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I got into school for nothing - 111

I got into school for nothing (111)

Lesson 23. Even if it's a Lie - 6

Let's assume that a thriving nation in medieval Europe on Earth had a population of ten million.

Even so, its capital's population wouldn't have reached 300,000.

This country... the capital of Sanctum was no different; the population living within its city walls was just under 200,000.

That's what made it possible.

What?

A nationwide audition!

“Wow, what a sight.”

Ban Yuwon ascended a platform piled as high as a three-story building, looking down at the throng of people gathered in the plaza.

Although it was called a nationwide audition, realistically it was impossible to gather all the citizens of Sanctum, nor was it necessary, so only the residents of the capital were assembled here.

‘The space serving as the backdrop for the 27th room is limited to this capital. Of course, it's incredibly vast, but it means both allies and enemies can be found within it.’

It's an extreme view, but if everyone before him were to die, the 27th room would be cleared.

Ban Yuwon was once again struck by how supreme power was.

“Children under ten, adults over sixty, and pregnant women have all been excluded, correct?”

“Indeed. But apart from those, not a single person, even those with difficulty moving, was excluded from the summons. If it weren't for your renown, it would have been impossible, even with His Majesty the King’s command. Isn’t it astonishing, that all these people have gathered to receive your blessing!”

“It’s a miracle.”

Miracles, and magic, exist.

All created by humans.

To be precise, a fantastic combination of immensely strong state power and a being with overwhelming charm and recognition created the scene before them today.

Ban Yuwon realized that his activities over the past month had not been in vain, and tears of emotion welled up.

“Now you're even brainwashing yourself. It was really only two days, Ban.”

“Let's consider it by the Tower's standards for now.”

He hadn't known it when he proceeded through the 23rd room previously, but when a room was in a quest format rather than a simple exploration or breakthrough (which applied to all rooms in this expedition, starting from the 23rd room), it was possible to arbitrarily speed up or skip the flow of time.

While time was fundamentally skipped every time a shift occurred, it was also possible to skip unnecessarily wasted time while progressing through the rooms, which was how a month-long journey could be condensed into two days.

He would have overlooked this too, had Yumina not kindly explained it after watching the previous video.

...In fact, it was basic knowledge taught in the Tower Studies subject, but first-years hadn't been taught it yet on the grounds that ‘there are no cases of reaching quest rooms in the first year.’

“'Light's blessing,' huh? You're quite good at making things up.”

“Shhh.”

Rucell covered Dokgo Yeon's mouth, who was sneering from behind.

The reason there was no opposition, even when all the capital's citizens were gathered, was largely because Ban Yuwon had declared he would bestow a ‘protection from darkness’ blessing upon them using the power of the Starlight Constellation he supposedly served.

The public sentiment was already poor due to a plague (the main theme of the 25th room, a side effect of the power of the Dark Forest's Claw) and widespread murders.

At such a time, who would refuse if Ban Yuwon, renowned as the contractor of light for traveling the country solving all these problems, personally offered a blessing!

Of course, the contractors of the Wing and the Claw would not have willingly been dragged here.

But what could they do? It was an irreversible situation, and protesting now would only highlight them!

This summons was strictly a national order, and as long as it was accepted by all citizens, it was impossible for a few to secretly slip away.

For this reason, all the suspects were assembled here.

“Now, it’s your turn.”

“Understood.”

Ban Yuwon stood at the center of the platform, looked down at the citizens, and opened his mouth.

He also didn't forget to use Language Magic to amplify his voice, ensuring it spread across the entire plaza.

“Greetings, citizens of Sanctum. I have come here today to reassure you. I have come to repel illness and death, and to bring light to this city.”

If you sell medicine a few times, you might even be able to pass off cold medicine as a cure-all.

Having conquered rooms 24, 25, and 26 in just two days of real-world time, Ban Yuwon’s silver tongue had truly matured, and even before he got to the main point, all the citizens were paying rapt attention to him.

If anyone avoided his gaze here, that person was the culprit.

“I shall borrow the name of the one I serve to bless you all. Your fears will subside, and you will regain peace of body and mind. Neither illness nor death shall dare approach you.”

As Ban Yuwon spread his hands, a sphere of sparking light appeared between them.

During this expedition, two things had grown significantly besides his rhetoric: the depth of Judgment he gained whenever he eliminated villains, and the depth of Photon Magic, which had steadily advanced due to the light mana and dark mana that surged forth every time he subdued the contractors.

Though growth is fastest when the depth is low, his Photon Magic's depth was now an astonishing 50.

It was a number that Cellon had cursed and wailed about as a cheat multiple times.

