The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 135

The Lucy Subjugation.

It was the largest scenario that created the climax of Act 3. It was an event where you needed to stop the Archmage Lucy Mayreel, who was trying to destroy all of the apostles of the Telos Religious Group and rip them out at the root.

Taylee and his group were still unaware of the darkness hidden in the Telos Religious Group. So, to them it seemed like Lucy was destroying all of the apostles for no apparent reason. She appeared crazed.

However, the one that triggered Lucy to act so impulsively wasThe Saint of Distrust, Clarice, who had lost Adele. When she told Lucy about the dark roots within the Telos Religious Group, Lucy went to destroy the entirety of the Telos Religious Group without thinking about it deeply.

As Adele’s divine power weakened, Lucy was able to vaguely regain her memories of the constant rewinding of time. So, it didn’t take long for her to understand that everything Clarice was telling her was the truth.

…Silvenia Academy was the legacy and treasure of Glockt.

Even more so, Lucy had made a promise to Glockt. One day, if a crisis were to fall upon the school that they couldn’t handle, she promised to help protect it. And in order to fulfill that promise, Lucy didn’t hesitate to destroy the Apostles of Telos.

Outsiders would have no way of knowing the reasoning behind Lucy’s actions, which was why they stopped her… That was the story of the final battle of Chapter 3.

After defeating Lucy, Taylee later came to learn of the darkness within the Telos Religious Group. Eventually, he would go on to defeat Archbishop Verdio, as well as the remaining apostles… In doing so, he would learn a newSwordmaster’s Skillfrom the relic that Clarice would give him. It was none other than‘The God Slaying Sword.’

It was also the skill used to kill Act 4’s boss, the evil godMebula.

Even though I explained it in detail, there was now a problem. The scenario in its entirety was starting to collapse.

Saint Clarice wasn’t corrupted, as she decided to trust in Eldane once more and watch what he would do in the future. Verdio had already been expelled because of the Saint, so he could no longer live as a priest.

In other words, when it came to the Lucy Subjugation… there was no reason for it to take place.

“……”

As I was reinforcing the chimney on the roof of my cabin, I tapped the wooden support with the underside of the handle of the small hand axe I held in my hand. It was all starting to come along nicely.

“I don’t think this is something I can just leave alone…”

I muttered to myself as I tried to organize my thoughts.

The Lucy Subjugation was considered an extremely important event in. Even though the weight of the scenario was equally as important, the growth in skills, experience points, and various unique skills that Taylee obtained from it would be of great help and importance to him in Act 4.

More than anything, the fact that Taylee’s growth had been significantly delayed was a major concern.

The broken timeline couldn’t be fixed, but Taylee still needed to be assisted with his growth. No matter how different the storyline had become, there needed to be help with taking care of any hardships that would come his way.

Was the Lucy Subjugation really no longer going to take place?

The sense of debt that lived in Lucy’s heart. Now that her final promise to Glockt had been completed, would she just live a free life on her own?

I wanted to see if that was the case, which was why I wanted to meet with Lucy in person at least once… However, Lucy hadn’t appeared in the camp for a few days.

Why was that girl, who was always taking a nap nearby, not visiting the camp at all lately?

She must have been sleeping at Ophelis Hall, so I thought that next time I should call for her when I meet up with Miss Bell.

“Are you Ed?”

I heard a voice calling for me under the cabin.

I was on the roof working on the chimney. When I slid to the edge and looked down, I saw a man and a woman near the entrance.

Sitting on the edge of the roof, I looked down at the two of them.

“Oh my, you were on the roof.”

The man looked rather sly. He had a slender physique and was smiling, yet he also had a shrewd appearance to him. He wore a brown beret as he held a large wooden box in his hand.

The female next to him looked rather modest. She had long, neat black hair. Her looks were rather tidy, as she didn’t wear any ornaments or accessories.

“Hello, Ed. My name is Dune. This person here is Lienna.”

“Ah, hello. I–It’s nice to meet you.”

