112. Hunt Festival
112. Hunt Festival
- Beware of Dog
A sign was hung up in Class 5, which was running a tea house, for everyone to see.
When people came in, not a single dog-like thing could be seen, so everyone tilted their heads in confusion as to what kind of dog it meant, but the 'dog' referred to here was not an animal.
"How is this in any way the taste of Ben's Bakery!"
Someone threw a teacup and shouted inside Class 5.
The sudden disturbance startled the surrounding students.
"A mere freshman pulling such a blatant scam!"
A man with noticeably short curly hair was breathing roughly, a displeased expression on his face.
Hans, a second-year from Class 3 who was causing the ruckus, was the son of a member of a famous gourmet society in the capital.
He had actually visited Ben's Bakery with his father before.
The pastries and breads he had tasted there were jewels more valuable than anything he had ever eaten.
He had come with considerable expectations because the flyers scattered around the academy when the Hunting Festival began claimed they had recreated the taste using ingredients personally procured from Ben's Bakery, but he was terribly disappointed.
The croissant was overbaked, crumbling even the inside that was supposed to be soft, and the madeleine, which should have been light brown, had turned dark brown and lost its moisture.
The baguette, he didn't know how it was baked, had become like soft white bread, which confused his brain, but what made him angriest was the black tea.
He confirmed they used top-quality tea leaves, but they boiled it furiously in hot water like making soup, so the aroma had completely vanished and the bitterness was drawn out so much that it was like drinking cold medicine.
For him, who had only ever enjoyed fine dining, it was the worst.
"I came because of the flyer, and this is a total scam... uwaaagh...!!!"
"Now, now, causing a disturbance at the establishment is prohibited."
He was so furious that he couldn't forgive them for selling something that could barely be praised as the taste of Ben's Bakery, but he couldn't finish his sentence.
Because someone had grabbed the back of his neck and started dragging him out by force.
"Who do you think you are to... ah... ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!!"
"Are you going to walk out quietly... or be dragged out like a dog?"
He tried to protest what kind of treatment this was, but the back of his neck hurt so much it felt like it would snap, and he couldn't say anything more.
He was already being dragged out; did it have to get worse than this?
"Sunbae... my cute juniors worked hard to make this, so don't even think about picking a fight and just quietly leave, yeah?"
He couldn't see what was in front of him, so he didn't even know who had grabbed him, but he couldn't turn his head.
Not because the grip on his neck was getting stronger.
A pressure as if his very heart had been seized was pressing down on him, and he couldn't even breathe properly.
'I-I'm... dying..?'
There hadn't been a dog inside the classroom.
Anyone who caused a ruckus in there became the dog.
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As soon as another troublemaker was dragged outside, the people who had been waiting began to murmur.
Most of the students causing trouble brought up Ben's Bakery.
As expected, the taste was completely different from eating it there directly.
Though those eating it for the first time didn't feel much of a difference.
Only the truth was written on the flyer.
It said they reproduced the taste of Ben's Bakery as faithfully as possible, but it did not say you could experience the exact same taste you felt at Ben's Bakery.
It said they used top-quality black tea leaves, but it did not say you could taste top-quality black tea.
This was, after all, a booth made through the efforts of students, not a specialty shop run by masters in the field.
Ordinary students or professors would eat it, grin, and laugh as they recalled it, but occasionally people like this appeared.
This was already the third one.
Thinking about it, Shara too, after entering the classroom, had taken a bite and glanced at me before leaving.
She probably had a lot she wanted to say but held back because I was in the same class.
I should go find her and ask.
"Well then, should I go take a look around too?"
Amy and Liber had already left, saying they were going to look around together with Rio-sunbae.
It seemed they were trying to build camaraderie and stay together as much as possible until the day of the Hunting Festival.
-Cheolgeureok
I had roughly taken the initiative, so I was glancing at the situation wondering if I should go out now, when I heard the clank of metal behind me.
It was Lucia, who had been waiting at one side of the classroom.
"Atlas... are you free... huh?"
"Were you waiting for me?"
"Yeah...."
Everyone else was wearing casual clothes, but Lucia, already geared up to go hunting by herself, had an unparalleled presence.
We couldn't be on a team together, but at least enjoying the festival together was possible.
"Shall we go together then?"
I was curious about what the other classes had set up.
"Things have settled down at Woodville a bit, so I'm going to go have some fun too."
"What?? You're leaving now??"