But it seemed he had already forgotten that when they first met, Ban Yuwon had absorbed the concept of the staff and instantly reached a depth of 50 in Elemental Magic.

‘If even a hint of offensive intent enters this, it'll be a disaster, so I'll remove all aggressive abilities.’

First, he greatly increased the light's diffusion power.

Naturally, since he hadn't made a contract with any Starlight Constellation, he couldn't perform a 'light's blessing,' nor did he even know if such a thing existed.

However, he could create something plausible.

Drawing out the necessary mana from the ‘Mana Storage’ talismans he'd prepared whenever he had spare time, he individually imbued the sphere of overwhelmingly powerful light with Language Magic.

First, ‘Warmth,’ to soothe the hearts of those receiving the blessing.

Since he couldn't interfere with internal concepts, the result of searching for a concept that would allow them to indirectly feel a blessing was warmth.

Next was ‘Tracking,’ to find those who met Ban Yuwon's desired criteria.

It went without saying who he wished to find.

Beyond that, he added concepts like ‘Diffusion,’ ‘Harmlessness,’ and others to complete the magic.

“Receive your blessing.”

Ban Yuwon spoke with the most reverent voice he could muster, then burst the sphere.

The sight of it spreading across the plaza, packed with hundreds of thousands of citizens, was truly magnificent.

[You have gained a deeper understanding of light diffusion. The depth of Photon Magic has reached 55.]

―It grew again?!

‘Hey, I used up so many talismans packed with mana, of course it had to grow at least this much.’

The light that covered the entire plaza ‘blessed’ every single citizen without exception, and unusually, it lingered above the heads of some of them.

Feeling the warm light absorb into their bodies, the citizens murmured, thanking the gods for their grace and exclaiming in awe at Ban Yuwon's profound mana.

Of course, there were those who doubted whether this ‘blessing’ was truly a blessing—namely, some highly skilled warriors and the very few mages present.

However, even they were instantly convinced and silenced by what happened next.

“Unbelievable! The honored one has given me a command! To rise directly with those chosen by light and repel the darkness!”

As Ban Yuwon cried out with a fervent voice, they finally realized that this absurd event was nothing more than a play to establish a ‘legion.’

If this were Ban Yuwon's doing alone, as warriors and mages loyal to this country, they couldn't help but intervene, but now, Count Durk, the King's chamberlain, stood beside him.

In that case, it was far more natural to interpret this as Count Durk borrowing Ban Yuwon's power to establish a new legion, and there was no reason to object!

Well then.

That left one important fact.

Who had been chosen?

“Who on earth...?”

“Oh, there really are people with light hovering above their heads!”

“Thank goodness it's not me... no, they are proud soldiers!”

Those chosen by light.

In other words, those Ban Yuwon had sought with his tracking magic.

To put it even more simply, the contractors of the Wing and the Claw!

Instead of attacking them with light magic, Ban Yuwon was locating every single one and precisely locking onto them!

“M-Me? That can’t be! I have no power whatsoever!”

“There must have been some mistake. It's not me!”

Citizens who realized a ball of light was hovering above their heads panicked under the gazes of those around them, blindly denying reality, but...

Ban Yuwon didn't hesitate to drive the wedge in.

“The honored one has said. If those chosen by light gather and form a legion, they will be able to repel any darkness, no matter how profound! The power will be bestowed by the honored one. Do not fear, everyone, and follow the honored one's will.”

To be honest at this point.

Although it was called a nationwide audition, the existence of the audition itself was a secret.

All the citizens who had gathered here had done so believing they were simply receiving a blessing of light!

But could they truly express dissatisfaction with this sudden selection?

No, they couldn't.

It didn't matter if it was the God of Light who chose them or not.

At this moment, most people were thinking, ‘As long as it's not me!’

“Th-This is a conspiracy! That man is a fraud! He’s committing fraud against the nation! He’s impersonating a god!”

“In truth, *I* am the true contractor of light! The honored one told me that he is merely feigning righteousness while capturing and killing our innocent brethren!”

“Light? L-Light wouldn’t choose me. It can’t be! Why won't it disappear, this...!”

“Don't lie! Don't run away, just go forward!”

“Accept this sacred mission, friend.”

“The contractor of Light is calling you!”

Among the nearly 200,000 citizens, the number of those chosen by light was merely around 500, and the remaining 199,500 citizens willingly blocked the escape routes for the selected soldiers.

What if even one of them got away? Wouldn't new soldiers be chosen from the remaining people?

“Go on. Hurry! They say you must go to repel the darkness!”

