Ch.1010. Victory Banquet (5)

“…What is this? Magic?”

A loud sound came from nearby, from the west—the direction of the entrance.

Being sensitive to magical energy, Renias could detect magical waves coming from where the sound originated.

“Come to think of it, Senior Junon said to meet at the entrance…”

Surely nothing’s wrong?

With an inexplicable sense of unease and curiosity, Renias left the terrace and headed toward the main entrance that led into the banquet hall along the garden path.

***

“Why are you doing this?”

“Tell us what we did wrong to be blocked from entering!”

Two people who had been knocked down at the entrance to the banquet hall, as if they’d been subjected to some kind of inspection, were protesting.

Academy uniforms have magic resistance sigils that absorb a certain amount of magical damage and convert it into physical impact.

This was designed to prevent students from suffering fatal injuries or becoming disabled during fights, training, or duels.

Naturally, they would be startled by a sudden magical attack, but unfortunately, it wasn’t that they didn’t block it—they couldn’t block it.

The difference in power is unavoidable, but since magic was used, they could have negated the force if they had blocked it.

However, the prohibition of weapons at the banquet was their downfall.

Without weapons—the lifeblood of the vanguard position—they had no means to block magic and thus no way to counter.

Interestingly, the guards checking the attendance list and verifying students’ faces and names at the entrance were third-year seniors.

“Noel from Class D, and John, also from Class D. These are your names, right?”

“How do you know our names…?”

The reason these third-year seniors forcibly prevented the second-year juniors from entering was:

“We can’t let you in if you don’t qualify to attend the banquet.”

Once again, they were being treated as inferiors simply because they were vanguards.

Levrant Academy, which supposedly pursues equality. A banquet hall where social barriers are removed and all students are treated equally and given advice.

The guards at the entrance were blocking this.

“If you’re frustrated, wait until those people come out of the banquet. It’s the professors’ policy, so don’t complain.”

The two were clearly displeased, but at the mention of the professors’ orders, they had no choice but to wait near the entrance.

“…I guess we have no choice if it’s the professors’ orders.”

“I wonder when they’ll come out…”

The third-year student once again blocks the two students from entering.

In the short span of five minutes, about twenty students had already gathered. All of them were from Classes D and E.

“Just as expected.”

Junon had reached a vantage point where he could overlook everything happening at the entrance.

“As I thought, even without Silvia, they would assemble substitutes.”

The victory banquet runs from 6 PM to 9 PM, a total of three hours.

However, the time the student council president announced to Classes D and E was from 7:30 PM to 9 PM, effectively eliminating about half the time.

Despite there being no such thing as “disqualification” for banquet attendance, they were essentially filtering people out and preventing D and E class students from entering. The reason was disgustingly obvious.

Then, when a late-arriving Class C student passes through, how many of the Class D and E students present would witness this?

When they question it, they’re told it’s the professors’ policy. When they ask for the criteria and the excuses become impossible to maintain, force is used to resolve the situation.

Eventually, the Class D and E students would burst into the banquet hall in an outpouring of resentment.

This was the full story behind the “Inferior Students’ Riot” incident.

“Is Renias not here yet…?”

The true masterminds behind this incident were the nobles and professors in alliance.

It was to create a counterargument to the student suicide incident, due to pressure from the Grand Duke.

The truth of this incident would only come to light after the arrival of one of the ministers of the Artena Empire, but by then, the damage would already be done.

Some students from Classes D and E would be expelled after the incident, reaching a point where damage control would be impossible.

As the current semester ends and the next year approaches, students in the lower classes can’t help but feel anxious.

This is because the number of students in vanguard positions drastically decreases from the third year onward.

Most give up their studies or lose their purpose, and in severe cases, their self-loathing intensifies until they make the worst choice—suicide.

They are no different.

If they can’t rise to Class C by the second year, the class placement exam this semester is essentially their last chance.

The noble and professor alliance knows this, making those classified as “inferior students” even more desperate.

They say that after one person arrives, the class division criteria will change and the professors’ corruption will be exposed, but what good would that do?