I jumped off the roof, barely landing upright on the dirt. As I stood up straight, trying to catch my balance and brush off my clothes, the man that introduced himself as Dune spoke with a smile.

“I am an informant that is working under the orders of Deputy Chairman Lortel. My official title is the sales manager of Elte Company’s Silvenia Branch, but… that feels more like a business card.”

“Did Lortel send you?”

“Yes, that’s right. And this is her secretary, Lienna. Although she is the direct secretary to her, our deputy chairman prefers to take care of most of the work herself, whether that be making tea or cleaning her room.”

“If you introduce me like that, his impression of me is going to be ruined, Dune.”

“I’m just making a joke~ Let’s just all have a laugh.”

It wasn’t funny at all. Neither Lienna nor I laughed.

Dune, who was having fun on his own, lifted up the wooden box he was holding in his arms as he spoke.

“The deputy chairman will be building a villa here, so we stopped by to do a basic survey. Just some things to write down in a report.”

“That… She was serious…?”

“She’s the type of person to always do what she says she will. Especially when it comes to something related to you, Ed. If you’re involved, she will work like crazy. So, shouldn’t we also do our job and work quickly as well? After all, we are employees of hers.”

He didn’t look all that old, which might be why he was so energetic, but the other one didn’t seem to match his energy.

Being sly was something that you were innately born with, and one could say that the unique characteristic of a merchant was being sly. It was a dirty way of dealing with people.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Ed. Well, in reality I could have met you anytime I wanted to, but Deputy Chairman Lortel wouldn’t have liked that.”

“Speaking to me so respectfully is a bit awkward. Since we look to be around the same age, can you just speak to me casually?”

“The only reason I am able to deal with so much money at this young age is because I’m good at being respectful.”

Dune put down the box as he took out some surveying tools, quickly tossing them to Lienna. She frantically grabbed the ones that were thrown her way.

“Well, since you are a person my employer cares greatly about, there’s nothing wrong with me being polite towards you. Though, I guess speaking this way may sound a bit snobbish at times.”

“……”

“Well, people can be a bit snobbish. Ed probably knows all about that already. How could human relationships ever be completely separated from your personal interests? Hurry up and take this. Let’s go to the other side.”

Lienna held one side of the large tape measure as she hurriedly walked backwards, making her way to the other side of the vacant lot.

She made a commotion as she stumbled and fell down while walking backwards, but Dune only stood by laughing.

“Well, normally our boss doesn’t like it when company employees end up meeting with you directly like this. However, today it can’t be helped. Right now, we were the only ones with nothing else to do, that’s why.”

“Is there a reason why she doesn’t like it? Is she embarrassed by the thought of me meeting her employees and speaking highly of her?”

“You must be well aware of it too, Ed. How nonsensical our boss can be.”

Dunn pulled the tape measure tight as he checked the number, writing it down on the paper. He then shouted at Lienna, telling her to turn around.

“To put it bluntly, it’s completely different from working at a regular company. She is so cold-blooded that you would think she has molten iron flowing through her veins instead of blood.”

“Even though you say you respect your employer so much, you talk about her quite cruelly.”

“Oh my, I meant it as a compliment… Among us, saying something like that is taken as a compliment.”

“……”

I already had a glimpse of Lortel’s cold-blooded nature back at Laplace bakery. In fact, regardless of that, it wasn’t like I didn’t know much about Lortel’s nature.

“Even though she normally acts so cold, when she’s in front of you she’s like a flower… I guess that wasn’t something she was proud about her employees seeing. From my point of view, I think it’s hilarious.”

Dune then went around the perimeter of the vacant space horizontally to measure the space with the tape measure. As the distance increased, Dune’s voice also got louder.

“Well…! I heard that she stopped by the camp yesterday for the first time in a while. Did you talk about anything interesting with her?”

“Nothing much. She just said hell to me… Is the Elte Company planning on doing something? She seemed to be in a good mood.”

“As expected, you are well aware of the internal affairs of the Elte Company. Well, since you’re close with the boss, I guess that’s fine.”

After saying that, Dune spoke with a pleasant expression on his face.

