Chapter 6. h.e.l.l does not end.
“Finally, the festival has come.”
In Yugrasia’s main auditorium, the students of the school were looking at Nerkia with predatory eyes.
“All the professors of the school agreed not to make any boring speeches. The reason? It’s simple. We believe that you will win. They are all preparing to make celebratory speeches right now. I am the same. There is nothing else to say other than this. We are strong. This is obvious. But even so, I ask you this. Does anyone wish to say something before we leave?”
-……
“Good. Let us leave.”
Yugrasia moved quietly as one, just like a single organism. There was no need to stir them up with speeches like other schools did.
“…Amazing.”
Duke Zeaire, the overseer of the entire event, managed to see this scene before anyone else. He trembled in shock when he saw this scene.
“So this is… Yugrasia. Aren’t they like that because they lost all hope?”
One of Zeaire’s subordinates asked this.
Many people remembered winners. Yugrasia, who always took last place, did not exist in anyone’s memory. Because of this, not many had hopes for this school.
“Can’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“Ehei… I have told you this so much, too… You’ve heard of the idiom wujibifan (物極必反), yes?”
“Doesn’t it mean that when things reach their extremes, they begin moving backwards?”
“Correct. They also say this: beware the silence. The more silent something is, the bigger the event is going to be. The reason why the enemy isn’t moving is because they are organizing themselves. By moving only a single step, they are able to take ten steps forward.”
“…So that means…”
“Right. It’s hard to pull back a taut bowstring, but once you manage to pull it back, you can get the arrow to travel extremely far. These fellows always took third place. You said that they cannot be remembered by others? That makes it so that they have nothing to lose.”
“So you believe that they’d be the ones to lead this event?”
Zeaire didn’t respond to his subordinate’s question, and instead looked over the students take their place in the main hall. As he did this, his eyes met with that of a student’s.
In an instant, the duke was overtaken with a feeling of despair.
‘I.. I’m getting a feeling like this from a mere student?!’
To think a student would be able to instill a feeling like this to one of the two columns of the empire!
“…It might be possible.”
The heart of duke Zeaire’s began to beat intensely.
“…Who’s that?”
Nerkia saw a middle-aged man look at him above, and glared in response.
‘Probably some high-ranking official.’
In other words, an enemy. One of the reasons why Yugrasia always lost was because not many of the government officials that directed the event weren’t from their school! Because of this, Yugrasia always had a bad start in their compet.i.tions.
But there was something Nerkia did not know, and that was the fact that the duke got involved to ensure fairness in the compet.i.tion! Not even the n.o.bles or the
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emperor himself could change the tides of the compet.i.tion in front of the duke.
Nerkia, without knowing this, glared at the duke with extreme hatred. As he did so, one of the students spoke to him.
“Pres, it’s Marcis.”
“…They’re here!”
Marcis, among the three other schools, was the greatest enemy of Yugrasia. As summoning magic was very similar to normal magic, the two schools could have become the greatest of friends if they were given the chance. But the situation right now turned them into the worst rivals. Of course, Marcis was always better than them in every regard.
“Hmph.”
“Annoying b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…”
Nerkia ground his teeth as he saw Martan pa.s.s by with a smirk. He had managed to see the previous year’s council lose brutally in the war between Marcis and Yugrasia. He even managed to take part in the battle just a little bit!
But! But!
‘This time, things had changed!’
Times had changed. This time, the students put down everything they had on the line. These students were no longer powered by the motivation to get rid of the after school study time, but by the desire for victory alone.
“Now, we shall begin the empire’s festival, along with the cultural and sports compet.i.tions. As an opening speech…”
Nerkia could no longer hear the speaker’s voice. He was reviewing the strategies they were to execute in their battles.
‘We will… not lose!’
Nerkia quietly lit a fire in his heart.
6.25 Their Story.
[3] The darkness of the empire
The empire was something whose size could not be found anywhere else in history.
No empire in the past was this powerful as the one that existed now.
But once one takes a look into this empire’s past, a history of blood unfolds. One would realize that the empire that existed now could only exist under the sacrifice of countless heroes in battle.
Due to this, there were still many people in the empire who wished to rebel, and because of this, the festival became something that these people had to destroy.
“The festival this time is the largest one they ever had in history. This is because they’re working in collaboration with the four schools this time.”
“Because of this, we believe that it is time for us to go all out as well.”
The men in black in the dark meeting room opened their mouths.
“Plus, the festival this time is administrated by that d.a.m.ned duke.”
“It would be good to kill him, and mess up the festival at the same time.”
“But duke Zeaire will be a hard target to kill.”
The duke’s family had a lineage of war heroes. They were the ones who managed to take over land the size of two small nations! In other words, they were a target harder to take down than the emperor himself.
“Let’s work with the students first.”
These people worked in the shadows of the empire. They fought the empire constantly. But the thing is.
“This time, we will finally attain our first victory!”
They never did anything correctly!
“Several agents from the empire began to move into other nations. And, one of our greatest enemies was taken down as well! Adding to that, a chance like this comes! We can’t let this fail!”
“But this might actually be a trap?”
“The emperor surely isn’t this dumb.”
“He is the one who took out more evil organizations than anyone else in history, after all.”
The group was split in two, and began to discuss the situation pa.s.sionately.
“Silence.”
After a moment of arguing and insulting, a man who was sitting at the middle of all this opened his mouth. Once he did so, everyone turned to look at him.
“It is fine if it is a trap. A chance like this won’t appear again.”
Everyone heard his words. And no one opposed it.