novelraw Chapter 50 : The Turbulent Vacation (2)
Chapter 50 : The Turbulent Vacation (2)
Chapter 50: The Turbulent Vacation (2)
-“What was that explosion just now?”
Tylant asked in a voice sharpened with tension.
“Uh…… I’ll have to go check.”
-……“Your family isn’t all that trustworthy either. I’m hanging up.”
With those words, Tylant hung up the Mob first.
Jick couldn’t understand why he had to be that wary over a single explosion.
But since the Mob had already been cut off, Jick hurried outside to find where the sound had come from.
Every member of the family who had heard the explosion was acting just like Jick.
The noise had come from the garden tucked away in a corner of the estate.
The very garden where they cultivated the herbs they delivered to Tylant.
The moment he witnessed the scene, Jick’s eyes widened and he lost his composure as he shouted.
“Put it out, now!”
Regardless of whether they were the family’s mages, butlers, or maids, everyone rushed out with blankets or quilts, desperately trying to smother the flames at the head of the family’s order.
But because it wasn’t a natural fire, the moment the blankets and quilts touched it, they caught fire as well—only serving to make the blaze grow larger.
“Water! Bring water!”
They hauled over as much water as they could and poured it over the flames, but even in that brief moment the fire evaporated it all without any sign of being subdued.
Due to the family’s specialties, there was no water-elementalist, and they had no way to extinguish it with magic.
And so Jick could do nothing but watch as the precious herbs burned away.
“Ah……!”
In the end, they couldn’t suppress the flames. Only after the entire garden turned into black ashes did the fire finally die out on its own.
Thud.
“Ah…… no…… Do you know how hard we worked to get those herbs…….”
It wasn’t just the loss of herbs.
The Nohill Family had earned the Draco Family’s trust solely because of this one herb, and with this fire, that trust had been shattered mercilessly.
Crushed by despair, Jick collapsed helplessly and couldn’t even bring himself to touch the herbs that had turned into ash.
“Artel, it’s been such a long time.”
“Ah…… yes.”
After returning to the orphanage, Kiena, Hei, and I had a meeting with the director in her office.
“Didn’t you miss me, Artel?”
The director was a middle-aged woman with a very warm impression.
Just from her demeanor alone, she felt like the perfect fit for an orphanage director.
And since she wasn’t a mage, I decided to trust that the personality shown in her expression was genuine.
“Yes, I missed you.”
But upon hearing my answer, the director tilted her head.
“Why do you look confused?”
“Kiena told me that you’d changed a lot, Artel…… but you really have changed. It feels like you’ve become a completely different person.”
‘In what part?’
Was it just because I said I missed her?
I really couldn’t imagine how Artel had acted back when he lived here.
“Was I really that immature……?”
“Hoho, and now you even know how to reflect on yourself. It really feels like you’ve become an adult during your time at school.”
The director even smiled with eyes that clearly conveyed her joy.
“Teacher said Artel was just sensitive because he was often sick.”
“That’s right! He almost never gets sick at school anymore. So I guess that sensitivity is gone too.”
Hei and Kiena added.
‘So that’s how it was…… Because he had a weak body, he acted fierce so he wouldn’t appear fragile.’
Thanks to the two of them, I could somewhat picture what Artel had been like during his orphanage days.
“You’ll be staying here for the whole vacation, right?”
When the director asked, Kiena and Hei both loudly answered, “Yes!” at the same time, but I declined.
“No. I’m only staying until the end of this week before returning to school.”
“Huh? We can return to school in the middle of vacation? Don’t we need a teacher to open a portal for us?”
Ah, right—times had changed, and I had momentarily forgotten that we couldn’t return to school freely.
That meant I had no choice but to stay at the orphanage for the entire vacation.
“Right…….”
‘It’s harder to act as Artel here at the orphanage.’
Who would’ve thought the day would come when I missed a school that was dying to expel its students?
Actually, no—this worked out.
If staying became too uncomfortable, I could just go to the cave where Banshi was.
“Make yourselves at home while you’re here. I even prepared gifts for you three, and Hei—especially you—tell me anything you want to eat.”
“Wow! Thank you!”
After the meeting with the director, the three of us went out to the playground for a bit.
“Artel, Hei. What was the Nohill Family like?”
That seemed to be what Kiena was most curious about; it was the first thing she asked.
“It’s huge! And they have tons of delicious food!”
Hei was still focused entirely on food.
Then Hei asked me something this time.
“After you ate, where did you go with Banshi? You suddenly disappeared.”
“Ah, I got scolded by the Nohill Family’s head.”
“Huh? Scolded? Why?”
“I once got into a dispute with Hapert, and it was because of that.”
“What? They scolded you over something that small?”
“Anyway, Banshi and I got scolded and then went to look for you two, but we didn’t know where you were. The place was too big, so we got lost.”
With just that much explanation, Artel and Kiena wouldn’t ask further.
And in fact, that was the end of the questions.
‘Still…… this orphanage feels different from the one in my past life, yet somehow the same.’
There were other children in this orphanage.
