Chapter 117
A dark night over an old abandoned building.
With about an hour left until the assembly, I was moving busily on my own.
Though the place had been empty, I set up several tables.
I opened Subspace and laid out not only champagne and wine but also all kinds of food and tableware.
‘The food can’t get cold.’
I raised walls of Boogie at the vents of the abandoned building and lit fires in barrels.
Thanks to that, the once-dark interior now looked bright like a birthday party lit with candles.
It beca much warr compared to the last assembly a few days ago.
‘It was a lot of work preparing food for twenty people.’
Of course, the one who worked hard wasn’t , but Rupina.
‘To think she managed to cook this much food in just one day.’
I made cheese from the milk I churned myself and baked a large amount of Margherita pizza using herbs and flour from the field.
I also used up all the fresh vegetables and leftover crab at to make salad.
On top of that, there were also dishes like olets and eggs benedict.
The party table lacked nothing.
Step, step……
The sound of footsteps slowly grew nearer.
I quickly climbed onto the altar and waited for them.
‘Neither early nor late. They arrived exactly on ti.’
The mbers all appeared at once.
“……”
They looked puzzled at the tables set everywhere.
They never would have imagined that, instead of a strict assembly, I would be holding a party like this.
I lowered my voice as I answered.
“Welco. This is a feast for those who trusted and followed .”
Though my intention had been to reward them with a feast so we could celebrate together after safely ending the episode.
“But if you are wearing masks, you cannot enjoy the feast, can you?”
The banquet I prepared……
It was for a certain ‘confirmation.’
“For the feast, you may remove your masks.”
At my command to take off their masks, they hesitated slightly.
“The al after work is always the tastiest. I’ll eat well, Master.”
Gelhart removed his mask first, smiling with ease.
“Senior Gelhart was here too……?”
“Wait, what did he say? Did the Black Knight just call Gelhart his Master?”
Small whispers could be heard.
Once Gelhart removed his mask, others followed one by one.
If they didn’t obey my command, it would surely look suspicious.
“Nixie!”
“Torono?”
“Eh? You guys too?”
Once their faces were revealed, the surprise lasted only briefly.
Soon warm chatter began to flow around the food.
All the trainees here took off their masks and enjoyed the banquet.
I watched them carefully.
‘Many familiar faces from the ga.’
Nixie and Eris had done an excellent job of selecting the mbers.
I quietly admired them while…… among the unmasked, I confird ‘two people.’
Yes, that was the very reason I held this feast.
‘……As expected.’
I had so suspicion already.
‘So they were here too.’
I confird it with my own eyes.
Short-haired Curio and Narrow-eyed Luga.
They too had received recruitnt offers from the Black Knights and infiltrated.
‘They didn’t co because they truly wanted to join, but to check what I was plotting.’
I had known from the mont they sneaked into the Student Council Building with ease and swept away all the embezzlent evidence overnight.
With that level of skill, only Curio of the Shade among all the students could have managed it.
‘Well, still. Thanks to them, it helped .’
Using Curio had greatly aided in communicating with the Princess.
Regardless of their motives for infiltrating the Black Knights.
In the end, since they beca of help to , it wasn’t a bad thing.
‘The other mbers were sowhat helpful too.’
Originally, I had recruited people like Gelhart to launch a surprise battle against the Student Council.
But because the mbers collected information, it didn’t escalate into a major clash.
Having subordinates to handle chores was very convenient, but……
‘The Black Knights…… should disband.’
There was no rit in leading mbers while being watched by Curio and Luga.
‘Curio aside, Luga is especially dangerous.’
At present, he was the strongest in the world’s setting.
Narrow-eyed Luga would never betray the Princess and would remain her steadfast ally until the end.
That wasn’t why he was dangerous.
‘Being close to Luga…… risks exposing my true identity.’
No.
……Perhaps he had already noticed.
‘He might have found it strange that my mana is absurdly low.’
According to the setting, the strongest figures like Luga could hide a large portion of their mana.
But I couldn’t.
‘It’s not that I want to hide it—my mana stat is really trash-level low.’
Because of that, Luga might get the wrong idea.
‘If he notices that my mana amount is the sa as the Black Knight’s…… the scenario could collapse severely.’
The Black Knight’s identity must not be revealed to important characters.
Especially since among all the students, Villed had the most severely lacking mana.
‘Now that I know Luga is among the mbers, it’s ti to step away.’
I could already feel his gaze on .
In the middle of the lively party, I stepped forward to the stage and spoke.
“Thanks to your help, the Academy was able to escape the threat of terror. Rubin has been arrested for attempted terrorism, embezzlent, and impersonation. After the Student Council incident was concluded, everything has followed the scenario.”
“The internal issues of the Academy and the Student Council have been handled. Therefore……”
As my words continued, everyone here turned their eyes on .
“The Black Knights will not assemble for so ti.”
“……?”
Their mouths were open, yet no one spoke a word.
It was supposed to be the beginning, but was it really ending like this when we hadn’t done anything?—their faces were filled with regret.
