The Entrance Ceremony Bomb Must Explode
Fortunately, we managed to chase Raven off and arrive at the dormitory without any further trouble.
Two buildings, each looking like the castle of some high-ranking noble, stood facing each other across a wall—the male dormitory and the female dormitory.
Thanks to the crossdressing, Andy was finally freed from Evangeline. Having shaken her off, he was beaming like a man freshly released from prison.
From the look of things, Andy had no intention of ever taking off those men's clothes. If he did, he'd end up stuck to Evangeline even here in the dorms.
"Boss, this deserves at least five gold coins a month."
Andy demanded it with a completely straight face.
Five gold coins a month. That was a rather audacious ask, coming from Andy.
But for me, it was actually welcome news.
Andy was a card with a guaranteed future as a Grand Mage. The more I invested in him, the better the returns.
His stingy little ambitions were the very thing strangling my investment—and here he was, asking for more all on his own.
So Evangeline's catastrophic incompetence had this kind of effect on him.
I nodded without hesitation. Andy's face immediately went pale.
"Really? I mean—five gold coins, that's what I said?"
"Done."
"Done? Five gold coins as a friendship fee? Actually, maybe we should cancel—"
"If you want, I'll raise it."
Andy let out a long sigh and shook his head.
"Never mind. Some friendship fee this is."
He hadn't been burned enough yet. I chuckled to myself.
"There's one thing I need you to do."
"No! I can't do any more today! Do you have any idea how much I've suffered today—"
"Not Evangeline."
"Ah—then command me as you will, Boss!"
Andy's face lit up brilliantly.
In the original game, Andy caused quite a lot of trouble. A genius-level talent combined with his particular brand of mischief saw to that.
"I want you to spread a rumor."
"Oh? What kind of rumor?"
Andy's fish-like eyes gleamed.
"A rumor about how exceptional the new professor, Leon, is. I want every single new student dying of curiosity about him."
"How far do you want me to take it?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Ooh—!" Andy cried out, practically wriggling in his seat. It was the reaction of a puppy catching the scent of meat.
"Heh heh, leave it to me."
Andy's crooked eyes sparkled with fierce intensity.
Very reliable.
After dropping Andy and Evangeline off, we returned to the main gate, loaded up another batch of new students, and flew back to the dormitory.
"You have such beautiful eyes."
"Yours aren't bad either."
I glanced sideways around the carriage. A boy and a girl were sneaking a hold of each other's hands.
They'd only just boarded the carriage to enter the Academy, and they were already trading heated looks. I frowned.
They were nameless nobodies anyway. Whether they dated or not was none of my business—but when enough of them gathered, it created a romance-laden atmosphere at the Academy.
And if that atmosphere took hold, the suggestible Evangeline might get swept up in it.
Which meant—
"Milo, do you know what the number one reason for expulsion at Elysium Academy is?"
"Throwing hands?"
"No. Dating."
"Aw, I was so close!"
I ignored Milo's sincere regret and pressed on.
"Elysium Academy forbids romance, but a lot of students seem to think it's just a slap on the wrist. Get caught, and you're expelled."
In truth, cases that actually ended in expulsion were rare. Elysium Academy almost never expelled anyone in the first place.
That didn't make it a lie, though. Romance really was the number one cause of expulsion on the books.
"Get expelled mid-degree and you can't even transfer to another academy. Your life is essentially over, then and there. Ruining your entire future over a little fling—pathetic, honestly."
I cast a subtle glance around the carriage.
The two lovebirds who'd been holding hands a moment ago were now sitting far, far apart. Success.
Students should worry about their studies.
I clicked my tongue and turned my gaze forward.
Just then, Milo looked at me and asked, with grave seriousness:
"Where would throwing hands rank, then?"
I, of course, dismissed it without a second thought.
After a few more carriage runs, our shift ended.
"Mnnngh, quitting time—"
Milo said, stretching his arms overhead. The corners of his mouth were trembling.
"Already?"
"What do you mean, already? We've been at it six whole hours."
Calling it a day after a mere six hours—absurdly good work-life balance.
No wonder the Academy got breached every other week.
"I'd like to work more."
