Chapter 98. Spring Festival Preparations (3)

Leon's team was gathered in an empty classroom.

"We will now begin the festival meeting."

Leon, who knew that the other teams had started their meetings, had convened his team members after the lecture.

Leon looked around at his followers.

"Anyone with an opinion may raise their hand at any time."

Leon's team was mostly composed of magic supremacists from noble backgrounds.

It was unlikely they had any prior knowledge about festival booths.

The events they had attended were all related to magic, such as seminars held by the Magic Association and symposiums hosted by the Mage Tower.

A moment of silence fell in the classroom.

"Don't you have any good ideas?"

"Do you think I would? I can't think of anything right now."

"At this rate, we'll be of no help to His Highness."

Leon sensed that this meeting would not be resolved easily.

But he couldn't just give up.

As most royals would, Leon also had a grand dream of one day becoming the Emperor.

He wanted to prove at this festival that he was a talent befitting the throne.

Wasn't he given an opportunity?

Leon guessed there must be a reason for appointing the three royals attending the first year as representatives and having them put up booths.

"I want to make our booth the best at this Spring Festival."

Leon slowly began to speak to his followers.

"It may feel like a trivial matter, but I think it's an opportunity to show everyone that I am the one who will become the Emperor of the Cretian Empire."

Listening to Leon's words, the followers felt a passion boiling up from the depths of their hearts.

It was because they believed that Leon was the person closest to the throne than any other royal.

Magic.

They were those who were deeply moved by this mystical power.

The strongest power that had grown the Empire to this point.

And at its pinnacle stood the 9th Prince, Leon Silvert Cretian.

"I believe I can surely achieve my goal if you help me. Because we are all those who possess the true power of the Empire, the magicians. Are we not?"

When Leon asked, the followers jumped up from their seats.

There were even those who clenched their fists.

"His Highness is right! We will create the best booth!"

"We will join His Highness in his grand goal!"

"Glory to Prince Leon!"

Leon felt the heat filling the classroom and opened his mouth.

"Then let's hear your opinions now."

As soon as Leon finished speaking, the followers enthusiastically raised their hands.

"How about a booth that can show off His Highness's gallant figure?"

"First, I think it would be good to decorate the booth splendidly to make His Highness stand out even more."

It seemed the opinions were heading in a different direction from a festival booth, but…….

Leon liked that the atmosphere had become much livelier than before.

It was then.

Slam.

"Your Highness, I've received the budget from the professor."

It seemed the follower who had gone to receive the academy's support budget needed to set up the booth had returned.

Since there was a rule that the booth had to be set up according to the budget, Leon and his followers watched carefully as he opened the pouch he was holding.

‘Just how much will be in there?’

Leon counted the gold coins pouring out of the pouch with his eyes.

One, two, three, four…….

"10 gold?"

The follower of Leon, who had quickly counted the gold coins, moved his lips with a sense of emptiness.

Leon was also inwardly shocked.

10 gold.

‘What can we do with this?’

No matter how much it was a test of his qualifications to become the Emperor, wasn't this too much?

To be told to set up a festival booth with such an absurdly small amount of money.

"……Is this enough to buy a set of clothes?"

Leon couldn't hold it in and muttered.

The followers also nodded.

Silence descended upon the classroom.

* * *

"10 gold?!"

Inette's mouth dropped open as she checked the pouch.

"Is this all? What am I supposed to do with this?"

It was less than her weekly allowance.

Inette's followers counted the gold coins in the pouch and burst out in anger.

"Does this budget even make sense?"

"This is an insult to our Princess!"

"What are we supposed to do with such a paltry sum of money!"

The followers were now suspicious of the academy.

"We need to check if the other teams received this much too."

"They may have deliberately given us less!"

The followers, suspecting that they had received a much smaller budget than the other teams, ground their teeth.

At that moment, a calm voice was heard from among them.

"……This is about a month's living expenses for an ordinary person."

It was Tunia.

To Tunia, who was from a commoner background, 10 gold was a sufficient budget.

It seemed Inette's followers, most of whom were from noble families, were ignorant of the ways of the world.

"Is that so?"

Inette had a flustered expression at Tunia's words.

To Inette, who had lived a prosperous life with the allowance she received from her wealthy maternal family and the Imperial Family her whole life, Tunia's words came as a shock.

Knock, knock.

"Hello, may I come in for a moment?"

A knock was heard, and Radel peeked into Inette's meeting room.

He had stopped by to see how the other teams were doing, but the atmosphere was somehow unusual.

‘It seems they haven't come up with a good idea yet.’

Radel thought nonchalantly and entered the meeting room, then noticed the gold coins on the table.

"You guys got the budget too."

At Radel's words, Inette, seizing the opportunity, asked.

"Did you guys get 10 gold too?"

"Yeah. Isn't it more than you thought? We were thinking of having a team dinner if we have any left over."

