episode_0037

As we stepped out of the student council building, the blue sky welcomed us.

Suddenly, Irene asked me,

“Violet, what do you think of this school?”

I didn’t even need to think.

“It’s trash that can barely be called a school! Waste! A lump of filth!”

“Hmm… yes, you’re right. It’s trash.”

Irene’s expression became a little complicated after hearing my answer. Had I spoken too harshly?

As we walked through the school grounds, she stopped for a moment.

“Could you wait a moment?”

On one side of the path in the school grounds stood a large statue covered in vines. It seemed to depict a person, but it was in a messy state due to neglect.

“I didn’t check on it for a few days because I was busy, and I didn’t realize the vines would grow this much already.”

Irene began to pull off the vines covering the statue by hand. A girl of my height roughly pulled them off with quick motions, and the tangled vines attached to the statue quickly came loose.

“I’ll help too!”

I didn’t know what it was, but I also pulled off vines and threw them nearby. When she pulled, they came off easily, but when I pulled, they didn’t. What was the difference?

Once most of it was cleared, Irene even brushed off the small fallen leaves and dust clinging to the statue.

Only then did I realize it was a statue depicting two young men and women. They looked majestic.

The faces of the man and woman in the statue somewhat resembled the girl next to me. When I looked at the front of the stone statue, I understood why.

[In commemoration of Orion Solstice and Zora Anise, great heroes from Polaris. F.E 17.]

“Aha! These are Irene’s parents!”

“Yes, that’s right. They’re my parents.”

The statue depicted Irene’s parents.

They were more famous in the world by their aliases, the ‘Spear Fighter’ and the ‘Witch of Dawn’. Heroes who single-handedly defeated numerous top-tier magical beasts and successively eliminated vile Awakened villains. Leaders of the Helios Clan.

Of course, both were dead by the time of the main story. I didn’t know if that was still the case now.

She spoke calmly while gazing at the statue.

“Since childhood, I’ve dreamed of coming to this school. My parents also came from here, and I heard it was an excellent, prestigious school. They said its rules were strict, but it had wonderful traditions and a long history.”

She turned her head towards me. Her expression was a mix of disappointment, emptiness, and bitterness.

“But I never imagined it would be like this. Actually, before enrollment, there were some concerns circulating, but I thought they were exaggerated. I didn’t know that was the reality.”

Irene muttered with a serious expression.

“And, above all, the entrance ceremony…”

“The entrance ceremony?”

“Violet, you know about the incident where the magical beast appeared during the entrance ceremony, right?”

“Of course!”

Not just *knowing* about it, but I actually died and was resurrected because of that monster.

“In a normal school, it’s almost impossible for a gate to open inside and for a magical beast to appear. Awakened academies are built on stable ground. Besides, the incident itself was buried. A simple accident? Does that even make sense?”

“Now that you mention it, it is strange.”

“But it was just buried as if nothing happened. Even though there were casualties! The student council’s and the board of directors’ responses and attitudes are also suspicious. Yet… there was nothing I could do.”

As expected, her thoughts were similar to mine. That incident seemed too suspicious to me as well.

I saw Irene’s shoulders droop as she earnestly explained to me. It was regrettable to see the cute girl looking so down. It wouldn’t hurt me, so I decided to help her a little.

I led her to a nearby bench.

“Irene, do you know why this school changed so much?”

For now, I started with a light question to get the conversation going.

“Well, I haven’t had time to look into the school’s past because I’ve been busy helping other students.”

I explained the school’s actions over the past few years, how it had suddenly absorbed and merged with nearby schools. I wondered if Irene might know a bit about the internal workings of the clans.

“No way, thank you for telling me. Now that I hear it, it is strange.”

“Do you happen to know anything about the Polaris Academy’s board of directors?”

I received an answer immediately.

“The Polaris Academy’s board of directors is one of several companies and foundations operated by the Magnabyss Clan. You know what kind of clan Magnabyss is, right?”

Of course, I knew it well. It was the clan responsible for the western region among the four giant clans that managed the Rustroom.

“The student council president is one thing, but the board of directors is also suspicious! How can they block all reports about the incident?”

“You’re right. We need to look into it. I’ll also ask clan officials to investigate as long as it doesn’t cross any lines. But…”

Irene, who had been continuing the conversation, cut herself off and stared at me with a strange look.

“How much of that conversation did you hear?”

Oh no, I let it slip that I heard it.

“Actually, I heard it from the beginning.”

Startled, she quickly glanced around.

“Never, ever tell anyone else. You didn’t hear that conversation. Got it?”

At her serious warning, I quickly nodded. I quickly changed the subject of our conversation.

“By the way, a dueling arena? Do hunters outside also resolve issues with duels?”

“It’s not rare. No, actually, it happens frequently. But this is a school. We’re still students. It’s absurd to solve such injustices, which aren’t just simple personal disputes, with individual fights.”

