Chapter 48

RATH 48

TL: Eevee

6. Hell is just beginning. (9)

#13 Their story: The story of someone still secret.

“…Really?”

“Indeed.”

A darkened room.

Two people were talking with each other in the middle of an atmosphere that screamed “this is a suspicious situation!”

“Victory in this year’s imperial festival is all but certain. In that case, is it not better to look after your own profits?”

“But my comrades…”

“Some of your comrades have already decided to side with us.”

“Kurrgh…”

My comrades had already sold out!

Only recently we had vowed to aim for the same goal together.

But for this, just for this!

‘Or maybe it’s not something you can call ‘just’ this…’

The opposition’s conditions were very tempting. They had that much value.

I was a fourth year this year, and soon to leave the academy.

And because of that, the opposition’s conditions were even more tempting.

And just like a devil the opposition aimed perfectly for that group of people.

I could understand just how my comrades were bought out. Because I wanted to make the leap so badly as well!

“Now, what will you do.”

“Krrrrk… wha, what if I don’t agree to these conditions…”

“Well, you will not be penalised. I just hope you would keep it a secret.”

“Why so?”

I couldn’t understand. This strategy worked the best if it was kept secret.

And if I was to reveal it?

‘…He’s a devil!’

Even if I spoke out it wouldn’t change anything.

No, if I did then everyone would fall into doubt hell where everyone suspected each other.

I don’t know about anyone else, but if it’s this person, this person that was more demonic than demons who came up with this plan then there was no doubt that this was what he’d aimed for right at the beginning when he first made this offer.

It could even be the case that I was the only one to be offered this in order to use me to spread distrust around the entire school.

No, it could even me a plot to make me think of all this in order to keep my mouth shut.

“Now, this is your final chance. Your choice?”

“Kuuuu… I’ll do it!”

And so I only had one choice.

To become another traitor, and to at least make my own profit from this!

And so, another traitor was born.

#14 Their story: A certain student council president’s story.

“Yesterday’s strategy was good. We finally managed to beat Professors Maroon and Aruhan.”

“The other kids’ resolves have changed, after all. At this rate, we might even be able to find ways to beat Professor Muam or Professor Harian before the holidays.”

“But there’s so much more they can use since they’ve got a Spirit King of water and the God of wind.”

“Yes. They have more aspects under their realms of authority and hence are a lot freer in their capabilities compared to our god-class summoners.”

“Risen and Miss Aris’s gods are too specialised, and unaffiliated with nature, after all. And aside from Lady Aris, the fact that the other first-year god-class summoners can’t use their powers very effectively is also a large factor.”

“Hey, it can’t be helped. Even with spirits the difficulty of controlling them as you get higher up the ranks is like the difference between heaven and earth, these are gods you’re talking about here. Even spirits that don’t express their opinions all that much are that finicky, asking for someone to control a god and their stubborn personalities within just half a year is asking for the impossible.”

“True, that’s pretty much impossible unless you’ve contracted a god that perfectly matches your personality like Risen did.”

“Hey, now that you mention him, where is Risen?”

“Ah, he got called to the disciplinary room earlier. Probably did something stupid again…”

“Again? Does he have some disease that makes him do dumb things at least once a month or something?”

“Let him be. He probably got caught peeking in the girls’ changing rooms again.”

“Damn, talk about convincing.”

“That’s not it, you lunatics!”

Risen slammed the door open as he entered the room.

The student council vice-president and the Trickster! Born as the youngest son of a baron, but once hailed as Yugrasia’s greatest hope after having the talent to make a contract with the god Loki!

Although now he’s the greatest enemy of the girls of Yugrasia!

“Risen, why were you called to the disciplinary office last month again?”

“Because I peeked on the girls’ changing rooms.”

“And the reason you got called up two months, and three months ago?”

“Of course, it was because I peekd on the girls changing rooms…”

“Die, enemy of women!”

At Risen’s shameless words, Karen, the female vice-president finally exploded and her fists swung through the air.