"...You want to work more?"
Milo asked, looking at me as if I'd grown a second head.
I gave a light nod. The entrance ceremony was tomorrow. There was still work left to handle.
"Scarlet's going to slap night shifts on us anyway. She messes with the rookies through the duty schedule. Never lets them rest."
"Oh, great."
"...Great?"
"Yeah. So what shifts are there?"
"It's like a waiter reading out the menu at a restaurant—well, there's auditor support, probably."
The auditorium was where the entrance ceremony would be held.
Auditorium support sounded excellent.
"In exchange, take me off tomorrow morning's shift?"
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Well, if you work nights, you're usually exempt from the morning shift—"
Tomorrow morning was the entrance ceremony. The single most important event, and he wanted me to miss it?
"I'm working tomorrow morning."
"No, why the hell are you refusing when I'm offering you a break?"
"I'm doing it."
"Insisting doesn't make it happen, you know—"
"I said I'm doing it."
"You little—gods. What kind of lunatic..."
Milo dragged a hand down his face.
Scarlet smiled sweetly.
"You'll be taking the night shift too, won't you? It's all so terribly busy."
She seemed determined to saddle Grave with night duty as well. Her usual hazing of the newcomers.
The ones who'd survived Milo's initiation rite hadn't been able to withstand Scarlet's bullying.
That much was certain—
"Gladly."
Grave nodded without a moment's hesitation.
"Well, how nice that you're happy about it."
Scarlet's smile deepened. She clearly took it for bravado.
Then again, it was a reasonable assumption. What kind of lunatic worked the morning shift and the night shift back to back—and enjoyed it?
Just then, Grave fixed his gaze on Milo. His eyes were nudging him.
This guy is genuinely insane.
Milo grimaced briefly, then opened his mouth.
"The entrance ceremony is tomorrow, sir. Shouldn't he be on the morning shift too?"
"The morning shift as well—?"
Scarlet's eyes widened slightly.
"The vice-captain won't be sitting idle, after all."
"Well, what can you do. We are short-staffed, that much is true."
"That's fair. Hmm, Milo, I'm seeing you in a new light."
Scarlet smiled silkily. When Milo stole a glance to the side, Grave was giving him a thumbs-up.
This one is a certified lunatic.
Milo trembled all over.
The auditorium looked like nothing so much as a temple. Round pillars of solid marble stretched in long rows, with yet more marble filling the spaces between them.
It was familiar to me.
The auditorium was the opening scene of the game—and the setting that appeared relentlessly from start to finish.
Guards swarmed around the auditorium like ants. Entrance ceremony preparations seemed to be in full swing.
Then a familiar figure caught my eye. Bedrick, with his goatee.
At this point, it's practically a fated feud.
The moment he saw me, Bedrick twisted one corner of his mouth. Apparently still sour about everything.
Truly a petty, small-minded bastard.
"Perfect timing—we're short on hands. Pull Squad 14 off material transport and put these two in their place."
"That will leave us seriously understaffed, sir."
"They'll do. These two are very strong. Isn't that right?"
Pulling one squad and slotting in the two of us. An open declaration that we were getting the grunt work.
Ordinarily, Milo would have challenged him to a fight on the spot—but surprisingly, he just nodded along.
"The entrance ceremony is tomorrow. No goofing off. Do the job properly. I'll be checking."
Bedrick delivered his warning and turned away.
"The absolute gall. Hiding behind the Inspection Corps while dumping trash work on us."
Milo jerked his chin toward the woman standing beside Bedrick.
A expressionless woman in a guard uniform, with blue epaulettes on her shoulders. That had to be the mark of the Inspection Corps.
"The Inspection Corps?"
"Yeah. If they catch you doing anything, you're finished. Damn that Bedrick. Traveling with the Inspection Corps in tow. Slick bastard."
Even Milo was clicking his tongue, which told me the Inspection Corps carried some real clout.
"Damn it. We're in for a dog's day of work. When are we supposed to move all of this?"
Milo scratched his head irritably at the sight of the massive pile of materials.
They want this moved to the underground storage.
The entrance ceremony was the opening act of the first semester—and two problems arose there.
