Chapter 1 – The Thunder God Emperor Festival
—Before morning homeroom.
Man, there sure are some strange kids out there…
As I sat at my desk thinking about Sheryl, Maria whipped around and jabbed her right index finger straight at me.
“Hey, you! This is a major incident!”
“Oh, speak of the devil. Here’s another strange kid right here.”
“What do you mean, ‘strange kid’!?”
She’s already got a vein popping on her temple. Is she a short-fused kettle, or what? On a side note, I’ve always thought this, but it’s really not good to point at people. It’s a bad habit of Maria’s.
Anyway, her face was bright red and she looked like she was about to explode with anger, so I quickly cut in.
“So, what’s this ‘major incident’ all about?”
Maria launched into her explanation. “Well, you see…”
As it turns out, we’re set to participate in the Thunder God Emperor Ephthal Festival, which is just one week away.
Oh, the festival is basically a mock-battle tournament between the class representatives from every grade level.
Now, as for why I’m participating in a student-level tournament… I have my reasons, of course.
I’ve made it my goal in this lifetime to reach the pinnacle of all martial arts, magic included.
My objective for this festival is simple: to win, and earn a spot in the inter-academy tournament that follows.
I discussed this with Merlin before, but the awards ceremony for the inter-academy tournament is apparently a gathering place for major figures from all over the world.
Therefore… my immediate objective is to make contact with the ‘Sword God Emperor’—someone from a different discipline than magic—and ask to become his disciple.
It’s all part of my plan to improve the swordsmanship skills I’ve gained in this life and become a fully-realized magic swordsman. As for the other members’ goals, Maria wants to prove herself to her elven village. To do that, she needs to earn the ‘Jade Grand Cordon,’ the proof of the academy’s top student. So, winning this festival is a necessary first step for her. Anastasia, on the other hand, is just her usual carefree self: “As long as I’m with you, Master, I’m happy to do anything~♪”
But anyway, the tournament is a five-on-five team competition. And according to Maria, everyone in our class besides the three of us (myself, her, and Anastasia) is ‘completely useless.’ We had originally planned to just enter the tournament with only the three of us, but—
“It turns out they won’t let us participate unless we have a full team of five!”
“What? That’s not good. We only have three people. What are we going to do, Maria?”
At that, Maria confidently thumped her flat chest as if to say, “Just leave it to me!”
“Basically, we just need some warm bodies to fill the roster.”
“And on that note,” Maria stood up from her seat and marched to the teacher’s podium at the front of the class.
She turned to face us and—SLAM!—slapped her right palm against the blackboard.
“Attention, everyone!”
What’s going on? Inevitably, all eyes in the room turned to Maria.
She took a deep breath and announced:
“Alright, I’m now recruiting our class representatives! We have two open spots for the honorable position of… well, class representative! And right now, you can claim one just by raising your hand! Now, be grateful for this stroke of luck!”
She puffed out her flat chest and, once again, jabbed that right index finger straight forward.
It’s her signature pose, I guess, but it’s still rude to point.
And the reaction from the rest of the class?
“…Yeah, no. Isn’t the Thunder God Emperor Festival crazy dangerous?”
“That’s just Maria getting all worked up by herself. It looks like Ephthal and Anastasia just got dragged into it.”
“And why are you, a transfer student, trying to run things in this class anyway?”
Yep. Everyone was staring at Maria with a cold, deadpan look. Er… Talk about a hostile audience.
“Hey, all of you! This is a golden opportunity! If you get good results at the Thunder God Emperor Festival, you’ll obviously get noticed… It’s the first step on the fast track to the super-elite!”
And the class’s reaction to Maria’s words—
“Uh, this is already an elite school, though.”
“Becoming more elite just sounds like a good way to attract trouble…”
“The nail that sticks out gets hammered down, you know.”
“As long as I have a decent amount of prestige as a mage, I’m set. I’m a noble, after all.”
“Besides, isn’t Maria the only one in this class who’s actually ‘hungry’ for it?”
