After dinner, we gathered on the benches in the open space in front of the dormitory. Since everyone had changed into comfortable clothes, our outfits were quite varied.
Three benches arranged in a U-shape next to the dormitory building.
This was the perfect spot for casual conversation.
"I want the middle one! Hahaha!"
Eir, dressed in a red tracksuit, plopped down on the center bench. With her legs spread wide apart like a king on a throne, she exuded the aura of a great general.
I looked at her disapprovingly.
"..."
Her tracksuit pants were stretched taut across her crotch as she spread her thighs in an exaggerated stretch.
The infamous manspreading pose.
The type of person I hated encountering most on subways or buses.
During my office worker days, whenever I saw men sitting like that, I wanted someone to step up and ask them to close their legs...
Eir, true to her status as the queen of the northern slums, had this unsightly habit.
"..."
"What is it, Spiral? Why are you staring at me like that?"
In my past life, I could only pray about it.
But this time, I needed to take action myself.
Snap!
I grabbed Eir's awkwardly spread knees and pushed them together. But she giggled and spread her legs wide again.
Swoosh!
"...!"
When I corrected her posture again,
she defiantly resumed her manspreading.
Snap!
Swoosh!
*Sigh... this kid.*
With the patience of a mother teaching her precious child, I closed her "golden gates" again. But our precious child kept reopening them while giggling continuously.
"What kind of training is this? Hehehe!"
"...!"
Snap!
Swoosh!
Snap!
Swoosh!
Snap!
Swoosh!
"Senior..."
"What... are you doing?"
"Starting with the weird behavior again?"
The juniors wore bewildered expressions. Their eyes held resignation as they watched our repeated opening and closing actions.
*Weird behavior?! This is etiquette education!*
Somehow feeling challenged by their comments, I once again gently folded Eir's knees together. But having realized the meaning behind my actions, Eir decided to play a prank.
"Yap!"
Evolving from manspreading to an acrobatic pose.
Eir spread her legs wide like a gymnast and placed them on the bench. It was an extremely flexible and beautiful pose, but... to me right now, she looked like a super ultra difficult child.
You.
Why don't you understand mom's feelings?
"..."
"Kekeke..."
This premium edition difficult child refused to listen. She continued to roll her shoulders and pretend to stretch, deliberately provoking me.
*I'm getting tired of this...*
Since she wasn't actually my child, further education seemed futile. So I gave her a light scolding and sat down beside her with a thud.
"Eir, you get 3 penalty points...☆"
"Kekeke...! Oh, declaring defeat? But what are penalty points anyway?"
"It's a thing♪ I'm not telling you~☆"
"Sounds like a loser's excuse!"
"It's not☆"
"It is!"
"No it's not☆ Mom didn't raise you like this!"
"Wait, you're bringing my mom into this?!"
Alvitr cut in between us. Her thick eyebrows rose in bewilderment.
"Seniors, what on earth were you doing?"
"A competition, and I won. Hehehe!"
"Ugh... the red difficult child won't listen...☆"
"Trying to control fire with your will! How foolish! Hahahahaha!"
Eir laughed heartily for a while.
She smiled broadly, showing her distinctive shark-like teeth. Then she exclaimed in admiration while taking in the surrounding scenery.
At some point, she had properly folded her previously spread legs.
*Was she just refusing to lose to me?*
Eir lifted her straight nose, took a deep breath, and spoke with satisfaction.
"Oh, the air is nice in this neighborhood? Hehe... In the northern wilderness, there's always dusty wind blowing, so it's hard to enjoy such clean air!"
"Of course, it's such a lovely place to live~☆ Being on a hill, we get a great view of Academy City♪"
Alvitr added with a wry smile:
"The 'location' is good. Though the school buildings have been renovated quite a bit, it's still rather old, which is a shame."
"That's mean...☆"
When I expressed slight dissatisfaction, Alvitr hastily explained:
"Ah, I didn't mean I dislike it!"
"You mean it's quaint and charming, right?"