In my past life, I had also come from an orphanage. I enrolled in the Magic Academy alone, studied diligently, and slowly advanced through the circles.
During that process, I caught my master’s eye and became a Disciple, and that was how I truly began my life as a mage.
And although there had been several orphanages in my past life, in this era, this was the only one.
Thus began my vacation at the orphanage, and I simply waited for it to end as soon as possible.
Not because I wanted to return to school—rather, I was curious to see how the school rules would change in the second semester.
Tomorrow, summer vacation would finally end.
The evening before, at the appointed time, the students gathered at the waypoint in the forest outside the city.
Among the thirty-one students, only four were apart from the main group—myself, Kiena, Hei, and Banshi.
I had gotten used to it by now.
No—at this point, it would have been stranger if someone from the main group suddenly joined us.
“Banshi, did you have a good vacation?”
“Yeah.”
At my question, Banshi answered with a bright expression.
Then a conversation drifted over from the student group.
“Did you hear? On the first day of break, the Nohill Family had a fire.”
“Huh? A fire at a fire-element household? Did someone mess up while practicing magic or something?”
“No idea. But I heard their whole garden burned down.”
As expected, news of the Nohill Family’s incident had spread widely.
Since everyone had been in the Underworld during break, even those who weren’t the family’s mages could easily learn about a fire occurring at the Nohill estate.
And indeed, the students talking were all commoners.
At that moment, Hapert, who overheard, growled.
“Shut up. Don’t even mention that.”
“S-sorry.”
“If my head of house heard you, you’d have turned to ash on the spot.”
‘What a joke.’
Sure, I was the one who caused the garden fire, but that didn’t make me feel guilty. They had brought it on themselves.
I exchanged a subtle glance with Banshi.
Banshi also seemed pleased with the outcome, nodding slowly with a satisfied expression.
“A portal!”
Once the appointed time arrived, the portal to the school opened.
“Well, the second semester begins. Let’s all do well again this term. Toward 2nd Class!”
Before entering the portal, I spoke to Kiena, Hei, and Banshi.
Kiena nodded energetically.
“You too, Artel!”
After returning to the dormitory, the first thing I did was unpack.
All three of us had newly bought suitcases and clothes—gifts from the orphanage director.
I didn’t have any emotional attachment, but I did realize she was truly a kind-hearted person.
While we were still unpacking, a new notification arrived on my Mob.
[Student Ability Evaluation Reform Proposal]
The revised sparring system, which was supposed to be revealed in the second semester, had finally been sent through the Mob the night before the new term began.
I sat on my bed and read through all of it.
At the start of the second semester, all thirty-one students of the 1st Class will begin with an equal 100 points. There will no longer be any point cost for using facilities. If a student possesses even 1 point, they may freely use facilities without restriction.
Uniformly giving out 100 points while removing facility costs……
It was a somewhat fresh approach.
Only students who possess points may use facilities. The newly revised sparring rules are as follows:
Monthly sparring class no longer exists. Students may freely challenge any opponent they wish. Permission is at the discretion of the supervising teacher, and if opinions differ, the professor makes the final decision.
This meant that if one student agreed and the other refused, the professor would decide.
Applying for a spar does not consume points. After a spar, the winner takes 1 point from the loser.
This meant everyone started at 100 points, but over time one side would become 101 and the other 99, creating gradual divergence.
Upper-rank penalties remain. If a student with 150 or more points loses, they lose 50%. If they lose at 200 points or more, they drop to 0.
Students with 0 points are restricted from all facility usage. They have a grace period of three days. Failure to recover points within three days results in expulsion.
Rules regarding Joint Admission Students. Joint Admission Students will act as a single team. If even one member is expelled, the entire team is expelled.
Sparring requests may be made at any time except during vacations. Requests are submitted to the supervising teacher through the Mob, similar to outing applications. There is no daily limit.
Students of the same subject may spar with each other.
“…….”
I hadn’t expected this.
I had never imagined the Joint Admission System would be used in such a way.
“Still, I guess it’s fortunate. This is the 1st Class. Judging from what I saw during the last sparring session, this won’t be a dangerous rule for Hei and Kiena.”
But I was still worried.
Because there was no daily limit.
If unlucky, they might have to fight more than twenty matches in a day.
I could handle that much easily, but would Kiena and Hei be able to endure it?
With the new semester starting tomorrow, we needed to prepare to some extent.
Graduation eligibility for the 1st Class will be determined by points as of December 31st, 17:59:59. Only the top six students may graduate, and the top three students are granted special advancement, skipping the 2nd Class and entering the 3rd Class directly. Conversely, the bottom ten students will be expelled regardless of point holdings.
That was the final clause of the revised sparring system.
“Skipping 2nd Class and going straight to 3rd Class……?”
That clause stood out to me more than any other.
Despite everything, not all of these reforms were nonsense.
Especially this one—being able to skip the 2nd Class.
As long as grades were maintained, it was undeniably advantageous.
If I guided Kiena and Hei properly, it wouldn’t be difficult.