Chapter 51
Chapter 51
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: #10 Their Circumstances: A Certain Student Council President's Circumstances
-----------------------------------------------------------------
# 51
6. Hell Has Only Just Begun. (7)
#10 Their Circumstances: A Certain Student Council President's Circumstances
“Wrong. We haven’t even broken through the floor we’re on this week.”
“Damn it, the Spirit King as an enemy? That’s too much.”
“Hey, Nerkia. Isn’t it about time for you to awaken like a novel protagonist and summon a Spirit King? Your nickname is Spirit Legion—shouldn’t the legion commander pop out?”
“You idiots. Say something that makes sense.”
After school, student council room.
5:30 p.m.
Until last year, this was the time when most people headed home to meet girlfriends or hang out with friends, but now it was time spent gathered in the student council room.
The student council meetings, which used to happen once a month because they were a hassle, had become a daily routine ever since Professor Niserwin arrived at the academy.
Students without clubs were waiting for after-school study sessions under the guise of self-study!
They were already forcing us to study under the name of night self-study, and now filling the gaps with so-called after-school activities! Were they trying to turn us into study machines?!
“Let’s go scout outdoor clubs under the pretext of club inspections and just bolt from there.”
“You idiot, think the outdoor club kids haven’t thought of that? After 5 p.m., the Silver Devil is waiting at the academy’s main gate. Last week, I saw corpses scattered across the middle of the athletic field after they got wrecked.”
“Let’s climb the fence. Not the main gate—the fence!”
“The pioneers already tried that. The fence walls themselves have been modified beyond even the academy’s level—with electric shocks, no less, plus systems to intercept flying summons.”
“What kind of academy is this, a fortress? They could hold a siege even if the castle gates were breached.”
“The problem is that we’re the ones locked inside that fortress.”
What they called a student council meeting was really just a conference on how to escape night self-study.
But with most first- and second-years having given up en masse, there was practically no realistic way to escape night self-study anymore.
That’s why they were trying backdoor methods to somehow make it work, but nothing had succeeded yet.
“Damn it, maybe we have to break through the iron bars on the windows?”
“Even melting them with an advanced fire spirit doesn’t work—what the hell is that material? And the next day, any traces we made are gone. Does someone replace them every night?”
“Damn those evil dwarves. Making stuff like that for an academy.”
“The Black Anvil Clan? Sounds reliable, though. If they make things like that, their weapons must be top-notch.”
Bang!
Amid the idle chatter in the student council room, a loud crash echoed.
“Risen?”
At the center of the noise was Risen, the male vice president of the student council, who had slammed the desk and stood up.
Until last year, he had been Yuglasia’s one and only god-tier summoner, known as the Trickster!
And that man shouted with a dignified face befitting a god-tier summoner.
“Why don’t we just smash the academy and run?!”
And we all thought the same thing at once.
-Are you insane?
Smash the academy? What kind of crazy talk was that?
Even if we hated night self-study, smashing the academy and leaving?
If we did that, there’d be no academy to attend classes tomorrow, no classes to take, no reason to come to school.
…And no night self-study!
-G, genius!
Our thoughts aligned once more. Yes, the Trickster indeed!
This guy was a genius!
So now we just had to demolish the academy…
“No! Even so, that’s going too far!”
At the last moment, the last shred of reason inside me barely held back the devil tempting me.
“Then we just smash the floor and escape.”
“Huh, that might actually work…”
But our trusty Trickster immediately threw out another idea!
“Alright, today’s strategy: smash the hallway floor right away and drop straight to the first floor!”
“How about an extension—smash the ceiling and head to the rooftop?”
“That’s good too!”
Just like always, we were coming up with new strategies to prepare for the night self-study that would start soon, readying ourselves for the great holy war ahead.
Bang!
“We don’t need any of that crap!”
“Lady Aris?”
Lady Aris burst into the student council room as if she’d smash the door down, announcing a fact that would shock not just us, but every student at Yuglasia.
“Professor Niserwin says he’ll get rid of night self-study!”
“What?!”
“I-Is that true, Lady Aris?”
“What’s the condition? No way he’d do it without one!”
“The Demon King? If we take down the Demon King of the Demon Continent, does that end night self-study?!”
“No, could be world conquest. Fine, we start the Second Continental War today?”
It was nonsense, but I did think killing a Demon King was doable, if not world conquest.
Was I crazy, or was night self-study crazy?!
“He promised to eliminate it if we win the Imperial Tournament. He asked me to bring the student council president regarding that.”
Winning the Imperial Tournament was definitely tough. The competition among the Empire’s Four Great Academies—also called the Academy Festival—was on a level beyond what students alone could handle.
That’s why they were called the four academies representing the Empire, and why the Imperial Tournament was so popular among its many events.
Last year, Yuglasia suffered a crushing defeat there, and it had been nearly ten years since then.
Only a handful, including the student council, barely won a few matches—that was the reality.
“…That’s all?”
But things were different now.
They were just rookies playing at being students. Most of them spent less than half our time at the academy—barely at a level where they’d learned the word “study”!
Lose? To mere students?
Us, who challenged professors every day?!
“I’ll go sign the contract right now!”
