Ch.208Side Story: Summer Festival – 1

After the summer festival was announced, the atmosphere at the Academy was soaring with excitement.

It was only natural. The word “festival” alone would have a pleasant ring to most students, and now it came with the powerful justification of an Academy exchange event. The mood simply couldn’t be dampened.

Of course, there were some opposing opinions.

Some nobles objected, arguing that it made no sense to hold a festival when the frontlines had recently suffered severe damage from the undead uprising. Others opposed it on the grounds of preserving Bellium Academy’s traditions.

Neither objection lasted long. The former quickly acquiesced when Rosaria mentioned receiving a revelation that demons wouldn’t invade humans for the time being, and they even offered their support afterward.

The latter group was summoned by the Chairman, the very embodiment of Bellium Academy’s tradition, and personally scolded. In the end, these nobles, all graduates of Bellium Academy themselves, could only bow their heads in submission.

“With the Emperor’s decree secured, there shouldn’t be any more complainers. Even if there are, they’ll have to keep their heads down like dead mice.”

Laura, who had obtained the Emperor’s official decree, drove the final nail into the coffin of opposition. Students would now have a full three weeks—two weeks of preparation and one week for the actual festival—with only minimal lectures to attend while preparing for the festivities.

“The competition on their side is quite fierce as well.”

“What competition are you referring to?”

The festival fever wasn’t limited to just Bellium Academy.

“The competition to be chosen as our exchange partner. While our status as the Empire’s premier academy remains unchallenged, the battle for pride among those below us is quite intense. Being selected as our partner for this exchange and competition would essentially determine second and third place, you see.”

I nodded along, not knowing much about other academies.

Even in the original novel, other academies were merely used as devices to emphasize that this one was the best in the Empire.

“The results should be out soon. Once it’s finalized, I’ll give you their profiles to review. By the way, have you decided what you’ll do separately for the festival?”

“No, not yet. I should ask about that now.”

Apart from the top ten students in practical skills for the first semester, including myself, being assigned to play the roles of boss monsters, we had other responsibilities as well.

“Is there anything you’d like to do? Feel free to speak up if you have ideas.”

Club activities.

The Chairman had permitted clubs to set up stalls or hold special demonstrations during the festival, and had also allowed them to keep all the money they earned, with few exceptions.

Thanks to this, commoner students were fired up with enthusiasm. It was an opportunity to earn substantial money separate from their dignity maintenance allowance.

The nobles, too, had their reasons to give it their all. The Chairman had permitted each club to represent their family name.

Given that this was unprecedented in Bellium Academy’s 130-year history, and considering nobles’ obsession with honor, everyone was desperately trying to showcase something impressive.

This was clearly intentional. Since this kind of festival was a first, they needed to build up the atmosphere somehow.

“They say the top three clubs with the highest overall ratings will receive awards, but we don’t need to worry about prizes, right? So let’s just do whatever we feel like.”

“Ah, I see. I was wondering why everyone was so fired up. It’s become a battle of pride?”

“It’s an opportunity to legally mock your rivals.”

It was a case of misplaced priorities, with families pouring money into club activities, but since they were spending their own money and any overly extravagant plans would be rejected by the Chairman and student council anyway, it didn’t matter.

For instance, the Monster Research Club’s proposal for one-on-one gambling matches with magical beasts. It was so absurd that the student council explicitly posted it as an example of “proposals that will be rejected.”

“What about you, Priscilla? Did your family say anything?”

“They said they’d support me if I wanted to do something, but also that it’s fine if I don’t do anything. They told me not to feel pressured and just enjoy myself.”

“They’re not coming themselves?”

“No. Because of their position.”

But Priscilla seemed indifferent about whether they came or not. The Duke would probably weep tears of blood if he knew. And he’d likely confront me, asking if I was responsible for making his daughter this way.

“Anyway, as I asked earlier, is there anything you’d like to do? Really, you can suggest anything. If not, we can just take it easy.”

I looked around the club room as I spoke.

Priscilla, Rosaria, Ciel, Laura, Leona, Latina, and Karna, who had returned to student status after finishing her imperial duties and ended up joining us.

‘With just these names, we could do almost anything…’

The youngest daughter and future head of House Agnes, the Saint who declared alliance with the Emperor, the confirmed future Emperor, the warrior chosen by the goddess and wielding a holy sword, and the first disciple of the Sword Saint.

