Vol. 1 - Ch. 320 - School Festival (2)

"Yo, Kate. You get quite a crowd for yourself, eh? Has anyone cleared it?"

I was on the inspection round as the Committee President of the School Festival. The long queue outside the Hill Road Club's Haunted House had me reminiscing about my previous life as I approached Kate. The latter shrugged.

"Not a single soul reached it, yet...... It's what I expected since we made it challenging after you said 'It should be engaging even for Royal Academy's students' after all. ...Maybe I should lower the difficulty?"

The Haunted House was taking place at the No.7 training ground of the academy. 

The said training ground was an indoor facility, specifically used to train in covert or surprise tactics. As if you're infiltrating a secret base, the door or walls could be manipulated at wills. There were secret passages, and even had countless traps installed. There was also a mechanism to imitate night ambience at will. 

The Haunted House was set up to use every single of the mechanisms under the direction of its producer, and the Chief Manager of Hill Road Club, Kate Salkanp. 

Well, of course, the wisdom for this japanese-esque festival event came from me. 

The rule was simple—the participants must chart through the training ground, adopted into the image of an abandoned hospital, in a one-way route without letting out as much as a single squeak. At the successful completion, they would win the Health Meter created by Hill Road Club.

Albeit—

"Gyaaaaa!"

"Eeeek!"

The screams incessantly poured out of the Haunted House with no pause. 

Well, it was no surprise a stage made with the standard of Royal Academy's students in mind, while also using the academy's equipment, was beyond any ordinary person. 

And if that wasn't tough, our dear producer was a thorough lover of anything horror. She gave the stage a touch of reality, making the props appear far more terrifying than I had ever seen in such events. 

The inside was like stepping into pandemonium. 

Apparently, while there were some monsters that were like undeads, there was nothing like ghosts. 

It had been two hours since the beginning of the festival, and so far no one had come closer to clear it. 

As a fact, even among the Royal Academy's students, the clearance ratio was 50:50. Since the school festival was to be coordinated by students themselves, which meant they would be unable to participate during the timing, we held our own pre-school festival session the other day. It was also dubbed as a technical test for any malfunction.

I cleared it normally, but other people like Stella, the staunch hater of anything horror, appeared out of the exit with their faces stained with tears, snots, and splash of blood. 

It appeared she'd battered Bru-kun from Class 2-D—he was acting as the ghost of assassin—till he was unconscious and tore her way through from another direction.

"Heh, it's just what I thought. And you're right, it would've been fine to keep the standard for easier challenges. But, this isn't a forced event, and the entire purpose of the School Festival is to showcase life inside the Royal Academy. That would defeat the purpose. I dare say people  prefer to feel our standard, so by sticking to it, we're telling them we're also serious."

When I expressed my reasoning again, Kate shook her head again and inquired about other clubs.

"Fine... So, how is it going for others?"

"It's the same story everywhere. There are words of people getting injured in Sail Club's «Sport Event», just as we'd thought. We'd already prepared salves in great quantity, so it should be fine, but there just seems to be too many idiots trying to force themselves. They did run out of bandages though, and Mujikka-sensei had to order them urgently from some facility 2KM away."

Even the Haunted House had been using poisonous gas to some degree, but the student playing as a ghost must have been controlling the amount depending on the strength of the participant. So, they've still yet to see any such cases. 

The Sports Event—conceptualised by Dan and other members of Sail Club—was categorised into Easy, Medium, and Hard. 

There were quite a few who succeeded in clearing the Easy difficulty, however the Medium difficulty only saw two winners when I inquired earlier. And much to no one's surprise, no one even came close to clearing Hard difficulty.

Dan did add the recommended level of mana for each difficulty so that candidates’s mana guard would provide them adequate defense, and it helped prevent quite a bit of injuries. However, there were still some cases like falling down, smashing into Mast's pole, or even thrown away that posed much danger.

The last time I saw them in my inspection routine, they're being challenged by a group of three idiots. It appears they're students of Minami Nautical Institute, famed for their skills and endurance. 

One of them was called Ridol-kun—somehow, I had this feeling when I saw him before. But anyway, they ignored the recommendation and challenged the Hard difficulty straight ahead, and ended up with some serious injuries. In their case, it was coming their way for ignoring the warnings. 

Since salve was ineffective against fractures, and we couldn’t just have Jeu stay there as a healer, the treatment camp was now a mummies' land

"What about the Escape Game—... ah, the obvious huh."

I shook my head before she could've completed her question, eliciting a chuckle from her. 

The Mana Tool Research Club's Escape Game. Now, that was one event that gave everyone of us a challenge, saving only a few people. Then again, it was expected since we're more of bruteforce type.

