Chapter 13

The day after the jewel thief was apprehended.

On this day, with the Great Five Holy Festival just around the corner, Rei, Rose, and I were summoned to the principal's office.

On the way to the principal's office.

"Ugh! We were just having lunch together...!"

Rei was grumbling about Professor Reia, who had suddenly called us in.

We were enjoying a meal together when we were suddenly called by the intercom.

Rei, who values mealtime with everyone, was a bit upset.

"Calm down, Rei. She is the principal, after all, and I'm sure she's busy."

"Rushing is no good. It might be an emergency."

Rei and I tried to support Professor Reia.

After all, she is one of the representatives of this country, despite her quirks.

Moreover, she not only serves as the principal but also as the homeroom teacher for Class 1-A.

She must be incredibly busy.

"Maybe... but she didn't have to call us during lunch break..."

She understood intellectually but couldn't quite accept it.

"Maybe it's just a small matter, and we can come back quickly. If so, let's eat together again."

"...Okay, I understand."

While consoling Rei, we walked down the long corridor toward the principal's office.

(From the sudden summons, I can guess what it's about.)

It's probably about the upcoming Great Five Holy Festival.

This morning's newspaper had announced the matchups, which I had confirmed.

Our first opponent for the Thousand Blades Academy is the Ice King Academy.

(But... I don't really get what the Ice King Academy is.)

I don't know any famous students, their track record in the tournament, or their standing among the Five Academies.

To be more precise, I don't know much about the Five Academies in general.

But that's not surprising.

Before I pressed that cursed billion-year button, the Five Academies were like a world beyond my reach.

I wouldn't normally bother to research a world I'd never be part of.

If I had that time, I'd rather practice more.

(But who would have thought I'd end up participating in the Great Five Holy Festival...)

Life is unpredictable.

(For now... I'll do my best with what I can.)

At the very least, I won't drag Rei and Rose down, and I won't disgrace the name of the Thousand Blades Academy with a pathetic performance. I'll give it my all and fight honorably.

With that in mind, the principal's office finally came into view.

The black door, likely her favorite color, exuded a heavy presence.

I knocked on the door, representing the three of us, and a short "Come in" was heard in response.

It wasn't her usual cheerful voice but a formal and stiff one.

We exchanged glances for a moment, then carefully and slowly opened the door.

"Excuse us."

There, sitting at a high-quality black desk, was Professor Reia.

She seemed to be working, her face serious as she read something that looked like documents.

The room was surprisingly tidy, but the piles of documents told of her busy schedule.

"Sorry, but I'm a bit tied up right now. Please wait here."

Without looking at us, she said this and turned to another page.

"I understand."

I answered briefly and decided to stand quietly by the wall.

Rei and Rose followed suit.

"..."

No one spoke.

In the silent principal's office, the sound of her turning pages was unusually loud.

(It must be a very important document...)

She read intently, not even blinking.

I had never seen her so serious.

(She must be really busy...)

Of course, it's to be expected, but I was reminded of the sheer volume of work Professor Reia handles.

Being the principal of the Five Academies and a homeroom teacher for a class must be a daunting task.

She must be doing a terrifying amount of work every day, and yet she still manages to be cheerful in front of her students to make the class enjoyable. I can't help but admire her.

(That's what an adult woman is like...)

She's kind of cool.

While thinking this, I waited for about ten minutes.

"Phew..."

Finally, she stretched and exhaled deeply, signaling the end of her work.

The tense atmosphere in the room instantly softened.

She rotated her shoulders, trying to relieve her stiffness, and I offered a word of encouragement.

"Professor, you did a great job."

"Yeah, it was interesting."

She said this with satisfaction and drank the tea in her cup.

"Really? That's good... interesting?"

...That's odd.

"Interesting" isn't a typical response to completing work.

Suspicious, I glanced at what she had been reading so intently, and it turned out to be Weekly Shounen Yaiba.

Weekly Shounen Yaiba is a popular manga magazine among middle and high school boys.

It seems she had been reading this the whole time.

"Ah, this week's Yaiba was pretty good overall! Especially the one-shot was fantastic! I can confidently say it has potential! The art is still rough, and the story is unpolished, but there's a certain... passion, a soul, that comes through!"

She said this excitedly, her face flushed and her eyes sparkling like a child's.

"...I see."

I wanted to kick myself for thinking she was cool even for a moment.

Moreover, the thought that we had been waiting for her to read this... I was beyond angry, just plain exasperated.

Rei and Rose seemed to feel the same, sighing and looking deflated.

(Is it really okay for her to be the principal of the Thousand Blades Academy...?)

A hint of doubt crossed my mind as I asked a question that had been bothering me lately.

"Professor Reia, aren't you actually busy? Normally, if someone is both a principal and a homeroom teacher, they wouldn't have time to read manga, right...?"