“Do not misunderstand. This is not disbandnt. If I feel the need for help, I will once again call upon you to assemble.”
I reached out my hand politely toward the audience.
“When that ti cos, will you answer my request?”
“……”
Those in black coats exchanged smiles, then shouted with full voices.
“Of course!”
“Call us anyti!”
A loud cheer followed.
After their voices died down, I opened my mouth again.
“Thank you.”
With those words, I walked a few steps toward the back of the hall.
“Even if you do not wear the mask for a while, do not forget. That mask…… will always remain in your hearts.”
Swoosh―!
With that, I flicked my black coat and slipped out behind the building.
……Of course, I returned later in the quiet dawn to retrieve the tables I had left there.
On a weekend morning, inside the livestock shed storage room.
I woke up to the sunlight streaming in through the door.
‘……It’s warm enough to make sweat a little.’
I pushed aside the soft, warm blanket and sat up.
It was a specially made sleeping bag crafted from wool harvested on the farm.
‘With this, I could probably lie on a snowy mountain and not feel cold at all.’
I didn’t need a bed. It was not only warm but also incredibly soft……
I tucked the sleeping bag away in the corner of the storage room, then absentmindedly looked at the school uniform hanging on the coat rack.
‘……What’s this now?’
From the torn shoulder of the coat, the Heart of Ilawne was peeking out.
I grabbed it and pulled it free.
It had grown overnight.
‘This isn’t sothing I can carry in my arms anymore.’
It was no longer small enough to be called a wand.
‘Not quite a staff…… maybe a semi-staff? Or a long wand?’
Either way, it had grown into an awkwardly sized weapon.
If I forced it back into my coat, it would just tear like it had now.
‘I’ll have to store it here from now on.’
I opened Subspace and placed the Heart of Ilawne inside.
As for the torn school uniform, I didn’t care—Student Support could issue a new one.
‘About three weeks remain.’
The next episode was a major main story.
‘The Comprehensive Exam.’
From second year, students had to choose a departnt for specialized education.
But since each departnt had a set number of seats, you couldn’t just enter wherever you wanted.
It was simple.
‘If your score is high, you can go where you want. If it’s low, you get stuck in…… one of the unpopular departnts.’
Whether in the ga’s world or modern society, it was still a competitive system where everyone fought for limited positions.
‘The exam scores weighed heavily in deciding your departnt.’
Even if your first sester grades were low, you could make a coback by scoring high in the Comprehensive Exam.
Thanks to that, even lower-ranked students were currently training to aim for high scores.
‘That’s why Karin’s been busy studying and training these days.’
Among all the first-years, the only ones not really doing anything were probably and Lapin.
Looking outside the storage room, I saw Lapin playing with animals in the pasture.
‘……In truth, everything’s practically decided by the Comprehensive Exam anyway.’
I knew how to achieve the highest score.
But I had no desire for it.
‘I’ll just…… stay below average.’
The reason was simple.
Rather than academics, I wanted to focus on the livestock shed.
‘It’s not like I plan to enter a top departnt or devote myself to study. It would feel wrong to take up a spot unnecessarily.’
The highest-ranked departnts were Strategy and Tactics ‘Hawkeye,’ Dinsional Exploration ‘Finders,’ and Magitech ‘Alkymia.’
According to the scenario, elites like Heidel and Elined would apply to them in droves.
‘Nixie goes to the Red Hawk Knights. Eris joins the Blue Ivory Knights. Arowell already entered Briarflower Monastery.’
Karin wanted to study Totems and magic, so she would head for the Alchemist path.
If your grades were average, you entered the Combat Magic Departnt. If lower, you got stuck in the Common Magic Departnt or the Hephaestus Workshop, the equipnt crafting branch.
‘Ren…… I don’t know where he’ll go.’
That was the only future I didn’t know.
It was the sa in the ga.
The protagonist could choose any departnt depending on what they did.
So whatever Ren chose, it wouldn’t affect the scenario.
‘Before the exam begins, I need to finish this first.’
I opened the system.
Farm Lv.3 Upgrade.
That was the ssage displayed on the screen.
I had planned to do this after finishing the Student Council episode.
I decided on remodeling the current livestock shed.
‘Pasturing has to stop until next spring anyway.’
With exams starting in December, the shed would need to be empty for about a week.
By then, winter would arrive, and the animals in the pasture would be shivering from the cold.
In the end, upgrading the shed was unavoidable.
Without hesitation, I clicked the ssage.
At once, knowledge about how to proceed with the remodeling flowed into my mind.
‘……The ideas are coming to clearly.’
I gazed at the shed, lost in thought.
‘Expand the size, add stronger heaters……’
Goddess’s Tool Set.
With such a special item, the ti needed would be greatly reduced.
Around three weeks should be enough.
‘If I work hard, I should finish before the Comprehensive Exam.’
I walked behind the storage room.
There, piles of lumber and tal parts for the shed expansion were scattered.
Since I had enough gold, I had ordered them a few weeks ago.
‘……Alright, ti to get started.’
Awaiting the arrival of December and winter, I smoothly began the shed expansion project.
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