The first was the Republic's mana stone bombing, aimed at the Crown Prince.
They'd secretly planted a mana stone in the auditorium and detonated it—and it was hidden so cunningly that even the Chairwoman, a Grand Archmage, failed to find it. Though to be precise, she had seen it and simply pretended not to.
The second problem stemmed from the first.
Evangeline's disappearance.
Evangeline went missing during the entrance ceremony.
It wasn't a kidnapping or an assassination. She was simply frozen stiff from the crowds, and when the explosion went off, she bolted.
The problem was where she ran: the Central Library.
Despite its name, the Central Library was an extremely dangerous place. It was directly connected to the Rifts through a Forbidden presence.
But stopping Evangeline from going there was the wrong answer. Only by entering the Central Library could Evangeline become the Librarian.
Which meant the Republic's terror attack had to succeed.
They hid the mana stone bomb in the underground storage, if I recall.
Under normal circumstances, the auditorium's underground storage was strictly off-limits. It was tightly managed by the guard corps.
And here was my one chance to get inside it—there was no reason whatsoever to pass up a little manual labor. I was almost grateful to Bedrick.
I gathered an armload of materials and followed Milo down toward the underground storage.
Guards stood stern watch before its entrance. Far more imposing than the other guard units.
"The lower your squad number, the stronger you are. Key areas are managed by squads under 10, and from there on out, the squads get stacked three at a time."
"The platoon and company system."
"The what?"
"Never mind. So the lower the squad number, the stronger. How far down does the elite guard go?"
"Squad 42."
"Truly a bottom-tier squad, then."
"Well—yeah."
Anyway, we made it safely inside the underground storage.
It was enormous. Vast enough that the far end was invisible, and piled with every manner of fixture until it looked like a labyrinth. You couldn't even tell where anyone was.
But that posed no particular problem. I already knew where the terrorists would strike.
The Crown Prince's seat—
Where I arrived, a mountain of uniforms lay heaped in tangled disarray, their age impossible to guess. A perfectly convenient place to hide something.
"No slacking off now, you hear?"
Milo warned in a low voice.
"This isn't slacking. It's standing guard. The Republic bastards might hide a mana stone bomb down here."
"What kind of insane—no, seriously, we have to move."
Milo kept prodding me along, and I kept casually ignoring him.
With the entrance ceremony imminent, countless guards were coming and going through the underground storage. I waited quietly for my moment.
How long had I waited? Two men in guard uniforms approached. In their hands, they carried a perfectly ordinary-looking cabinet.
Thud. The two Republic agents set the cabinet down without a sound. They didn't spare it so much as a glance, chatted idly about the heavy workload like any other laborer, and walked away.
Even after they were gone, I kept waiting.
"We seriously have to move!! Gods!"
Milo finally lost it and shouted. Only then did I stand and walk toward the cabinet.
It was smeared with oil stains in every corner, cobwebs draped across it—the kind of thing no sane person would ever want to touch. On the surface, it looked entirely unremarkable.
I drew a holy sigil. The moment I brought the pure white light close, it responded at once.
A detonation array.
Refinement was supposed to be the virtue and the measure of any magic circle—but the array etched into this cabinet was violent and destructive to the core. How very like the Republic.
It wasn't an intricate security mechanism; it felt more like a door brainlessly barred with a thousand-pound bolt. The kind of thing you'd hesitate to ever take apart.
Well, it didn't matter. I had no intention of disarming it.
The Republic's terror attack had to succeed. Only then would Evangeline be frightened into fleeing to the Central Library. Handy for other reasons, too.
"I said we have to move—gah, we are so screwed!"
"Help me move this, and we'll go."
"Really?!"
"Yeah."
The moment I pointed at the cabinet, Milo sprang into action. Despite its considerable weight, he lifted it with ease.
"This way."
"Why on earth are we moving this piece of junk, anyway?"
"Because the headmaster's seat sits right on top of this spot."
"...What kind of nonsense is that?"
Milo grumbled as he carried the cabinet along.
He'd clearly taken my words for a joke.
It was no joke—but I saw no reason to enlighten him.
It's a surprise, after all.