"Yeah, and Clara senior is here too!"
"There's fun in building everything from scratch...!"
"Comrade Alvitr, that's a bit of a stretch... No, you're right. It's fun to make things with the tools Senior Maya left behind!"
"Yeah, and Clara senior is here too!"
"Comrade Rota, you said the same thing twice."
"Yeah, and Clara senior is here too!"
"..."
Glancing to the side, I saw Rota reading "The First Magic Book" in the sunset light. It seemed she wasn't listening to the conversation and was just responding automatically.
*Did she subconsciously understand that my mood would improve with some flattery?*
Afterward, Alvitr and Kara continued their lip service to ensure I wouldn't feel hurt. Seeing this, Eir chuckled and shared stories about her own juniors.
After the commotion died down,
we sat back on the benches, admiring the scenery.
The sky was darkening, and the streets were lighting up.
A cool breeze was blowing from the distant horizon.
Whoosh—
The ground still retained heat from the daytime, but the evening breeze carrying air from the distant plains was blowing away the warmth.
As the heat subsided coolly,
we began to chat calmly again.
After a while of trivial conversation,
Alvitr broke the ensuing silence.
"...Come to think of it, summer vacation is starting now."
Eir and I nodded in response.
"...Yes☆"
"That's right."
"What's vacation like in Academy City Jord? Honestly, since we pretty much do whatever we want normally... I don't really feel the difference."
"Not much difference—☆"
"Not much difference."
"..."
Alvitr seemed disappointed with our answers, pouting her lips like a duck as she looked at us. But Eir was still absentmindedly crossing her legs while gazing at the evening scenery.
"..."
"..."
As the silence lengthened,
Alvitr's protruding lips began to resemble a heron's beak more than a duck's. She looked like she might transform into a heron and fly away at any moment.
*Ah, I thought she'd just let it go... but she was genuinely curious. That's the expression she makes when she's truly about to get upset.*
I hastily provided an explanation.
"Well♪ You see☆ Larger schools have many classes during the semester and lots of students—☆ so they naturally need preparation time~♪ So they set aside this preparation period for students to try things they couldn't do before and have free time—☆"
"...Then I guess we don't need it since we're small."
"Yes! Exactly♪"
"Hmm... so what should we do during this time..."
"Umm...not sure☆"
While trailing off, I reflected on the eventful first semester.
The stirrings of Ratatoskr.
The attack by Grafvolluðr, the Priest of Corrosion.
Ofnir the Priest of Discord's schemes and the ensuing battle.
Public Vana Boarding School and Svart Industrial High School.
*With the two most troublesome of the five executives and mid-game events appearing consecutively in such a short time... basically all the events that should have happened in the first semester got pushed back...*
Petty conflicts with delinquent students. The struggles to resolve Central Prism Academy's poor financial situation.
Simple quests testing basic operations and teamwork.
*The delinquents are now just minor mobs that pose no threat... and our financial situation isn't that serious thanks to Hilde's support...*
...
There's literally no early-game story left. Due to rapid leveling up, most events, including the tutorial, have been swept away.
If I really had to force something, the only remaining scenario would be "Clara" getting kidnapped by delinquents in their distant hideout.
*But that's hardly a challenging situation now for Alvitr and Rota who've reached the third stage of Wave Aether... even Kara, who's still at the second stage of Vibration Aether, could handle it alone.*
I was newly impressed by how ridiculously stronger my juniors had become compared to the original timeline. Moreover, one of them already met the conditions for weapon true name release.
"..."
Twitch—
Rota's cat ears, still focused on "The First Magic Book," kept swaying in the wind. In her comfortable dress, she somewhat resembled the Golden Witch.
"..."
I murmured while looking back at the sunset.
"...Really, there's nothing left to do."
Ratatoskr and the Prophet's movements had stopped.
My juniors were finding their own paths and growing rapidly.
My physical condition was also gradually recovering with time.
