Chapter 803
An hour earlier.
It was the day of the regular study meeting he had promised with Class A members. Simon arrived at the meeting place a little early.
Lately, he had become something of a hot topic, so he avoided crowded places like the campus library or cafes.
The members understood Simon’s situation, so they agreed to meet in an empty classroom on campus.
“Whew.”
Simon pushed four desks together neatly, pulled out a chair, sat down, and caught his breath for a moment.
Looking outside, he could see the campus garden in full bloom. White and pink petals fluttered down, and nearby, students sat on picnic mats, laughing and chatting.
A leisurely weekend scene on campus.
“Nice.”
Simon savored the pleasant breeze and relaxed.
Tap-tap-tap-tap.
As he rested, he heard dainty footsteps outside the classroom. Simon could tell who it was just from the sound.
Through the corridor window, he saw a bobbing head with a strand of light-purple hair swaying side to side.
The light-purple hair passed by the window, and after a long pause at the door—knock knock.
“Yeah, come in.”
Creak—
Finally, the wooden door slid open, and Kamibarez entered, her neat uniform skirt swaying.
“Hello, Simon!”
She held up a basket full of jelly and chocolates, smiling brightly.
“It’s Basket Day! I prepared this to set the mood!”
“Huh?”
She trotted over and thrust the basket toward Simon.
“If it’s okay, please accept it!”
“Ah. Yeah. Thanks.”
Simon broke into a nervous sweat as he accepted the basket full of snacks.
“Wait… what day was today again?”
Coming from a rural village, he always struggled with these kinds of commemorative days. It was hard to keep up with trends, and if he didn’t know, he’d fear the look of “You seriously don’t know that?”
But just taking it without asking felt rude, so he gathered his courage and asked.
“Kami, I don’t really know… what day is today?”
“Yes! It’s Basket Day!”
She answered with a voice blooming bright.
“It’s the day when you fill a basket or pouch with snacks and give them!”
“R-right. Thanks for telling me.”
“You can put them in pockets too! Like this.”
Kamibarez pulled out a small candy from her uniform pocket.
“It started in the Carlos Kingdom. They say it means to give someone love and blessings in full!”
Listening to Kamibarez chatter like a sparrow, Simon nodded.
Since the Dark Alliance was made up of four kingdoms, schools like Keyzen—with students gathered from across all regions—had to celebrate every kingdom’s festivals and events.
“Sorry, but I don’t have anything to give you.”
“That’s fine! Basket Day is usually when girls give gifts to boys anyway!”
“I see.”
Still, the thought of having to return the favor soon for Cake Day or Accessory Day made his head spin.
Creak—!
“Hey!”
This time, Dick pushed the door open.
He had a large stack of papers slung over his shoulder and was munching on a sandwich that looked hastily bought from a nearby store. Recently, after stepping down from the student council, he had been busy starting a business in Rochest.
“Simon! Kami! Long time no see, you two!”
“Dick!”
Kamibarez held up another basket for him.
“Basket Day! Here’s your present!”
Plop.
Dick dropped his sandwich in shock. He knelt on one knee, clutching the basket with trembling hands.
“Th-this… really mine?”
“Of course!”
Dick made a dramatic sniffle, dabbing his eyes.
“Haah, as expected… on days like this, only Kami ever remembers me. Thanks.”
“Ahaha. It’s nothing special.”
He proudly placed the basket on the desk, then sat down with a groan, patting his back.
“Ah, thanks to Kami, I’ll at least save face back at the dorms. Simon, did you get anything?”
“Yeah. From Kami.”
“Hahahaha! Then we’re the same, huh?”
Chuckling, Dick suddenly noticed something and reached out.
“Hey, what’s that in your pocket?”
“?”
Simon glanced at his pocket. Sticking out were lumpy rods—he reached in and pulled out a handful of candy.
“Oh.”
He gave a wry smile.
“Now that I think about it, I did bump into a lot of people on the way here.”
“…Kh-hhh, damn it, all the popular guys should just drop dead.”
Dick raked his face with his palm.
Moments later, Maelyn bounced in with a cheerful “Hi~!” She didn’t bring a basket but instead handed each of them a fancy pudding box. The boxes had basket illustrations printed on them.
Apparently, this counted too.
After handling the strange student tradition, the four of them sat around the desks to begin their real purpose: studying.
“Hey, did you guys hear?”
Barely ten minutes in, Dick spoke up with a sly grin.
“They say the second-year group exam is coming up soon.”
“Tsk.”
Maelyn, working on a problem set, shot him a glare.
“I’m on question two right now, you know!”
“It’s the weekend, can’t we take it easy?”
Kamibarez flapped her wings curiously.
“I heard the group exam is the second-year version of the ‘Island Survival Evaluation!’ What kind of exam will it be?”
“Glad you asked! I prepared some guesses!”
Dick eagerly spread maps across the table. Maelyn’s workbook got buried under the maps, and her eyes flared with irritation.
“Serin Island, Chenon Island, Garaon Archipelago, Lehlon Archipelago. Along with others, that makes eight total. All places directly supplied by Roke Island logistics.”
Curious, Simon stretched his neck to peek at the map.
“Looking at the map, I can’t get any sense of where the exam will actually be.”
“Right, you can’t tell just from this. But let’s talk about what the eight candidate islands all have in common!”
Dick grinned slyly, wiping the corner of his mouth.
