The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 101

There were currently three variables that I was most concerned about.

The first was the news that Princess Penia had pretty much lost all desire to become the student council president.

The second was the news that her rival Tanya, who she should have been burning with hostility against and ultimately defeating, had gone missing.

The third was… the news that Tanya’s two vassals, Kadek and Nox, had been restrained by the school.

Those variables were highly likely to create major issues in the long-term, medium-term, and short-term, respectively.

First off, if Penia lost her desire to seize power, in the long-term it would become inevitable that the key force keeping House Rothstaylor in check would disappear.

By the time of the 4th Act, it became difficult to borrow the overwhelming and absolute strength of Lucy or Obel. The reason for that was because the two of them greatly exhausted all their strength in the 3rd Act, so they didn’t intervene much in the 4th.

That was why, if the powerful imperial family didn’t join the fight as an ally, a bigger loss would end up taking place.

I just wanted to ask Lucy, who was currently completely fine, to go to the Rothstaylor Duchy immediately and destroy Krepin along with anything else that was there. But if I tried to kill Krepin, who had not yet been proven guilty, there was a high chance that Lucy would only end up becoming the biggest criminal in the world.

That was because warm-hearted Krepin still remained a benevolent and wise duke to the people.

In the first place, there was also no chance she would grant such a request.

I did have a rather special relationship with Lucy. Still, that didn’t mean she was just going to go ahead and do something stupid like attack a perfectly fine Duchy, killing and destroying everything without a clear reason.

But if I just sat still and let the 4th Act take place as things were, things would become rather difficult. So, for a stable future, Princess Penia needed to be the one that sat on the seat of the student council president.

With all of that in mind, the fact that Tanya disappeared wasn’t very great news.

The presence of Tanya, who acted like a stuck-up evil villain, greatly aided the Princess’ burning desire to win.

Without Tanya Rothstaylor, who motivated Princess Penia to take the seat as the student council president, the story would be hard to properly establish.

That was why it was best to determine Tanya’s whereabouts as soon as possible.

And lastly, in regard to the suspects Kadek and Nox. They were the reason I had to maintain my status as deceased.

I had deliberately let Kadek and Knox go. I wanted them to inform Krepin Rothstaylor of my death to help push my existence out of his train of thought completely.

That was because Krepin, who wielded the power of Cause and Effect Determination, was too difficult an opponent to deal with at the moment.

However, since things had gone awry, Kadek and Nox were being held at the school facing the charge of my murder. At the very least, until the investigation regarding my death was complete, they would remain in custody.

Since they were very loyal knights, they wouldn’t open their mouths for a rather long time. It was necessary to find a way to free them in some way, so they could report everything back to Krepin.

Only then could my suffocating life of seclusion come to an end. That was the short-term problem.

“There’s a mountain of work to take care of… Haah.”

I took a bite of stew as I let out a deep sigh. Well, it wasn’t like anything would be solved in my exhausted state, so it was important for me to eat plenty and keep my body healthy.

With a lot of worry on my mind, I brought the stew to my mouth. Yennekar had a long face as well when she came over and sat next to me.

“Since you were the son of a noble duke… I guess that’s why you’re still caught up in all these things even after being excommunicated.”

“Hm?”

“I’m… just a commoner from a rural ranch… So, I don’t know what it feels like to live a life such as yours Ed.”

Yennekar spoke with difficulty as she gently rubbed the tips of her fingers.

“That’s why I can’t comfort you well… I don’t know everything there is to it, so I can’t act like everything will be fine. And you’re always giving it your best, so what’s the point of me telling you to keep at it…? It’s meaningless to say these things. None of it feels very sincere…”

“Since you’re already thinking so much about it, you don’t have to worry about trying to comfort me. Yennekar, you are already helping me more than enough.”

“……”

Yennekar stretched her legs out while sitting on a rock. Relaxing her muscles, she let out a squeaky groan before sighing deeply.

“Still, I want to take care of the problem you have. That’s just me being greedy.”

She then timidly raised her eyes as she spoke.

“It’s just… I just wish you would stop being troubled. That’s just what I want.”

After talking, once again that ‘strange quietness’ came. The pattern was starting to become visible.

Yennekar, who was suddenly speechless, wiggled her hands again as she lowered her head. Her face started to flush.

***

However, how many people in the entire world could even be close to matching the rank of Princess Penia? No matter how hard you searched in Silvenia, aside from Saint Clarice there wouldn’t be anyone of equal footing.

However, there was still an individual who was rather worthy of her time. Although she was a commoner, she was still an individual that even the Princess couldn’t easily ignore.

“I already asked Lortel in advance. Since she’s a representative of the Elte Company, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to officially visit the Royal Residence.”

