102. Hunt Festival Preparations
102. Hunt Festival Preparations
The announcement that the Hunting Festival had been moved up by two weeks plunged the entire academy into chaos.
Neither the freshmen who hadn't experienced it yet nor the upperclassmen who'd already been through it once or twice understood why it was being rushed.
Was it to paper over the Clover Academy terrorist attack with a festive atmosphere?
But the fact that the festival was happening at all was a very good thing.
Though having only two weeks to prepare was worrying.
.
.
.
As soon as the notice about the Hunting Festival wrapped up, the assembly quickly dispersed.
Riber, Amy, and I gathered at the cafe.
Lucia had to go to the Private Bar, apparently—there was urgent discussion among the Five Pillars because of the suddenly scheduled Hunting Festival.
The cafe was already packed with students who had just as much to talk about regarding the Hunting Festival as we did.
We each ordered our usual drinks.
I still hadn't gotten used to the barista's smirk as he filled the Pine Sparkling Amy ordered.
As soon as he got his drink, Riber spoke to me.
"You really not going to the Hunting Festival?"
"What reason would I have to go out there when it wouldn't make me look any better?"
Hunting magical beasts that students were capable of catching wouldn't be any fun anyway.
I'd finished my lifetime quota of hunting magical beasts in the Black Forest back when I was lugging Phrygia around.
"Then you'll participate in the class stuff?"
"That's the real way to enjoy the festival. Wandering around the event booths made by the students' own hands, soaking in the festival atmosphere—is there anything more fun?"
Aside from the main event of hunting magical beasts, the Hunting Festival was, at its core, simply a festival.
The classes grouped up, picked a theme for an event, set up booths, and everyone explored and enjoyed them.
This was the first time since I'd possessed this body that I'd get to do a youth-filled event like this, so I was genuinely looking forward to it.
I was wondering how to have the most fun when I noticed Amy had a very serious look on her face.
"I'm going to participate in the Hunting Festival."
Amy, who'd taken a sip of her Pine Sparkling, seemed intensely interested in the 'gold' that had just been announced as the prize for the champion.
"With the gold given as first prize, I'd be able to attend the academy until graduation without worrying about scholarships."
"I... I see. Is there anything I can help with?"
"It only has meaning if I seize it with my own strength. I'll have to work hard..."
Amy said that, then abruptly got up from her seat.
"Amy, where are you going?"
"I have things to prepare on my own, so I'll head out first."
Saying she had things to prepare, Amy left the cafe.
Amy was the daughter of a noble family with territory, but her domain wasn't wealthy due to the aftermath of the demon church's schemes.
She was trying to make ends meet somehow with a scholarship, but Amy's circumstances didn't allow her to focus solely on her studies.
She was still conducting separate investigations to find traces of demons sneaking into the academy, which made it hard for her to always prioritize her grades.
And now she'd heard about the gold offered as the winner's prize, so it seemed she had her sights set on it.
After all, if you took me out of the equation, Amy was a skilled fighter with abundant real-world experience among the freshmen.
She must have thought it was worth aiming for.
As we gazed at Amy's empty seat, Riber turned her eyes to me and spoke.
"Let's go out together for the Hunting Festival."
"I said I'm not going."
When I refused once more, Riber gently took one of my hands in hers.
"I want to help Amy."
"Ugh..."
"Even if she says that, she'll be overjoyed if we help her. We'll go as a team, okay?"
"...Still no."
Such a cowardly appeal to emotion... But it was admittedly effective.
I'd truly had zero intention of going, but hearing that Amy wanted to win somehow made me waver a little.
Still, I was absolutely not going this time.
I reaffirmed my vow and took a sip of the milk in my cup.
---------------------------
[Seeking team members to compete together and aim for victory at the Hunting Festival.]
[Even if you win, you'll just get targeted. Let's just stay quiet.]
[The Swordsmanship Research Club or some group like that is going to win anyway. Don't waste your energy.]
[I'm a hunter with 10 years of experience from the jungle. Looking for someone to carry the Hunting Festival.]
[Trade]
[Trade]
[If you really have 10 years of experience, go to the Five Pillars— they'll be looking for people there too.]
The notebook where the exam-admitted students wrote their own posts was flooded with Hunting Festival articles all day long.
In the notices section, the details about the Hunting Festival announced to all academy grades were posted, and in the information section, upperclassmen were posting cautionary points from the Hunting Festivals they had experienced.
-Participating in the Hunting Festival is fine, but don't get caught with the equipment you use to hunt demons. You know that, right?
'I know.'
If Amy went all out, it wouldn't be impossible for her to win the Hunting Festival.
The equipment she had collected to hunt demons was, without exception, high-grade enough that there were no substitutes.
A large mithril greatsword she could swing effortlessly with one hand, a red coat exuding a powerful anti-demon aura, a gun capable of launching physical attacks on par with anti-personnel magic at the twitch of a finger, and on top of that, 'Saint Macinto's Fire,' which reduced even an ogre to ashes without a trace.
But the problem was, of course...
'If I openly use that equipment, I'll be at a severe disadvantage going forward.'
