I got into school for nothing - 319
I got into school for nothing (319)
Lesson 62. Change - 4
Once a long-term exploration concluded, it was customary to embark on team-based long-term special activities.
However, this semester, this was omitted because all dimensions were in an uproar due to the aftermath of a great conflict, an event that might occur only once every few hundred years.
With the universe now brimming with variables, if students were to go out for special activities and something were to go wrong, even Union Academy wouldn't be able to simply overlook it.
The Chancellor announced the cancellation of special activities for this semester only, and an extension of the vacation period by two weeks.
Even Union students, who studied with their sights set on the Tower's peak and the God's Seat beyond, couldn't help but cheer at the extended break.
The same went for Ban Yuwon.
“Then, from this moment, I declare the Rebellion end-of-semester party officially open.”
On the end-of-semester celebration cake, personally baked by Rucell, delicately crafted sugar figurines struck various poses. Among them, a Rucell figurine in a wedding dress and a Ban Yuwon figurine in a tuxedo were beautifully embracing. Seeing this, Mira furrowed her brows and snapped her fingers.
With a flick, the Mira figurine and Rucell figurine precisely swapped places, instantly creating a scandalous scene where the groom seemed to abandon his freshly wedded bride to embrace another woman.
“Ahhh, Sister Mira!”
“You started the provocation.”
“Stop fighting and let’s start the meeting!”
Shatie shouted, slamming her hand down on the table.
With the mana-infused heat subtly radiating from her hand, all the sugar figurines on the cake melted into a gooey mess, coating the cake in a layer of sugary glaze.
Ban Yuwon admired Shatie’s delicate control over her power, then gave the candles a quick puff, extinguishing them.
“Well, let’s talk while we eat now.”
“It looked so nice, but you melted it all...”
“My figurine was all alone, isolated, and looked sad. So I just melted them all together to become one.”
“Senior, please, for the love of all that is holy, never take an interest in something like the ‘Human Complementarity Project’.”
Ban Yuwon, using his refined knife skills, precisely divided the cake into seven slices.
The other members hesitated, seeing the number of slices, but Ban Yuwon, after distributing a slice to each of his companions, pulled two slices towards himself and chuckled as if it were nothing.
“I know, I know. But this is a gathering to wrap up a year of Rebellion activities, so I wanted to save Dokgo Yeon's share too.”
Ban Yuwon neatly packaged one slice and placed it into his inventory, then shrugged as he cut his own portion of cake with a fork.
“What should we talk about? Should I start? I suppose we can’t *not* talk about the Rebellion channel, can we—?”
“Such things don’t matter.”
Aire, who was quietly manipulating the sugar stuck to her received slice of cake to re-create her own figurine, said softly.
“Yuwon, come to Melodia as you promised.”
“Hmm.”
Rucell, about to interject to keep Aire in check, remembered his visit to her dimension during the summer vacation and closed her mouth.
Perhaps fortunately, Mira, who stepped up instead, was a little bolder than Rucell.
“Fairytale also wants to invite you again. You’re practically the savior of all fairies, after all. Of course... the Fairy Queen, who doesn’t act her age, might bother you a little.”
“Melodia also provided aid to Fairytale. If anyone is to offer thanks, Melodia should be first.”
Facing the unyielding Aire, Mira grinned and added.
“Right, so we can all go together after stopping by Fairytale. As Fairytale’s successor, it’s only proper that I convey our gratitude alongside Yuwon.”
“The Head of Public Relations is insubordinate to the Vice President...”
“This one really has no filter when talking to her senior.”
The atmosphere finally lightened a little.
Perhaps the two of them were aiming for that, staging their little quarrel.
...Right?
“I’ll go to Melodia alone. Aire, it won’t take too long, will it?”
“It would be enjoyable to spend the vacation together, discussing magic.”
Strange, he had certainly felt like he was treating Aire as just a friend, but at some point, Aire seemed to have started approaching him a little more overtly....
Aire was disappointed at his words that he would just take care of business and leave, but this soon became an opportunity for the others.
“Honey, you’ll come straight to Fairytale after visiting Melodia, right?”
“My parents also participated in this war. They’re a little disappointed they didn’t get to properly greet their master then.”
