With a simple wave, we left the arena on the same elevator we had come in on. After changing back into my uniform, I regrouped with Colny and everyone else. She, Ville, and the black knight were all bursting with praise.
“Lera, you were marvelous!”
“Black greatbears sure are fast.”
“That was excellent!”
He he he, I’m glad to hear it.
“But how did you manage to tame such a creature?” Sheila asked.
“That can be a very troublesome mysticstock if handled poorly,” Thand added.
Those were very natural concerns. Gonsuke was docile now, but black greatbears were prone to challenging creatures stronger than them. Nielle had once said they were thoughtless creatures with busted survival instincts.
“At first, I tried exerting the sort of pressure used on monsters, but that didn’t work at all. It only made me more likely to get attacked. So instead, I bound him with a barrier and terrorized him with illusions.”
“Hm?”
Hm? Why does everyone look so surprised? Gonsuke’s been a very good boy since.
“Lera, just one question,” Colny said. “Did you do that in front of other people?”
Why was her voice so low?
“It was during class, so yeah, the instructor and other students were there.”
The moment I said that, Colny and Ville both sighed in unison.
“Lera,” Ville said, “even if it’s the academy, even during class, you went overboard.”
“Indeed. It would be terribly inconvenient if people started gossiping that you were a hazardous girl to be around.”
Oh come on. I had a black greatbear that needed taming, and I couldn’t take half measures with something like that.
“I take it you disagree?” Colny said.
“Well, yeah, that was a black greatbear I was dealing with. Tepid methods could’ve gotten me mauled.”
You generally put your life on the line when working with monsters. I thought Colny understood that.
“In that case, you ought to have simply given up! You’re growing ever more distant from the image of a lady!”
That sounded just fine to me, but telling Colny that would’ve invited a new round of lectures.
We all visited some other displays around the academy until about an hour before noon, which was my time to leave for the general magic performance.
“Well then, I need to get ready, so I’ll be going again.”
“Take care.”
“Give it your best.”
Colny and Sheila saw me off. As for Thand, an acquaintance had snagged him to have a chat. Ville and the black knight were quickly bombarded with a gaggle of girls. Ville had given us a look that begged for help, but Sheila had simply told him to handle it himself. She wasn’t one to spoil her oldest son.
Just like the previous year, general magic would be performing in a sort of, uh, coliseum-esque circular arena. Last year, however, we had been the festival’s finale, and the evening light beautifully complimented our spells.
This year, we would be the last to perform before noon, and I had to wonder just who had made that decision. I could hear people saying all sorts of stuff.
“Nobody really goes to performances at this time of day.”
“Yeah, everyone’s busy finding a place to eat.”
“Man, who put our performance right before lunch?”
It was just a hunch, but I thought a certain marquess I had never seen before might have something to do with it. But if he could do that, that meant his faction’s influence extended within the academy. Wasn’t that a pain? Lord Bilbroza had already interfered with the arena construction. Maybe our academy could’ve used some improvements. Good thing this time we had a tool to ruin their scheme.
“Everyone!” called the chairman, bringing me back to reality. “The timing isn’t what’s important! All we have to do is show them the fruits of our efforts!”
That silenced the scattered complaints better than I could have managed. After all, this would be the chairman’s final academy festival.
In the waiting room, we all got into our teams and ran our final checks without any gripes or grumbles. There was something nice about the excitement that came with the thought of working together to make something.
“General magic’s performance will begin soon. It will be held in the mock duel arena.”
There was the announcement. Still, I wasn’t sure we’d be getting anyone but friends and family since everyone would be preoccupied with lunch. But that was fine.
“Are you all ready?!” the chairman yelled. We all responded with an affirming shout. No lack of enthusiasm here.
Watching the teams enter the hall one at a time made me realize that the time had really come. To no surprise, some people grew a bit restless when they saw that some of us were standing not with a team, but by ourselves. They quieted down soon enough.
It was time to make our entrance. Lined up, we went in and got in our designated positions. Having already practiced here twice, we had written down our positions and labeled them with a spell. A “spike,” as they’re known in stagecraft. They couldn’t be seen from far above, like in the audience stands, but from where we stood, we could see faint numbers written in the ground. These corresponded to our team numbers.
“This is a good system.”
“Why thank you.”
It was the festival—even praise from the third prince sounded nice. Except as was so often the case, I came up with the idea and Bear was the one who’d spent three days making it. Granted, he had some help from the institute, so he didn’t have to make it himself, though he did have to set the spikes.
Thank you, Bear. You’re not the only bear helping me out. I’ll have to say thanks later.
Since we didn’t want to have any leaks, the top students had hidden the fact that they would be casting solo even during the previous practice sessions. By doing so, we managed to keep it a secret until showtime. Now it was too late for anyone to try to disrupt that plan. However, the enemy seemed pretty confident in the trap they set in the arena. But we had something to circumvent that too!