At the moment, she operated in secret under heavy cognition-hindrance magic so she wouldn't face retaliation from demons, but once her identity was exposed, the demon church—which could blend in seamlessly among humans—would target Amy, whose foundation was already lacking as an exam-admitted student.
If they attacked within the academy, that would be far better.
The worst-case scenario was that Amy's territory, which was only just now struggling to recover from the wounds the demon church had left, could become a target once again.
Given her position—Amy had confronted countless demons and demon worshippers since childhood—she could never afford to be anything but sensitive to that.
Even if she couldn't use a single piece of that equipment, it was doable.
Amy wasn't weak.
She'd reached the boundary of mid-level Expert, so if she borrowed the power of the mithril greatsword to amplify her output, she could even generate an Aura Blade with power comparable to a high-level Expert's.
Having come to the academy after risking her life fighting demons, Amy, with her abundant real-world experience, was undoubtedly the most likely candidate to win.
'The problem is that the Hunting Festival is a team event...'
Someone's face flickered through Amy's mind.
A face came to mind of a person who looked like they could handle any magical beast from the Black Forest without their expression changing.
If someone could team up with Atlas, that team would certainly win.
It was hard to even imagine losing if you were on a team with a Master.
But she quickly erased that image from her mind.
He had firmly declared he wouldn't participate in this Hunting Festival.
Since it was merely an academy event, he wouldn't go all out—but even while not going all out, Atlas displayed skills on par with a top-tier Expert.
No one would be able to stop his advance.
That was precisely why he'd declared he wouldn't participate.
If he was going to do things halfheartedly, it would be better not to participate at all, and it would just be a bizarre spectacle for a Master to go all out competing against students.
The winning prize was only given to a single team, so he must have thought it better for someone more desperate to have it.
As proof of that, Atlas could snag a 'scholarship' whenever he felt like it, but he always kept his grades at just a passable level.
And he was already dealing with one of the threats that would arise during the Hunting Festival before it even began.
The desire to win and receive the gold was Amy's own wish.
That wasn't something she could force on Atlas.
-Then what I need to do is clear.
'Yeah, I have to prepare thoroughly.'
She closed the notebook.
Even among the exam-admitted students, there were many eyeing the winner's prize and analyzing things from various angles.
Among them, some had succeeded, and some had failed.
Whatever the outcome, all of it was usable information for Amy.
It was the same as when killing demons.
Investigate thoroughly, prepare, and train.
If she simply executed those steps properly, she could get through most situations.
'First... I need to get equipment and artifacts...'
She had to seal away the equipment used for hunting demons, so she needed to buy artifacts and equipment to use during the Hunting Festival.
The place Amy was heading to was the general store in the academy, where you could buy various essential materials for practical training.
The academy's general store, located in the same building as the cafe, was a magical place where you could buy most of the essential items within the academy.
Calling it a magical place wasn't a metaphor.
The general store, a shop actually enchanted with magic, was a labyrinthine store with endless shelves stretching on inside.
It was a store with a bizarre structure: if you got lost, you could get trapped inside, so golems capable of rescuing you at any moment wandered around alongside the customers.
Today, she was going to buy a few key ingredients for the 'antidote' most essential when entering the Black Forest.
The Hunting Festival was an event that only took place in the shallower parts of the Black Forest, but there were definitely venomous insects there to watch out for.
Fortunately, the venomous insects in the shallower parts didn't carry very serious poison, so if you made an antidote beforehand, you could quickly suppress the symptoms even if they appeared.
When Amy entered the general store, she saw quite a few students who'd already shown up thinking the same thing.
"Aack!!! It's all sold out!!"
"Boss, when is this coming back in??"
"Inventory won't be refilled until next week~"
"Ugh, then I'll come back next week!"
They were all clutching their heads and staring at the same spot.
At the most visible display stand, all the ingredients she had intended to buy were already sold out.
As she stood there looking completely at a loss, her Companion spoke to her.
-That ingredient... If you move in the direction I instruct, you will find it.
'Really...?'
The Companion skillfully guided the way, somehow knowing the layout of this general store.
After moving as instructed by the Companion through the space where countless shelves tangled together like a maze, the dried 'Red Foxtail' powder she'd been searching for so desperately appeared before her eyes.
As Amy reached for the shelf, she suddenly collided with someone who sprang out from the side.
"Whoa?!"
"Ah??"
They collided, but the impact wasn't strong enough to knock either of them down.
Amy quickly composed herself and automatically apologized to the person she'd bumped into.
"Oh, I'm sorry..."
-Grab!
Then, the student who'd bumped into Amy suddenly seized her forearm.
Amy was startled by the sudden action.
"Hey... are you participating in the Hunting Festival, by any chance?"
"Yes... but how did you know?"
"If an exam-admitted student comes to buy that stuff right after the Hunting Festival notice drops, most of them are preparing for the Hunting Festival."
The student pointed to the Red Foxtail powder in Amy's hand and grinned.
"I'm Rio. Third-year, and this will be my third Hunting Festival, so I'm a veteran... Want to team up with me?"
She was a deeply suspicious person.
That was the first impression Amy got of this sunbae who proposed teaming up the moment they met.