“Well, in any case, if there is something you are curious about but find difficult to personally ask our boss, or anything else you want to talk about, you can call on me any time. It would also help me, since I could gain a few points from you if we became closer.”

“Hmm… I wonder if there is any real reason I have to talk to you instead of Lortel, who is the one that makes the final decisions.”

“There’s no reason for you to take what I said so seriously~ Don’t you know that this is how the world works? I even prepared a present for you so that you would think highly of me.”

Dune turned his head as he looked at a bundle of gifts beautifully wrapped and placed around the campfire.

I left Dune to finish his surveying and went to open a package. Inside, there was a bottle of liquor that looked rather luxurious.

“This isClentree. A distilled liquor that Countess Drex only produces 500 bottles a year of. It’s an item you can buy at Oldek’s black market for one gold coin. It’s a new type of alcoholic beverage through a distillation method learned from the Eastern Continent. The alcohol content is quite strong, so be careful with how much you drink if you’re a lightweight.”

“……”

“If you love alcohol, I’m sure you’ll be hooked on it. Lienna took a sip and ended up drinking it all. Of course, she had to take the afternoon off after that.”

“Please don’t talk about others’ personal stories so casually, Dune! Just be quiet!”

Dune laughed as he looked at Lienna angrily making a fuss from afar.

“It’s a drink that even alcoholics feel bad drinking.”

“You are treating me too highly.”

“This isn’t much.”

Dune, who was pulling the tape measure tightly, smiled timidly… As he flipped through the documents in one hand, he spoke.

“You are the one that isn’t thinking of yourself highly.”

***

After leaving Dune, I went to check on Yennekar’s condition before going to the commercial district.

Her condition had improved quite a bit, so it seemed like pretty soon she would be able to take care of herself. After watching her sit alone in her cabin, practicing manifesting various low-ranking spirits, it was only a matter of time.

As Lortel told me to do, I went to the general store to go and stock up on books and school supplies.

TheClaven General Store, located in the main square of the commercial district, was one of the most famous stores aside fromLaplace Bakery. It was also the shop with the largest building in the commercial district.

Its location was great, as they had a perfect view of the fountain and the square in front of them. The building also had five floors.

There were only three buildings in the entire commercial district that had five floors:Mexes Bridge’s Entry Control Office, theElte Company’s Silvenia Branch, and theClaven General Store.

Naturally, the store took up a large proportion of the commercial district. Of course, they still depended on the Elte Company to get their products, so they couldn’t escape their influence.

“Hmm…”

Since I could buy books in bulk from the bookstore further back, I thought I would just buy some necessary daily necessities at the general store instead.

Even though I called it a general store, they also had food ingredients and even furniture.

If you were to visit the commercial city Oldek, you could easily find general stores of that size. But on the remote Acken Island, it was like a department store.

And because its location was so good, it was always crowded with students, faculty members, and the residents of the commercial district.

Though the entrance was a bit crowded, once you got inside it was quite spacious.

I made my way through the crowd, entering the general store.

It was hard to say it was clean. The building was rather old, so you could see some shabby sections here and there. The wooden display cases where they displayed items also showed signs of age.

Still, just being able to manage a store of that size in a corner of Acken Island was impressive.

I bought some rope, a few crystal balls for myMagic Engineeringclass, and some ink and parchment paper.

I already had aHandicraftlevel that allowed me to make most things by hand, so most of what I bought was either school supplies or consumables.

But as I wandered around the store, walking back and forth…

“……”

“……”

In front of a display case with simple ingredients, there was a girl covering her face with a book.

“…What are you doing…?”

“……”

Maybe the sensible thing to do would have been to pretend that I didn’t recognize her.

She was probably covering her face because she didn’t want anyone to recognize her. I felt a little bad, only realizing it a tad late, but it couldn’t be helped since I already acted as if I knew her.

“Anise…”

“Oh my, Ed. It’s nice to see you. I guess you came here to buy something.”

Anise quickly moved her head as she took a defensive stance, wrapping her arms around her. On one arm, she was holding a simple paper bag.

