Chapter 96. Spring Festival Preparations (1)

After the midterms, the academy returned to its daily routine.

Radel entered the ‘House of the Undead’ with Gusto after the sun had set.

“It is certainly strange.”

Gusto said, looking at the basement entrance that had turned into a cave.

Although faint, demonic energy could be felt from inside.

“Right? To think an undead dungeon would form in a house.”

Radel nodded and turned on the magic lamp installed inside the cave.

As the light came on, the inside of the dungeon brightened.

Gusto was inwardly surprised to see that the revealed interior of the dungeon was quite spacious.

It was because clearing an undead dungeon of this scale was not easy.

“Did you clear this place alone?”

“Yeah, I did. I didn't have time to call anyone else.”

Radel told Gusto the story of how he had cleared the undead monsters using holy water.

The holy water consecrated by a bishop of the Supreme Deity Order possessed a stronger divine power than ordinary holy water.

But even with holy water, defeating undead monsters was a difficult task.

“It must not have been easy.”

“It was fine. The boss monster was weaker than I thought, too.”

Radel answered nonchalantly and opened a door hidden at the end of the cave.

It was a door that had been blocked off to hide the boss room when the dungeon was turned into the ‘House of the Undead’.

“This is where the boss room was. I usually keep it locked so people can't get in.”

Hiding the boss room was Radel's decision.

Other places looked like ordinary caves, but this boss room had a different atmosphere, no matter who looked at it.

Armandy, who had looked into the boss room before, had made the same judgment.

‘Letting the magicians know about something like this will just make things tedious. It's obvious they'll flock here, talking about dungeon research and whatnot.’

If that happened, it would surely disrupt the business of the ‘House of the Undead’.

It seemed they needed to find a different way rather than informing the magicians about the dungeon.

Radel decided to call Gusto first.

Gusto, being an apprentice holy knight, might be able to figure something out by looking at this dungeon.

“How is it? Do you feel anything?”

Gusto furrowed his brow as soon as he entered the boss room and approached the spot where Radel had found the magic circle.

Gusto placed his palm on the floor, where nothing remained, and infused it with divine power.

Fwaaat!

A bright light extended from Gusto's hand and covered the floor.

After a moment, he withdrew his divine power and opened his mouth.

“It seems the demonic energy did start from here.”

But the remaining energy was too faint, so Gusto couldn't find out anything more than that.

Radel nodded at Gusto's explanation.

“We should report it to the temple, right?”

Since Gusto also said the demonic energy started here, it seemed they needed to report it to the Supreme Deity Order's temple to have it properly checked.

“We won't be able to do business for a while, but safety is more important.”

Listening to Radel's words, Gusto thought.

Even if he had holy water, if it became known to the temple that His Highness, who had no divine power, had faced the demonic energy and cleared this place alone…….

‘This place could become a holy site.’

That in itself was proof that the Supreme Deity was looking after His Highness. If they reported it to the Supreme Deity Order's temple, the people of the temple would also be moved.

Gusto's heart was already swelling with emotion.

* * *

“Hello.”

Radel stopped by the Grade Representative Office for the first time in a while after the midterms.

He had come after receiving a message to come earlier than usual as there was a lot to do as a grade representative.

“Oh, the Black Falcon Dormitory's fixer!”

“We had a lot of work, so you came at a good time! Come and sit here.”

Pasion and Anesha greeted Radel.

Their gazes toward Radel seemed warmer than usual.

Even Shartea had a softer expression than usual.

“I heard you did something big during the midterms?”

Radel tried to recall if he had done anything.

He had only made an effort to take his Black Falcon Dormitory friends to the library.

“I only did what I had to do as a grade representative.”

Radel answered calmly and sat down.

Pasion grinned.

“Right, right. Thanks to you, junior, school's been fun lately.”

Radel never would have dreamed that his seniors had been secretly watching him kidnap his friend in front of the library.

Unlike usual, the seniors were sitting at the table, looking at documents.

“What is all this?”

When Radel asked, Shartea slid a pile of documents forward.

“It's what the grade representatives do around this time of year.”

Anesha also explained while looking at the documents.

“You probably don't know, junior? There's going to be an event at the academy soon. We call it the Spring Festival. There's another festival in the fall, but it's different from that.”

“During the festival, the general public can participate too. So we're also accepting applications for public booths. Our job is to do the initial screening for that.”

A festival.

Feeling a sense of wonder, Radel looked at the documents placed in front of him.

In the public booths section, various associations and famous restaurants from Marcellent were lined up, organizations that wanted to promote themselves through the festival.

“Noodles Instead of Bread Association? The era of eating only bread is over. We are recruiting members to take the first step in conquering the world with noodles. There's something like this too?”

“I think that was here last year too. It's a common strange food association. Put it to the side.”

Anesha, listening to Pasion's words, set the document aside.

A mountain of rejected documents was piled up like that.

Radel could feel that the academy's Spring Festival was a rather large-scale event.

“Marcellent Swordsmanship Association……. Takes the lead in popularizing swordsmanship? An association with the right spirit.”