Princess Penia and Lortel were far from being on the same wavelengths. It was to the extent that you could think of them as cats and dogs.

Even if the two of them met, there wasn’t a high chance that any fruitful outcome would come from their conversation. However, the purpose was to inquire about Tanya’s whereabouts… so nothing should happen.

“…Hmm.”

When I mentioned Lortel’s name, Yennekar’s eyes softly looked up at me as if she was dissatisfied by something.

“Ed… It seems you trust Lortel quite a bit…?”

“I’m confident in her skills to get the job done. It’s not like she became such a high-ranking individual at that age for nothing.”

“Hmm…”

Yennekar moved her shoulder around as if she had been stabbed by an awl. Standing up she acted as if she was going to say something.

“Uhm… Hmmm… Hmmmmm…”

As if there was a new problem, Yennekar held the oak wand in her hand, falling into deep thought. It looked as if her head was throbbing, and her mouth seemed to mutter something.

I continued to eat a few more spoonfuls of the stew as I slowly waited for Yennekar.

At least from my point of view, it wasn’t a situation where I was in a particular hurry to do something.

While I waited for Lortel to bring me the news, I decided to just train my body a bit more while taking care of my health.

Above all, it was necessary for me to practice properly handling my newly contracted mid-ranking water spirit, Lacia the Lioness. I had to also learn more in detail about the unique system of spiritual skills.

“……”

Once I receive the news about Tanya’s whereabouts, then I could start taking proper action.

After gathering my thoughts, I continued to shove the stew into my mouth.

The lesser of two evils, the esteemed daughter Tanya Rothstaylor.

Act 3, Chapter 2. The boss of the Student Council President Election.

Thinking of the name, the image that came to mind… was the always high-nosed, villainous esteemed daughter.

Born as the second daughter of the Rothstaylor House, she was a girl who always maintained a noble and dignified appearance.

Little by little she started to open her eyes to politics and, through her sense of understanding the situation, she ended up in an election battle with the princess… In her own way, she was a sharp-witted girl.

“Hmm…”

Suddenly, I remembered when I talked to Tanya at the camp.

She looked a bit hesitant, as if she had not yet opened her eyes to politics.

It was a bit surprising to see at first. After all, it was a much different appearance than the Tanya Rothstaylor that I was familiar with from Silvenia’s Failed Swordmaster.

However, it was still a situation that took place before her scenario even started… It was possible that things would be a little different from the original timeline. She must have been a character that grew up in her own way as well.

Tanya Rothstaylor, at least in my memory, had always been a strong, fearless, hard-working girl.

Human nature wasn’t something that changed easily. That temperament of hers would always be there…

I was certain that wherever she was, she was standing tall and planning for the future.

Like always, she would have her confident and elegant young appearance.

***

“Unuuuughk… Ughhhhk…”

Tanya was trembling, eyes welling with tears as she hugged her knees.

Princess Penia, who was watching her, started to sweat.

That was the second daughter of House Rothstaylor, who would never lose her confidence or elegant appearance.

Despite her young age and being a first year, which was extremely disadvantageous in terms of the election, her ambition led her to declare that she would become the student council president.

Tanya’s prestige was at a high level among the first years, to the extent that she already had some students following her.

Princess Penia, who had given up her goal of becoming the student council president, had thought… Maybe if this girl were to become the president, then wouldn’t it be what I wanted?

However, since Princess Penia still had a hostile opinion regarding House Rothstaylor, she didn’t support her. Rather, she thought that she might be in close contact with Krepin, so she had to be more careful around her.

However, watching her tremble in fear as she explained what had happened… Princess Penia couldn’t help but have her jaw drop in shock.

The feeling of distance between them had subtly disappeared.

They were people who could have somehow ended up becoming each other’s enemies before the election, but… the Princess’ unique Insightful Eyes was telling her that the fear Tanya was expressing was sincere.

“I… I really didn’t give the orders to assassinate my older brother…”

With Kadek and Nox, two vassals of House Rothstaylor, identified as the prime suspects… Tanya, who was thus accused of ordering the murder, was on the run.

Princess Penia… felt a certain level of sincerity in Tanya’s words.

There were a few things that could be the reason for that.

The magically engineered item that was attached to Tanya’s robe with a leather strap. That stone, with red marbles… it was ‘Heligo’s Winged Shoes’, an item that Ziggs Eiffelstein, currently ranked second within the second-year magic department, always carried.

During elective alchemy class, she clearly remembered seeing him take out that item a few times.

Judging by the fact that Tanya was now holding it, there was some credibility to her testimony that Ziggs helped her escape from Ophelis Hall.

This… I’ll have to meet with Ziggs and ask…

If it was true, then the situation was strange.