But suddenly taking a defensive stance… I didn’t plan on doing anything, so why did it feel like I was acting hostile to her? It was a strange feeling.

“I came here to buy something as well, but I had no idea I would end up seeing you in a place like this. You haven’t come to the lab very often lately, have you? I did hear from Yennekar, though. She sounded pretty sick. Well, I was a little perplexed when she suddenly said that she was going to live in a camp, but it seems like she was adjusting well. But then, all of sudden, she got sick. It must have been hard on you, Ed. Since I was well aware of your situation, I explained it in detail to Assistant Professor Cleoh. So, you can just take care of what you need to before coming back. Anyway, Clevius and Onyx are doing a good job, so there aren’t any issues right now. Don’t you also need to work for the scholarship as well? I guess none of our school lives are that easy.”

Yennekar and Anise were exactly the same, as they talked a lot when they panicked.

However, Yennekar tended to stumble over her words when she panicked, while Anise spoke creepily accurately, as if she were working.

But the amount they spoke was the same. Well, they were friends, after all, so they could be similar in some ways.

In any case, Anise was a part ofAssistant Professor Cleoh’slab alongside me. She was also one of the few classmates I was acquainted with.

It felt like she had to greet me sincerely, even if she didn’t want to.

“Yeah, thanks. Did you come to buy something?”

After I said that, I glanced at her paper bag, which was trembling as she gripped it tightly.

Her wavy gray-brown hair looked like curtains that were hiding what was inside the bag.

“……”

I was speechless for a moment from the startle response.

“…I’m sorry.”

Abruptly I ended up apologizing. That was all I could do.

Anise held onto the bag tightly as she listened to my apology. She then shook her head with a look of embarrassment on her face.

“No, my body just moved instinctively. Why am I like this? Well, I guess it’s fine if you see it. Ah. Ahhhh…”

“…Are you alright?”

“Not really, but it’s fine. You can look. Though, it’s not anything all that amazing.”

As her hand trembled, she held out the paper bag. She was trying to act as relaxed as possible, like it was okay for me to see it… but for some reason, she was also blushing, making me confused.

I wasn’t even curious one bit about what was inside. However, seeing her look so determined, I guess it was hard to not be curious at that point.

I finally peered into the paper bag, looking at the contents.

“Seaweed…? Why so many…? Did you buy all of this…?”

“It was cheap… And there’s a lot…”

“The peel of a fruit… Why is this here…? Are you selling this…?”

“I got it from the grocer next door… Some, you can eat raw. But there’s also watermelon rind… If you season it… It’s edible…”

“This baguette… Why is it only the crust…? Ah, n-nevermind…”

I kept my mouth shut to avoid asking any more questions.

Anise Haylanwas famous for being a teacher’s assistant that every professor drooled over, wanting her for their own labs.

Because of her elegant behavior and appearance, she was known as a commoner that was more noble than nobles.

However, looking at what was in the paper bag, I felt rather bad. They looked like things she had randomly picked up off the grass outside. Asking about it any further seemed cruel, so I stopped.

Anise’s family fell into ruin the moment she entered the school. Her tuition was covered as she worked as a teacher’s assistant, but it was still a mystery how she managed her daily living expenses… She was struggling to survive on her own. I was heartbroken upon seeing that her diet was worse than mine, despite me living in a camp.

Silvenia Academywas a place full of aristocratic academic traditions. In order to survive in a place like that, while trying to minimize your cost of living, you would have to do that sort of thing.

However, it would be embarrassing to show such a side of yourself to others.

“Y-You… Didn’t have to show me… I didn’t care anyway… No, I guess it’s pointless for me to be saying that now…”

“What’s wrong with it? Is there someone wrong with being poor? Was it that bad to show this pitiful side of me? Do I really have to make you like me? Do we have a relationship like a man and a woman? All I was doing was showing you what I had, so is there anything I need to be ashamed of? Hm?”

“……”

After she said all of that, an uncomfortable silence fell between us.