To search for the items left by the Hero of the Flash and the Standard-bearer of Rebellion, I needed a few events that might happen in the second semester.
*Since Hilde said she'd handle the school events... what should I do now?*
While lost in thought,
Eir suddenly stretched and said:
"Yaaawn—!! ...If you've got nothing to do, come to our school festival. I should head back soon too, the kids' hierarchy should be sorted out by now."
Festival.
It was indeed a regular event that defined Academy City Jord's summer. ...In game terms, it was an excuse to showcase seasonal events.
*In the game it was just a minor farming story and an event to sell swimsuit skins... but now I can see Scarlet Academy's festival, which was originally skipped in the later part of the story.*
The words "festival" and "warrior's nest" that was Scarlet Academy didn't seem to match at all.
That's why we were surprised and asked:
"Festival?"
"Festival?"
"Festival, you say?"
"Festival...?"
School festival?
You guys?
You simple-minded, fight-obsessed people?
That was roughly the intention behind our gazes.
Eir grinned at our stares and said:
"Kekeke...! Didn't our school have quite a bit of exchange with other schools recently? So according to the kids..."
As she explained further,
we were shocked by the outrageous festival format Scarlet Academy had planned.
Their festival was essentially an unlimited field open PVP zone.
They created a venue of sweat and friendship(?) where passersby could fight freely and build camaraderie.
*Does Scarlet Academy have the capacity to manage such a rough event...?*
I wondered if a school with such a relatively loose—or more accurately, crude—atmosphere could ensure safety during such a wild event.
And so we arrived at Scarlet Academy.
The chaos disguised as a festival had already been underway for some time.
And...
"D-damn it!! I'm getting out of here!! This place is insane!!"
"Hiyaaaah—!!! You coward!! You're not worthy of being a warrior!!"
"What are you saying?! You commie girls—!! You're the ones attacking anyone carrying weapons!!"
"Hiyaaaah—!!!"
"Uwaaaaah—!!"
Sure enough... there were unfortunate delinquent students caught up in their festival.
They were fools indeed.
*
"D-don't move! Didn't I tell you not to move?! Don't you understand?!"
"...?"
"...?"
"...?"
Finishing my reminiscence, I looked to the side.
*Roughly third stage... barely able to use Wave Aether. For a delinquent, she's put in quite a bit of effort.*
A delinquent student was holding a knife to my neck. She had been the leader of a large gang that ruled this area.
But while patrolling her territory with her gang, she had unfortunately gotten caught up in the warriors' festival. And the hostage she chose to escape this situation was... me.
"..."
"Senior, are you okay?"
Alvitr asked with genuine calm.
She had truly become strong enough to handle this kind of situation without breaking a sweat.
"..."
Suddenly...
I felt like playing the damsel in distress.
The Clara kidnapping event I had let slide.
*There's no need to recreate it exactly, but having one story flow according to the original plot might be nice.*
I had been caught up in unexpected situations so often that I felt somewhat cheated.
Since there's no risk anyway,
and no need to worry anyone,
I thought it might be fun to play a game of tag.
With everyone watching right now,
since we were already visiting another school, I wanted to give my juniors a quest.
*This will be a memory for you all—☆*
I screamed with all my might and threw myself into the delinquent leader's arms. Caught off guard, she took advantage of everyone's momentary confusion to carry me away on her back.
Riding on the delinquent leader's back, I shouted:
"Kyaaaah—☆ Help meee—☆ I'm being kidnapped—☆"
"...?"
"...?"
"...?"
＊
"What...? L-Lara kidnapped?! I'll assess the situation immediately!!"
"I'll accompany you, Madam President!!"
"W-wait, Boss!! I mean, Hilde sis!! If you leave too, there'll be no one to do the work!! Please spare your cute secretary—!!"
Brynhildr charged out of the temporary office's main entrance, wielding her massive lance. Beside her stood Sieglinde, majestically holding her greatsword.
And Bell was sobbing, buried under piles of documents.
"Please don't leave me behind...!"