The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 89

Chapter 89

I suppressed a yawn as I exited the main gate of Dragonscale Hall and headed toward the dorm.

It was unbelievably exhausting to finish up the student council’s miscellaneous tasks, all because Crista Warden inexplicably didn’t attend.

Just as the summer twilight was settling over the horizon, a familiar yet irritating figure appeared in front of the dorm.

“Hey, why didn’t you come today? Because of you, I had to do all the work you were supposed to do—”

Suddenly, something clattered to the ground.

It was modeling clay.

But unlike the individual pieces I had seen before, there were clearly more than ten at a glance.

“Thirteen.”

“?”

“Thirteen, the number of scrolls I fell behind you by in the first midterm exam.”

I couldn’t see his expression because he was facing the sun, but I could tell his voice was serious.

“I don’t have time to focus on anything else until I catch up. I don’t want to! You shouldn’t worry about that stuff either, and just focus on studying!”

“???”

“Well, I understand how you feel, but… we’re students! We need to focus on our studies! We don’t have time to waste!”

‘Studies? How I feel?’

I was clueless, tilting my head in confusion, when something suddenly flashed through my mind.

Come to think of it, I thought I heard his voice when I was talking to Valencides earlier…

‘He heard everything I said to Valencides.’

I remember the topic being that he’s a dark wizard and I’m going to monitor him, but I don’t remember mentioning that I was a dark wizard.

‘Or maybe he’s just smart enough to roughly guess the truth underlying the conversation, impressive.’

And he’s even worried about me, what a thoughtful junior. But it’s better to clarify things.

“Don’t worry. I’m doing it because I want to.”

“Wh-what?”

“And it’s not a waste of time. It’s very important to me.”

Crista’s face looked as if she had been slapped, and then, in the next moment, her entire face turned bright red.

“H-how can you say that with such a straight face! Important? How is that important! What’s more important than studying!”

A moment of silence.

“Wh-wh-what…”

“?”

“I-I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that! B-because?! Students should only! Focus on studying! Got it? I didn’t hear anything! Not last time, not this time!”

Then, out of nowhere, she ran away, leaving Rain without even a chance to tilt his head in confusion.

“What’s wrong with her?”

* * *

Perhaps due to the moisture from the slowly advancing monsoon front, the wind sweeping through the forest and caressing the skin felt strangely sticky.

A silence hung over the forest. The only thing slightly disturbing the otherwise peaceful stillness was the swarm of flies buzzing around the corpses.

Flies buzzed madly and maggots wriggled everywhere around the scattered bodies.

“The forest ranger said that when he found them, their limbs had already been torn off by wild animals.”

The Administrative Undersecretary reported cautiously.

Doran Slade, the Special Task Force Chief, quietly crouched down and picked up a pocket watch buried in the mud.

A symbol only given to the Special Task Force, Chief Doran always personally hung these watches around his subordinates’ necks.

“A mistake in personnel selection.”

‘I should have been monitoring Rain Ludwig while those two were sent there.’

The dark wizard who attacked the old man Rain in the Western Frontier was strong, but not a match for Tyrinted and Runen…

The veins in Doran’s clenched fist bulged sharply.

Madellia Page, the city’s lord who accompanied him after receiving the Administrative Undersecretary’s report, frowned.

“To defeat two Special Task Force mages alone, he must have been quite formidable. The Special Task Force owes us one this midterm exam.”

“Did he really defeat them alone?”

“Hmm?”

Doran, putting the ownerless pocket watches in his arms, stood up and looked around.

As if a massive typhoon had swept through, the ground was deeply gouged in places, and the broad-leaved forest was indiscriminately felled or burned.

Only natural disasters or magical power could so harshly destroy nature… meaning, powerful magic had clashed here.

“No matter how I look at it, it seems like three people fought and perished together. What we should doubt here is the phrase ‘no matter how I look at it.'”

“…?”

“Isn’t it too strange? It’s as if the scene is saying, ‘Don’t doubt it at all, these three people fought and died here.'”

Madellia and the Administrative Undersecretary could only tilt their heads, not understanding Doran’s words. They weren’t experts in this field.

“Your habit of making things complicated hasn’t changed. Doesn’t that mean the circumstances are clear?”

“To put it simply, it’s rare to find a scene where all the circumstantial evidence points 100% to only one situation. It’s awkward. I think the Administrative Undersecretary would know.”

“That’s… hmm, is that so? I’m not sure either.”

“Usually, several possibilities are raised, and then we choose the most likely inference to find the culprit, but this is strange no matter how you look at it.”

Doran’s eyes, usually closed in a smile, revealed pupils that emitted a chilling glint as they curved into crescents.

“There was definitely someone else here. Someone who wants us to believe that my subordinates fought and perished with a dark wizard.”

* * *

Gertrude Panton’s day starts at 06:00 AM. After finishing her school preparations, she heads to Crista’s dorm to help the young lady prepare for the morning.

In [the academy], it is, in principle, forbidden for influential families to dispatch guards or servants, so even the scions of powerful families had to fend for themselves.

However, if a servant-like figure like Gertrude entered after taking the regular entrance exam, the story was different. The school didn’t particularly stop it…

“It’s such a shame that the young lady could have become the top student if she had acted just a little more selfishly in the chief decision match.”

“…….”

“Hehe, is it true that a woman is like a reed before love?” [referencing a common saying about women being easily swayed by love]

I was teasing the young lady with Rain as usual, but something was wrong. From before we left for school, she had been staring out the distant window, and her movements were sluggish. Now, she doesn’t even react when I tease her with Rain as bait.