She rubbed her nose proudly.

"Fufu, no problem. I've delegated all the trivial tasks to him."

Following her gaze, I saw...

"..."

A man sitting on a small chair in the corner of the room, silently working on documents.

"!?!"

"Ah!?"

"Who is he!?"

Rei and Rose jumped back in surprise, and I instinctively stepped in front of them.

(When did he get here...?)

His presence was so faint that I hadn't even noticed him until now.

"Hehe, good reaction!"

Professor Reia laughed at our surprise.

"Who is this person?"

He looked to be in his mid-thirties.

Wearing a silk hat pulled low over his eyes, even indoors.

His most distinctive feature was a well-groomed Kaiser mustache, the ends curling upward.

A peculiar white and black cane leaned against his desk, likely belonging to him.

"Let me introduce you. This is my servant, Number 18, who handles all my trivial tasks."

Number 18, as he was called, bowed without looking at us, continuing his work at an incredible speed.

I thought I should at least greet him and moved toward him.

"Be careful. He's a Class A criminal sentenced to a hundred years in prison."

Professor Reia casually dropped this bombshell.

"!?!"

We took a step back from him.

"Prisoner number 0018—hence, Number 18. Isn't it a good name?"

She praised herself, "I must have a great naming sense!"

Rei interjected.

"Hey, Reia! What are you doing, bringing in a prisoner!?"

"Ah, I said he's my servant. He handles document creation, communication, scheduling, and more!"

She said this without a hint of guilt.

It seems she had been looking idle because she had delegated all her work to Number 18.

Then Rose asked.

"Professor, what did Number 18 do? A hundred-year sentence is quite rare, right?"

"Um, he's a peeping tom."

She answered immediately without hesitation.

Taken aback by this unexpected answer, I asked for clarification.

"Peeping... like in girls' locker rooms or baths?"

"Yes, he loves female bodies, especially those of young girls in their teens. He traveled around the country, committing crimes repeatedly. According to his confession, he even peeped at the Thousand Blades Academy's bath several times."

Rei and Rose, upon hearing this,

"Ugh, that's disgusting..."

"An enemy of women."

They looked down at Number 18 with disdain, as if he were trash.

I had one question.

"Peeping is certainly a serious crime, but a hundred-year sentence...?"

A hundred-year sentence is almost like a death sentence.

I've never heard of such a severe sentence for peeping.

"Hmm, to put it simply... First, Number 18 is an alumnus of the Thousand Blades Academy. Despite his appearance, he's a highly skilled swordsman. So, even when his peeping was discovered, ordinary Holy Knights couldn't do anything, and he committed hundreds of crimes before being arrested."

It seems he was a super-skilled peeping tom.

"Furthermore, even after great efforts to finally put him in prison, he would escape immediately. He would tear iron bars with his bare hands or use chopsticks as swords to cut through walls during lunch."

Professor Reia sighed, "So, he repeated peeping and escaping over and over, and the accumulated sentences added up to a hundred years."

"I see..."

I understood that he was a dangerous pervert and an excellent swordsman.

Then,

"What are you going to do with such a dangerous person!?"

Rei asked a reasonable question, and Rose nodded in agreement.

As young girls, they naturally reacted strongly to the fact that a peeping tom was in the same academy.

"No, Number 18 is completely harmless now. I've thoroughly educated him. ...Right?"

She patted Number 18's shoulder, and he trembled, his face pale, bowing repeatedly.

"O-of course, Professor Reia!"

(What kind of education did she give him...?)

I was very curious but too scared to ask.

Sometimes it's better not to know.

"Moreover, Number 18 is also very intelligent. He has a Ph.D. in three different fields. In short, after discovering him, I used my principal's authority to summon him here and have him assist me with work. As I said, he's completely harmless now. There's no need for you students to worry."

"I see..."

I had many concerns, such as information leaks, escapes, and peeping within the Thousand Blades Academy.

But if the principal, Professor Reia, says he's harmless, I have to believe her.

Rei and Rose didn't seem convinced but didn't press the issue further.

"Ah, I got a bit off-topic. Since lunch break is almost over, let's get to the main topic."

She cleared her throat and began.

"I think you've already guessed, but I called you three here today to talk about the Great Five Holy Festival. As reported in this morning's newspaper, our first opponent is—none other than that detestable Ice King Academy! Those guys!"

She suddenly intensified her tone and slammed her fist on the desk.

"Ouch!?"

She must have hit a sensitive spot, as she quickly removed her glove and blew on her right hand.

"..."

It felt like we were watching a one-woman show.

"Ahem... I assume you new students don't know much about the history of this academy. I'll explain a bit before we get to the classes. —First, our academy and the Ice King Academy have had a beautiful rivalry for a long time. In the past, at various tournaments, including the Great Five Holy Festival, the Thousand Blades Academy was always first, and the Ice King Academy was second. Especially during my three years as a student here, we won every match—our generation was even called the Golden Generation..."

