The Academy is Doomed

Chapter 118

After the day’s work, Amon faced other teachers in the conference room.

They were reviewing the contents of the ‘cultural festival’ that the students wanted.

“Uh, um. Amon.”

“Yes, Senior Marion.”

“I understand most of it, but Rustianel’s gold eating? What’s that?”

Amon slowly closed his eyes.

Having already caught the scent of money, Amon was planning to push forward with Rustianel’s gold eating.

“We should be able to gather spectators for sure.”

“…It would be interesting indeed.”

“People don’t know she’s a dragon, so they might see it as a feat of strength show.”

“…This is completely different from the cultural festival we had in mind.”

Sloth also muttered while scanning the list.

“But it was normal until last year…”

“What did you do last year?”

“Things like plays, swordsmanship, magic demonstrations, and debates?”

Amon clicked his tongue.

“That’s too obvious. Far too obvious. For an academy located in the heart of a commercial city, what kind of competitive edge would such obvious things provide?”

Everyone made bewildered expressions at Amon’s statement that denied the academy’s foundations.

However, Amon was confident.

“We need to make money too, don’t we?”

“…So money was the goal after all.”

Well, looking at the content, it seemed they could definitely make money.

Though whether it was appropriate content for an academy’s cultural festival was questionable.

Kai pointed out that fact.

“Doesn’t a cultural festival have its own appropriate format? But this seems more like a circus than a cultural festival. Would the Imperial Education Department really approve?”

“It’s fine. We already got permission from above.”

“From above…”

From the beginning, this was just a shallow trick by the Emperor to transfer support funds to Amonis Academy through the Education Department.

Hadn’t instructions already been given that the scale of the cultural festival should be determined independently by the academy?

‘If they complain, we can just say it couldn’t be helped because we have few students. If we say it was the result of trying to make the spectacle as rich as possible somehow, what can they do about it?’

If they’re dissatisfied, the Education Department should help recruit some students!

“Anyway, we teachers need to be in charge of each stage listed. Which stage would you like to take?”

“Um, are we really going with this?”

To Kai’s objection, Amon said:

“Should we do a play with five students instead? You can be a tree in the background.”

“…Ahem! I think this is fine as it is.”

The others didn’t seem to have any particular complaints either.

‘It’s not like we’re the ones doing it anyway.’

‘If the students want to do it, what’s wrong with that?’

Anyway, at Amon’s words that they needed to decide which stage to be in charge of, Kai aimed for the most normal one.

“Hmm, then I’d like to take Boris’s magic demonstration.”

At those words, Marion glared.

“Tsk! Kai! Even cold water has its hierarchy. I practically raised and taught Boris from the start, so why are you trying to snatch him away?”

“…”

“I’ll be taking charge of Boris’s magic demonstration stage.”

“…Yes, senior.”

Marion breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Whew, got the normal one.’

Kai, who lost in both seniority and justification, held back tears and chose another option.

“Th-then I’ll take Chloe’s animal experience.”

Sloth cut in with a languid voice.

“No, I’ll do it. Our territory has plenty of war horses and livestock. I can provide most of the animals Chloe wants.”

This time he was outmatched in practical matters!

But he could provide such support just as well.

“S-Senior Sloth, couldn’t I take the animal experience?”

“Don’t want to. If you’re unhappy, why don’t you become my senior?”

As Sloth brought up seniority again, Kai’s cheeks trembled.

“But come to think of it, you can work with Raymond, right? Raymond follows you well, doesn’t he?”

That’s not true.

Only Kai thought that way.

Moreover, the problem was that Reinbelt, after hearing Raymond’s complaints after class, had told Kai, “Please stop bothering our Ray.”

Therefore, he was hesitant about being in charge of Raymond.

‘But gold eating? I absolutely don’t want to do that. As the Imperial Crown Prince, gold eating? How could I do something like that?’

A dilemma!

Looking at Kai sweating profusely, Sloth said:

“Anyway, I’ll take the animal experience.”

“Ah…!”

Sloth seized the stage she wanted by taking advantage of Kai’s confusion.

‘Whew, got the easy one. If I just provide the animals, Chloe will handle everything herself, right?’

Now only Raymond’s doll making and Rustianel’s gold eating remained.

Caught in a dilemma, Kai asked while sweating:

“Senior Amon, what are you planning to take?”

To Kai’s question, Amon answered with a serious face.

“Gold eating.”

He absolutely could not, under any circumstances, hand over anything that smelled of money to someone else.

And at Amon’s words, a ray of hope appeared on Kai’s face.

‘Thank goodness! At least I avoided the gold eating!’

Now only Raymond’s doll making remained.

Although he had been scolded by Reinbelt to stop bothering Raymond, there must have been some major misunderstanding somewhere.

‘Right, misunderstandings can be cleared up. And the lesser evil is better than the worst.’

Kai sighed in resignation and said:

“Then I’ll take charge of Raymond.”

“Fine then. So Fiora is left? You just rest. Just help out here and there when extra hands are needed.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Kai realized what it meant that doing nothing guarantees at least a middle ground.

* * *

Amon headed to the headmaster’s office with the organized meeting contents.

“I think we can proceed like this.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Amon.”

“It’s nothing. And there was a suggestion during the meeting – how about you join in with Chloe’s animal experience, Headmaster?”

Anar’el tilted her head.

“What? Why would…”

“An elf and animals. It makes for a good image.”

“…”

“You weren’t planning to just play around during the cultural festival, were you?”

