༺ Preparations for the Grand Festival (2) ༻
“Let’s start the meeting of Class B Group C for the Grand Festival!”
In a small meeting room in Orphin Hall of the Magic Department.
Several students, including myself, were seated. It was the group that I belonged to.
In front was Tristan Humphrey, his back to the board, a confident smile on his face. His curious voice called the meeting to order.
“First, let’s vote for a group leader! I’ll be the leader! Do you all agree?!”
Vote, my ass.
“Hey, I want to be the leader too…”
“It’s me.”
“Yeah…! T-that’s right…!”
“It’s unanimous, I will be the leader!”
So incredibly unreasonable.
I didn’t care who the group leader was, so I kept quiet.
The meeting consisted of discussions about what we would name the group, how to prepare, and what strategies to use in our respective events.
As Tristan, the group leader, had a strong desire to win, the meeting was conducted with enthusiasm.
Well, it was the same for everyone. It was a pretty fun atmosphere, and I found myself getting excited too.
Damn group assignment aside, this meeting was held for everyone to enjoy the Grand Festival.
***
The school was lively. Everyone was preparing for the Grand Festival.
It was not just a sports event, it was a grand festival held once every three years. The place was buzzing with a festive atmosphere.
Students hung decorations and structures in classrooms and other places.
Thanks to this, Märchen Academy was more imposing than usual.
Due to the terrifying events that had occurred throughout the year, the students seemed determined to enjoy the festival to the fullest.
The despair, fear, and trauma they felt when confronted with demons like the Floating Island. This festival was meant to dispel such emotions.
Students from the Magic Department filled the front of Orphin Hall.
Since I didn’t want to stand around and do nothing, I took on tasks that would help me train my mana mastery. It involved infusing and manipulating mana into magic tools to be used as shiny ornaments.
It was menial labor that required minimal mana consumption and repetition. However, since you had to twist mana inside the magic tool, it would be a difficult task if you had low mana mastery.
Tristan was enthusiastic about his work. Soon, he took on a supervisory role, and now he was going around offering praises to the students like “Ha! How aesthetic! Excellent!”
Seeing students genuinely say, “Thank you!” made him burst out laughing.
Each decoration prepared for the academy was filled with the student’s hard work and dedication. Knowing this, Tristan walked around showering praises with an excited voice.
Mateo Jordana was quietly focused on the preparations for the Grand Festival.
Amy Holloway was busy making and moving decorations while flirting with the main character, Ian Fairytale.
Kaya Astrea was in charge of moving big and heavy decorations using her wind magic. The students gasped and applauded at her ridiculously high mana density and Kaya responded with a shy, yet proud smile.
Suddenly, Kaya looked in my direction and our eyes met. I smirked and gave her a thumbs-up.
What a remarkable girl.
Kaya’s face turned bright red. With newfound motivation, she effortlessly lifted even heavier decorations to the top of the building.
Even I couldn’t help but think that her mana density and mastery were insane when she placed the decorations at the top of the spire with her wind.
Ah, the task is finished. There aren’t many magic tools left to work on here.
“Group leader, I’m done with this!”
After infusing all the magic tools with mana, I shouted at Tristan.
He quickly approached and inspected the magic tools lined up in front of me, frowning.
“Damn it… There’s nothing to criticize…!”
He seemed to have been hoping to find some fault.
“I’m going inside to handle the rest.”
“Then, go to the utility room on the third floor. I’m sure you can be of help there.”
“I knew it~. You know everything. You’re our pride, Tristan.”
“Tch…! Don’t act friendly with me, Isaac!”
Tristan frowned and grimaced when I chuckled softly.
Then, following Tristan’s instructions, I went inside Orphin Hall and went up to the third floor.
Utility room. I peeked through the window and saw a feast of decorations. The students were happily chattering away, busy preparing for the festival.
They greeted me warmly, shouting, “Isaac!” when I entered the room.
“Where are the magic tools?”
“Over there! Isaac can work on those!”
A female student in Class B pointed toward a large pile of small magic tools. This would take some time.
The blackout curtains occupying a corner of the utility room were drawn back. All eyes turned in that direction.
“Ta-da! The face of the second-years appears!”
“Waaah!”
“Oh, so pretty!”
What appeared were three girls sweating profusely, trying to maintain their excitement, and Luce Eltania with a nonchalant expression.
The students on the opposite side of the curtain cheered, admiring Luce’s beauty.
Seriously, she’s amazing.
Luce was dressed in a modified wizard’s robe that accentuated her figure. She was so dazzlingly beautiful that eyes were naturally drawn toward her.
Seeing her in person, she was quite sensual.
The male students blushed and stared at Luce, completely mesmerized.
Her makeup enhanced her beauty even more, so I totally understood their feelings.
On the other hand, the three girls standing around Luce looked terrified for some reason. Their forced smiles were very obvious.
‘What happened behind the curtain…’
They looked like they were walking on thin ice…
Luce’s current appearance was due to a Grand Festival tradition.
Each department and grade would select the most beautiful person to represent them. These representatives would boost morale as the face of their respective grades.
