Chapter 28: Aftermath

Chapter 28: Aftermath

Southern Helia.

Yosen Magic Affiliated Academy.

Student Council's Office.

"For real? Such a thing happened?"

Enma Creed, the white-haired of the four Creed brothers, stood in front of the Student Council, delivering his report.

For him and Damian, it was necessary that as members of the Disciplinary Committee and Student Council that they provide a report of what had happened.

Everything that had transpired—from the moment they left Yosen to their arrival at the camp, then to the attack at the camp—was now under review.

The Student Council, rather, Eira had received reports from the Principal concerning the Anti-Order's attacks on the camp.

And what was most shocking even to the boards perhaps would be the fact that none of Yosen's students were harmed.

Still, details were kept to a minimum, as Shane had said.

Now was not the time to expose themselves to the upper echelons of the ruling world.

Eventually, the Creeds would make their presence known—but not yet. Now wasn't the time. Perhaps that day was close, but it wasn't yet time.

"But En~dear eventually handled everything, no? I think that's amazing, don't you, President~?"

Astrea.

A pink-haired girl with an elegant ponytail and heterochromatic eyes—one pink, one blue, but perhaps, what makes her stand out the most is the stars in her eyes.

Naturally, her magic was related to this too.

Starlight.

A magic that combines the power of light so dense it creates a new type of magic.

That is to say, anyone could probably try this; however, it'd be unsuccessful for most; rather, one would be able to use this; however, they wouldn't be able to use this magic as well as Astrea is able to.

Others would have to process the compression on their own; however, it clearly doesn't apply to her.

She had a natural physique that processes this compression on its own.

This is to say that this magic was made solely for this girl.

"Yet, to think your brothers also helped the instructors in clearing out the dungeon, it's amazing."

Emiya Kinji.

Those who know of him would know of his overwhelming intensity.

A male with black hair and eyes that neared Damain's crimson. Gambler supremacy, as most liked to refer to him as.

He may not have been on the same level as Eira in raw strength.

In fact, in this room, he was perhaps the weakest in terms of raw strength and ability, but his intelligence had earned him his position as Vice President.

Even Eira herself, along with several instructors, acknowledged his abilities.

He never fought battles he wasn't certain he could win.

And even when he was sure, he layered plan upon plan to guarantee flawless victory.

"Well…. Damian handled most of the hordes….. while Shane handed support... Kaiden took care of the barrier…."

Speaking of the barrier—

Shane had secretly stolen, well, to be honest, they did help him steal the crystal, and since they had gotten home the day before, he had been going ham.

According to him: "If I can just understand the fundamental mechanics of this thing, I can make something even better!"

Or so he had said. 

Of course, the end result of that? He hadn't slept. At all.

"Still, I commend you for your efforts, Enma Creed. You protected Yosen's prestige, and for that, I thank you."

The student council president had said so with a perceptible smile, taking the entire student council body aback.

Her smiles were rare, well, not as rare as the stacks of papers on her desk, but rare nevertheless.

Enma nodded before then pausing with a blink.

"Sorry to bother you with this…. but what is the Board's decision….?"

Saying that, Enma looked directly towards Eira, who excluded her glance for a moment before looking back at him.

"Some big families have been demanding of Yosen, the highly influential paranoid ones."

Kinji had said that, spreading his hands as Eira shot him an icy glare.

"I'm sorry, president, but I speak the truth, no?"

Still, that didn't change the nasty glare she was giving him. But as if deciding that it was not worth pushing, she relented.

"The boards want the A-class instructor to take responsibility."

"Hah…? Responsibility…? For what…?"

Noble people, or rather upper-class families, sometimes can be a pain in the ass, insufferable.

They could take the littlest of things and escalate it into something that could be solved easily.

They had talent for things like that.

Eira glanced over at Kinji, who nodded.

Standing up from his chair. 

Then, with an exaggerated haughty expression, he curled his fists, mimicking the tone of a pompous aristocrat.

"According to some certain upper class Lord by the way: 'The Blackwood should have put the students above everything else" or something along those lines."

"And, "putting the student's life in danger like that, what if the opposite happens instead? This is irresponsible!" Or so they also continued."

Kinji's performance was flawless, right down to the indignation in his tone. Enma merely sighed.

The possibility of this happening also wasn't small.

Considering they had been cornered, it simply wasn't possible for Celeste, with her condition, to handle a potential dungeon break while keeping students safe.

Not to mention the chaos that had happened outside too.

Shane's plan was really the best way to deal with it.

It was like playing chess where you'd been checkmated from three different positions.

However, the twist is that they—Yosen—had enough pieces to overthrow the checkmate and capture their king.

Oh wait, a certain someone let the king go…

"En, En, now that I've read your report, who on earth wrote this report? This report is too scary even for me."

A general affairs officer like her was used to receiving reports like this, as she manages the general affairs of students.

This ranged from events even to the daily mundane things.

However, Astrea was popular, so approaching her wasn't hard at all.

