episode_0016

BAM!!! BUZZ!!!!

“Hmm, is that really illusion magic… … It looks quite elaborate.”

“You’ve recreated the manticore so well. It even looks like it has a physical body?”

“Perhaps a specific object or artifact was planted in the illusion. It is a fairly advanced illusion, but the momentum characteristic of a 7th-grade monster could not be helped.”

“That’s not the point. The point is that it’s such an elaborate illusion. It seems like it could be used in quite a variety of ways… … … I didn’t know that magic that started from barbarian sorcery would come this far.”

Above the entrance ceremony auditorium, in the VIP waiting room.

There, where numerous dignitaries including the king’s ministers, the heads of the great academies, the heads of other academies, great nobles, and influential figures of the empire had gathered, a leisurely discussion was taking place.

A monster, a manticore, broke through the wall of the auditorium and burst in. If it were real, everyone here would have either prepared for death or desperately run away.

Now that I know it was an illusion, as I was ‘instructed’ in advance, it actually becomes an interesting sight.

“But isn’t that a bit too much? A monster attack at the entrance ceremony… … .”

“Isn’t that Grandis Academy? It’s the most prestigious school in the kingdom and where its chairman resides. Even if a real manticore had invaded, there wouldn’t have been any problems. ”

“If it was another academy, there would have been a lot of talk, but since it’s Grandis Academy, isn’t it rather novel and good?”

“… … Ahem, don’t forget that there’s also a principal from that other academy. ”

Naturally, there were some who expressed concern about the somewhat extreme event, but there were more favorable voices. It was all thanks to the reputation of the Grandis Academy and its chairman.

If this had happened in any other ordinary academy, all sorts of rumors would have erupted, but it was different for the best academy in the kingdom. In fact, some even praised it, saying it was a new horizon for evaluation.

Moreover, the strongest 8th rank in the kingdom directly guaranteed safety. If you can’t trust the chairman in terms of military power, you can’t trust anyone in the kingdom. The guests’ calm demeanor was somewhat natural.

Kwajik!

“The girl who just put the window in, isn’t that Lisha Claudia? There’s a reason why the Count favored her so much. Great work. ”

“Even that part is one of the few weaknesses of the manticore. I heard that the Claudia family also teaches knowledge about monsters, and it is indeed true.”

“The freshmen this year are fearless. Running at the manticore with such enthusiasm? If it were me when I was younger, I would have run away a long time ago, haha!”

“Some students run away. However, most students fight back. Once they charge in, they realize that their opponent is not a real manticore. Oh, there’s magic sparkling over there.”

Kwajijijik!!!!

“Wow, that’s quite powerful. Who the hell was that magic just now… … … Cool.”

“If Princess Beatrice came here to ‘study abroad’, what’s the problem?”

“Oh, no, Your Majesty.”

“Yeah. There are no external problems. Behave wisely.”

“Okay!”

Many of the VIPs are obsessed with evaluating the students. Their evaluations do not amount to grades or anything, but being remembered by the VIPs is a greater benefit than grades.

However, among the countless students who entered the school, only a very small number cared about that. Only the aristocrats and promising students who would later mingle with the VIPs after graduation. Most of the other students were just fighting hard for grades and evaluations.

But the one who gets the most attention is not a specific student.

It was the very fantasy of a manticore.

“By the way, there was a report released by the Imperial Magic Ministry a while ago. It said that the usefulness of fantasy magic will greatly increase in the future.”

“But that’s a story about the Empire, a magical powerhouse, right? The kingdom treats martial arts better than magic… … .”

“Even so, it would be worth investing in advance. Should we establish a fantasy magic department in our academy?”

“As far as I know, Grandis Academy is the only academy in the kingdom that has a fantasy magic department. This one is a bit rough, but it caught our eye.”

“I need to prepare for investment. It’s okay if I think about it as looking into the future.”

Talk of fantasy magic naturally takes center stage, and there is also a lot of talk about investing in the kingdom’s only fantasy magic school.

However, not a single one of them was concerned about the safety of the students or the friendly forces of the magic students.

Of course, it’s not like the VIPs didn’t have human feelings.

It was because the chairman himself stepped forward.