“They’re extreme environments where not only humans, but even monsters can barely survive. I bet this group exam’s theme will be the same as in first year—‘survival’!”
Group exams had many variations—competition, cooperation, survival, and so on. Among them, Dick focused on survival.
At last, Maelyn sighed and put down her quill.
“Since we already did survival once in the first year, it’s obviously going to be cooperation, you idiot.”
“I’ve got a reason I’m convinced it’ll be survival! First of all, after the first semester of second year ended, there were way fewer dropouts than expected. The only ones who left were a few from the lowest-ranked squad in the finals.”
He held up his fingers to count.
“Right now, there are 370 students in the second-year, second semester. That’s way too many survivors. As you all know, Keyzen usually has about 1,000 students admitted in first year, 300-something in second year, and around 150 in third year. But our class has survived in unusually high numbers.”
So then, Dick continued,
“To balance the student numbers, lots of us will probably be cut during this group exam. That’s what the veteran henchmen and TAs are saying. It’ll also be a way to put some tension back into our loose second-semester lives at Keyzen.”
“Hm.”
“That’s why it’s not just time for studying. We need to sharpen our survival-related black magic!”
The theory had enough weight to make the air tense.
After his excited speech, Dick glanced around at his peers, then coughed into his fist.
“…Not exactly a cheerful Basket Day topic, huh?”
“No, I think it’s better to know early and prepare.”
Simon replied.
Maelyn brushed her hair aside with a scoff.
“Even if it sounds plausible, it’s still just a stupid commoner’s guess. Unless the school actually announces the exam theme, it’s awkward to prepare anything.”
Kamibarez nodded.
“Yes! Until then, all we can do is study hard and build up our abilities. In the end, that’ll help us survive too!”
“As expected of Kami! Alright, let’s get back to studying!”
In the end, Maelyn won. Everyone picked up their quills and resumed studying with vigor.
But the quiet scratching of pens didn’t last long. With a sharp crack, Maelyn snapped her quill in half.
“Ugh, those brats!”
Outside the corridor window, a group of students were peeking at Simon. Judging by their lack of badges, they were first-years.
When Simon forced a smile and waved, shrieks rang out in the hallway.
<Frozen>
Maelyn stormed over, slapped her palm against the window, and frost spread over the glass, blocking the view.
When the inside could no longer be seen, the students eventually left with retreating footsteps.
“Enjoying yourself?”
Maelyn grumbled. Kamibarez glanced at Simon, then lowered her gaze and returned to her work. Dick slapped his knee, roaring with laughter.
“These days, Simon is the talk of the school wherever you go!”
“…I just don’t get it. Why is he more popular now than when he was Student Council President?”
“Ha! You don’t get it, do you?”
Dick gestured with his palm toward Simon.
“In the past, he was just Aizel’s parachuted replacement, the second-year Student Council President! But now? He’s the president who stepped down because of injustice! Above all, he’s the rival of the great Demon King Ballack. Where else do you see such an image makeover?”
Dick rattled on, then tilted his head and lowered his voice.
“And right now, the Ballack student council isn’t looking good. You know what they’re doing? Because first-years are causing trouble with protests and such, they’re deliberately making the school schedule tight to keep everyone distracted. Plus, while they’re drafting the second-semester club budget, they’re giving bonus funds to friendly clubs and slashing the hostile ones. They’re doing whatever they damn please!”
“Ugh.”
Simon briefly thought of Fitzgerald, the head of the Mutant Club.
He felt guilty, worrying they might be suffering because of him.
“Our Sadam Club president seems troubled about the budget too.”
Kamibarez said with a worried face.
Dick nodded in agreement.
“They said if you resubmit your petitions properly, they’ll reconsider the budget. But you know what that really means? They’re saying beg for it. They’ve got every organization in their grip.”
“And on top of that.”
Maelyn joined in.
“They’ve taken control of the campus press to glorify Ballack, told the third-years to come down hard on the second-years… It’s pathetic, the way they’re abusing power right after taking it.”
“That’s why Simon’s time as president is being reevaluated!”
Dick’s eyes landed on Simon.
“When we were in charge, everything ran smoothly, right? Everyone’s waiting for you to bring Ballack down.”
“Hey! Don’t dump pressure on Simon!”
“No, no, it’s not pressure. I’m just saying this is the mood around school.”
Simon hummed, eyes closed.
“I didn’t realize the Ballack council was going that far.”
“They’re building an empire of evil. Most of it’s probably the work of vice president Sota Psyche.”
Dick looked Simon straight in the eye.
“The bottom line is: be careful, Simon. The public may favor you, so they can’t move against you openly. But with Sota’s personality, he’ll find any excuse to pin something on you.”
Simon nodded.
“Got it. Thanks for telling me.”
* * *
That afternoon.
After finishing the study session and running some errands, Simon returned to the dormitory.
It was already dark.
“Toto must’ve gone to wash up… hm?”
Just then, something was crawling out from under his bed.
At first, he thought it was an insect, but it turned out to be a Corpse Spider.
“No way—?”
The Corpse Spider waved its forelegs up and down, wagged its abdomen, and made strange gestures. Simon’s face broke into a wide grin.
“You all made it back!”
It seemed the Ancient Undead had safely returned to Roke Island after setting down Myurr’s warship in the Frost Field.
At last, Simon could see his Legion gathered together again.
“I’ll head out right away!”
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