Defeat was impossible. So we boldly went to Professor Niserwin and got his firm promise: win the Imperial Tournament, and no more night self-study.
This was a pact with the devil.
Posterity would remember me as the fiend who sold his soul to the devil.
But it couldn’t be helped. If it meant ending night self-study in my life, I’d sell my soul a hundred times over!
And the next day, at exactly 5 p.m.
Normally the end-of-day bell when the academy day wrapped up, but now it signaled the start of night self-study.
At that time, every student at Yuglasia Academy was gathered in the academy auditorium.
“I assume many of you don’t know why you’re gathered here.”
I stepped onto the stage and spat out those words to the murmuring students without any explanation.
The auditorium grew a bit noisier because of it, but I had to finish what I had to say.
They’d quiet down soon enough anyway.
“The Imperial Tournament is coming up soon. That’s why I asked the professors to gather all the students.”
Normally, the preparation period for the Imperial Tournament started after summer break ended, when the second semester began.
Preparations before summer break were only for professors and student council members to coordinate necessary matters between academies in advance.
But now, things were different.
“And I received a document from Professor Niserwin stating that if we win the Imperial Tournament, all night self-study will be eliminated.”
In an instant, as expected, silence fell over the noisy auditorium.
Some students froze with their mouths agape, others couldn’t hide their shock, and still others looked like they couldn’t believe it.
Yeah, that reaction was plenty understandable.
“This is the proof: the Geass Roll.”
Professor Niserwin was thorough. To think he’d use that famous Geass Roll for the contract!
“L-Lies…”
It wasn’t a loud voice, but the silent auditorium amplified even that whisper.
Everyone was probably thinking the same.
Even I had thought so when Lady Aris first told me.
But the contract was already sealed on the Geass Roll: win the Imperial Tournament, and night self-study ends.
“It’s not a lie.”
-Woo, whoaaaaaaaa!
The silence shattered in an instant, replaced by cheers.
Some burst into joy.
Some shed tears.
Some hugged each other and collapsed to the floor.
But not a single student there.
Not one thought Yuglasia would lose!
“Arsia is strong. It’s the holy land of swordsmanship that has produced Imperial Knights for ages and rivals the continent’s strongest sword clan with its Sword Sovereign.”
Arsia was strong. No one would disagree.
No one would call weak the ones who dominated the Imperial Tournament.
“Marsis is strong too. Connected to the Magic Tower, most enter with ties built from childhood.”
Marsis was strong as well. The years Arsia didn’t win were the ones Marsis did. It was always Marsis that kept Arsia in check.
“And Mercaria can be considered strong too.”
Their forces were lacking. But they honed intellect over martial might.
Very rarely, they pulled off wins purely through strategy.
In other words, none of the other three of the Empire’s Four Great Academies were weak.
“So what? What’re they gonna do about it?”
-Wooohoooo!
No answers. Just beastly roars. But that was enough.
“Our enemies are strong. But they’re just ordinary students at best.”
Last year, I would’ve called it impossible.
If I hadn’t known night self-study, I’d still call it impossible now.
But things were different.
“Just guys who spend 4-5 hours at school. Are they even students?”
They say a student’s duty is to study.
And through that study, we’d learned what true students were.
“Arsia? Rookies who’ve barely clashed swords with professors a few times—how much do they know of professors’ full power? Marsis? Rookies just transplanting what they did as kids to the academy— what do they know of classes? Mercaria? Kids who come after sunrise and leave before sunset—do they even learn anything?”
After-school activities. Night self-study. Morning classes. The normal dismissal at 5 p.m. became 10 p.m.
The normal arrival at 10 a.m. became 8 a.m.
We spent 14 hours a day at school. It would take all three other academies combined to match our class time—that was reality.
“Now, just in case. Just in case, let me ask.”
-Is there any idiot here who thinks we’ll lose to those. punks?
-No way some moron like that existsaaaaa!
It was the howl of beasts.
We challenged, despaired. Got brutally ravaged by the Silver Devil. Tried our last resorts, only to backfire.
Yet some still clung to hope and challenged again.
Some eventually despaired and gave up.
But that was because we faced the strongest faculty lineup in history.
Because of the unfathomable realm, the Silver Devil.
But now, things were different.
“We just have to crush some rookies, and our night self-study ends. Honestly, I was shocked? I thought it’d be world conquest or Demon King slaying at least. But crushing academy-playing rookies ends night self-study!”
Just step on a few rookies, and night self-study’s gone—when would such a sweet deal come again?
“Now, let’s hear your resolve. Our defeat?”
-Doesn’t exist!
“To our enemies!”
-Judgment of death!
“Even the Silver Devil doesn’t know?”
-Punks not worthy of discussing life or death!
“Then the Imperial Tournament victory?”
-Naturally belongs to Yuglasiaaaaaaa!
-Woooohoooooo!
Flutter!
The student council members behind me raised flags symbolizing Yuglasia.
There were thirty in total.
And thirty events in the Imperial Tournament where the four academies competed.
“Just winning is too easy. Our goal is a perfect sweep. Plant these flags in every event.”
We didn’t want a narrow victory. We had to show the reward for our suffering.
And for that.
“We all escape night self-study!”
The only way was to stack real combat upon real combat.