Then, out of the blue, she suddenly muttered to herself.

“Is it possible to focus on studying while having a romance?”

A bolt from the blue!

Gertrude’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“Wh-what do you mean by that?”

“No, I was just curious.”

“Surely nothing happened with Rain Ludwig, did it?”

As soon as that name came up, Crista’s face turned hotter than the morning sun.

“Wh-what are you talking about?! Nothing happened, nothing at all~!”

What is this honest reaction…?!

This is a disaster.

That womanizing young man must have extended his reach to the young lady while I wasn’t watching.

“It’s just that in novels, they all do it! They do well in school and have romances, so I was wondering if that’s plausible in reality. Ahaha.”

Crista whistled and feigned nonchalance, but my heart was breaking.

Gertrude wasn’t exactly in a position to support Rain and Crista’s relationship. To be precise, she was against it.

The reason I was trying to get them together was because the young lady’s reactions were cute and funny, not because I supported it…

“Young lady, what do you think of Master Ludwig?”

I need to probe her properly.

Since Crista isn’t honest, it’s most effective to ask her directly.

“What do I think? N-nothing? I don’t think anything of him?”

“It seems like you have a lot~ of thoughts about him.”

“I said I don’t, you idiot!”

Oh, this cold reaction.

I guess I don’t have to worry.

“I guess so. The pure and noble young lady and the womanizing Master Personality, who can’t control himself around women, don’t suit each other at all.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and spoke ill of him, but Crista’s reaction was strange. She busily twisted her bangs with her fingers and shyly averted her gaze.

“Well, yeah… that’s true. But he’s not as bad as his nickname suggests.”

?

“Well, he must have had his reasons. That guy seems to have his own beliefs or something…”

I’m sorry, young lady…?!

You’re about to fall completely…?!?

‘Emergency! Emergency! It’s a super emergency, Gertrude Panton!!!’

I have to come up with a plan. I need a plan to prevent their relationship from progressing any further.

‘That is the duty given to me, Gertrude, the heir of the Panton family, which serves the Warden family!!!’

As Gertrude headed to the classroom, she had to spin her brain at high speed, clutching her head with both hands.

* * *

The classroom was bustling from the entrance of Dragonscale Hall, the 1st-year faculty building.

With all the exams of the first semester finished and the seasonal festival just a month away, the school was filled with excitement.

But Kasena Page’s heart was uneasy. It was getting more and more uncomfortable.

“Hey, let’s go to the student council. There’s a morning meeting.”

“Ah, I understand…!”

“Understand? What are you practicing for a play?”

Lately, she’s been hanging around with that Rain, and the atmosphere between the annoying girl and Rain is a little strange.

Actually, I don’t care what kind of girl Rain hangs out with, I really don’t…!

Still, as a friend, I should warn her that trusting such an annoying villainess will cause her great harm later.

‘But there’s no way to separate them.’

Before, she had insisted on going with them, but Rain had firmly shaken his head.

– Only student council members can go to the student council, why are you trying to go?

No answer possible.

As soon as she got home, she begged Madellia to let her join the student council, but she was told that it was impossible no matter what she did.

– The student council boasts a long and distinguished tradition. Only the top and runner-up students can join, so its light has not faded.

– …….

– Kasena, I really want to grant all your wishes, but if I do this on my own, it will only cause bad things for you.

Ugh….

She was racking her brains and staring at Rain’s empty seat when, strangely enough, Crista’s subordinate also had the same expression as her, gnawing at her fingernails.

“Stop chattering and pay attention to me, you morons who are worth less than dwarf poop!”

It was a tradition at the seasonal festival for each class, as well as clubs, to choose a theme and present it to other students and festival guests.

That’s why Professor Owen was standing in front of the podium with a constipated expression from the morning.

“From now on, I will find two guys who will slave away for the class like toilet slaves, but no one will recognize them! Raise your hands quickly.”

Owen yelled and wrote the titles on the blackboard with chalk, using fingers that were bulging with veins and muscles.

[Event Committee]

Event committee? What is that?

Other students had the same expression as Kasena, so Owen sighed as if he was sorry and explained.

“Because the student council guys, who are worse than pig poop, whine that they have too much work every festival, [the academy] has a tradition of dispatching two slaves from each class during the festival period.”

“???”

“That’s one of the long-standing evils of [the academy] that has been passed down to this day under the name of this event committee.”

Then, one student muttered, “Wow~ that’s a cool name,” and Owen glared at him.

“You stupid guy, it may look good, but it’s just a shackle! You’ll be a slave to those arrogant bastards in the student council!”

“!!!”

“Do you understand now? Is there any mindless monkey who will sacrifice himself for the class knowing all this?”

Of course, there was no one.

‘No, are you telling me to do it or not….’

Owen smiled slyly as if he liked the students’ expressions.

“Then good! I’ll start a truth game from now on.”

But then Kasena’s eyes lit up.

‘Working with the student council?’

‘So, even if you’re not a student council member, you can interfere with student council activities?’

“Write down the name of the student you don’t like and submit it. The two guys who get the most votes—”

Then, someone cut off Owen’s words and raised their hand, making a voice. There were two people, almost at the same time.

“—Me! I’ll do it!”

“—I’ll do it!”

Owen and the other students turned to look at the source of the voices as if they were dumbfounded… but the people involved were looking at each other with even more dumbfounded expressions.

“Page… young lady?”

“That fox’s… lackey?”

Gertrude Panton and Kasena Page.

It was the moment when two people with the same mission became the event committee members of the [Clear River] class.

Of course, it will be revealed at the student council meeting after school that day that it was a meaningless choice….