novelraw Chapter 94 : Chapter 94
Chapter 94 : Chapter 94
094
The former Chairman, Gwen's father, had caused a lot of trouble.
The most representative case was the 'Kingdom Coup Endorsement Incident'.
This was a case where he took in the youngest prince, who had failed a coup and fled, as a student of the academy.
This was not just a matter of accepting one student into the academy.
Thanks to this, the Belmein Kingdom was fiercely criticized for interfering in the politics and internal affairs of another country.
The country in question gathered its army, prepared to go to war, and the Belmein Kingdom dispatched a special envoy to the remote academy.
Normally, in such a situation, it would be normal to expel the student and bow down to both countries.
But the Chairman insisted that he could not abandon a student.
An academy that abandons its students cannot and should not exist!
The Belmein Kingdom delivered a message through a grand diplomatic letter stating that the Chairman of Akarind Academy was a madman and uncontrollable.
The opposing kingdom delivered a message in sophisticated vocabulary asking if it was okay for them to invade, lay waste to Akarind Academy, and take the prince.
And the Belmein Kingdom responded one last time.
We don't care, but there's a 4th-circle mage there. You okay with that?
Of course, it wasn't okay.
Face was important, but the story was different if it was directly related to lives or national power.
The neighboring kingdom and the Belmein Kingdom gathered their respective delegations and, after much deliberation, reached a conclusion.
— The rebellious prince will be returned after the academy period is over.
— The prince will not be touched during the academy period.
As long as he wasn't a student, it was fine.
And that prince was currently failing his graduation exam for the fourth year in a row and being held back.
He was 23 years old this year.
At a time when he should have become an adult and gone out into the world, he did nothing and enjoyed a leisurely life, wandering around the school every day.
He did not even go down to the village, wary of possible kidnapping or assassination attempts.
His movements were limited to his room, the dormitory, and very occasionally, the main building and classrooms.
There were at least five such problem children in Akarind Academy.
“Da… The former Chairman was able to push through with such shamelessness, of course, thanks to Teacher Berlis, but also thanks to the connections he had built up over a long time of running Akarind Academy.”
With the Chairman's personality, there must have been more than one or two students who had received his help and been impressed.
He had connections that stretched from the nearby Belmein Kingdom to the distant Empire, which was why the Chairman could stand up to both kingdoms.
But Gwen was different.
As the new Chairman, she was young, weak, and had no experience.
Even Berlis was away.
Somehow, word had gotten out that the Chairman had changed, and various letters of protest arrived from each country.
Unlike when the Chairman was here, the tone was coercive and raw.
"So you have to help me, teacher!"
“Me?”
“Because out of everyone I know, you have the widest network of connections, teacher!”
“Me?”
“You brought in the mercenaries and did all sorts of things!”
“Me…?”
“Come on, I’m not kidding!”
Why is she angry?
I was being sincere.
I had done nothing or achieved anything in those matters.
I had made many new acquaintances, but those people were not people I had brought in, but rather connections that regressors like Rozalin or Hati had built up in the future.
In fact, in the case of Yuria and Ulf, they had come to find this place.
I had met the Saintess Ganemia and Abrahal, but it was difficult to see them as allies.
If I were to ask them for help in this situation…….
'You wouldn't have to listen to the story of a country that's about to be ruined soon, would you?'
Wouldn't they say the same thing?
I really felt like that would be the case, so I shook my head.
Rozalin, Hati, and even Yuria were likely to say the same thing.
The problem wasn't just that.
I glanced at Qantaii, no, Isadora.
Isadora was back to wearing that awkward mustache and loose-fitting clothes.
But while her attire had returned, Qantaii's characteristic lively and cheerful demeanor had not.
After Avril and the mercenaries had disappeared, Isadora had become overly conscious of her surroundings.
It was the mercenaries who had stopped the person from the military last time.
Because Avril had taken responsibility and said he would prevent the story from getting out.
But now, both Avril and the mercenaries were gone.
Perhaps because of that, Isadora would hole up in her dormitory after her duties were over and showed no intention of coming out.
Her behavior was no different from that of the problem children.
'In the end, all the problems boil down to external enemies.'
The kingdoms, including the Belmein Kingdom, the Holy Kingdom, and even the Empire's army.
A situation where they were all hostile to us.
A brilliant move was needed.
"Chairman."
And there was one person who was good at coming up with such brilliant moves.
“May I bring one student to this meeting?”
“?”
“As it happens, that student didn’t go home and is staying in the dormitory.”
The Chairman's and the others' eyes widened.
* * *
Zelta couldn't understand what was going on.
Today's strangeness had begun when Cassian had suddenly come to his dormitory.
'Found you. There's a place to go. I'll explain later. There's no time.'
All of his roommates who had heard Cassian's words pushed him on the back.
'It's finally the boy's turn to be active!'
'Zelta! Our friendship… don't forget it!'
Of course, he had been excited and had babbled something or other.
And the place he had gone to was not a basement where secret strategies were being laid out.
There were no mages looking into mysterious magical tools, nor were there any assassins (with a warm heart) standing at an angle against a wall.
All there was was the Chairman, teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher.
“……Huh?”
When he felt like he had been tricked, Teacher Cassian opened his mouth.
“Student Zelta. Do you know what a war game is?”
Zelta awkwardly nodded his head.
A war game was a teaching and discussion method mainly used at the Imperial Military Academy.
One person presents a problem situation.
And another person proposes their own solution to the problem.
