I got into school for nothing - Chapter 270
I got into school for nothing (270)
Lesson 53. Equivalent Exchange - 2
The day the regular special activities were held felt like a small festival.
While exploration of the Tower of Babel, strictly prioritized by interest and ranking, was paramount for discerning differences in student skill levels and their standing within the Academy, for energetic, high-spirited students, wasn't venturing outside for activities undeniably more stimulating?
Regardless of their performance within the Tower, quite a few active Academy students had gained renown across the universe through these special activities. Such students, those who elevated the Academy's name, naturally received more support and attention whenever they embarked on an expedition.
The formation of alliances between multiple teams for special activities was also clear evidence of the Academy's internal power dynamics. Naturally, teams that drew attention would be subjected to a barrage of stares even before their departure.
Today, Ban Yuwon’s team was precisely such a sight.
For an impressive three teams had formed an alliance.
“Vice President, what kind of utterly thoughtless behavior is this, to suddenly tag along...?”
Mira, standing before a large spaceship, directed a sharp gaze at the uninvited guest who had intruded upon their group.
The uninvited guest, Aire, calmly met her gaze and replied.
“It seems a precious friend is undertaking a dangerous mission. A harsh place that even a fairy and a demon alone would find difficult to handle; I shall accompany you.”
Without a care, Aire uttered a remark that disregarded the very Student Council executives she was ostensibly a part of.
And considering that those "precious friends" were two solo exploration students who had shattered all Academy precedents, daring to challenge the stronghold of the 400th room — a realm that even graduates could barely attempt —
— such a statement was something no first-year, no, no student from any grade, including the Special Class, would ever dare to utter, save for her.
“I knew you were arrogant, but... you.”
Mira let out a hollow laugh, as if utterly dumbfounded, and pressed her.
“Who exactly are you calling a ‘precious friend’? You’ve been suspicious for a while now, so let’s get this sorted out.”
“Me? With you? ...Is there a need?”
Aire counter-questioned, genuinely puzzled.
At that moment, Shatie firmly grabbed Mira’s hand.
In the blink of an eye, she prevented the concentrated purple wave of power in Mira’s grasp from erupting on the arrogant Dragonoid junior.
The essence, extracted by compressing pure curse magic itself, would have left horrific scars with just a graze—a testament to Mira’s ridiculously rapid mastery of a Constellation’s power that perfectly resonated with her.
“Shatie, move. I can’t kill that bitch!”
“As it is, many people are already unhappy about Aire joining the Student Council; don’t create new gossip here—!”
Ban Yuwon, who had been beside them the whole time, didn’t even bat an eyelid, even as Shatie performed an Evil Lariat to calm Mira down.
Having experienced the Rebel Force mercenary group spearheaded by his older sister, Ban Yumi, the squabbles of these two now seemed like nothing more than slightly mischievous antics.
He was especially proud of his own swift decisiveness, having anticipated the ruckus that would erupt the moment Aire appeared and promptly sent the other Rebellion members aboard the spaceship.
However, receiving such intense public attention didn't sit right with him, so he directly questioned Aire.
“It’s reassuring to have you with us, Aire. Are you truly accompanying us out of concern?”
“Half of it is that feeling.”
“And the other half?”
“Because I want to belong to Rebellion. This is a good opportunity to gain a sense of belonging.”
Such tenacity, one couldn’t help but acknowledge it.
Mira, of course, seemed greatly displeased, convinced Aire was targeting Ban Yuwon. But the A-4 Dimension was truly not an easy place, so the more reliable allies they had, the better.
Furthermore, the fact that Aire had not simply grown close to Rebellion but had reached the level of an "alliance," participating in special activities with them, was now widely known throughout the Academy as of today. That, at least, could only be an advantage, not a disadvantage.
“The schedule change must have been quite sudden, yet you managed to get permission from the Chancellor.”
“I exploited the Chancellor’s weakness from the last incident.”
Ban Yuwon had thought the Chancellor paying the price for his negligence only applied to him, but it turned out this Dragonoid young lady had also flawlessly pressured the Chancellor to get what she wanted.
Watching Aire speak so nonchalantly, Shatie finally let out a “Kyaha!” and burst into laughter.
“Talking about exploiting or not exploiting his weakness is something even the heirs of the Ten Great Families wouldn’t dare do.”
“Such as them, perhaps.”
There was no reason Mira, who mercilessly crushed even the most brilliant talents of the third year, wouldn’t equally crush the heirs of the Ten Great Families.