“Chairman, how is work?”

“It’s a bit tricky.”

A small space set aside in the auditorium.

There, in a narrow room with a clear view of the entire auditorium, the chairman was sitting on his chair, waving his hands here and there.

From my perspective as a first-class person, I think he’s just moving his hands around because he’s bored.

Looking down at the auditorium, the effect was clearly evident.

“Hey! Be careful with the knife! Don’t swing it at me!”

“You don’t know yet? Look at this.”

Kak!

“What are you doing all of a sudden… … !! Huh?”

“There’s a protective shield like this all around our bodies? Even if you swing a real weapon, you won’t get hurt at all.”

“Really? Huh? But there’s magic flying over our heads?”

“Ah.”

bang!!!

“Hey! You wizards! Just shoot the manticore properly! Can’t you hit that big one! ”

“It doesn’t matter if you get hit anyway! Do you think opportunities like this come often? Just ignore it and shoot!”

“Those crazy magicians!”

Two thousand people. Two thousand people. That large number of people are all rushing towards Manticore for points and evaluation.

This would create a different problem than when everyone panicked and ran away. If things had gone as planned, the problem would have been that there would have been a risk of pushing, trampling, or crushing each other to death.

The reason was that the Manticore, which was large but not enough to be surrounded by 2,000 people, was attacking its allies more often than not because it was swinging its weapons or casting magic at random.

Ultimately, my additional plans did not change the role of the chairperson: ensuring the safety of all students.

And no matter how things turned out, it was easy for the chairman.

“Minister of Finance, do you know what I’m doing right now?”

“… … I heard that the difference between 5th and 6th grade is the presence or absence of sword energy, and the difference between 6th and 7th grade is whether or not the sword energy can be released outside the body.”

“Huh.”

“And if you are a rank 8 like the chairman, you can freely manipulate intangible powers like sword energy.”

“To me, a martial artist, it’s not sword energy but strong energy, but to be honest, the distinction between sword energy and strong energy doesn’t matter. In the end, the power used is the same, it’s just given a different name depending on the weapon used.”

The chairman muttered, nonchalantly ignoring the Gald Cup, known as the most controversial in the martial arts world, which weapon has the strongest ki.

“Anyway, I just gave the students the strength I had. They can use it as a shield.”

“Are you talking to all 2,000 people?”

“Of course. If half of the students were freshmen, you could have done it while sleeping, right?”

“… … … … .”

It’s times like this that I really feel it anew. This is the world of , and the chairman is a supernaturally strong person.

That’s a first-class sad series.

After a brief moment of being pessimistic about reality, I asked the chairman a question that suddenly occurred to me.

“But if that’s the case, there was no need to come out of the VIP room, right? You can talk to me without any problem, so why bother talking to VIPs? … … .”

“Oh, I’m annoyed.”

“Huh?”

“Young people are always talking too much. Among the VIPs who have gathered, there aren’t any of them who are the same age as me.”

“No, if you look at it that way, then I’m also young.”

“Are you kidding? Of course the finance minister is different. What I mean is that young people only talk about money and fame. Every time they talk, they put in political intentions or some hidden meaning, and it’s really tiring. ”

I swallowed the question of whether I, as the Minister of Finance, would reveal the money. The answer was obvious.

Anyway, it seems like the chairman wasted his time with the VIPs by using it as a hideout. No wonder I feel sorry for Professor Alon.

‘The chairman’s time is expensive, and since you’re doing this, please reduce it by 40%───’

Kwaaang!!

“Oh, the manticore illusion just collapsed another wall. I’ll have to clear the debris too.”

“Cancel.”

“Minister of Finance?”

“Nothing.”

Do I see all the rubble as money? I have to contact the woodworkers’ guild right away since I have to use the auditorium tomorrow.

How much additional money would it cost to fix something of that scale in just one day? I would also have to invite the magic tower and re-consecrate the magic.

‘Let’s just do 40%.’

Anyway, judging from the reactions of the VIPs, the investment amount seems to be considerable, but if you buy it as the price for the revival of the School of Fantasy Magic, wouldn’t it be a cheap deal?

The chairman looked at me as he safely placed the debris with a few gestures, as if he was convinced.

