Chapter 75: School Festival Part 1
Ducard: “Victor, you’re going to meet the student-version of Leader soon. How are you feeling now?”
Victor: “Of course I’m excited. These two years, I can only see her during her school holiday. I can’t wait to see her.”
Today was the first day of the much-awaited Centrior Imperial Magic Academy’s school festival. Ducard had managed to grab one of the invitation tickets sent by Razé, while Victor had received a ticket from the Toymaker. Both of them applied for a day off and was currently waiting for Bonalt.
Currently, it was 8 o’clock in the morning. Visitors for the school festival would be teleported to the academy at 9 o’clock. They planned to have breakfast together before teleporting to the academy.
Victor: “Isn’t it rare for Bonalt to be the last one to come?”
Ducard: “Yeah. Let’s enter the restaurant first.”
Victor had arrived 30 minutes earlier, while Ducard arrived 10 minutes earlier than their meeting time. They decided to wait inside the restaurant since Bonalt hadn’t arrived yet. While sitting at his seat, Victor noticed Ducard was dressed neatly unlike his usual attire.
Ducard: “What is it?”
Victor: “Nothing. It’s just that you look smart today.”
Ducard was stunned by his frank remark. “We’re visiting an aristocratic school, isn’t this normal? It’s like a combat uniform.”
Victor: “You look handsome because you have long legs.”
His words made Ducard felt a bit self-conscious. He awkwardly said, “This attitude… I don’t hate it but I don’t like it either.” As what Victor had said, he usually dressed in simple clothes during off days. But this was a special occasion, so he purposely went out to buy a new set of clothes. Ducard drank his coffee while wondering whether he was being too excited as well.
* * *
Bonalt came 20 minutes after their meeting time. “Sorry I’m late.”
Ducard swallowed his food and asked, “Did something happen?”
“I stopped by the office and got caught by a troublesome person…” Bonalt replied while scratching his head. He sat down and ordered his food.
Victor: “Who was the troublesome person?”
Bonalt: “Professor Yor.”
Both Ducard and Victor could imagine the situation when they heard the name.
Ducard: “That’s awful.”
Victor: “It’s been hard on you.”
Bonalt: “You two… I haven’t said anything yet.”
Bonalt sighed at their reaction. Yor Carton Fedrick, also known as the Devil in a Lab Coat. Bonalt knew that Yor adored Razé very much and he could guess what she would do if she found out about the invitation ticket to the school festival.
Ducard: “It’s amazing that you managed to escape and only late for 20 minutes.”
Ducard knew that anyone who got caught by Yor wouldn’t be able to escape easily.
Bonalt: “Her assistant came looking for her so I was saved. It’s must have been tough being her assistant.”
Bonalt would never forget Frey’s bravery when he scolded Yor, saying “You must not steal other people’s stuffs!”
Ducard laughed and said, “The Toymaker and Devil will always cause trouble when there’s something related to Leader.”
“You shouldn’t laugh at other people. Imagine if it happens to you. Who knows, you might be next,” Bonalt said to scare him.
Ducard grinned and replied, “I’m fine. I’m confident that it won’t happen to me.”
Seeing his smile, Bonalt had a bad feeling. He decided to change to topic and turned at Victor. “Let’s forget about Professor Yor. Victor, have you memorized the character setup that I told you before?”
It was Bonalt’s job to update the character setup for Razé Granoli’s fake profile. He would receive letters from Razé from time to time and update her character setup accordingly. Sometimes, he would need to do some follow up works to tie up loose ends. He could find out if anyone did a background search on Razé.
Only a certain group of people in the military knew about Razé Orphan’s existence. Her identity was kept secret because she was still young and she was also working for the Military Intelligent Department. Besides, they were not allowed to expose the identity of a military personnel who had to work undercover among the civilians.
It was better to be very careful when dealing with this matter. After all, she was the Wolf Fang. They had gathered earlier today not only to eat breakfast. Bonalt straightforwardly said, “Make sure not to cause any trouble for Leader.”