Shartea muttered and pushed the document to the approved side.

Weren't the seniors' personal tastes being reflected here?

Radel had his doubts but didn't voice them.

The documents contained not only public booth applications but also participation forms from various temples.

It seemed the academy opened a certain area and provided a separate space for them.

Radel, who happened to see the application from the Supreme Deity Order, placed the document on the approved side and asked.

“Do outsiders often come to school events?”

“The academy's role was significant in Marcellent becoming a magical city. It's not always the case, but there are times when school events are opened to the public. They'll be accepting booth applications by grade soon too.”

“Right, how many booths are the first-years putting up this time?”

Radel shook his head at his seniors' question.

“I don't know yet. This is the first I'm hearing about the festival.”

“Professor Marianne will probably tell you later. In the first year, you put up booths as decided by your supervising professor. Last year, I also applied as Professor Cailin decided.”

The dormitory of the second-year representative, Anesha, was the White Fox Dormitory, and her supervising professor was Professor Cailin Gamenter of Alchemy.

As it happened, Anesha's major was Alchemy, so she had no choice but to see Professor Cailin often, both for her major classes and for dormitory matters.

“Professor Cailin is a real cheapskate, you know. Was the budget per booth last year 5 gold?”

“They give a budget too?”

Anesha answered Radel's question.

“Of course! How can students put up booths if the school doesn't give a budget? This is all money. The booth with the highest sales in each grade also gets a special prize.”

Pasion also chimed in at Anesha's words.

“Is this year's special prize Professor Cailin's special potion too?”

“Yes, Professor Cailin is already making it. He's been driving us crazy lately, telling us to get him the ingredients he's missing.”

“Really? Actually, I'm aiming for it too. The competition will be tough this year.”

Anesha nodded.

“Because it's a secret recipe that he doesn't even tell the alchemy majors.”

Listening to the story, it seemed the competition to win the special prize was fierce every year at the festival.

Shartea, who had been listening quietly, also opened her mouth.

“……I'm serious this time too.”

At his seniors' words, Radel became curious.

What kind of potion was it?

* * *

“A charm potion?!”

Inette's voice grew louder.

The Black Falcon Dormitory's common room was buzzing with talk of the Spring Festival.

And at the center of it was Edward.

“That's right, Your Highness. It's a special potion that Professor Cailin patented a long time ago. They say if you drink this, you'll have the effect of appearing attractive to people for an hour.”

Edward's friends, who were listening from the side, also opened their mouths.

“There's a potion like that?”

“Edward, this is the first I'm hearing of it.”

Edward snapped at his friends.

“You don't know because it's not sold on the market! They say it's only released in small quantities during academy events. Only Professor Cailin knows the manufacturing method.”

“Wow, to think the seniors were the only ones who knew about something this good……”

Edward's friends had resentful expressions for a moment, but they soon changed to excited ones.

They couldn't help but get excited upon hearing about the charm potion.

“With this, will I be the star of the next Imperial Ball?”

“No, no! The real deal is drinking it when you have a chance for a private audience with His Majesty the Emperor! If I get a charm potion, I'm definitely not using it until then.”

“Don't be ridiculous, how would you get a private audience with His Majesty the Emperor?”

They were first-years, each chattering with their own grand dreams.

Especially the nobles who liked to be in the spotlight, their eyes shone as they imagined using the charm potion at the frequently held imperial banquets or noble parties.

The charm potion was especially popular among the fourth-years.

Many people already wanted it, but the fourth-years, who were about to graduate, wanted the charm potion to prepare for the imminent job search.

Because if they used the potion, they could leave a good first impression on the interviewers.

Inette was also tempted by the charm potion.

When there's an imperial event, I'll use it to show off a cooler side than those other annoying royals!

Especially the 2nd Prince who acts all elegant and the 3rd Princess who acts all aloof!

She felt good just thinking about overwhelming them at an imperial event.

Inette asked Edward, burning with fighting spirit.

“How can I get that?”

“Each grade puts up booths at this Spring Festival. They say they'll give this potion to all the participants of the most outstanding booth after the festival is over.”

“We have to put up a booth?”

It was the first time most of the first-years were hearing about it.

How do you do that?

Just as everyone was chattering, discussing the festival.

“Looks like everyone's gathered.”

Someone who could answer their questions entered the common room.

It was the Black Falcon Dormitory's fixer and the first-year representative, Radel.

Radel attached a paper he had brought to the bulletin board.

On the paper was written ‘First-Year Spring Festival Booth Application Form’.

“Your Highness, this is……?”

When Edward asked, Radel answered.

“Some of you may know, and some may not, but the Spring Festival is being held at the academy this time. We first-years have decided to put up three booths according to Professor Marianne's instructions. The professor has arbitrarily designated three representatives, so I hope you will each apply to the team you want.”

At Radel's words, the first-years flocked to the paper.

On the First-Year Spring Festival Booth Application Form attached to the bulletin board, the names of the three people who would be responsible for and operate each booth were written.

The three royals currently enrolled in the first year.

Radel, Leon, and Inette.