However, the location was far from ideal.
Since such words were spoken while three highly-regarded teams were gathered, drawing the attention of most students, if this were simply overlooked, it would indeed degrade the prestige of the Ten Great Families.
And for Ulrike Prominence, the heir of the Prominence family, who had been relentlessly stalking Ban Yuwon every single moment since the Union Founding Festival, this was an opportunity she had ardently wished for.
Aire was associated with Ban Yuwon, but she was not a member of Rebellion.
Moreover, this time Aire had explicitly insulted the Ten Great Families, so even if Ulrike stepped forward, it wouldn’t violate the condition of "not laying hands on students while enrolled."
“You’re having quite a pleasant discussion, everyone, aren’t you?”
“Not only did you utter harsh words about exploiting the weakness of the Chancellor, who presides over everything at Union Academy, in front of the public, but you also casually mentioned the name of the Ten Great Families. This is something that cannot be easily overlooked.”
“...?”
Watching Ulrike suddenly appear and rapidly spew out her piece, Aire genuinely tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
It was clear she wanted to say, “What are you going to do if I don’t let it slide?” so Ban Yuwon hastily intervened.
“Senior Ulrike.”
“Oh my.”
At Ban Yuwon’s voice, calling her name and intervening, her facial expression melted into a soft, mushy mess.
“Thank you for calling me by my name, Junior Yuwon. Oh my, seeing your face, Junior, even my unpleasant mood has settled.”
“We made a slip of the tongue just now. I’d like to explain in detail, but it’s related to the special activities.”
“Ah, it’s alright. Thanks to that, I was able to talk with Junior Yuwon, so I’ll generously forgive it.”
Aire’s expression, hearing those words from beside them, was anything but calm.
It was clear she was thinking, "Who is she to forgive me?"
Ban Yuwon frantically gestured to Aire, preventing her from stepping forward, and thought.
Could this clueless Prominence be so confident in her own superiority that she’d challenge Aire, whom even Ortima treated with caution?
What on earth did the Ten Great Families mean to this person?
Still, it was true that Aire had spoken carelessly, so Ban Yuwon concluded that he didn’t necessarily need to point it out himself right now.
“Ah, and... regarding our previous promise.”
Ulrike, who had approached to denounce Aire, had achieved more than she’d wanted, and just as she was contentedly retreating, she opened her mouth again. R@AnOBЕ+S
The sight of her fidgeting with both hands clasped in front of her chest was unusual.
“If it’s vacation, you can come visit anytime. Understood? I’ll make sure to capture the bastards who were rude to Junior Yuwon, so you absolutely must come and receive their apologies.”
“That’ll be difficult this vacation, though.”
“Ah—right, yes. I was too hasty, wasn’t I? It hasn’t been long since I made such a mistake with Junior. Ah, ahaha. Then maybe next year! Let’s talk again around then! That’s all for today!”
Perhaps Ban Yuwon’s somewhat cold words jolted her senses, for Ulrike retreated, blushing.
Not only Shatie and Aire, but even Mira, who had been knocked out by the Evil Lariat and only now just woke up, was staring at her retreating figure with a dumbfounded expression.
“The bastards who were rude to Yuwon... surely not... the Crimson Spear?”
“I’d heard that the Prominence heir was quite at odds with her family’s intentions, but I never imagined she’d treat even her family’s own subordinates that way. That woman...”
Shatie said, having even lost her usual teasing smile.
“She’s an idiot, right?”
“You just realized that?”
Mira said, even more dumbfounded.
“That girl, if Yuwon properly seduces her, she’d probably cooperate in ruining her family. ...Ah, no. Pretend you didn’t hear that. Don’t seduce her!”
“No matter how much of an idiot she is, she wouldn’t sell out her family for just one man.”
Ban Yuwon was dumbfounded by Mira’s words, but recalling how she’d severed her free pass into his mansion with a single simple phrase, he couldn’t entirely dismiss it as impossible...
“No, I won’t. I won’t do it, so don’t look at me with such worried eyes.”
“That woman.”
Aire provided the finishing touch.
“I’ll kill her.”
“Senior Shatie, praise me quickly. I set up a soundproofing barrier precisely because I knew words like that would come out.”
“I certainly praise you. If only you had set it up earlier, how great that would have been.”
“Let’s just depart quickly before more troublesome things pile up.”
Before taking his group and boarding the spaceship, Ban Yuwon took one last look around.
