CH 170

The principal's speech

Translated by NotBlueYet

Edited by Kingavent

A few months pass, and it’s graduation day at Sanzar Academy.

I’m at a graduation ceremony right now.

The hall where the graduation ceremony was supposed to be held is undergoing restoration, so the ceremony is being held in a slightly smaller hall.

Today is the end of my short but long school life.

When I think about it, I get lonely.

The last year in particular was a slap in the face.

It’s been a messed up year with the loss of many events due to the regression group attacks.

Some graduates were not able to attend this graduation ceremony.

These are the people who died or were seriously injured in the recent incident.

As a result, the graduation ceremony proceeded with a gloomy atmosphere.

Everyone who speaks at the podium, including Natalie, the student body president, talks about the tragic incident.

The faces of the students naturally darken.

And then.

A figure with a killer shiny head took the stage.

The Dean.

The Dean looks around at the faces of the graduates.

It was like he had eyes on me for a second.

As much as it seemed so, the headmaster was paying attention to each student.

Then he raised his voice to blow away the gloom.

“Congratulations on your graduation! You are now graduates of Sanzar Academy, but this is not the end, this is the beginning. The tragedies that occurred at the school this year will remain vivid in your memories, and they will be indelibly etched in your minds.”

I glance around.

There was a girl next to me whose eyes were bright red.

I’m sure someone close to her has had a misfortune.

“But, but!”

The headmaster continued in a voice that could be taken as a shout.

“Never forget the tragedy, never forget the pain, never forget the sacrifice of your lives, but do not dwell on the past, for you are living in the present moment. I have seen many wizards, I have been close to death in my profession, I have seen many people die, especially young people with futures, and I have seen many trapped in the past, mourning and renouncing life.”

The words of the headmaster, spoken from experience, weigh heavily on us.

It’s unbearable to see someone close to you die.

Faces of Natalie, Emilia, Katherina-sensei, and many others flashed through my brain.

Just the thought of their deaths made my body shiver.

It’s like a cold feeling deep inside.

Bereavement of someone close to me is a future that could happen to me.

As if to light a fire in my cold heart, the headmaster raised an angry voice.

“Today is not the end, it is the beginning. When you go out into the world, more hardships will be waiting for you. There will be hard, sad and helpless times. If those times do not come, you will be lucky. But perhaps …… or perhaps not, there will be a wall of great hardship in front of you.”

The Dean stops speaking once.

Then there was silence in the hall.

What would I do?

Will I live up to my flying name and jump over the wall?

Or do I turn back the way I came?

I won’t know until the time comes.

But if I could, I’d be a man who could overcome the wall.

I hold a strong determination in my heart and listen to the headmaster.

“Some of you will turn, some of you will tear down the wall, some of you will climb over it, some of you will look for a different way, and some of you will stand dumbfounded in front of it. You are free to choose what you do, but you are now adults, which means you will have to take responsibility for your choices and actions.”

The headmaster took a deep breath as he paused for a beat.

“You’re gonna get yourself into a lot of trouble!”

That sounds like a thrusting word.

But I felt a strong message from the headmaster.

“Magic is a wonderful power that can turn imagination into reality, but you already know that it takes hard training to master it. Magic is not a miraculous power; after much thought and worry and scratching, it will finally come to the wizard’s aid.”

I nodded at the headmaster’s words.

It’s not a universal power, which is why magic is so frustrating.

However, I still believe that magic has infinite possibilities.

“It is the magic you have learned and will learn that will turn your ideals into reality, and I sincerely hope that all the graduates here will become great wizards.”

The Dean concluded by saying.

Shortly thereafter.

A thunderous applause accompanied the excitement as if it were a scream.

The Dean’s words seem to have reached the students.

From this point on, I’ll be involved in society as a wizard.

I will find myself in a more challenging environment than I have ever been in as a student.

I was able to renew my resolve thanks to the headmaster’s speech.

And so the graduation ceremony ended, and I graduated from Sanzar Academy.