helping me, she seemed to feel a little better about it.

Somber background music played as the audience bowed their heads.

"Wow, I'm so nervous. I'm shaking."

"Don't be nervous. It won't be a big deal."

Lucy and I were waiting backstage for our turn to receive the awards.

"Not a big deal?! We're already the ones after next! Ugh..."

"Well, yeah."

Once the commendations for the hunters who'd distinguished themselves in the Gate suppression were done, it would be our turn. But why weren't those people here yet? It was almost time.

"A-young, hold on. It's just a meal between colleagues. Why are you being so prickly?"

"I'm sorry. I've been busy lately."

"A-young, wait!"

That was when I heard voices approaching the waiting area — a familiar name and a familiar voice. A moment later, a woman with long black hair and porcelain-white skin walked into the waiting room.

"Haa, seriously. Huh? Ho-yeon?"

"Hello, Miss A-young."

"Ah, that's right! They said they were calling the cadets who took down the Demon to today's ceremony! How did I forget that?!"

So this damn academy had only kept Lucy and me in the dark. They really did a shit job of this.

"A-young! Hmm?"

The man who came in after her frowned at the sight of Baek A-young talking to me, then approached with a look of clear displeasure. He looked me up and down, then seemed to relax a little and cracked a smile.

"Ahh~ so you're those stars who caught the Demon... I mean, cadets?"

"..."

How could someone be this punchable on a first meeting? The second he realized we were cadets, he started treating us like dirt. I already didn't like this asshole.

"I'm Kang Ye-chan. I'll be receiving an award with A-young. A-class hunter, work for the Association."

"Yes. Pleasure to meet you. Miss A-young, you didn't mention you'd be receiving an award today."

I let Kang Ye-chan's words go in one ear and out the other.

"Well, they told me to keep it a secret. I don't think even the people outside know I'm receiving one."

"Didn't all the Association people come? If you and that gentleman weren't here, it'd be pretty obvious."

"Huh? You think so?"

Watching Baek A-young mutter that to herself, I couldn't help but smile. She had a surprisingly innocent side to her. If you ignored the part where she was into rape.

"Haha, so you two know each other? How'd you meet..."

"Next recipients, please get ready!"

"Ah, I have to go. See you later!"

"Yes. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Good luck!"

Baek A-young and Kang Ye-chan followed the usher up onto the stage. They hadn't shown up during rehearsal earlier. I'm sure they'd be fine.

"Lucy, we should get ready too. It's almost our turn."

"Yeah. But... how do you know the Saint?"

I was getting a little scared that Lucy was going to piece together my relationships with other women through this ceremony.

"I met her while volunteering on the weekend. I'll tell you later."

"Volunteering...? You really live life to the fullest, huh..."

"It's just a hobby. A hobby."

Everything I did was for the sake of seducing women, but Lucy was looking at me like I was some kind of remarkable person. It was a useful misunderstanding, so I decided to let it be.

"Next cadets! Please come in!"

"Let's go."

"...Y-yeah!"

She looked extremely nervous. She'd be fine, right?

"Eep!"

Lucy seemed so tense that I gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Relax. It'll be over before you know it."

"Nn... okay."

We slowly walked up onto the stage. At first, a bright light greeted us. Then we saw the enormous crowd. It was such a massive gathering that I couldn't even begin to understand why we were receiving awards in front of all these people. The faces I glimpsed among them included every cadet at the academy, high-ranking Association officials, executives from the major guilds — pretty much every organization of note had sent someone.

We walked slowly forward and stood before the dean.

"Thank you."

I accepted the certificate of commendation from the dean as politely and gracefully as I could, then tucked it under my left arm.

"Lucy. The citation is the same as above."

"Tha.nk. you."

"...?"

A snicker came from somewhere in the audience. As Lucy accepted her certificate, she turned red all the way to her ears. Was she really that nervous in front of a crowd?

"This concludes the commendation ceremony."

With the dean's declaration and a round of applause, the ceremony came to an end. It had only been about a minute for me, but I offered my condolences to the academy cadets sitting out there. How boring that must have been for them.

Clap, clap, clap. The cadets' enthusiastic applause filled the grand auditorium. Once the thunderous applause had died down, the dean spoke again.

"As the Dean of Victoria Academy, I could not help but be moved by the spirit of these two cadets."

Suddenly? Wasn't it over?

"At an academy that should have been a safe place to nurture the next generation, an incident like this occurred. I feel the full weight of that responsibility, and I am aware of the sin of leaving the resolution in the hands of students."

Lucy and I were thrown by the dean's sudden speech, and the people in the audience looked equally confused about what he was doing.

"But before that, I wish to compensate these two students."

The dean paused to collect himself, then spoke.

A murmur rippled through the audience. The academy's treasure vault. Honestly, I'd only ever heard about it as a setting detail. I'd never actually been there. I'd heard it was packed with all kinds of artifacts and valuables collected across the ages... but rumors were just rumors.

So that was why he'd said all the rumors would disappear once the ceremony was over. Well, if the dean himself was saying it, most of those rumors would fade. There'd still be people who refused to believe it no matter what, but those were the same people who'd call it a scam even if they watched me kill a Demon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right in front of them.

After the dean's speech, we came down from the stage and were summoned back to his office.

"Well done, both of you. Miss Lucy was quite nervous, I see."

"I-I'm sorry."

"Kahaha! It's fine, it's fine. I was the same at your age."

Now that the ceremony was over, the dean's atmosphere had become more relaxed. I couldn't hold back the question that had been nagging at me since earlier.

"Dean, may I ask a question?"

"Hmm? Of course. Ask whatever you'd like."

"Why are you going this far for us? From the academy's perspective, there's nothing to gain from this, is there?"

The question I'd been holding in my chest. The dean's eyes narrowed slightly at my words, and he let out a sigh.

"Why would she threaten me like that if she wasn't even going to tell her own student..."

"Pardon?"

"Professor Lim Sol has been looking after you quite thoroughly. I've never seen Sol act like that before."

The dean looked thoroughly exhausted as he said this.

"Ah..."

At last, I'd uncovered the secret behind this enormous reward and the commendation ceremony.

"Well then, this is the academy's treasure vault."

The dean stood beside the bookshelf in his office and drew a magic circle.

With that deep, vibrating drone, the bookshelf swung open, revealing a hidden space.

"Given the location, we had no choice but to have you sign the confidentiality agreements. I hope you understand."

Well, I never would have imagined it was hidden somewhere like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this.

"Alright then, Ho-yeon, you pick first."

I slowly stepped into the vault. All manner of weapons were on display inside.

"I don't need a weapon..."

Things never went according to plan, but my goal was to fight from a safe position. I went deeper in, past where the weapons were kept. There were various artifacts there, and magic tomes as well.

"Oh... this is a must. There's treasure hidden here."

The ironclad rule of treasure vaults: the stuff that looks like garbage that nobody touches is always the best. And since this wasn't even a treasure — it was trash — if I asked to take one more, that would be the icing on the cake.

"By the way, Professor... talk about looking out for me."

Lim Sol had been covering for me behind the scenes, and here I was just trying to satisfy my libido. I felt guilty for no reason. Next time, I'll bring her some useful information without any sex involved, I resolved.

I scoured the artifacts like I was hunting for lice, and spotted a magic tome lying in the corner.

"Found it. A hidden gem."

The jewel I'd been searching for revealed itself.