“The Starlight Constellation chose you, yet you frown like that? Surely you don't have a complaint? If you don't do it, someone else will have to!”

“Get out! Quickly!”

“You've been chosen by light. Don't even think about running away!”

When a minority is in an unreasonable situation, the overwhelming majority will never act for them if their sacrifice allows the majority to avoid crisis.

Gathering all the citizens in one place was for this very purpose from the start.

This was the moment all of Ban Yuwon's endeavors, spanning rooms 24, 25, and 26, truly bore fruit.

“Huh.”

Making the overwhelming majority allies and deciding the fate of the minority at will.

Light sighed as he witnessed it.

“How, how on earth is everything going exactly as Ban planned...! Are those people all fools? Or... is it because they're fakes?”

“It's precisely because they're *not* fools that they're acting like this. Even if they're fakes, they still possess human selfishness. ...Today, I learned a lesson from Ban Yuwon.”

“It’s incredibly cool, but also very frightening. I'm sure even those watching the video will be scared.”

Though inwardly smiling wryly at his companions' words, Ban Yuwon narrowed his eyes and focused on his targets.

At first, they retreated with all sorts of excuses, then revealed fragments of light magic, claiming to be true contractors of light (the Wing). But they couldn't overcome the people pushing them forward, insisting that *that* was precisely why light had chosen them as soldiers, and so, the Wing's dependents were finally pushed forward.

Conversely, the Claw's dependents also made excuses like those of the Wing, but at a certain moment, they stopped dead in their tracks as if they had received some revelation.

‘Ah, so they went with that pattern after all? The Claw definitely seems smarter than the Wing, doesn't it?’

As Ban Yuwon signaled, Dokgo Yeon, Rucell, and Light, who had been waiting for this moment, quickly descended.

He, too, readied Eve, Tikke, and all twenty-five swords.

And then, it happened.

“Hahaha—hahahahahaha!”

“From this moment—it is the hour of night, ruled by the Dark Forest’s Claw!”

“That man is no mere contractor of light! Because we are—the contractors of darkness—who would never be chosen by light!”

A phenomenon completely opposite to what had occurred in the previous 23rd room unfolded above the capital of Sanctum.

Dark mana, flowing from hundreds of contractors, converged in the air, beginning to dye the entire area in darkness!

An artificial night had come.

“From now until our festival ends, it will remain night! I will kill you all, every single one!”

“You should be grateful that this 'contractor of light' fellow created this opportunity for us!”

“Kyaaaaak!”

“M-My body’s strength is...”

The Claw's contractors, whose bodies were transforming under the influence of the night.

Conversely, people began to collapse one after another due to the activation of the Trick, which rendered them unable to act at night.

His party members and dependents frantically moved to isolate and protect them from the contractors, but since they, too, were unable to act at night, a hellish scene would soon unfold in the plaza if things continued this way.

That is, if Ban Yuwon hadn't anticipated and prepared for this situation beforehand.

“Cellon? We need to hurry. Before I collapse too.”

―I'm ready. Those guys have a truly ignorant amount of mana. But its purity doesn't seem that high... Yeah, it won't be too difficult after all.

Photon Magic was a magic that commanded both light and darkness.

From the moment he saw the materialized Wings of Justice create daytime in the 23rd room, Ban Yuwon knew that the opposite could just as easily occur, and he had sought a way to revert the forcibly created day and night back to their original state.

“Here I go.”

―Alright.

The conclusion was simple.

As Ban Yuwon had also mastered Photon Magic and understood its structure, interfering with it and reverting it wasn't difficult.

Even less so with a slight addition of Language Magic.

And it was a concept he knew quite well.

[Reversal (反轉)]

The mana that had been profusely poured out and spread across the entire plaza since earlier, rose into the sky and clung to the dark mana that was conjuring the darkness.

[Dawn (曙光)]

And it tore apart the curtain of night, instantly reverting the plaza to daytime.

“...”

“...”

The Claw's contractors, who had transformed into beasts and then reverted, wore blank expressions, unable to grasp the situation.

Meanwhile, the Wing's contractors, who unlike the other citizens had endured the night covering the plaza without collapsing (thereby gaining even more trust and standing out), were equally dumbfounded.

This was precisely the atmosphere Ban Yuwon had intentionally created.

“What are you all doing? You should have roughly understood by now.”

Ban Yuwon smiled sweetly and commanded them.

“From now on, kill each other.”

“Ah, ahh...”

Any who refused his words now would be found guilty.

Fortunately, thanks to the Claw's contractors having initiated dark magic, which was calculated as a ‘first strike,’ Ban Yuwon's attack command incurred no penalties whatsoever.