The only time any matter from the General Affairs was to be taken to the Student President was whenever they needed approval from her.

"Hm. I've noticed it too. Could this be the work of the hidden Creed?"

Eira said as she went through the papers.

"The "who" now?"

"I've heard of Damian's capabilities; the Disciplinary Chairman did tell me he challenged his authority."

"Wow, pretty ballsy of him. But in my opinion, I'd say someone like Kaiden is more qualified for the Disciplinary Committee. From what I can see, Kaiden has the restraining attribute."

Enma nodded.

They were all right, to say the least.

Kaiden, with his supernatural ability to restrain almost anyone, was certainly something that would be more useful for the Disciplinary Committee.

"Should I recommend him to the DC?"

Eira asked while levelling her gaze at Enma.

As for Enma, he thought about it.

To begin with, Kaiden had nothing he was indeed doing, and Shane had it worse, being dragged around by that woman.

So—

"Why not?"

Enma said while mentally telling his brother to give it up.

Though Kaiden, unlike Shane, wouldn't complain about some work.

"Good then, I'll send a recommendation over to him before the day ends. And now that the mid-semesters are getting close by, the entire committee would need a helping hand."

"Mid-Semesters?"

Enma tilted his head, hearing Eira had said that.

But then, Kinji's expression caught his attention.

The male let out a wry, shaky smile that bothered nervousness.

"Ah… yes… I forgot… It's that time of the year… hahaha…."

"Don't worry, En-dear, he's just traumatised because of the last mid-semesters."

Astrea had replied with that simple statement, but Enma knew it was far more than that.

"Well, do your best not to shame the Student Council."

Tsubaki, the most silent one of the Student Council, had spoken up, earning a few eyebrows from them before they burst into laughter.

Seeing this, the female blushed in embarrassment, hiding her face with her hand.

"Don't worry about it, Enma; it's just that, for the first time in a long time, we're officially re-establishing contact with the other side."

As she had said that, a heavy silence fell over the room.

Naturally, this wouldn't have been possible.

Additionally, this had to be done. The affiliates, in their own way, were trying to force them back into the open.

Especially after finding out that they had a hand in the Antti-Order attack, despite it being indirect.

But it did indeed happen.

"Are they trying too—"

"Yes. With the incident that has already happened. To ensure it wouldn't happen anymore, the affiliates are planning to re-establish connections with them once more."

After Eira had said that, Kinji had then added too.

"Since the Affiliates can't raise a hand against the Order, they want to remove the option of support from the other side; they're trying to corner the Order."

Then, under his breath, he seemed to mumble.

"It wouldn't work anyways; there are many ways the Order can still go about it."

Though Kinji muttered under his breath, everyone heard it.

If you indeed thought about it from a different angle. You'd see he's correct.

Shutting down the order's illegal connections to the other side was indeed a good idea by forcing them to re-establish an open connection with the affiliates.

But that didn't mean that they were directly cutting off every connection that would leave the order powerless.

Greed was a thing.

And people from the other sides were not impervious to a concept such as this.

"But then, how does that relate to the mid-semesters… oh."

Enma had asked but then paused as he came to the realisation himself.

"Don't tell me…"

With an obvious groan, Enma did begin to hate the idea that was forming in his head.

The official contact with the other side and the upcoming mid-semesters.

Damn the affiliates.

"You got that right, Enma; an inter-semester would be taking place."

'Dammit all.'

Enma thought as his shoulders dropped. Black clouds clouded his expression.

Were Shane to be here too, he'd have donned on this expression too, no doubt.

The only person who'd be fired up for such an event would be, no doubt, Damian.

"Hm~ But an inter-semester sounds chaotic."

"When has this world never been chaotic?"

"Ah, right!"

Astrea and Kinji nodded together as if they'd come to the conclusion of something together.

"Well, I have a little bit of intel from the boards. Apparently, it's supposed to be a grade grouping."

"Grade grouping?"

"Hm. Each class would pick a representative and would compete against other colleges, including the ones from the "other side," or so is what I heard."

As Eira said that, Enma put his hands together, then let out a lazy smile.

"Guess we're dumping everything once more to Damian or Shane."

"Hold on a minute, Enma."

Eira wouldn't let him relinquish responsibility so easily.

"I pick you. Become the representative of the A-Class."

"... This…"

"It's an order."

As he was about to complain, she had shot him a cold stare. He could continue to argue that he doesn't need such.

But, knowing her, she'd probably insist on it.

And even if he didn't agree, she'd just mess with the official records and place him back in that position.

Now, he had no idea of who had it tough between him and Shane.

Amongst them, Shane perhaps had it more.

Speaking of which.

"That's right. I was supposed to ask this earlier, but I didn't see our instructor today. What happened?"

"She's on an indefinite suspension for now. I don't know how long it will last; you can assume it already."

Yes. Since the families demanded someone take responsibility, it'd only make sense things would happen this way.

Now. Who knows how seriously Shane's going to take this matter?

Well, he'd leave that matter to his younger brother to figure out.