If Ziggs knew that Tanya wasn’t the instigator for the murder, he wouldn’t have let the situation end up like that without giving testimony.

Regardless, right now the school was full of people trying to find Tanya.

He wasn’t the type of person that would just sit still as the school investigated Tanya’s whereabouts.

There was a high chance that there was some sort of circumstance he has for doing so.

“You’ve gone through a lot, Tanya Rothstaylor. I’ve decided to believe what you are saying. So… I’ll hide you here in the Royal Residence until the situation is cleared up.”

“Th-Thank you so much, Princess Penia… I am in your debt…”

“No, don’t worry about it. This is something I should do.”

Saying that, Princess Penia gave Tanya, who was trembling, a warm hug.

How could she have thought of having a war of nerves with such a girl? Just because she had the name Rothstaylor didn’t necessarily make her a villain.

Ed Rothstaylor, in actuality… wasn’t he just a passionate and hard-working person?

After coming that far, she no longer wanted to make the same mistake of misjudging someone only by looking at their last name of Rothstaylor.

Princess Penia gently patted Tanya.

***

Less than a week was left until the student council president election.

The murder of Ed Rothstaylor, the attack on Ophelis Hall, the disappearance of Tanya Rothstaylor, etc… Various incidents had driven the school’s faculty out of their mind.

Of course, the Elte Company was no different.

After a long winter, the frozen trade routes re-opened, and the bottleneck of cash began to flow before they knew it.

The rush of demand for distribution began to rush in as Lortel, who had been relaxed for some time, suddenly started to get busy.

However, Lortel was a girl that could accurately judge the importance of work.

She never made the mistake of being distracted by micro-distribution tasks and missing out on macro-scale trends.

Lortel sat alone in her office at the store’s branch checked over the document handed to her by her aides.

“……”

The hottest piece of news was the murder of Ed Rothstaylor and the disappearance of prime suspect, Tanya Rothstaylor.

The upcoming student council election would still be held, as it was a mandatory annual event. But the school’s faculty were still busy with the ongoing investigation and taking care of the aftermath. The spotlight on the election was bound to shine less.

However, regardless of the spotlight, the person who ended up sitting in the seat of student council president would remain extremely important in regard to disputes over interest within the school.

That being said, Lortel wasn’t in a spot to take over as the student council president because she was already lacking in the power to take care of her own work with the company.

Hmm… That’s not a good composition.

Tanya Rothstaylor, who was openly expressing her ambitions for the position of student council president, had gone missing due to the murder of Ed.

So, if the Princess wanted to run, there wasn’t a single candidate to stop her.

Even Tanya, who seemed to have the potential to maybe overtake her at first, seemed to have no chance of winning against Princess Penia… The strength of Princess Penia was difficult for any candidate to go against.

As of now, the Princess had announced that she wouldn’t run for the seat. But if she ended up changing her mind for some reason and decided to try… there wasn’t a single person that could stop her.

However, Lortel extremely despised Princess Penia. She would be really displeased if she ended up becoming president.

Among the candidates, there wasn’t anyone in particular that was friendly towards Lortel and the Elte Company. It seemed that the current situation wasn’t looking all that great.

Looking at the election, how can I take it over?

Lortel was the kind of person that would make plans deep in the darkness beneath the water. The tools she used were money and the results were the flow of the situation.

All she needed was to have someone friendly to her sit in the seat of the student council president. It would be better if it could be someone that could prioritize a relationship with Lortel rather than simply having a relationship with Elte.

Whether the person wanted to do it or not was only secondary. In the first place, it was the position that made the person.

With that in mind… Lortel looked over a picture of Ed in a document she had, brushing her finger over it a few times.

The situation taking place before the election had turned into chaos. And the person who would come out on top was the one who knew how to make a plan.

A calm smile was Lortel’s trademark.

Within the dark office, another scheme was taking place.

***

Knock, Knock

Lucy, buried in a large bed, stared blankly into the air.

She counted the number of times the single thread that was protruding from the curtain fluttered in the wind.

The maid, standing in a small area beside her, smiled without moving one bit.

She was already sad at having been locked up in her room, but having to constantly be next to a maid that was watching over her, she felt miserable.

Aside from simply being banned from going outside… there was one more unexpected crisis she was in.

Did she finally open her eyes as a girl?

Staring blankly at the ceiling, a boy with blonde hair flashed in front of her eyes.

Lucy felt a sense of crisis as she broke into a cold sweat.

Today was the first day of probation… and she was already starting to react. Being buried in her sheets, which didn’t have a single hint of the smell of grass… she was starting to experience a strange withdrawal symptom.

Time until the end of probation. D-29.

To Lucy, it felt like an eternity.

In other words, it was torture.