The students will only resent why it took so long.

‘Moreover, the absence of vanguards in the joint training of the third year’s first semester will cause the worst damage in history.’

Thinking about the consequences, the importance of vanguard and support positions becomes even greater. If this incident isn’t stopped now, it will create a massive snowball effect that could eventually devour the duchy.

That’s why Renias needs to witness the scene.

Hoping that she would open her eyes to the nobles’ atrocities in the academy’s dark corners and become angry.

Hoping that the pure anger of a girl positioned at absolute good would save the inferior students who might be on the brink of death.

“Oh no…!”

Seeing the third-year with the attendance list exchanging signals with a first-year female student who just arrived, it seems the D and E class students are about to explode right before his eyes.

Has Renias not arrived yet?

Should he go out and stop it himself? If so, what should he do?

Complex thoughts race through his mind, but Junon was already descending from the building, determined to do something.

“What’s your name and year?”

“I’m Nila, first year.”

The first-year student attending the banquet for the first time would have expected to receive the same harsh treatment at the entrance.

However, contrary to their expectations…

“Verified. You may enter.”

“What…?”

“She passed? How does that work?”

“Why is she allowed in but not us?”

“I told you. You don’t qualify to enter. It’s marked that way on the list.”

“What qualification? There must be something written in that book, right? We’d like to see it for a moment.”

“Seriously. I already told you it’s the professors’ policy. How many more times do I need to explain? It would be troublesome for us if we showed you this.”

A moment of confusion ensues, and the bewildered students begin to search for the cause.

“Then what’s different about that student Nila compared to us?”

And the fuse is lit.

“…Nila is from Class C. I was right next to her during the freshman class assignment.”

“What? So…”

“Hah… So it’s because we’re from Classes D and E, not Class C?”

It has begun. The rebellion of those harboring resentment.

“What kind of qualification is that?! You’re just discriminating against us because we’re vanguards and support classes, because our class is different!!”

“You said the professors decided… Isn’t this just your arbitrary decision?”

“Explain properly!! If there’s no convincing reason, just let us in!!”

“Ah, shit. How annoying.”

BOOM-!

“Ugh!!”

The uniform’s defensive mechanism converts the magic shot by the third-year student into a physical attack, creating a loud noise.

When a student demanding a clear explanation is knocked down again by fire magic, the eyes of all the waiting students converge.

Some are meeting for the first time, while others have been classmates all along.

Some are close friends, while others are merely in the same year.

But faced with this injustice, they couldn’t help but unite in spirit.

“What kind of rule is this?! Cut the bullshit!!!”

“What… what did we do wrong!!!”

“Why do we have to face such discrimination?”

“Is this what a school is? A place that discriminates against front positions and deprives them of their rights?!!!”

Students in similar positions from the lower classes began to express their anger in unison.

“Ha, these bastards are getting uppity because we’ve been lenient?”

“The professors instructed us not to let in those who don’t qualify. It’s you who didn’t listen.”

In contrast, the third-year students’ lips twitch as if they’ve been waiting for this, and some can’t even manage their expressions, snickering.

They had deliberately let the student named Nila pass in front of them to provoke this reaction from the inferior students.

“Let’s go! Let’s enter ourselves and turn this school upside down!!”

A guardian named Noel, a second-year, charges forward first with bare hands. And at the entrance, fire magic targets Noel precisely.

It was clearly magic that would cause a loud explosion, but,

TING-!

“What, what’s happening…?”

BANG-!

The fireball approaching Noel was negated by something that flew in from the side.

Due to the thick smoke and gusts caused by the magical collision, everyone at the banquet hall entrance closed their eyes tightly.

And when they opened them again, through the smoke-obscured entrance, they couldn’t help but notice a silver-haired girl with radiant light emanating from the left garden.

“That, that’s…”

“Lady Renias…?”

“I don’t think any professor would have issued such a policy for this banquet, senior?”

Junon, who had just come down from the building, clenched his fist in relief.

‘Nice timing, Renias!’