The challenge in the Escape Game was to activate the seven types of mana tools in order within five minutes and make an escape. A lot of us couldn't even manage to unlock the first box—we must unlock the box within tens of seconds of entry—and got caught in the explosion.

In our Class 2-A, Coco was the sole participant to clear it in one attempt with no help. Including retry, but no hint, Bester also cleared it. 

"The key is to notice the common filter of 4th item is undone and that you're already trapped in a 'situation.'" Fey had explained it so, but as if we could have noticed it right away.

Any complaint remained inside me since she said it was all about having 'knack' for it, and I couldn't refute that. 

Meanwhile, Leo had opened the door without the key, so he was immediately banned from participating again.

"Hmm... where should I go next. Coco's Stamp Rally will continue till evening so they aren’t at their club. And it's approaching lunch time... Alright, I am going to check out the Cafe! See you later, Manager! Hope you have a blast!"

I flashed a thumbs up with a refreshing smile and turned on the engine of my bike. 

◆◆◆

"Ah, he left... Kate, we just have two winners. Well, they're 3rd year students from Fatora Kingdom, so it isn't surprising. They had their entry from invitation-based."

Stella reported the situation over Haunted House and showed Kate the information collected by the health meter. 

The Health Meter was given to every candidates at their entry to confirm the authenticity of the winner. The device was able to monitor and record user’s basic information like their mana capacity, how much mana they’d left, or pulse rate among other functions in detail. 

When they made it to exit, if they failed to clear it, the equipment would be then taken back. But if they cleared it, the candidate could have that Health Meter... Though before leaving, the Health Meter is asked back once to extract the data.

This particular data extraction technique was an ancient technology the world was still oblivious to at large, replicated by Fey. She'd managed to grasp it from the warehouse door located near the back entrance of ancient ruins found in Dragoon. 

At the same time, the data couldn’t be extracted unless others had that specific device.

"......If I am not wrong, every invitation based foreign entry has been granted a special pass, right?  As long as they have it, they can freely visit any of the events, which Allen indirectly suggested."

Much like Stella, Kate wore a mixed expression.

"Yeah. ...I bet they must be running around to collect as much information about the academy they can. They didn't even realise they're willingly stripping away to hand over their information, even potential that wouldn't have been able to be measured without Health Meter."

"I-it's like... ahem. W-well, we're also giving them our information as souvenirs after all. It's just, we're received more details that they'd have wanted to conceal at all cost, and it also helps us notice the uncovered talents within Yuglia."

Kate nodded at Stella's guess.

"I see... Allen often repeats 'the students of Royal Academy have too many privileges, but I bet the other schools should've plenty of talents too!', so was this also a calculated move I wonder?"

Recalling back the smug smile on Allen's face when he gave a thumbs up, Kate couldn't help but have a scrunched expression.

"......See you later, Manager! Hope you have a blast!, he said. Tch, he's truly a black-bellied beast."

◆◆◆

The General Dormitory.

Much like everywhere else, this location was just as brimming with a huge crowd, keeping the entire staff constantly on their feet. And the cause was... certain mad scientist's flyers that read—

«Have you ever wondered what's the truth behind the general dormitory's Special Morning?! Behold, the curtains are about to be lifted from the secret! Try out the special menu of the dormitory's caretaker, which has moved even the students of Royal Academy, even Allen Rovenne, to tears right now!! —The Maid (Butler) Tea House.»

"Just what is that Maid (Butler) Tea House...?"

Jeanna, the student of Royal Capital's prominent Central Academy Institute for Nobles, tilted her head in confusion as she gazed at the flier handed to her.

"...Perhaps, a tea house for the attending servants? Perhaps no... but, if it's indeed for servants, I don't we should visit—"

Ford, Jeanna's childhood friend and a student of Knight Institute, spoke in grimace. However his words were soon cut off by another voice.

"Welcome to our tea house, Dear Master."

It was a girl, dressed in a short skirt with overdone frills. She stepped out of the tea house to invite them in.

"......Master? I think you have mistaken. I have yet to succeed my family—no, never mind that. Aren't you too young to be a maid? Our Edward Family would never employee a serva—"

He must have been genuinely bewildered by the situation. Ford tried to correct the girl's mistake with a troubled yet extremely serious expression. Jeanna interrupted him. 

"W-wait, I apologise if I am wrong, but. Would you perhaps be—"

"Oh dear, it appears Milady is interested in this servant’s name, eh?"

The maid giggled as she pinched the hem of her skirt and slightly lifted them up in courtesy, introducing herself. Her blonde hair, held by the red hairband, rustled faintly. 

"I'm Jeuri Leverance. It's my pleasure that your esteemed self recognizes me, Milady, Young Master."

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