Except for Ciel, whose identity couldn’t be revealed, and Latina, who was nominally Rosaria’s direct nun, each held a position that would command respect anywhere.

With this lineup, we could probably sell “vegan ice cream” with just three ice cubes per cup at 50 silver coins each, and still sell out.

“But Mira, aren’t you participating as a boss monster during the exchange? Will you be able to do club activities too?”

“It’s like a main event, so it won’t take long. Maybe three or four hours out of the whole week?”

It wasn’t an exam; it was just for show, so there was no reason to drag it out.

“Hmm… Why don’t we just sell food like other clubs?”

Priscilla raised her hand first. Most clubs without special features, or temporary clubs formed by money-hungry students, typically chose to sell food.

The student council would filter out overlapping menus, and it was an option that required physical effort but minimal mental exertion.

“That’s fine. I’ll note down cooking… but will it be okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“The cooking. You’ll be doing it yourselves. People will flock to us just because of your names.”

The problem was that our combination was too high-profile for such an endeavor.

“By my estimate, we’d need to prepare at least 10,000 servings during the festival. Can you handle that? I’ll be there too, so it’s not impossible, but it’ll be very tough.”

“…”

Able to easily imagine what that would entail, Priscilla shuddered. Rosaria and Leona had similar reactions.

“Anyone else have ideas?”

“How about an artificial dungeon?”

Leona quickly raised her hand.

“Most clubs wouldn’t even attempt it. Creating one requires a lot of resources.”

“An artificial dungeon, that sounds good. With the right materials, it could work well.”

“And materials? I think we have more than enough.”

That was true. There were the Gates on Earth, for starters. If all else failed, we could borrow ideas from Earth’s games, though that would make me feel a bit guilty.

“Well, that’s true. But Laura, aren’t you the student council president? Is it okay for you to be here?”

Although she was registered as a member of our club too, Laura was still the student council president. I heard the student council was swamped with festival preparations—surely she wasn’t playing hooky?

“I’ve already completed my share of today’s work. If the others are still struggling with half the workload I handle, then my subordinates are simply too slow.”

So she was playing hooky, just legally. I silently offered my condolences to the student council members struggling without Laura.

A few more ideas were suggested afterward. But each had its own issues, and the consensus was leaning heavily toward the artificial dungeon.

“Let’s tentatively go with the artificial dungeon, and remember we can change the content up until a week before the start if anyone thinks of something else.”

Normally, we’d need to submit an application to the student council for approval, but since approval was guaranteed, we decided to skip that step. What’s the point of approval when the student council president is right here with us?

“I’m going to see Professor Jeina. Want to come along?”

“Ah, yes!”

When I casually suggested it to Karna, she happily joined me. The other six, understanding my intention, gathered among themselves. The idea was for them to decide on a theme using Earth knowledge while Karna was away.

I closed the door. The chattering voices instantly disappeared.

“The Sword Saint? You couldn’t find him?”

“No. I wonder if he crossed over to the demon realm…”

It was natural that we couldn’t find him. How could we locate someone who had disappeared by traversing time itself?

“It’s okay. He must be somewhere. He is the Sword Saint, after all.”

“Yes. He’s my master. I’m sure he’s fine.”

Karna nodded brightly.

Afterward, as we chatted about various things, I casually asked, and Karna confirmed she had never experienced dreams as vivid as reality either. It seemed I could finally put my worries to rest.

“…You want me to give you part of Bellium Forest to create an artificial dungeon?”

Professor Jeina’s voice rose sharply when we approached her with our plan. All her doppelgangers, buried in piles of documents, turned to look at us simultaneously.

“Yes. Is that not allowed?”

“It’s not that it’s not allowed. There are others who said they’d use Bellium Forest too… Sigh. I’m sorry. When you mentioned yourself, Bellium Forest, and artificial dungeon together, it brought back unpleasant memories.”

Professor Jeina shook her head and rubbed her forehead.

During our first dungeon practicum, a Maker had suddenly appeared, causing quite a commotion. Having had to write an incident report back then, it was natural for her to remember.

“Anyway, you can choose any unoccupied area. Just keep in mind that if it’s too deep in the forest, people will have trouble finding it, which defeats the purpose.”

“Understood.”

“An artificial dungeon, huh? How did you come up with that idea? None of the other students planning to use Bellium Forest mentioned creating a dungeon. Do you have a theme in mind?”