And the people who were listening by the side decide the winner and loser through a vote.
If the logic of the person who proposed the solution is poor, the proposer wins, and if the logic of the person who proposed the solution is perfect, the defender wins.
“I’m going to give you a situation now.”
“Suddenly?”
“I told the teachers here that your strategy is so outstanding that it’s an example, but they didn’t believe me. So I wanted to show them once.”
Cassian reassured Zelta and then explained the situation.
Akarind Academy might be attacked.
There are circumstances, but the situation has not yet occurred.
There are at least five enemies.
Not only the Empire's army, the Holy Kingdom, and the neighboring countries, but also the Belmein Kingdom, which could not withstand the pressure of the neighboring countries.
With the strongest force, Berlis, currently absent, how would they protect the school?
And the moment he heard the problem, Zelta stared at Cassian.
'……Can't just one teacher go out and cut them all down and stop them?'
It seemed like it would all be over if he put his master at the very forefront, in the heart of the battlefield.
But no matter how much of a great strategist Zelta was, who could insult even the gods and teach even the demons, he could not send his master out to be sacrificed.
Because a clear picture of him being backstabbed and dying was drawn.
'They wouldn't want such an easy solution. There must be a trap in the plan. For example, the Imperial Royal Academy is actually connected to the teacher, so the moment the plan is established, the teacher will grasp the plan.'
A war game was not just about considering the words of the attacker.
One had to endlessly judge what was right and wrong by examining the conditions of the text.
Zelta began to scribble various conditions in the imaginary notebook in his mind.
'The conditions are difficult. There are a lot of people involved. There are at least three neighboring kingdoms. The Belmein Kingdom is also an enemy. On top of that, there's the Empire and the Holy Kingdom. And the Empire is even the army.'
The people around them were watching the two of them with their mouths shut, perhaps for a fair evaluation.
Zelta, who had been lost in thought for a long time, carefully opened his mouth.
“…We can create an external enemy.”
“How?”
“If so many groups are aiming for the academy, I thought it wouldn't be for just one reason.”
Zelta explained the reasoning he had thought of.
The countries that Teacher Cassian had mentioned had no common ground.
Two or three countries could aim for the academy with one purpose, but it was unlikely that so many groups would have the same greed.
'Teacher Cassian's Aura also doesn't make sense.'
Then, it would be a matter of sending in the most manpower without needing to be hostile.
To prevent others from getting it?
Then the reason for the Belmein Kingdom to invade here was somewhat lacking.
It would be more appropriate to dispatch people to protect this place.
"So we give the reason to the places that hate each other."
To the country that opposes the Empire, we give what the Empire wants.
The weaknesses of the kingdoms, we give to the Empire.
In that way, after making them each have things that could become weaknesses for each other, the moment someone invades here, an explosion will occur in another place.
"Especially, we can use the Empire's army."
The Belmein Kingdom and the Empire are far apart.
Therefore, it was highly likely that the Empire would send a small number of people to get what they wanted.
"We have the security guards, don't we?"
We deal with them for the purpose of maintaining public order and pin the cause of their deaths on another country.
The Empire would not be able to protest officially, nor would they be able to let it go because of their pride.
"For that purpose……"
Zelta explained a few more ideas.
With each explanation, the teachers looked at him with surprised expressions.
'I must have won by now, right?'
Zelta, who had laid out his strategy for about 30 minutes, caught his breath.
Just talking about the thoughts that came to his mind was enough to drain his energy and make his breathing ragged.
“……?”
But the expressions on people's faces were strange.
If it were a normal war game, there should have been a heated discussion from the audience when the strategy was over.
And a process of deciding the winner and loser, and applause of congratulations should have followed.
Zelta looked at the people around him again.
“……Huh?”
Their expressions were completely aghast.
It was like the expressions of the students around him when he first proposed the bait strategy to deal with the harpies.
Zelta, with a hypothesis that suddenly crossed his mind, looked at Cassian.
“Teacher, this is a war game, right?”
Instead of answering, Cassian looked at the teachers.
“Let’s do this for now. Of course, it’s difficult to use this strategy as it is. Our weakness is the students. We can’t send the students, but we can leak information as if we are.”
A deep smile was on his lips.
"But we can give them something similar. We release the first part of the intermediate manual."
It was a swordsmanship that had divided even the blood relatives of the Goldline Merchant Guild, who ruled the entire Empire.
It would not be difficult to divide a larger group that was not bound by a single bloodline or a single guild.
Of course, it wasn't just about releasing the manual.
“There will be an expiration date on this kind of alienation. I expect it will only last for about a semester. When the tension is high, let’s discreetly spread a rumor and lure people in.”
“A rumor?”
“How about a rumor that the swordsmen who handle Aura have a weakness? Since they fight with swords, they are weak to long-range attacks—something like that.”
And the kingdoms and the Empire that heard the rumor would come up with countermeasures.
They could operate a crossbow unit, or they could bring siege weapons like ballistas.
When the people with long-range weapons gathered like that.
“They will end up fighting each other.”
To be precise, they would not be able to pay attention to Akarind Academy.
Because they would encounter a natural disaster they had never imagined, the Giant-Block.
Zelta, who was listening to the explanation by the side, was sweating profusely.
This teacher just said something terrifying with his own idea.
“……It’s a war game, right? Teacher? Teacher?!”
Cassian comforted the student's heart.
"It's all thanks to you."
Of course, it was not comforting at all.