They were automatically entered into one of the festival’s events, the beauty pageant.
In the Magic Department, Snow White was chosen to represent the first-years and Dorothy for the third-years. Among other strong competitors, Priestess Miya and Alice Carroll chose not to participate due to personal reasons.
Miya was appointed to dance during the Grand Festival, and Alice was the Student Council President. However, they could have participated in the pageant if they wanted to.
Ah. If anyone asked why Miya, who followed a different religion, would be dancing, it was because the Lord, Manhalla, advocates for harmony.
The academy requested the Priestess to dance in hopes that the festival would be celebrated alongside the God of Horan, and Miya agreed to it.
Also, in ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, Dorothy was not present at this time of year, so some pretty student was chosen as the face of the third-years.
He was a cross-dresser. Surely, many male students who had taken a liking to him would throw up upon discovering the truth.
Thank Dorothy that Dorothy is still alive.
He would appear in the beauty pageant, but my goddess Dorothy, would crush him with her divine beauty.
“Huh?”
Luce had been standing poutingly, but when she spotted me, her expression softened into a warm smile. It was a dramatic change of expression.
“Isaac!”
She ran towards me, the hem of her dress fluttering. Envious gazes of the male students turned in my direction. However, I was used to it by now.
“Oh, Luce, aren’t you looking pretty?”
“Hehe, is that so? Do I really look that pretty?”
As Luce twirled around, holding the hem of her dress to show off her appearance, I gave her a thumbs-up and nodded empathically.
Luce swung her body. She seemed pleased with my compliment.
“Be careful not to fall for me, okay?”
Luce smiled cheekily.
What a tease.
I smirked and flicked her forehead lightly.
Although she didn’t seem to be in pain, likely due to [Basic Protection Magic] she habitually used, the slight impact made Luce touch her forehead in surprise.
“I’ll go get working.”
“Ah, me too. I’ll help you.”
“You have your own tasks, Dummy.”
The students seemed hesitant to talk to Luce. Whenever someone other than me talked to her, her face would stiffen up and her mouth would shut tight.
Since they were all looking at me pleading for help, I decided to make it clear to Luce.
“Let’s do our assigned tasks first. Luce, you have the most important role in our class. We’ll be more motivated if you become more delightful than anyone.”
“…Hmm.”
“Well, let’s both give it our all.”
In the end, Luce nodded her head, and the students breathed a sigh of relief.
Good.
I lightly patted Luce’s delicate shoulder and walked over to the magic tools, repeating the work I had been doing outside Orphin Hall. I infused the magic tools with mana, checked if they were working properly, and forged them one by one.
Occasionally, Luce would come up behind me and rest her chin on my shoulder.
It seemed to calm her down just by resting on my back.
“Isaac.”
While I was busy working, a girl came up to me and whispered in my ear.
“Thanks to you, Luce has become docile. Kehe, seriously, thank you…!”
“Oh? Is that so…”
She was on the verge of tears.
Became docile, huh? What was she like before…?
After expressing her gratitude, she smiled and walked towards the blackout curtains. As she entered, the curtains partially opened.
I stretched my head out like a turtle and peeked through the curtains. Luce was being pampered by the female students, her face was calm like a docile puppy.
She looked blissful. Just my presence seemed to make Luce happy.
A smirk escaped my lips.
***
“Senior Isaac!”
“You’re so handsome…”
“Haa, Senior Isaac…!”
There were not enough magic tools for the number of people. It seemed there was a mistake in the distribution of the supplies provided by the academy.
So, I went down to the first-year floor to look for spare magic tools, and a few female students sent me adoring glances.
I heard from White before that my story was often talked about amongst the first-years. The way I looked and acted during the duel with the Priestess hade made an impression on the students.
She said that even disregarding the whole Priestess fiasco, many students thought I was cool.
Well, it was a pretty good feeling.
It was a senior’s duty to show their juniors how cool they were.
Let’s keep our cool.
I walked down the hallway like I always do, back straight and walking like a model. Today, for some reason, I felt like I was going to fall over.
“Hey, Buddy, do you have a spare of this?”
I showed the magic tool I was carrying to a female student passing by in the hallway.
Her face turned red as she replied in a shy voice, “Yes, we do…” and pointed towards the utility room.
I walked over and opened the door without hesitation.
“…?”
A cute female student was sitting in front of the doorway.
Her pure white hair swirled up like a spike, immediately drawing my attention.
It was Snow White, the face of the first-year.
Our eyes met.
For a moment, my mind had to take time to process the situation.
I looked around. All the students in the utility room had their hair up in a spike as if it were a stiletto pointing to the ceiling.
They stopped chattering and quietly looked in my direction. It was as if they were trying to keep their silence to respect their senior.
The silence was suffocating.
“…”
…I’ll just buy the magic tools with my own money.
With that thought, I quietly closed the door and turned away.
I didn’t want to know why they looked like that, nor did I want to associate with them.
“S-senior Isaac…!”
Although the stiletto-haired junior’s teary plea reached me, wanting to explain something…
I quickly fled the scene.