Irene’s voice rose slightly, perhaps mixed with a bit of anger, but she quickly calmed down and continued.

“Still, for now, we have to do what we can.”

“If there’s anything we can do…”

“First, I plan to steel my resolve and train. First, the freshman management committee, then the student council, and finally…”

I knew what the omitted word at the end was. Student council president.

It seemed to be her own way of uncovering the school’s irregularities and the tragedy of the entrance ceremony.

But I think it might be too much for now. That guy looks incredibly strong at a glance.

It doesn’t seem like Irene, who has less experience and strength than before the main story, and no dedicated weapon, could win.

“Anyway, thank you for offering to help. I have more things to investigate on my own, so let me know if you find anything new. And don’t overdo it!”

“Understood.”

I went back and immediately began searching for information.

***

That evening, the third Violet emergency meeting was held.

-Central Team, Southwest Team, did you find anything?-

-Hmm, well… nothing’s coming up.-

There were many ways to find information, but in the information age, the number one method was the internet.

The Central Violet Barracks Team grabbed the tattered laptops and smartphones they had each picked up. The Dungeon Team, who had been staying in motels in the Southwest before recently finding a room, also turned on their ownerless tablet PCs.

-It would be really great if we could duplicate electronics.-

-If you duplicate overly complex machines, the performance is a hit or miss. Let’s just buy and use them.-

The School Team was currently rummaging through bookshelves in the library, mainly looking for parts related to the school’s history.

By the way, why were there so few students in the library?

-Did you find any school introduction pamphlets?-

-It’s dusty, so it’s hard to find. There are also tons of books with missing classification numbers.-

Number 8, who was fiddling with a smartphone in the Central region, started explaining first.

-First, I’ll explain the school website’s situation. You know how there’s a school introduction section or a history section? The one that shows where our school started and how it’s changed this much. But here’s the thing.-

Number 8 paused for a moment, then continued.

-It’s gone!-

-Gone?-

-There’s none at all! These guys don’t seem to manage the website. There haven’t been any updates since Federal Year 20. Information like student status or faculty status is also just vaguely listed.-

Number 8 adjusted the data.

-Want to know something even creepier? Watch this. I searched for news articles using ‘Polaris Academy’ as the search term.-

Number 8 shared their view. A laptop screen appeared. When they limited the search period to the current year and typed on the keyboard, there were fewer than a hundred articles written during that time. Most were miscellaneous admission ads, promotional articles, or results from similar linked terms.

Other articles were the same; there were no detailed articles or content about the school itself. Even those were just trivial matters.

-But do you know what happens if we turn back time a few years?-

They set the search period to a few years ago. When they pressed the enter key, a flood of information suddenly poured out. Opinions, all sorts of articles, comments, and critiques about the school overflowed.

-I checked. Starting about 6-7 years ago, content related to Polaris Academy on the internet suddenly began to sharply decrease. News articles? Even more so.-

-What? The amount of data about the school’s past compared to articles about the school now is so different?-

-For now, let’s try to find articles written in the past.-

Looking at the monitor, all sorts of articles poured out.

…

While scrolling down, an interesting title caught my eye. It was an article from a small community site that dealt with issues related to hunters and Awakened.

-Go into that one.-

I saw an article by an older person who had uploaded a photo of their graduation certificate and was recounting their past.

-So, even in the past, a magical beast appearing at the entrance ceremony was an annual event. Though it was fake.-

-Is that person real?-

-Looks real, given the graduation certificate. But their last post was 7 years ago. It says the author has withdrawn.-

We continued to look for school-related materials.

-Is there no alumni association?-

-There is, but it says the number doesn’t exist.-

-They’re unreachable too.-

Strange.

The more we searched, the more we felt an invisible wall. It felt as if someone had deliberately controlled school-related information on the internet starting five years ago.

As the year approached Federal Year 20, articles that specifically described or dealt with issues concerning the school drastically decreased.

However, amidst all that, we found one clue.

Just like when we were looking into the school merger issue last time, there was a name that kept appearing.

-Chairman Valefor?-

-Look him up.-

Surprisingly, typing the chairman’s name quickly revealed who he was.

Because he was an extremely famous person!

On the screen, there was a photo of a young-looking man with a youthful impression, his long grey hair tied back.

-Valefor Notis, former head of the Magnabyss Clan, current Chairman of the Polaris Academy’s Board of Directors, S-rank hunter, high-ranking mage with 5th-grade level combat power… Why are there so many titles after his name?-

-He looks young, but he’s older than you’d think! He seems to have experienced the First Interdimensional Invasion that occurred before the Federal Era.-

He’s a much more formidable person than expected. This level of combat power is equivalent to a decent army.

Another clone rattled off the chairman’s resume.

-Yes, I found him. I’ll read his brief history. He served as the clan’s top leader until Federal Year 15, then stepped down. He served as Vice Chairman of the Polaris Board of Directors from Federal Year 16. And he’s been the Chairman continuously from Federal Year 20 until now!

