CH 145

“Now, we’ll present from the first years. Basleigh-sensei, please take that.”

“Ha! With pleasure!”

Basleigh-sensei saluted the headmaster, and then she and Tigre-sensei brought out a large piece of paper. They spread it out from the top of the tree so that everyone could see it.

“A-Class, 66 points. Congratulations, you’re in the first place.”

The headmaster looks at us with a smile, and Ryuuze clenches his fists and shouts. The boys, who are Jack, Yogus, and Urka’s raised their hands in joy.

“Yossha! It still makes me happy even though I know it.”

“This is all thanks to the combined efforts of everyone!”

“Yeah, I’m glad I could be of some help even with my poor ability.”

“What are you talking about? Yogus worked hard too!”

“The boys are so energetic, don’t they.”

“They look happy!!”

When it comes to games, boys are always more happy and sad. Makina laughed in exasperation, and Nora didn’t seem to be that attached to the outcome. She’s the type of person who finds it fun to compete.

By the way, I also raised my arms in joy when I heard that we had won first place. In my previous life, I’ve never been praised for taking first place in something like this, so I was especially happy.

First of all, our unassailable results came out. Then, the rest of the class started to become noisy.

“B-Class, second place with 57 points!”

“Well, we lost this year, but maybe next year.”

“Hmm? No, wait a minute, aren’t you getting fewer points?”

“Er …… It’s supposed to be 62 points, isn’t it?”

B-Class was confused.

It’s no wonder. The points are indeed decreasing. The headmaster continued to announce.

“The third place goes to E-Class, with 48 points.”

“What!? T-That’s strange! We’re supposed to be the last place …….”

“Yeah …… we were supposed to have 53 points …… what’s going on ……?”

It goes on.

“With 44 points, fourth place is D-Class.”

“Oh …….”

“Reiss-chan, that smile is probably a bluff, right? I mean, we’re still in fourth place, right?”

Yes, there was no change here, even if the points were reduced. So, the last place was inevitable–

“Why is that!? I can’t believe we, C-Class, are in last place! Didn’t we lose a lot of points!”

“There’s no way …… they miscalculated, is there?”

Lux turns pale and lets out a scream, and Hope breaks out in a cold sweat and mutters something to himself, but the headmaster replies calmly 

“I’m not mistaken, C-Class  is in fifth place.”

“W-Why ……!”

When Lux persists, the headmaster looks at Lux, relaxes his mouth, and opens his mouth with an annoyed expression. 

“Mhm, why, you ask. Of course, this is the result of your scheming as a C-Class student, isn’t it? “

“……!?”

Lux’s eyes widened in astonishment, and he asked the headmaster trembling.

“You can’t be serious …… The rules don’t prohibit interfering, and if we did, we wouldn’t be blamed ……!”

“That’s right, there’s no rule against it. The fact that we don’t blame you for what you did is exactly why we don’t prohibit you guys from doing it.”

“Then, there should be no problem–“

When Lux started to say something, the headmaster gently stopped him and started to tell him a trick. It’s the first time for us first year to hear about it, the talk of a cunning adult.

“There is a problem. No matter how much you want to win, you can’t entrap people or bring in dangerous things. Of course, I didn’t include it as a rule and me not blaming you is my discretion. You might want to tell me that If I had told you, you wouldn’t have done it, but–“

From that point on, the headmaster went into an angry sermon, the senior students laughed bitterly, and Lux listened to it with black and white eyes.

This “you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t violate the rules” is a trap set by the headmaster, and the penalty is very severe.

“There are certain things that you can and cannot do, especially after you graduate from the academy. For example, Lux-kun, if you were in need of money, and you thought of a way to earn it, what would you do?”

“…… Ah, by working, or buying and selling ……?”

When he muttered with no confidence, the headmaster smiled with satisfaction at Lux’s answer.

“That’s right, I think you should be able to make a decent living that way. However, there are many people in the world who kill and rob people. That’s why I want you to think that using any means is really a last resort. There are people who do bad things and get away with it. But I think it’s hard to live the rest of your life with the sting of having done something wrong.”

“……”

“I don’t dare forbid you to do anything during the competition. However, I want you to know that if you do anything wrong, it will come back to you in one way or another. Just the fact that the point is lost at the end is shocking, isn’t it? When you go out into the world, they are not going to be as kind to you. That’s why you have to think about it.”

The last words were not directed at Lux, but at all of us. Of course, what the headmaster said sounded like a beautiful thing. That’s why he always finishes by saying that.

“There might be bad people out there who might try to drag you in. You may be in danger of death. So I want you to train your mind and body to resist such people, to resist temptation. I believe that wanting to be like that will give you the power to protect yourself and the people you love.”

There was a round of applause from the upperclassmen, which was followed by another round from the audience. The headmaster raised his hand to stop the applause, then turned to Lux once more and began to speak.

“I’m sure C-Class had the option of having one of their classmates stop Lux, so we’re all on the same page. However, the idea of fighting together with other classes is not a bad one. For example, it is better to fight together against a powerful monster than to plot against others in order to take all the credit. I’m sure that with a change in approach and mindset, Lux-kun’s brain will be able to bring out the best in his classmates. I’ll be looking forward to next year, okay?”

“……! Ah, yes ……!”

When Lux replied firmly with moist eyes and a red face, the headmaster nodded slowly and moved on to announce the results of the other grades.

Incidentally, the 15 points deducted from C-Class was due to the fact that it was a conspiracy, not a fight, and also because of the conspicuous misdeeds, such as the use of sleeping powder. D-Class also lost 10 points because Reiss made sleeping powder and gave it to Lux, and the dark stinkbug’s bodily fluids were also thought to be bad. The rest of the class ended up losing points for direct interference, such as the princess carrying competition.

To be honest, I think I can win if I gain points and interfere since the points are not deducted much. However, if you’re leading in points, there’s no need to interfere with the game to reduce it in the end, so this is a good psychological strategy.

So, we …… Rather than that, I had told everyone that interfering is not allowed because I had heard about this when I cheered on my brother, so we played fair and square until the end. I think we could have fought back a little more, though.

After all the results were in, my brother’s class took first place in the third year, a great achievement for both brothers.

“Oh, right, aren’t they going to give us something?”

“Yes. Just in case, it’s been decided, but do they have something I want it?”

After Ryuuze asked me, we, the A-Class, were called to the front. basleigh-sensei, Verna-sensei and Tigre-sensei brought in the prizes and handed them to us.

“Well done!”

“Hey guys, why don’t you try that on?”

“Kuh- …… I wanted E-Class to go up ……”

After Ryuuze and Jack looked at each other, we put on the robe-like jackets in our hands. A pure white cloth, gold embroidery. And on the right shoulder was sewn an academy emblem with a pen and sword crossed over it.

“Wow! It’s so cool!”

“This is so beautiful!”

“It’s tightening up ……”

“It’s a jacket that signifies first place. It’s white, but it won’t get dirty because it’s been treated with the life magic – purifier. I’m sure it’ll be a memento of your class working together to get it.”

” ” “Thank you very much!” ” “

We laughed and bowed, and everyone applauded in unison. It was a busy time, with Ryuuze and I clapping each other on the shoulder in embarrassment, Makina crying with emotion, and Luciel, Kudelica, and Nora jumping up and down.

The tournament ended with an overwhelming victory for A-Class, and we could all go home with a big smile on our faces. That is what I thought, but the festival wasn’t over yet.

So, then afterward……?

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“Phew, It was long, but it’s finally over!”

Now it’s just a matter of post-processing later, I guess?