Victor seemed like he was well prepared and replied, “Yes. I’ve read through the details every day. There should be no problem, Cross-senpai.”
Bonalt was a little worried when he saw his excited face. At that time, the waitress came to bring the sandwiches that he ordered. Ducard stared at Victor and said, “Let me test you.”
“Sure,” Victor replied confidently.
Ducard: “What should you call Leader?”
Victor: “Razé-sama!”
Ducard: “If someone ask what is your relationship with Leader?”
Victor: “She is a colleague that I respect from the bottom of my heart!”
Ducard: “And what do you do for a living?”
Victor: “I’m just a hunter devoting my life under the guidance of the person that I respect from the bottom of my heart!”
Ducard: “Well done!”
Bonalt: “Stop stop stop stop!!”
Bonalt was eating his breakfast while listening to both of them. The content of their conversation was making him anxious. “Are you serious? And Harul, what do you mean by ‘well done’?”
Ducard: “He covered it well and there was no mistake.”
Victor: “Yes! I’ve thought about it seriously.”
Ducard acted innocent and asked, “What’s wrong?” but Bonalt knew that he was inwardly enjoying this. He decided to ignore Ducard and talked to Victor directly.
Bonalt: “Victor, are you aware that your answer is wrong right from the beginning?”
Victor: “What?! Why is it wrong?”
Victor was bewildered because he didn’t think there was any problem with his answers. After thinking for a while, he said, “Oh!! I’m sorry. It is presumptuous of me to call her Razé-sama. I should call her Granoli-sama!!”
Bonalt couldn’t help but immediately cut him off. “Wrong! That’s not it. Leader is a commoner. If an adult call her ‘sama’, people will get suspicious!”
Victor: “I’m sorry! I’ll do push up 500 times as a punishment!”
Bonalt: “Please don’t!”
Bonalt hurriedly stopped Victor who had turned pale and was trying to give a penalty to himself. Looking at his extreme reaction for just one mistake, Bonalt was afraid to explain his other mistakes. Ducard, sitting across them, was trembling trying hard not to laugh.
Bonalt: “No need for punishment. Practice calling her Razé-san.”
Victor: “Y- Yes!”
Victor had a serious expression as he practiced saying, “Ra- Razé…sa- Razé-sa… Razé-samu-” He was so nervous that he tripped over his words.
Ducard was unable to hold it any longer and burst out laughing. “Bwahahaha!!! Seriously, you’re so awesome! Did you do it on purpose? Did you?”
“S- Stop laughing at me! How can I call Leader with ‘san’?! I’m just a lowly person!!” Victor replied in a sour mood.
Bonalt: “Don’t tease him, Harul. We need to help him get over this.”
So, they spent the remaining time training the Wolf Fang worshipper with the character setup.
After practicing for a while, Bonalt gave his final advice. “Victor, try not to say a word when you meet Leader later.”
Victor: “You’re so mean.”
Bonalt: “If you don’t want to cause trouble to Leader, then you better stay quiet.”
Victor was unable to argue anymore. The three of them exited the restaurant and walked to the public square.
Ducard: “It’s time. Are we going to teleport to the dojo gym?”
Bonalt: “Yes. Visitors need to go through body check at the gym before they can teleport to the school building.”
“So troublesome,” Ducard complained as he took out his ticket. The ticket had a magic circle programmed into it. The visitors would be able to teleport when the time comes. The regulations this time were stricter compared to the summer and winter tournament. Visitors were not allowed to bring in anything other than the minimum necessary items such as money.
“Will Leader be happy when she sees us?” Victor said in a low voice.
Ducard: “I’m sure she’ll be surprised.”
Bonalt: “Right. You owe this one to Habermas, Victor.”
Victor: “I know.”
Victor recalled the conversation he had with Sergio. To him, Sergio was a weird person who tried to get his Leader to marry a robot. He wondered why would he go the extra mile to get a ticket for him. He asked him frankly, “Why did you arrange a ticket to me?”
Sergio told him, “With one more friend to visit her, I hope Razé can relax and enjoy the school festival.”
Victor decided to thank Sergio again later.