“Hey, I didn’t peek the month before that!”

“Ha? You think this is the first time I’ve fallen for your bullshit? The month before that was the holidays, you asshat!”

“Tch, this is why I hate sharp kids…”

Like myself, both of them were fourth years of Yugrasia as well as the same age as me.

But the place where Risen’s eyes addressed as a ‘kid’ was her very flat chest.

And at the familiar gaze, Karen’s face turned red as she quivered in anger.

“Die!”

Boom!

The claws of the giant dragon she summoned blew away Risen along with the door to the student council room.

“Here we go again.”

“Pres, where do we send the bill to this time? Risen’s family or Karen’s?”

“How have we split them so far again?”

“Hmm… 7 times where we dealt with it as a student council expense, Risen’s place 27 times, Karen’s place 20 times, and 5 times where they split it half-half.”

The treasurer pulled out the records and flicked through the pages with long-practiced movements before reading from a particular page. Now that I’ve heard everything, I should deliberate as the student council president.

We even have a regular craftsman we go to for this thanks to the two vice-presidents, but even so, the teachers had warned us previously about using the student council funds for this so most of the time we decided it with a single vote by the student council.

In the first phase we would decide on the cause, and vote in the second.

“One vote to Karen this time.”

“I vote Risen.”

“Hm, although Risen’s words were the problem, Karen said Risen peeked at the girls’ changing rooms, so does that count as providing the cause?”

“Well, but Risen does that normally. Maybe if this was his first time, but since he gets dragged to the disciplinary room so often…”

“I don’t know about the first years, but aren’t the other years taking turns to change with half of them changing and the other half protecting the changing rooms from Risen?”

“Huh? Isn’t that dangerous? Then shouldn’t we tell the first years…”

“If it’s this year’s first years, there’s Lady Aris so would Risen really dare to peek?”

“But it’s Risen. He might actually think ‘when else would I peek on a daughter of a marquis!’ and go charging in. Then we’re all screwed.”

“Wow, that’s the single biggest piece of bullshit I’ve heard all year aside from the night study, but since it’s Risen it actually sounds really convincing.”

“That’s true now that you mention it. Then I vote Risen.”

“But since both people contributed to the cause I vote half and half.”

One vote, and another. The end result was Risen’s loss again.

I wasn’t sure whether to praise our treasurer for handing over a quote for damages as if he had expected it, or blame the two vice-presidents for making things this way.

Thanks to that, I became used to this as well and processed the invoice quickly. If I handed it over to school security before night study began then the even the broken walls should be fixed by lunch tomorrow.

As the treasurer flicked through the invoices for the destruction the vice-presidents had wrought, he shut the ledger and said to me.

“President, why not just ask Professor Nicerwin to convert these walls to the ones that repair themselves?”

“Great thinking! Then we don’t have to keep billing these guys every time.”

“That’s a pretty good idea?”

Of course I had thought of that. Was it because it was on the tenth floor, where there were no classrooms and hence a non-combat area, but the walls surrounding the student council room does not repair itself.

Although in the past it might have been different, the walls that are destroyed due to battle daily don’t apply to this area only, oddly enough. However!

“Then the Black Anvil clan would come.”

“What do you… ah!”

One of the student council made a noise of understanding.

Yes, that Black Anvil clan! The culprits that conspired with Professor Nicerwin to personally remodel the academy into a monster!

The ones responsible for the rumour that during the empire’s darkest hour, the academy would transform into a giant golem and protect the empire!

According to those rumours the tenth floor was the golem’s head and so could not be modified.

But should they reappear at the academy?

Knowing the devil Nicerwin he would probably have the dwarves upgrade the academy’s traps while they were here.

Therefore the Black Anvil clan are a big no. Dwarves are a forbidden word to the extent that we asked the school security team to report any sightings of dwarves at this academy to the student council first.

