Thousand Blade Academy and Big Five Holy Festival [3] – part 1

The day after the jewel robbers were subdued.

On the day before the Big Five Holy Festival, I, Ria, and Rose were called to the director’s office.

On the way to the director’s office.

「Mou! Right when we were having lunch…!」

Ria complained about Leia-sensei who suddenly summoned us.

The three of us were having lunch together and suddenly a call was made on the in-house broadcast.

Ria, who cherished the time of having lunch with everyone, was a little upset.

「Now now, calm down, Ria. Even still, it’s the director, I’m sure she is quite occupied.」

「Haste makes waste. And it might be urgent business.」

Me and Rose sided with Leia-sensei for the time being.

Even with the way she is, she is still one of the most powerful people in this country.

Besides, she is not only the director, but also the homeroom teacher of class A for some reason.

Surely she must have a mountain of work piled up.

「You might be right, but… she didn’t necessarily have to call us during lunch break…」

Although Ria understood the sense behind the summon, she doesn’t seem to be convinced of it.

「Maybe it’s just a small errand, and we would be able to return soon? Then let’s eat together again.」

「…Un, understood.」

While soothing Ria as such, we walked through a long corridor heading for the director’s office.

(This is a sudden summon, but since the three of us were called together, I have an idea of what it might be.)

Perhaps it is to discuss about the Big Five Holy Festival on the weekend.

In today’s morning’s newspaper, I confirmed that the academy fighting match ups were announced.

Thousand Blade Academy’s first opponent is, one of the Five Academy – Ice King Academy.

(But… even if it says Ice King Academy, honestly. nothing comes to mind.)

I don’t know any famous students, I don’t even know the achievements at tournaments or even the power relationships with the other four academies.

To be more precise, I’m not very familiar with the『Five Academy』in the first place.

However, that is quite understandable.

So far – for the me before pressing the cursed 100 million years button, Five Academy was as high as the heavens itself.

Normally, one wouldn’t gather the particulars about the world where they would never get to step foot into in their lifetime.

If I had such time, it is always better for me to swing the sword by even one swing more.

(But never in my dreams did I think that I’d be going to the Big FIve Holy Festival…)

You never know how life will turn out.

(For now… I will do my best)

Don’t hold back Ria and Rose at the very least, don’t smear mud on the good name of Thousand Blade Academy – I’m gonna fight with all my strength.

While I was thinking about that, we were finally able to see the director’s office ahead.

The black door, which is probably Leia-sensei’s favorite color, had a heavy presence.

On behalf of us three, I knocked on the door and a short「enter」replied.

It’s different from the usual joking tone.

It was an administrative and strong tone.

The three of us exchanged glances for a brief moment and then slowly opened the door.

「-Excuse me.」

Inside the room, Leia-sensei was sitting at a high-class black work desk.

Apparently she seems to be working, and was looking down on what looks to be a document, with a serious look.

The room was surprisingly tidy, but the pile of documents placed around the room attested for her busyness.

「-Sorry but, I’m right in the middle of something. Wait over there for a while」

Sensei said without looking at us whilst turning over a piece of paper again.

「U-Understood.」

I answered briefly and decided to stand quietly near the wall and wait.

Ria and Rose followed after me.

「「「……」」」

Nobody said a word.

Only the sound of sensei turning the paper resonated greatly within the office.

(It must be a very important document…)

Sensei was silently reading the document without even blinking.

It is the first time to see sensei with such a serious expression.

(…As expected, she is pretty busy after all)

Naturally speaking, it was a matter of course, but I recognized anew the heap of work of Leia-sensei.

While being a director of the Five Academy, she is also in charge of an entire classroom.

I’m sure she is managing a terrifying amount of work, where an ordinary person would faint, every single day.

Despite all that, in order to make the class fun, she behaves brightly in front of the students. For that, I greatly admire her.

(This is an adult woman…)

She looks somewhat cool.

After enough time passed,

「Fuuu…」

Perhaps sensei had reached a point where she could pause the work, as she finally exhaled while stretching greatly.

At the same time, the atmosphere in the office immediately softened.

She turned her shoulders around alternately, and as she was massaging her stiff neck, I spoke words of appreciation.

「Sensei, thank you for your hard work.」

「Aa, it was fun.」

And then, she drank the tea in the teacup with a satisfied look.

「Is that right, glad to hear tha-… it was fun?」

…Strange.

It’s a little unsuitable to say「It was fun」as an impression of your work.

Doubtfully, I moved my eyes to see what sensei had been eagerly reading — it was Weekly Shonen Yaiba.

Weekly Shonen Yaiba – a teen comic magazine that boasts overwhelming popularity among middle and high school boys.

Apparently, that’s what she had been reading all this while.

「Man, this week’s Yaiba was good overall! Especially reading all of it in one sitting was great! Let’s make a statement – this series will definitely blow up! The art is still rough and the story is also unrefined, but how do I say it – this welling up passion, like I could feel the『soul』in it!」

Sensei flushed and spoke so excitedly, just as a teenage boy would.

「…Is that so?」

I want to chop up the foolish me who thought sensei was『cool』even for a moment.

Or rather, to think that she had us wait all this while just to finish reading a comic… my emotions had grown from anger to disgust.

It was the same for both Ria and Rose. Both of them were breathing heavily with a furious look.

(Is it really okay for this person to be the director of Thousand Blade Academy…?)

As that tinge of doubt crossed my mind, I asked sensei about something that has been bothering me lately.

「Isn’t Leia-sensei supposed to be really busy? Normally, if someone were to hold concurrent posts as the director and homeroom teacher, I don’t think they would have the time to read manga…」

And then she proudly rubbed her nose.

「Fufu, no problem. Because I’ve left all the miscellaneous matter to this guy.」

And at the end of sensei’s line of sight,

「……」

A man sitting in a small chair was silently doing paperwork at the corner of the room.

「!?」

「Hii!?」

「W-Who!?」

Ria and Rose jumped back in surprise, and I immediately stood in front of them.

(S-Since when was this person here…!?)

It’s not that his presence was weak, it’s that I didn’t realize at all that he was there until now.

「Hahaha, a good response!」

Sensei laughed happily at our surprised state.

「W-Who is this person?」

Based on the outward appearance, he should be around his mid-thirties.

In spite of being inside the room, he was wearing a silk hat low over his eyes.

A magnificent handlebar mustache with both ends pointing upwards.

The unusual white and black stick that leaned against the desk was probably his.

「Let me introduce you. No.18, a servant in charge of my miscellaneous matters.」

The man called No.18, without paying attention to us, just gave us a nod from that spot.

In the meantime, his hands continued to work without stopping and processed a stack of paper at a tremendous speed.

As I tried to approach closer to greet him,

「Oops, be careful. This is a A class criminal who has been sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for 100 years.」

Sensei just said a ridiculous fact nonchalantly.