She said this with a nostalgic look, gazing into the distance.

(Professor was an alumna here...)

Surprised by this unexpected fact, I listened as she continued, her tone significantly lower.

"But times have changed—changed for the worse. Due to various issues, the Thousand Blades Academy declined, and the Ice King Academy followed suit. The media and the public found it amusing and ganged up on us... The terms 'fallen capital' and 'the beginning of the end' were thrown around everywhere..."

She furrowed her brow and clenched her fists.

As an alumna, she must have felt ashamed and frustrated.

"Furthermore, we even lost to the Ice King Academy... As you can see, in every tournament, the Thousand Blades Academy is now at the bottom, with the Ice King Academy just above us..."

She placed a sheet summarizing the results of various tournaments, including the Great Five Holy Festival, on the desk.

(...Indeed.)

From this, it was clear that the top three academies' rankings changed every year, but the bottom two remained unchanged.

For over a decade, the Thousand Blades Academy has been at the bottom, with the Ice King Academy in fourth place.

"The once-unshakable prestigious academies, the Thousand Blades Academy and the Ice King Academy, are now just a memory... And when we started to occupy the bottom spot, a problem arose..."

She paused for a moment before continuing.

"The Ice King Academy, which once had a beautiful rivalry with us, began to show its fangs. As if to vent the frustration of always being second, they started to taunt the Thousand Blades Academy... 'Ragtag Thousand Blades,' 'disgrace of the Five Academies'—they spread such slander everywhere. Those bastards revealed their true colors the moment we showed any weakness!"

"Unbelievable!"

"Unforgivable, Ice King Academy!"

Even the usually clumsy Rei and the usually calm Rose were visibly irritated.

After finishing her story, the professor took a few deep breaths and summarized.

"—So, for all these reasons, we absolutely cannot lose to the Ice King Academy. Moreover, this Great Five Holy Festival is the first tournament since I became principal. I want a crushing victory that will make the Ice King Academy cower!"

Rei and Rose nodded in agreement.

"Here! I stayed up all night to create the strongest lineup, and here it is!"

She slammed a sheet labeled 'Participant List' on the desk.

It listed Allen Roadel as the vanguard, Rose Valencia as the middle, and Rei Vestaria as the commander.

(I see... This is a reasonable lineup for the professor.)

I was worried she might come up with a crazy lineup given how passionate she was, but it seems she maintained her composure deep down.

(From this lineup, my role is to draw out the opponent's fighting style, techniques, and action patterns...)

Of course, the ideal is to win.

However, if that's difficult, the minimum task is to expose the enemy's information.

Then, Rose, the middle. As the legitimate successor of the Sakurahana Ichi-to Ryu, she is the 'ace' of this lineup. She will defeat the opponent's vanguard and capitalize on the momentum to take out the middle and commander. Her performance will significantly influence the outcome of the battle.

Finally, Rei, the commander. The only one among us who can summon a Soul Armor, she is suitable for the commander position in terms of both combat power and board control. In reality, she can wield overwhelming power as long as she doesn't get complacent.

(In other words, this is a very solid and victory-oriented lineup where I, as the vanguard, will exhaust the opponent as much as possible, and then Rose and Rei will finish them off.)

Nodding in agreement with the participant list, I said, "Hmm, hmm."

"Hey, Reia, why is Allen the vanguard? Wouldn't he be better as the commander?"

"I thought the same. Shouldn't the strongest fighter be the commander?"

Rei and Rose asked this.

(No, the commander should be Rei or Rose...)

On one side, the princess of a neighboring country who wields the Soul Armor <Primordial Dragon King>.

On the other, the legitimate successor of the Sakurahana Ichi-to Ryu.

It would be strange for a self-taught swordsman from the Grand Sword Academy to be the commander.

The professor, as if anticipating the question, chuckled.

"Fufufu, you noticed—yes, this is my strategy!"

"Strategy?"

The three of us said in unison.

She cleared her throat and spoke confidently.

"As I mentioned earlier, our goal is victory. But it's not just any victory. We want a crushing and complete victory that will taunt and mock the Ice King Academy..."

Rei and Rose nodded seriously, while I smiled wryly.

Personally, I prefer a quiet and sure victory over a flashy and overwhelming one.

She continued enthusiastically.

"As you know, the Great Five Holy Festival is a three-on-three elimination tournament. So, if our vanguard can take out all three opponents—then the Ice King Academy will be defeated without even seeing our middle and commander!"

"I see..."

"Indeed. If we aim for an undefeated and three-knockout victory, Allen should be the vanguard."

"Fufufu, the Ice King Academy will never expect our strongest fighter to be the