Oof… The difference in enthusiasm between Maria and everyone else is just… staggering. I mean, I’d heard this school has a lot of kids from noble or wealthy merchant families, so it makes sense that many students aren’t motivated to climb the ladder. And this class especially is said to be full of them.
For the children of high nobility, for instance, the smart way to live is to just stay on the tracks laid out for you and not make waves.
I’ve heard that other classes have scholarship students who have to get good grades to get tuition exemptions, but this class… it’s just full of pampered, laid-back rich kids.
“Are you people serious!? Don’t any of you have a single shred of ambition!?”
“Uh, I’m just planning to use my family’s connections to live a quiet life as a court mage until I inherit my father’s Viscount title.”
“…I’m just going to inherit my family’s chain of alchemy shops.”
“My family isn’t rich, but I’m fine with a decent, average life. I’m planning to be a private tutor for some high noble’s kid. It’s supposed to be easy work for good pay.”
Needless to say, not a single person was on Maria’s side. But this is… awful. I mean, they have zero ambition. Personally, I have some strong feelings about this. As someone who dedicated their entire previous life to the pursuit of magic, I can’t help but feel like they’re mocking me.
This is a magic academy with incredible facilities. If they don’t have the drive… they should give up their seats to the motivated, hardworking students who do. If all they want is a ‘decent’ education, they can get that at any other school…
It seemed Maria felt the same way I did. Her face was bright red with rage, and she’d been staring at the floor for a moment, just growling, “Mmmph…” It looked like she was trying her best to suppress her anger.
Then, after a deep breath, Maria forced herself to sound calm and said,
“Fine, I get it. In that case, you don’t even have to be useful. Just lend us your names. All you have to do is be on the entry form… We’re doing this for the honor of the class, so the least you could do is go along with it!”
“…Yeah, but what if we have to fight the student council? Those guys are all hardcore. I saw last year’s tournament… they don’t hold back. It’s genuinely dangerous.”
“Why should we have to do that…?”
“We’re not getting involved in this. Winning is impossible anyway. We’ll just embarrass ourselves. We’re first-years; the skill gap with the upperclassmen is too huge. That’s why first-years were banned from participating until now, right? I heard Maria strong-armed them into allowing it this year, but still…”
At that, Maria slapped the blackboard with her palm again. BAM!
“The three of us properly passed the training camp’s final exam! We do have real skill!”
And, as expected, everyone just gave Maria a cold look and shrugged, as if to say, “Give me a break.”
“Sure, Maria is brilliant, and Anastasia and Ephthal have amazing scores on paper, but…”
“Besides, Ephthal is just a magic-theory and swordsmanship nerd, right? No offense, but there’s a real difference in practical magic skills between humans and demons.”
“Ephthal’s swordsmanship is amazing, sure, but that’s with a live blade. This is a mock battle…”
“And even Maria and Anastasia are just ‘top of the first-years.’ I can’t see them beating the upperclassman reps.”
“Look, if it was a guaranteed win with zero risk, I’d join for the prestige. But it’s impossible, and it’s dangerous.”
“Yeah, exactly. Sometimes it’s not just a ‘light injury.’ I’ve heard stories about people getting seriously hurt in the past and ending up with permanent disabilities.”
“Logically thinking, we’ll just get beaten to a pulp in public and be humiliated.”
And then, a guy in the very back row of the class said with a smirk,
“Well, whether you forfeit from a lack of members or just lose outright, please enjoy fighting your losing battle, Maria-kun. The class consensus is that we’re not dealing with this.”
At that, another vein popped on Maria’s temple. It looked like she had no intention of holding back this time.
Well, I’m with Maria on this. No matter how you slice it, this group’s attitude is just pathetic.
“You people—how cowardly can you be!? Fine! I’m done expecting anything from you! But the three of us will find other members, and we will win! And when we do, don’t you dare regret not jumping on the bandwagon!”
And with that, Maria stomped back to her seat, huffing in rage.
Still… what’s Maria going to do? The entire class just flat-out refused to join.
“It can’t be helped. I really didn’t want to play this card…”
“What are you planning to do?”
“Let’s just say… I have a secret plan.”
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