114. Hunt Festival
114. Hunt Festival
"So this is Class 4."
"...After seeing how flashy Class 5 is, this feels pretty plain..."
"Just as crowded, though."
The line in front of Class 4 was just as long as the one for Class 5.
They hadn't even done much promotion, yet the crowd was enormous.
Unlike Class 5, which had scattered flyers everywhere and hung up a huge signboard, Class 4's setup was remarkably simple.
Except for the small sign placed in front, bearing the crest of House Phrygia, which was extremely eye-catching.
Just as I stepped to the back of the line to wait, a student from Class 4 appeared.
"Lady Phrygia has personally invited you. Please follow me this way."
They must have known we'd be coming.
Her hosting skills were so impeccably polished, without a trace of awkwardness, that I wondered if they'd brought in someone who actually worked in the service industry. But the brooch pinned to her chest reminded me that she was a student at this academy.
We entered through a different entrance, not the main gate where the crowd was gathered, and the first to greet us was Shahra.
"Welcome to Class 4."
Shahra was dressed in her everyday clothes.
The same clothes she wore to classes at the academy.
In stark contrast, the other students were all in uniform, which made her stand out even more.
She was making it clear, in the simplest way possible, that the other students were just the hired help and she was different.
The image of Perda from Class 3 in that bizarre golden suit popped into my mind.
"...We could have just waited in line, you know..."
Shahra folded her arms and looked squarely at Lucia, firing a sharp remark at her.
"You're causing more trouble just standing there in that getup. Stop being stubborn and go change back into your normal clothes, won't you? Are you seriously planning to walk around like that all day?"
Shahra's sharp words stabbed at Lucia.
She'd already been feeling self-conscious about being the only one who'd brought her full heavy equipment, and having it pointed out again so bluntly made Lucia's face flush bright red.
Seeing that, I silently mouthed words at Shahra from behind Lucia.
'Speak. Nice. Ly.'
"...Of course, I think it's a good attitude to keep your tension up in preparation for tomorrow's Hunting Festival, but it does look a bit odd to other people."
The moment Shahra saw my warning, her attitude immediately softened.
"...So is it good or bad...?"
"Now, now, that's not what's important here. How about you show us to our seats?"
"Yes, then please follow me right this way."
The moment Shahra personally guided us to our seats, the lecture hall that had been transformed into a tea house began to buzz with murmurs.
A personal escort from a Phrygia was an exceptionally rare occurrence.
But Lucia, thinking the murmurs were directed at her because of her conspicuous outfit, shrank even further into herself.
She looked like she was about to dig a hole and crawl into it, so I decided to intervene.
I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.
"H-heek!?"
A strange noise escaped Lucia's lips as I caught her waist.
With our bodies pressed flush together, Lucia looked down at me in surprise.
"Lucia, that outfit is cool, so don't think it's weird. Let's go in confidently."
"O-oh... okay..."
Once we'd placed our order and were waiting, Casey sidled up to me and whispered.
"Uncle, what's your relationship with her?"
"Just acquaintances from the same cohort."
"Doesn't look like it..."
I told her the facts as they were, and she didn't believe me.
Like Class 5, Class 4 was also running a tea house.
However, there was a difference in the products they sold.
Everything sold at the booths had to have been worked on by the hands of a student at least once.
Buying finished products and selling them as-is was not allowed.
Woodville had bought pre-made dough and baked the goods themselves to sell directly. Phrygia, on the other hand, had adopted the method of buying products and 'assembling' them.
It was similar to how Perda in Class 3 had bought pre-made beverages, mixed them into cocktails, and sold them.
They brought in already-finished bread and pastries, made sandwiches out of the bread, and put cream between the pastries to stick them together—choosing methods that altered the taste the least.
'They either used teleportation magic... or they must have sourced them from a café here.'
The reason they went out of their way to receive dough from a famous bakery and sell it here was that the enticing aroma of bread was strongest right after baking. No matter how much preservation magic you cast during transport, the scent always faded considerably, which was a problem.
But the bread from Class 4 still had an intense aroma even though it supposedly had been brought in from far away.
This meant they either used teleportation magic, which could drastically reduce transit time, or they had received the supplies directly from somewhere within the academy.
While I was casually analyzing this to myself, Lucia had been observing something else.
"What were those people from Phrygia? They seemed like total professionals..."
As she waited for our order to arrive, Lucia observed the staff moving with flawless, synchronized precision.
They were so incredibly skilled that it was hard to believe they were students—a fascinating sight.
After observing the staff coming and going, I reached a single conclusion.
"They all look like exam admission students."
"Exam admission students?"
"The brooches they're all wearing are the same kind exam admission students carry around. Could it be she actually put her own classmates through training?"
We were chatting about this and that when our order arrived—drinks, sandwiches, macarons, and so on.
"The average quality here is better."
"Isn't it?"
"Our class put in the effort, but there's a clumsy feel to it everywhere, right?"
Class 5 didn't have the feel of being specialized.