Radel genuinely thought that 10 gold was quite a large budget.

Depending on how much effort they put in, it was a budget that would leave some money even after ordering the necessary items for the booth, so it was a generous amount.

However, he had not anticipated the economic sense of ordinary nobles.

At Radel's nonchalant words, Inette's expression visibly hardened.

This is left over?

And you're going to have a team dinner if there's any left over?

The followers who heard Radel's words also hardened their expressions.

There's no way 10 gold would be left over.

‘The 8th Prince has challenged us to a fight!’

In other words, this was a battle of pride.

It was the moment the followers' competitive spirit was ignited.

"Ahaha! We were just thinking it was quite a lot too. Right, Your Highness?"

Inette, who grasped the atmosphere at her followers' words, also nodded vigorously.

"It's enough! 1 gold is enough for us!"

"Really? I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of booth you'll have."

Radel, having no idea where their burning competitive spirit came from, cheered Inette on.

He thought that 1 gold might be a little insufficient to run a booth, but he just thought they must have some method.

* * *

Mana Training time.

Splash.

Professor Bronson cast his fishing rod and asked Radel.

"Are you preparing for the festival?"

Radel, who was dangling his fishing rod next to Professor Bronson as usual, was inwardly surprised.

It was because he thought Professor Bronson wouldn't care about school events.

"How did you know, Professor?"

"Those guys were secretly doing something. How could I not know."

Professor Bronson tilted his head over his shoulder and pointed somewhere.

Radel, wondering what he was talking about, looked in that direction and saw something truly suspicious happening.

The friends who were taking Mana Training together had left their fishing rods and were practicing magic.

If you're going to do it secretly, at least do it properly…….

It was plainly visible even to Radel's eyes, so it was absurd to hope that it wouldn't be noticed by the professor.

"I will go and warn them."

"Go ahead."

Radel spoke to Professor Bronson and then approached his large-built friends.

He wanted to let it slide if possible, but it was hard to just overlook them doing something else during class.

"Can I see you for a moment?"

"Hic, Your Highness?"

As Radel approached with a smile, the friends were startled and hastily hid their staffs.

"I saw you hiding your staffs."

"W-we're sorry."

The friends, realizing they were completely caught, hung their heads low.

"What kind of magic were you practicing?"

When Radel asked, they exchanged glances before one of them opened his mouth.

"U-um, actually, it's for the booth preparations……. We've been practicing 'that magic' since yesterday."

Radel finally understood what was going on.

Radel's team members were currently devoted to only one type of magic.

It was a core magic necessary for Radel's team to operate the booth.

Radel sighed and said.

"I said we'd practice together in the dormitory backyard later. No matter how important the festival preparations are, did you have to do this during class?"

Tunia, who had cast her fishing rod from a distance, perked up her ears.

‘Those guys must be Radel's team members.’

What kind of booth each of the first-year teams would be doing was confidential.

This was a good opportunity to dig up information about Radel's team.

‘What kind of booth is that team preparing?’

Tunia, raising her hearing, which had been sharpened by harsh assassination training, began to eavesdrop on their words.

If she was lucky, she might be able to get some useful information.

"N-no, Your Highness. We didn't want to do this either."

"That's right. We tried to restrain ourselves from 'that magic', but alas……!"

Tunia was dumbfounded.

‘What is it that you have to restrain yourself from……?’

Their voices were now trembling as if their emotions were welling up.

"Sob, we felt sorry that everyone had to stay late to help us because our skills were so lacking in the last practice."

"We couldn't stand not practicing. Everyone is working hard and doing well, and it felt like only we were falling behind……!"

Radel looked at his friends and shook his head.

"You guys are really……."

And then he placed a hand on the shoulder of the emotionally overwhelmed friend.

"But you can't do this during class. It's a disservice to the professor, and it's a nuisance to the friends taking the class with us."

Tunia couldn't believe her ears.

‘Who else is taking this class besides us that it would be a nuisance?’

But everyone was nodding at Radel's words.

"His Highness is right. We're sorry to the professor and to the other friends."

"It's alright, as long as you know now. And what's the need for practice? You're already doing well."

As Radel spoke with emphasis, the complexions of the friends who had been hanging their heads brightened.

"R-really?"

"Of course. You guys are good at magic. You even know how to use Heal on your own. From what I see, you're doing really well."

At Radel's words, the friends' bodies trembled strangely.

It seemed to remind them of the time they were beaten up by Radel and had to cast Heal on themselves.

Unconcerned with his friends' reactions, Radel added.

"All you need to practice is one wind element magic, so what's so difficult? Right, guys? Let's be confident, okay?"

Tunia, who was listening to those words, had a question.

‘Why are they practicing wind element magic to open a booth?’

It seemed 'that magic' was wind magic.

However, no matter how much she listened to the story, she couldn't get a sense of what kind of booth Radel was preparing.

And so, the academy's Spring Festival approached.