Although there had been a clash with an heir of the Ten Great Families in the middle, even that heir had fawned over Ban Yuwon and retreated, so the eyes of the students watching them were filled with envy.
Among them, two gazes in particular stared intensely at him—Russein Ortima, who hadn’t been able to find Dokgo Yeon since the Union Founding Festival, and Cartro El Fassis, whose "entire team" had died during the Union Founding Festival, forcing him to undertake special activities alone. Meeting their gazes, he let out a short, snickering laugh.
Realizing anew just how turbulent his student life had become, he boarded the spaceship.
Incidentally, Yumina didn’t show up today, stating she didn’t trust herself to see him off without crying; instead, she had clung to him all last night.
* * *
The D-13 Dimension was ridiculously vast among D-rank dimensions, but the A-4 Dimension was a giant star boasting a scale that couldn’t even compare to the D-13 Dimension.
“Seeing things like this, it’s clear that the grade divisions between dimensions aren’t just there for show.”
Even though they were still a great distance away, Ban Yuwon gasped, utterly astounded by the sight of the colossal red star filling the monitor.
People must be living inside, so it couldn’t possibly be a true star. But why could he feel such intense heat even from this distance?
Not only was the star itself impressive, but even breaching the dimension barrier was no ordinary feat.
Since the A-4 Dimension was Shatie’s home planet, she could easily pass herself and her companions through. But separately from that, the moment they crossed the dimension barrier, it was reported to the dimension’s major powers that a Union Academy spaceship had entered its interior.
“From now on, you must be on guard.”
Shatie, who was taking the lead due to it being her home, said, revealing her unusually elongated fangs.
“There are a great many factions on this planet, so regardless of whether we’re Union or not, there are many who will attack us if we simply annoy them.”
“What on earth does that mean? Are they planning to pick a fight with Union?”
“Mindlessly cowering at the name ‘Union’ is something for C-rank dimensions and below. When it comes to A-rank, especially single-digit numbered dimensions close to S-rank, they’re well aware of their own stature.”
‘Stature,’ Ban Yuwon thought, and looking at the steadily growing star, he nodded, agreeing that it was indeed massive.
“They know that the Chancellor doesn’t intervene for trivial matters. So while the distant powerhouses... the rulers of this dimension, won’t directly step out, there’s plenty of chance for the armed factions below them to test us.”
“Rulers... Now that you mention it, Senior Shatie.”
Ban Yuwon, sensing a strange nuance in Shatie’s words, asked.
“You said you’d get legions from your parents. What exactly do they do?”
“...Demon King.”
Shatie hesitated a little before saying that, but.
As for Ban Yuwon, he had anticipated it ever since she mentioned summoning an ancient demon and trapping it in the Demon King’s castle.
However, if her father truly was the Demon King, the ruler of this dimension, he couldn’t understand why the armed factions beneath him would dare test them. That question was resolved by Shatie’s subsequent words.
“He’s the man closest to hegemony in this dimension, Diabolo. Ever since I was born, up until now, it’s been a continuous war.”
Ban Yuwon, simultaneously realizing that this dimension bore a truly fitting name and that even the Demon King was not its absolute ruler, spoke with a subtle expression.
“So how are you going to get the legions from him?”
“I’ll persuade him.”
Why was she saying she would "persuade" him, while showing the back of her hand, inscribed with the Authority Ban Yuwon had modified for her?
“It is persuasion, right...?”
“If that doesn’t work, then there’s no choice but to blow up the Demon King’s castle.”
He’d wondered why she hadn’t said that.
Ban Yuwon, realizing that this special activity was more dangerous than he had imagined, turned his head for a strategy meeting—when Dokgo Yeon’s coldly hardened face suddenly caught his eye.
“Yeon? Are you alright?”
“It’s full of death.”
As if she had been waiting for him to speak, Dokgo Yeon immediately replied.
Ban Yuwon momentarily tilted his head at her profound words, but seeing her cheeks gradually flush, he soon guessed what she meant.
Her martial arts imbue the power of death into her sword.
It meant that star was filled with that kind of materialized death.
As expected, it’s an incredibly dangerous world!
However, Dokgo Yeon, as if she had encountered a fateful opportunity to advance her martial arts, said, sharply widening the crosses in her eyes.
“Won, will you help me? ...Like you helped the beast.”
“I’ll do anything to help you. But those words are like...”
It sounds like we’re about to slaughter everything on that star.
To Ban Yuwon, who added that, Dokgo Yeon merely responded with a faint smile.
Naturally, things soon unfolded just as she expected.
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