“By the way, Minister of Finance, did your method work?”

“Huh? Oh, you mean special information?”

“I never thought of that. You’re selling information about manticore attacks to freshmen?”

After all, the most effective way to ‘not startle’ a manticore is to know about it in advance.

It was something that teachers and staff should never do, like leaking exam information, but as the chairman said, this attack had almost no effect on grades, so it was okay. Of course, the students didn’t know that, so they were rushing at the manticore diligently…

Well, since the students won’t know the detailed evaluation details of their grades anyway, it’ll all end with them feeling proud that they got good grades.

That’s why the chairman allowed the information to be sold. If I had tried to sell information about midterms, he would have hit my pot with that hand. It’s scary.

“But isn’t this a betrayal of the students who gave the bribe? They would have been more prominent if they had the information.”

“So I explained it in more detail to that side.”

“In detail?”

“The time when the manticore will appear, the location of the wall where it appears, the weaknesses created by the manticore’s habits and illusions, the best viewing spot from the VIP seats, etc. ”

The chairman’s plan is to pass on information about monster attacks to students like Lisha in order to receive more bribes.

As soon as the last meeting ended, I went to see Lisha and the other bribe students and immediately made a deal for information and bribes. It was a deal that the students could not refuse.

I just added a word to it.

‘Information was leaked from the School of Illusion Magic.’

Do other students know the information? The information was accidentally leaked by the Department of Illusion Magic that planned this incident. Anyway, that’s it.

I gave them very detailed information about the raid, especially out of ‘loyalty’, and as expected, Lisha and the other bribed students were very satisfied.

Plus, their seats were assigned to places where they could stand out right after the Manticore attack, so they must have really impressed the VIPs.

First of all, I didn’t lie at all.

“But how did you sell the information? You couldn’t have mobilized the faculty and staff for this kind of thing… … .”

“I have a personal connection. There is absolutely no reason to suspect me.”

“Hmm.”

Of course, it would be a big deal if it were revealed that I was the one selling the information, so I went through an ‘intermediary distribution’.

All I did was give them the information leaked from the School of Fantasy Magic. They sold the information and such. That’s just how it is.

Moreover, they were the kind of guys who would suffer no harm even if this incident came to light… … and they were more than trustworthy.

“Is that personal connection to the student council?”

“They’re just fucking juniors.”

Isn’t it ‘common sense’ that upperclassmen sell information about their departments or exam papers to their juniors?

This incident was a bit large in scale, but the student council… …had a bad reputation to begin with. Especially since the current student council president is a junior of that guy.

A special connection that only I, who graduated from the academy not long ago, can have. The student council probably raised the price and made a lot of money, but since the sales revenue was higher than initially expected, I can turn a blind eye to it.

In the end, the School of Fantasy Magic will be able to receive the investment it wants, the bribed students like Lisha will have impressed the VIPs, and the other students will think they got good grades(?), and the chairman and I will have secured a considerable budget.

It’s truly a happy ending for everyone.

“Oh, I think that student is about to come out.”

“… … Didn’t you decide to limit the power?”

“That’s right. I decided not to use the sword either… … … Huh?”

The light is twinkling.

Behind the bustling crowd of students below, a glowing student slowly walked towards the manticore.

The students who had been rushing at the manticore as if they were trying to block the student’s path slowly stepped aside.

Even though the opponent was an illusion and they were under absolute protection, the battle made the students’ blood boil. Even the excited students quietly or noisily retreated in front of the light.

Finally, like the miracle of Moses, a straight path is created that reaches the manticore.

Student Ruth Spero swung a sword that radiated light.

A symbol of the 6th grade.

It was an obvious blackmail.

Kwaaang!!!

With a loud noise, the manticore that had been nothing more than an illusion was cut in half and disappeared.

Ruth, who had blown away another wall that was still intact, put her sword away.

“… … … … … .”

“… … … … .”

No, fuck, protagonist.

You promised to limit your power. You promised not to use your sword.

Even if I make a hundred concessions and say that the power is limited,

‘Why do I break a wall every time I draw my sword?’

What wall are you against?

Ask me for the repair cost, you punk… …