Chapter 54: Hero
by AfuhfuihgsHero
It was a truly beautiful day like any other.
As always, birds chirping early in the morning, and flowers of all colors blooming.
On such a nice day, I should have ditched the boring classes as usual and gone to experiment with the explosive magic I had improved a few days ago.
“The president is looking for you, Rea.”
“…Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Why on earth was I hearing the voice of a ‘senior’ who had been employed as the president’s secretary right after graduating from the academy a dozen years ago?
And of all times, just as I was about to climb over the dormitory wall.
Moreover, the reason for seeking me out was none other than a summons from the Academy president.
For a moment I considered just fleeing over the wall, but it was obvious I wouldn’t get far even if I did escape over the wall.
In fact, I had already been caught by Kaira and others several times before.
In the end, I had no choice but to obediently climb down from the wall.
It was only after that I belatedly realized there was only one reason why the president would personally call for someone like me who was far from being a model student.
“K-Kaira senior. Am I getting expelled?”
“Who knows.”
It was inevitable that my mind went blank at the ambiguous answer—neither confirming nor denying—from someone who had assisted the president for quite a long time.
Nevertheless, there was really nothing I could do right now, so.
Sure enough, I had no choice but to forcibly move my feet that were getting heavier by the second.
However, not long after that, the place I arrived at was somehow not the Academy president’s office but a huge training ground.
Still not knowing what was going on, I followed Kaira and finally met a junior who stood at the opposite end of the spectrum from me.
“The president is calling for you, Iris.”
Iris.
A person for whom the title of ‘most exemplary student’ among Itar Academy’s honor students fits perfectly.
At the same time, a model student showing behavior exactly opposite to my own, who was constantly getting into trouble and being scolded.
Judging by the fact that she was sweating in the training ground even though regular classes hadn’t started yet, she was diligent to an extreme degree.
However, even for such a diligent person, the president’s summons seemed unexpected.
“Me? Why?”
The exact same words I had uttered earlier, without a single difference, flowed from Iris’s mouth.
In fact, it wasn’t such a strange question since neither model students nor troublemakers would normally be called to the president’s office.
The Academy president was a busy person who could only be met at official events like matriculation or graduation ceremonies.
There was no way to know why he was busy, but there was no particular need for a mere student to know why the Academy president was busy anyway.
What was important now was that this busy person had specifically summoned both me and Iris out of the numerous Academy students.
“He said he has something to ask of the students.”
Until meeting Iris, I had been worried about my own undesirable behavior.
That is, I was concerned about conduct that would not be strange at all to be directly summoned and scolded for by the president…
But the fact that he called that model student as well meant that the possibility of what I had been worried about happening was low.
In other words, it meant that I no longer needed to excessively watch for Kaira’s reactions, so.
“What is it, senior? You didn’t tell me that.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Hmm, but couldn’t you have at least given me a hint?”
I quickly returned to my usual flippant self and joked around.
I wasn’t close enough with Kaira to joke around like this normally, but I wasn’t the type to care about such things anyway.
“Hello, junior!”
I spoke with an extremely light tone even to the junior one year below me, whose name I had only known until today.
Unsurprisingly, I could see that Iris was a bit intimidated by me, who was one year above her, but that was nothing.
“Since we’ve met like this, it must be fate, so just call me Rea unnie comfortably~.”
“Ahaha….”
And so, somehow an unusual combination of a model student and a troublemaker was formed.
After Kaira said there was still one more person left, I mindlessly began to walk once more to a place that wasn’t the president’s office.
But this time, a bit more noisily.
“I saw you win the tournament last year. It was impressive.”
“I was lucky. If the tip of the sword had even grazed me, I would have lost.”
“Luck is also a skill, a skill.”
The conversations that followed were nothing more or less than one-sided praise for Iris or ordinary small talk.
Still, the more we talked, the more the distance between Iris and me seemed to diminish.
Predictably, curious glances followed as two literal opposites exchanged words without reserve, but whatever. Let them stare.
After walking more and more, we finally arrived at the Academy’s central library.
More precisely, at a storage room located in the deepest part of the central library.
“Wait here for a moment. I’ll bring him out soon.”
I still didn’t know who was being brought out, but I assumed Kaira would handle it as she had when finding me and Iris.
And so, thud.
The thick iron door of the storage room opened briefly and then closed.
Not long after that, the sounds that began to be heard were of a somewhat unexpected nature.
For instance, like “crash” or “patter patter.” For a short while, such noisy sounds leaked out, allowing one to immediately notice that some commotion was happening beyond the thick iron door in front of us.
And finally, creak.
Kaira, whose appearance hadn’t changed much since entering the storage room, and in complete contrast, a male student whose entire appearance from head to toe was in a disheveled mess, appeared before our eyes.
“Tsk, what’s the problem with reading books in the library that makes you try to grab someone like that?”
“I kept telling you there was a summons from the president. And Adrian, everything you were reading is forbidden material.”
“Well then, they shouldn’t have put them there in the first place….”
The male student’s grumbling continued for quite a while after that.
However, it was immediately dismissed by Kaira, who didn’t listen to a single word.
Even the person who kept showing only dissatisfied expressions finally had no choice but to follow me and Iris to the president’s office.
It was about twenty minutes later when we arrived at a place that I had wondered if I would ever enter even once during my time at the Academy.
Knock knock
“I’ve brought the students you mentioned.”
And so, the firmly closed door opened by itself toward the inside.
Just as I was stepping toward the inside of the president’s office with the others, with half curiosity and half tension.
“A little harder.”
“I-I’m already putting in maximum effort…”
“Tsk. Is a secretary supposed to talk back to their employer?”
“…Ugh….”
I saw the president sitting in a luxurious leather chair, having his shoulders massaged by a young child.
And the child was making an extremely displeased expression.
Understandably, I, as well as Iris and Adrian, were all simultaneously rendered speechless.
All three of us had heard rumors a few times that Rayner was a frivolous person who didn’t match the heavy image that the word “president” gives.
Looking back at the content of Rayner’s speech at the annual event a few months ago, one could tell he was an extraordinary person in many ways, but…
“…Even so, that’s a bit too much.”
Even for Rea, who had selectively done things that would get her demerits from the Academy teachers, it was an eccentricity whose intent was difficult to understand.
Moreover, a secretary?
Such a young child? The personal secretary of a unique person, whether in a good or bad sense?
No, it’s called a secretary, but judging from the treatment, it’s just slavery, plain slavery.
“It’s okay, it’s okay~. This child agreed to this entirely of their own accord.”
Words of questionable veracity were heard just as we sat down on the sofa in the president’s office.
Either way, we still hadn’t been told the reason why Rea, Iris, and Adrian had been summoned, so.
Deciding to question the matter of the little secretary later, I first asked about the reason we had been called.
“Hmm, where should I start~.”
Right after that, the president, who still hadn’t lost his characteristic lightness, briefly turned his head toward the child behind him.
After the two of them, Rayner and the child, whispered something for a moment.
“Rea, Iris, Adrian. You may not know this, but the three of you… are heroes chosen to save the world!”
Words that didn’t seem even a grain of sand’s worth of seriousness were uttered from Rayner’s mouth.
It goes without saying that the faces of people who were already looking at the president with unfavorable gazes gradually distorted.
However, just a few seconds later, Rayner’s snapped finger.
More precisely, as soon as the sound of his finger snapping was heard, an illusion-like scene unfolded that gave nothing but shock.
“If the three of you don’t step up, the world itself will die, just as you’re seeing now.”
All three, having witnessed literally a horrific scene, could only be bewildered in a completely different sense than before.
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