The school mergers and expansion of its scale began when this person transferred to the board of directors.-

While listening to the explanation, Number 1, who had been diligently searching for books in the library, suddenly gasped in horror.

-Ack! Look at this!-

-What is it?-

Number 1 brought out school introduction pamphlets, sorted by year, and laid them out on the empty library desk.

-Our department name is Dungeon Strategy and Management, right?-

-Right. There was no such department in the in-game academy!-

-Look here. There was no such department here a few years ago either.-

They looked at the dusty 17th-year school introduction pamphlet taken from the library.

-It seems that in the past, they only operated a few departments that comprehensively covered various subjects. But shall we look at the current year’s introduction pamphlet?-

Looking at the opened pamphlet, the four departments had almost doubled each year. They multiplied like rabbits, it’s like a Fibonacci sequence.

-Look at this mess, it’s an outrage on the level of splitting a fine arts department into Primitive Art, Renaissance, Impressionist, and Romanticism departments. This isn’t even graduate research, why are they doing something so inefficient?-

-It only looks like a trick to artificially increase student enrollment. Why don’t they just expand the existing department sizes?-

-There might have been other circumstances. Like, perhaps there was a limit on the number of students allocated per department for each school.-

Number 1, who was waiting in the library, continued examining the book and pointed to a section.

-Look at this, the admission procedures have also kept increasing. In the past, there was only the regular exam, but trivial things like the special admission we used or donation-based admissions keep appearing.-

We all sighed. The more we looked, the more astounding it became.

After the current chairman changed, the school suddenly inflated its size and tried to accept students by any means necessary. We wondered why.

Number 6 proposed a hypothesis.

-Could it be for the purpose of making money? Maybe they’re trying to churn out tuition fees by selling degrees and then run off.-

Number 2 pointed out,

-Chairman Valefor was the head of one of the four great clans. His resume alone makes him a walking war machine. Would such a person come here because he’s short on money?-

-Maybe he’s senile…-

-Stop talking nonsense!-

Something flashed in Number 7’s mind, who had been silent for a moment. An idea, like lightning, swept through the entire Violet network.

-What did the student council president say earlier today? Didn’t he say ‘five years of enrollment’?-

-That’s right, I’ll check the pamphlets we brought.-

A moment later, feelings of awe and excitement were transmitted from the library.

-Found it! It’s here. Huh?-

-What, student council president from first year?-

Under the ‘‘ section, at the very top, was the name and photo of ‘Kroshel Torrens’. It was him.

All of Violet’s minds began to race.

Based on the information obtained so far, they quickly deduced a line of reasoning.

-The chairman merged surrounding schools into Polaris and split departments.-

-In the year that Valefor, or whatever his name is, became chairman, Kroshel became the student council president from his first year.-

-The student council president has direct communication with the board of directors.-

-And the school is now a mess. In just five years since the new chairman took office.-

We asked,

-Is all of this a coincidence?-

It seemed we had found a clue after investigating.

However, the fundamental question remained unanswered. The word ‘Why?’ merely echoed in all our minds.

-We can’t explain why they specifically expanded the school’s size. We’ve only found connections.-

-Nor can we explain why the seniors enforce strict discipline and why the professors are airheads.-

-Why did a magical beast burst into the entrance ceremony?-

We tried our best to come up with reasons.

-If the student council allowed a suddenly enlarged school to go unsupervised, couldn’t an environment of strict discipline have been created? Perhaps the student council president even fostered it.-

-The quality of professors and instructors might have deteriorated due to the sudden expansion of the school… that could be an explanation.-

-The reason for the magical beast’s appearance… I don’t know!-

No, I still don’t know the fundamental answer.

-So, why are they doing all of this?-

-I don’t know, maybe they’re running a pedophile club in the school’s basement?-

We still hadn’t found an answer.

-It’s strange, for now. I should tell Irene. She might be able to find parts we don’t know.-

-We should.-

The meeting concluded with more questions than answers.

-Shall we look inside the school? There are many unused, empty buildings here. Let’s search them while also looking for items.-

-Okay, we’ll search at night… And should we ask the school professors about what the school used to be like?-

-Well, all the professors here are weird, aren’t they? There probably won’t be anyone who can give a proper answer.-

We tilted our heads. We wondered if there was anyone who could truly explain how the school had specifically changed before and after the chairman was replaced.

However, the proverb that says it’s darkest under the lamp wasn’t coined for nothing. [A proverb meaning it’s hard to find something that’s right under your nose.]

Because the very next day, I found someone who could answer my questions very close by.

“Hey, you rude punk! Are you practicing your sword skills properly these days?”

“Yes! I am!”

“Doing what? Look at how you’re swinging that sword. Tsk, tsk… Get down! 50 push-ups!”

“Yelp!”