“Do you guys understand? The enemy is Made in Black Anvil(1). Even though those words feel oddly trustworthy, although we don’t know what it means, since it’s Professor Nicerwin that said that it probably means the devil’s servant or something along those lines.”

The treasurer bowed his head as if he understood.

Alright then, now should be about a good time to calm down the two vice-presid…

“Uhihihi, bad children will get a spanking from this unni!”

“Hiiiiiiht!”

“Help me!”

…Or maybe not.

“Pété, Continetal Shield.”

“Makena, Wall!”

“Block it, Mikedna.”

At the sudden sounds of the silver devil and two vice-presidents from down the corridor, the experienced student council members blocked up the broken walls without leaving a single gap.

“Tr, traitor!”

“Kyaaaak! Save me!”

The gaps were quickly filled with earth, wind and ice and from the other side we could hear the screams of a boy and a girl.

“How unfortunate.”

“The rooftop is blocked, after all. If they jumped off at least they could die cleanly.”

“But we still need to wake them before the night study. When the devil goes away, someone go pick up the two corpses outside and wake them up.”

As we heard “tushitushi” noises from the other side of the corridor that anyone would know was made with a mouth, we began to make plans for tonight’s upcoming night study.

“The overall plan is the same as yesterday. But once we beat Professors Maroon and Aruhan we’re going to send down the four god-class first years as well as the key forces of the second years.”

“Hm… you’re going to train them up already?”

“It’s not ‘already.’ Lady Aris and the rest of us already have the eyes of people outside the academy on us. We need to raise up fighting power outside of that.”

“Hm… but Pres, the other four first years are also God-class summoners, aren’t they being watched as well?”

“You’re right, but because of that those watchers should know. That they are still comparatively weak because it hasn’t been long since they made their contracts. But even so, since there’s no telling what a God-class summoner might pull off, so on the contrary, they’ll come charging in at them to eliminate them as quickly as possible.”

“Hmm… so what you’re saying is to turn the tables onto them so they will be the ones held down?”

“That’s the plan. At the very least, they should be able to take down their enemies with them.”

A few other people nodded their heads to my words.

Normally, gods from another world don’t make contracts with those that don’t fit their own personalities.

Because of that, the majority of people that are contracted to gods are like Risen who get along very well together.

But it’s different for these newly-contracted first years.

Although I didn’t get to see the contracting process myself, according to the people in question they were a matter of one-sided violence.

The silver devil actually beat the crap out of gods of another world and forcibly made them form a contract.

When we first heard that story we all went “what the hell, that’s… scary,” but after getting hit by it ourselves we realised.

Gods or whatever, nothing can face off against that.

Because of that, even though they’re god-class summoners that ignore things like summoner-summon compatibility, the majority of the first years cannot use that strength properly.

Therefore, what they need the most is experience.

The only option we had was make them keep fighting again and again to be acknowledged by their gods and to fight until their god would lend them their power.

“Right, then according to today’s plan, let’s… hey, the tushitushi’s over. Someone go out and bring in the bodies.”

“Ah, I’ll grab the vice presidents.”

Two second years went out to drag in the half-corpse bodies of the vice-presidents, and so today was a normal day as ever.

But even then we didn’t know.

Professor Nicerwin’s Plan B had already advanced to the next stage.

The fact that Plan A was already in effect!

And so the price was far too dear.

“Kuuugh.. How… how could you!”

According to the plan, if things had just gone according to plan then the defeat of Professors Maroon and Aruhan were inevitable, and we would be fighting Professors Muam and Harian by now, but the majority of the fourth year student council members still couldn’t break free of the eighth floor.

“Sorry, but I couldn’t help it. This was way too good of a deal to pass up.”

The person who had attacked us from behind as if nothing was wrong was none other than one of the most reliable members of the student council.

“Professor Nicerwin’s Plan A. According to him, it’s one of the most frequently used strategies in history, for the simple reason that we are human.”

That person was none other than.

“Divide and conquer.”(2)

The student council’s vice president, Risen.