Since they had focused on the idea that 'the students worked hard,' both the service and the products were missing a screw here and there.
Even the colors on the bread they'd baked so diligently were all slightly different.
Everyone had just laughed it off, but the fact that the festival was being held over two days made it a different story entirely.
People might drop by once because of the promotion, but coming back again was another matter.
"Well, Woodville will figure it out."
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Amy had always intended to win, but recently she had gained a reason why she absolutely had to.
"Hehehe."
"That happy, are you?"
"Of course."
At Riber's words, Amy beamed brightly, and from her waist came a dull clanking sound.
On the first day of the Hunting Festival, Lucia had accidentally come with all her equipment, clanking and clattering with every step—and Amy was no different.
Ever since the day she'd received it as a gift from Atlas, Amy hadn't let that sword leave her side for a single moment.
She was like a child so in love with the doll they got as a Christmas present that they carried it around all day long.
The sword forged from mithril alloy steel was, for all intents and purposes, Amy's current favorite doll.
She hadn't originally been fond of weapons.
She had only learned how to use and care for them because they were necessary. Amy cherished the equipment she had desperately earned, but she had never loved them.
They were terrifying objects, full of the smell of oil and gunpowder, sharp and cold lumps of metal that would hurt you if you mishandled them.
But an object someone had given her as a gift felt different.
Atlas's gift, naturally, was an inferior object compared to the equipment Amy usually used.
Her own sword, forged from a mithril ingot she'd obtained by defeating a monster in a hidden dungeon, was a rare weapon you could search the entire continent for and not find.
Still, Amy never even considered comparing the weapon Atlas had gifted her to anything else.
Because the simple fact that he had thought of her and given her this gift made her too happy.
It wasn't a scary weapon—the person who gave it to her came to mind first.
"Sunbae Rio here hasn't let go of that wand she got as a gift for even a moment either, you know."
"I can't help it! I'm so nervous having something this expensive, how could I possibly put it down somewhere else..."
When the topic of conversation shifted back to her, Rio flinched in surprise.
Since Rio was still uncomfortable around Atlas, the three of them were enjoying the Hunting Festival without him.
Since tomorrow they would really have to trust each other with their backs, it was a good idea to strengthen their bonds.
"I told you, right? Atlas is a good person."
"I'm grateful... It was the first time I'd ever received a gift like this..."
Ever since receiving the wand and the artifact as gifts, Rio's abilities had dramatically improved beyond her original skills.
Her output had become stronger, and the casting time for her magic had been shortened.
For her, who had endured until now with only a single, cheap wand, it was as if he had given her wings.
"Tomorrow, we're definitely going to win."
"Right... After receiving something like this, if we fall out of the running in disgrace, I won't be able to show my face."
"The teams we need to watch out for... First, Edgar's team, and among the upperclassmen teams, the Swordsmanship Research Society with a history of winning, the Student Council... those, right?"
In the Hunting Festival, you could win just by hunting magical beasts, but in most festivals, teams that scored above a certain threshold usually ended up in brutal fights against each other.
"If you, Riber, and sunbae can just draw the attention of the other three, I'll handle Edgar."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I... am stronger than you two think."
Amy made a firm resolution.
She would repay the expectations placed on her.
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Around the time the first day of the Hunting Festival was coming to an end, I went looking for Senior Andy, who had been walking around looking like he was going to die during the festival.
When I knocked on the door of his quarters, a racket of crashing sounds came from inside before Andy, dressed in his pajamas, blinked his eyes open and opened the door.
He looked exactly like someone who had just woken up.
"Ugh... I slept the whole day... Nothing happened today, right...?"
"It's the first day of the Hunting Festival, and you slept through the whole thing?"
"Man... For two weeks I've only been able to sleep about three hours a day... Finally got a good, deep sleep for the first time in ages."
I'd heard he had a lot on his plate, and it seemed like he really had been struggling.
But if all the people who had to handle the field operations tomorrow were in the same state as him, was everything actually going to be okay during the Hunting Festival tomorrow...?
I just got more nervous for no reason.
"Senior, is there anything odd in the Black Forest?"
"I've looked through it all... Occasionally, there were some magical beasts with higher danger ratings than expected, but I've arranged them properly... Do you know how hard it was putting together the map..."
Like a half-dead corpse, Andy sat down in his chair and showed me the map he had made.
On the sketch of the Black Forest, the areas the academy hadn't been able to properly survey were pitch-black, while the relatively safe zones where this year's Hunting Festival was being held were marked.
"Senior, is there security magic set up in the Black Forest right now?"
"There is one, but why?"
"Can you just enter it as you please?"
"Well, I can, but... Please say you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."
At my casually asked question, Andy shivered with unease.
"Senior... How about you go into the Black Forest with me?"
"Ah, please, I have to work tomorrow...!!"
"Do you want to walk there on your own two feet? Or do you want to be dragged there by your ankles?"
If nothing happened tonight, then tomorrow would be fine.
I had been waiting all this time to do this the day before.