Anar’el swallowed.

Actually, she was so full of thoughts about playing that she had already made plans.

“Th-there’s no way. Of course I was planning to help.”

“As expected of the Headmaster, I believed in you.”

He didn’t believe in her at all.

‘Anyway, thanks to this we’ll have enough attractions. Elves and animals do go well together.’

It was a moment of satisfaction.

“Oh right, Vice Headmaster Brestle suggested running food stalls, what do you think?”

The pleased smile on Amon’s face disappeared.

If the initial proposer had been someone else, he would have slapped his knee saying “Right, we almost forgot that at a festival!” but since Brestle suggested it, only anxiety surged.

“…I’m worried.”

“…You think so too, Teacher Amon?”

“But do we really need to do that when we’re so short on students? It would be nice to have, but…”

Anar’el spoke as if resigned.

“Vice Principal Brestle said she’d take responsibility for it herself.”

“…That makes me even more worried.”

“Plus she already left to get the necessary ingredients.”

“So it wasn’t a suggestion but a notification.”

A terrible anxiety made his head throb.

‘But even Brestle wouldn’t eat up food meant to be sold in front of everyone. Right, even a Dark Elf would have that much decency.’

As mentioned, isn’t the cultural festival a celebration where everyone becomes the main character?

So he decided to understand with broad-mindedness if Brestle stole a little bit of food.

‘Anyway, the important thing is the gold eating that I’ll be running.’

To be honest, if they could make a big profit there, even if the other things failed…

‘No, they shouldn’t fail. We need to leave good memories for the students.’

Amon, who managed to bring out ‘Teacher Amon,’ nodded his head.

“Anyway, I understand. We only have a few weeks left until the cultural festival.”

He reached out to Anar’el and said:

“Headmaster, let’s do our best with all our might.”

“Of course, Teacher Amon.”

The two clasped hands and prayed for the successful completion of this cultural festival.

* * *

Everything was going smoothly.

Although it should have been difficult having to prepare for the cultural festival while conducting regular classes, the students’ expressions were bright.

Well, it was their first official academy event after all!

Ah, of course, the previous exchange was an event too, but it wasn’t an event that gave joy to the students.

Therefore, while feeling tired, the students did their best, feeling joy in the fact that the cultural festival preparations were progressing steadily.

“Jjong-ah! Lie down!”

-Pant pant pant!

“Nabi! Roll over!”

-Meow.

Chloe was skillfully training the dog and cat that Sloth had provided!

Behind such Chloe, dozens of animals were standing at attention, waiting only for Chloe’s commands.

‘…How on earth did she train the animals?’

Amon was curious about that fact.

But even when he asked Chloe, she would just smile and say “It’s a secret,” and Boris and other students would avoid answering, saying “Chloe told us not to tell.”

‘It’s not like I can ask the animals either.’

Amon scratched his head and turned around.

“Chloe, are the preparations going smoothly?”

To that question, Chloe smiled brightly.

“Yes, it’s going well. The animals that can be ridden for the animal experience now have no resistance to carrying people, and the ones that will perform tricks are learning quickly.”

“That’s amazing in such a short time. By the way, where’s Senior Sloth?”

“She said she’d take a nap over there.”

“I knew it.”

But he had no intention of scolding her.

‘Thanks to her providing the animals, the cultural festival preparations are going smoothly.’

Amon moved on to the next student.

“Boris, spread the magic a bit wider here!”

“Yes!”

“Good! Splendid and beautiful!”

Boris was busy preparing performances to show at the magic demonstration with Marion.

Amon occasionally watched, and he was becoming more skilled with each passing day.

‘Plus, worried about running out of mana, I’m feeding him plenty of potatoes from my territory.’

Also, Amon prepared enough potatoes to eat on the day, so there won’t be any shortage of mana during the magic demonstration!

Amon headed to the doll-making station that Raymond had set up.

There were dolls made as samples to show to guests on the day, modeled after everyone at the academy.

They were dolls that captured people’s characteristics incredibly well.

‘Although they’re only stuffed doll size since they need to be made quickly on the spot, they’re really well made. Is his eye for detail at Sword Master level too?’

He was relieved that they had prepared plenty of materials.

And for the last student, Rustianel’s gold eating corner…

‘…There’s nothing to prepare.’

There was a reason Amon was going around looking at other students’ stages!

‘And what’s really unexpected is that the food stall Brestle is preparing turned out better than expected. It’s cheap, plentiful, and the quality is decent.’

Brestle might not care about other things, but she was serious about food.

Her logic was that what goes into her own mouth is important, but what goes into others’ mouths is equally important.

Come to think of it, Brestle had never actually stolen food from others.

She just claims a lot for her share and claims ambiguous ownership as her own.

‘I was worried about what if there were no customers, but Brestle even asked Gold Road Trading Company to attract customers while placing orders for ingredients…’

Standing still lost in thought, Amon suddenly looked up at the sky.

‘…Why is everything going so smoothly? It’s making me anxious.’

But Amon soon shook his head.

“It’ll go well. We’ve messed up so many times before, so just this once should go well.”

Amon tried to suppress his anxiety as he moved on.

* * *

On the day of the long-awaited cultural festival, Reinbelt was deep in meditation.

‘The recent incident with the intruder was entirely my fault. Therefore…’

Opening his eyes, Reinbelt muttered in a determined voice.

“This time, on the honor of the Empire’s Four Knights, I will not allow even a single intruder.”