“Ah, ahhh! Our national guardian knights too! They kept asking me that they wanted to see the King’s Son-in-Law—!”
“My apologies, everyone.”
However, all of them soon found themselves in the same sunken boat as Aire.
“There’s a place I need to go to alone. It might finish early, but... if possible, I want to stay there for the entire vacation.”
“Ugh.”
Mira, sensing Ban Yuwon’s strong will, flung herself into his arms.
“Then I’ll just hug you a lot right now.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to give you much attention, Mira.”
“It’s alright, just treat me well until you leave.”
Ban Yuwon patted Mira’s back, a wry smile on his face.
Rucell, who had a rough idea of where he intended to go, also sighed and withdrew.
“Next time, we’re going together. I also have something I need to repay.”
“Alright, I understand.”
“Light, you too.”
“Huh? Where is Yuwon going that— Oh, I got it! Actually, I don’t know, but anyway!”
With the issue of Ban Yuwon’s whereabouts, which had been the biggest topic of the Rebellion meeting, ending so anticlimactically, the group quietly ate cake and drank champagne.
Then, as if a thought had just occurred to her, Shatie spoke.
“What about Professor Yumina? She’s not usually one to miss events like this.”
“She’s gotten incredibly busy since becoming Vice Chancellor. I’d bet she won’t even dream of attending personal gatherings until the second year starts. How about Professor Campanella?”
“Ah—it seems the shock of a heartbreak, accompanied by physical trauma, was too much for her. She’s been gloomy lately.”
“...Is she perhaps resentful of me?”
“Not at all.”
Shatie shook her head dismissively.
“Rather, she blamed herself... for how things turned out, and she’s been reproaching herself greatly. It might sound a little shameless to ask this, but would you mind meeting her sometime later? She’s a soft-hearted person.”
“Well, we’ll be seeing each other often in the future, anyway.”
“Huh?”
Shatie perked up her ears.
The others were just as surprised by his words.
Mira, especially, who was still in his arms, seemed to intuit something and sharply lifted her head, staring intently at him.
“Honey, no way?”
“That ‘no way’ is right. I’m planning to major in the Artifact Production Department.”
“Kya—!”
Mira clapped her hands in delight.
Of course, her own major was in that field.
Just thinking about taking the same classes as him and enjoying a campus romance made her heart pound already.
“No, no, wait a minute. You, Head of Planning.”
Shatie, on the other hand, wore a disbelief-stricken expression and pointed at the elaborate, petal-shaped jewel brooch still pinned to his chest.
“You’re Professor Yumina’s representative, aren’t you? And yet you’d choose the Artifact Production Department instead of Magical Combat?”
“I thought about it pragmatically.”
Why did the word ‘pragmatism’ suddenly spring out here? Was he, in fact, just filled with thoughts of enjoying a sweet romance with his pretty fairy girlfriend—? Despite her eyes narrowing at Ban Yuwon, full of suspicion, he continued.
“Anyway, Professor Yumina and I are close. That means I can receive private lessons anytime.”
“He really says incredible things without batting an eye...”
“But Professor Campanella isn’t like that. And she’s also the one teaching classes directly related to strengthening my abilities. To get the best of both worlds, I decided this was the right major for me.”
“That’s true...”
Everyone knew that Ban Yuwon’s swordsmanship, directly tutored by Dokgo Yeon, was formidable. However, what stood out even more was his Authority, which allowed him to freely manipulate concepts, mixing magic and sorcery to achieve large-scale phenomena.
Yet, there was something that symbolized Ban Yuwon even more distinctly than those two things: the existence of his familiars and artifacts, which always moved according to his will, assisting his every action and leading to superior results.
If not for Eve, if not for Lilyth, if not for Tikke.
If not for the Executioner’s Longsword or Requiem, Ban Yuwon wouldn’t have been able to stand here right now.
“I felt I needed to learn more about artifacts, about objects, from their very foundations.”
More than anything, there was the Sword of Death, a remnant from Dokgo Yeon’s final struggle.
That sword, born from the fusion of the dagger given by the Chancellor and the Executioner’s Longsword, heavily imbued with Dokgo Yeon’s energy, had reached an irreparably ruptured state after its clash with Zenon.