"We'll be on the same floor, so if it gets rowdy, I'll come back."
"If something like that happens, I'll shout loudly, so please help!!"
What an energetic guy.
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Standing in the middle of the bustling corridor where everyone was moving around in a chaotic manner, Casey watched the people milling about with a blank expression.
This wasn't the first time Casey had experienced a festival.
Because the Atlas who had taken her in had been in the Imperial Knights, the place they always resided—even though they often roamed outside the capital due to missions—was the capital of the Empire.
Thanks to that, she had coincidentally experienced events that occurred like annual rituals a few times.
On festival days, Atlas would always hold Casey's hand, and the two of them would enjoy the festival together.
Looking back, Casey had simply been pulled along by Atlas's hand, but she hadn't disliked it.
After all, Casey, who had always been shut inside a cave, didn't know what she was supposed to do during a festival.
Strangely enough, as soon as she came to the academy due to a mission, she heard that a festival called the Hunting Festival was being held.
"Casey, do you have a specialty?"
"I'm good at fighting."
The Hunting Festival was not a festival that existed in the capital.
Curious about what it was like, she asked Woodville, the one person she had spoken to before, and the first thing he asked was about her specialty.
"I see... in that case, are you perhaps good at hunting as well?"
"I'm pretty good at it."
"If you're good at hunting, how about participating in the Hunting Festival?"
"Do most people participate..?"
"Yes, if you place, they reward you handsomely, so everyone confident in their skills participates."
Since he said most confident people participated, she figured she should just join and submitted her application.
Naturally, she thought Atlas would have participated as well.
"Hey, Mister, you're participating in the Hunting Festival too, right?"
"Me? I'm not, though?"
"Why aren't you..? Weren't we supposed to participate in the Hunting Festival?"
"There's no real need to participate in that. There's nothing for you or me to gain there, so there's no need to bother, right?"
"Is that so...?"
Now that she thought about it, he was right.
She had thought everyone was going out, but the thought that she didn't have to go hadn't occurred to her.
"From the looks of it, you already submitted an application, right?"
"Because they said most people confident in their skills participate."
"That's not wrong... well, that works out then. You came here on a mission anyway, so just protect the students."
"Me?"
"The probability of something happening is high. Professors will be on standby outside too, but it'll probably be good to have someone inside as well."
Seeing him say it directly, she thought he had sensed something.
The academy was a well-secured facility, so the fact that he was deliberately assigning this to her meant he must be certain, Casey thought.
"What are you doing, Mister?"
"I'm going to help run the booth in our class."
"Booth..? What is that?"
She hadn't heard about doing something like that.
"Do you remember the festival we did in the capital before?"
"Yeah."
"They sold food at street stalls back then. It's like doing that."
Hearing that, the covered wagons selling snacks that had lined the streets came to mind.
Were they doing things like that inside the academy?
If it were outside, she might understand, but opening stalls inside the building was a bizarre picture.
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"Casey, I heard you're going out for the Hunting Festival. Would you like to be on our team?"
After parting ways with Atlas, Casey was walking around trying to find out more about the Hunting Festival when she ran into Liber.
She suggested they form a team together.
"Team..?"
"You can participate in the Hunting Festival by forming a team of four. We currently have one mage and two vanguards, so we're short one person. If you don't have another team, would you like to join us?"
Forming a team would improve efficiency.
She didn't have any bad feelings toward them.
The one who was angry was Atlas, and she had no problem with those people who were close to him.
And that Atlas had done something like a reconciliation last time, so she had stopped disliking him so much.
But a thought suddenly occurred to her.
'Is there really a need for me to form a team?'
Sometimes she forgot, but this place was an academy.
It's a place full of amateurs who have never even experienced real combat, and no matter how much she held back, Casey occupied the lowest seat among the officers of the Imperial Knights.
She was a superhuman who had been taught by Atlas from a young age and had reached the highest rank of Expert.
For a Casey like that to form a team and participate in the Hunting Festival didn't seem like a very proper course of action.
'Now that I think about it, the Mister said he wasn't participating, right..?'
Did Atlas also think about this and decide not to participate?
Since winning the Hunting Festival wouldn't bring any particular benefit, it seemed right, as Atlas had said, to prioritize protecting the students from accidents.
She, who had entered the ranks of the highest Expert level, was also too powerful to compete with students.
With these thoughts in mind, Casey spoke.
"That's something weak people do. I don't need it."
"What did you say?"
Liber's expression had stiffened up.