However, if he were to carelessly break it, the death contained within would be unleashed, causing a catastrophe in the area. For now, Ban Yuwon didn't dare to touch it and respectfully kept it tucked away in his inventory.
To properly repair and wield it, knowledge of the fundamental concepts of artifacts was desperately needed.
“It’s hard for me to interfere when you’ve thought it through so clearly... I don’t know what Professor Yumina will think, though.”
“She’ll be fine, Sister. I’m an expert at placating her.”
“You really sound like a playboy.”
“Right, Shatie, don’t fall for a guy like this; find a good one.”
“Our Mira wasn’t this transparent with her true feelings back then.”
Shatie shook her head, sighing, and pushed the remaining slice of cake into her mouth.
“If we all just became one, there would be no fighting over one man, you know.”
“I told you, don’t take an interest in the ‘Human Complementarity Project’!”
Afterward, on the day of major applications.
Professor Yumina, realizing Ban Yuwon’s intention to major in the Artifact Production Department for the aforementioned reasons, for the first time since becoming Vice Chancellor, fully exercised her authority, giving birth to a dual major system at Union Academy.
It would have been impossible without achievements on the level of the magic thesis created by Ban Yuwon and Aire, but thanks to it becoming an official system, he was able to be reborn as both the representative student of the Magical Combat Department and a freshman in the Artifact Production Department.
* * *
An S-rank dimension spaceship was different from the very gleam of its surface.
“So, this is a spaceship custom-made just for you, Aire.”
“Yuwon, do you like it?”
“Uh...”
Ban Yuwon stammered, feeling like the words "If you like it, I'll give it to you" were about to burst out.
Just then, Misty, who suddenly poked her head out from behind him, exclaimed, her cheeks flushed.
“Aire, thank you so much for taking us too...! Booking a spaceship ticket was so difficult, truly. I was so happy you spoke to us first...”
“Misty, you booked a first-class ticket and then canceled it.”
“Quiet, Leixu.”
Currently, on Aire’s spaceship, there were a total of four people: Aire, Ban Yuwon, and Misty and Leixu, who, like Aire, were from Melodia.
So, why were they taking a spaceship instead of using Union Academy’s teleportation to return to their hometowns for vacation?
Ban Yuwon hadn't known this until now, but apparently, many S-rank dimensions weren't particularly fond of Union Academy’s technology, which allowed for spatial interference even deep within their dimensions.
It made sense, when he thought about it.
Most dimensions were so concerned with defense, weren’t there many that would immediately become wary and attack the moment something crossed their dimensional barrier?
It would be strange if they actually liked Union’s magic, which could suddenly read coordinates deep within a planet and teleport students in.
Thus, in most S-rank dimensions, during the student selection period, only eligible student candidates were sent out through specially crafted barriers, and during vacations, it was customary for them to return home via spaceship rather than Union’s teleportation.
Given that students from S-rank dimensions mostly came from affluent backgrounds, they were usually provided with spaceship tickets, or, in the case of students like Aire who received extensive support, a spaceship would even come to pick them up directly from Union Academy.
“Master, this is amazing! Especially the cockpit...! Could you perhaps take just a little piece off and feed it to me?”
‘Be grateful you can even grasp its structure and copy it,’
Ban Yuwon lamented his sudden fate as an industrial spy, gazing out of the spaceship window.
Aire’s spaceship, with a speed comparable to Lilyth’s, was already preparing to breach the dimensional barrier less than 30 minutes after entering it.
“It will be Melodia soon.”
Aire said calmly, taking a seat beside Ban Yuwon.
Regardless of Misty glaring at Ban Yuwon with an expression bordering on hatred rather than envy, Aire gently leaned her head on his shoulder and spoke.
“I hope the dragons’ homeland pleases you.”
The spaceship breached the dimensional barrier.
In the vacuum of space, a star shone with such blinding brilliance, so brimming with mana, that it almost hurt the eyes.
For a moment, he suspected it was a star, but it wasn't.
That was none other than the central planet of the S-9 dimension, Melodia.
The star that Aire referred to as the dragons’ homeland.
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