Anise stood tall with a proud expression on her face, one that slowly started to turn red from the tips of her ears.

Suddenly, she covered her face as she sat down, depressed.

“I want to die…”

There was nothing I could say to comfort her.

***

“We were already short on manpower, so the school was nearly thrown into chaos. However, from next week on, I think they will finally be able to properly fill up that empty spot.”

“Really?”

“Yes. This time, the person taking his place is rather high-class. It took quite some time to find a new talent like them. In particular,Professor Glasthad a long career and took on many roles, so there were very few people that could replace him.”

On a bench next to the fountain in the central square of the Commercial District, Anise and I sat side by side as we ate a light snack.

She said that she shared an annual membership atLaplace Bakerywith Clara, so she quickly went and bought some sweets to share.

Though, she really didn’t need to tell me that she shared it with Clara… I felt like tearing up inside.

“I heard thatProfessor Kaleidwill be Professor Glast’s replacement. He will start working next week. However, because he’s replacing Professor Glast, he will also be acting as Assistant Professor Cleoh’s advisor.”

“Then, I guess Assistant Professor Cleoh will go back to being the youngest. Though, I guess she was originally the youngest already.”

“Yeah. And from what I’ve heard, Professor Kaleid’s personality is trash… I guess she will probably have a hard time again… But what can be done…”

Professor Kaleid, Professor Glast’s former classmate.

I didn’t know the details about him, as he didn’t matter all that much. However, I did know that he was an outsider that yelled and swore at people, getting angry whenever he had the chance.

Still, he was the best person to fill a middle management position, as he was responsible with his work. Of course, the person that would suffer the most from someone like that was their subordinates.

I had a moment of silence for Assistant Professor Cleoh.

“By the way Ed, what’s the matter? You bought quite a lot of stuff, even though you usually make everything yourself with yourHandicraftskill.”

“Hmm… It’s nothing special. I just heard rumors that the price of school supplies would be going up soon. So, I bought all the consumables I could in advance.”

I didn’t tell her the source of those rumors. After all, that wouldn’t be good for Lortel.

“Is it…? I guess the prices of goods in the general store have been fluctuating unusually these days. Since I check it every day, I noticed that it’s already risen nearly 10% since last month. It seems a bit suspicious, but… What can you do?”

“You check the prices of goods every day…”

“……”

The image of Anise, memorizing the prices of apples every day as she tried her hardest to buy it just a tad bit cheaper, easily came to my mind. It nearly brought a tear to my eye.

As if she noticed what I was thinking, Anise dropped her shoulders with a completely red face.

“E-Ed… You know. There’s really no reason to tell anyone else that I live like this, right?”

“Yeah… I also have some sense… Don’t worry.”

“It doesn’t feel right, like you’re trying to pity me. What am I so guilty of?”

It wasn’t that she was guilty of anything. Rather, it was that she had to live like that to survive.

As I said,Silvenia Academyhad a strangely aristocratic academic tradition. Most of the students were financially capable, so it was inevitable that she would have to live pitifully on her own.

Wasn’t I the same? I didn’t pay much attention to it, as I ended my own hardships by living in my camp. But because of that, I was pretty much all alone in the school, and I didn’t have many close classmates.

But if I thought of the value of the people that I was close to, I didn’t feel like I stood out.

“It might sound strange, but it seems we are quite similar, Anise.”

“……”

“…Was it really that strange?”

“No.”

Anise shrugged as she shook her head.

Because of her flowing hair, I couldn’t see her expression that well.

“Actually, that’s also what I thought when I first met you.”

Anise looked up at the general store with a blank look on her face.

Of course, around the world there were general stores that were much taller than the one in front of us. Even if you were to go to the education district, you could find many more magnificent buildings.

Maybe she felt like an abandoned dog walking among the skyscrapers. It might feel like she’s struggling on her own in a neighborhood where only strangers lived.

The appearance of her walking through the buildings of the education district, carrying a bunch of books every day, was just like a dog that had nowhere to go.

“For me, this school is a jungle.”

If she were to suddenly get sick, she wouldn’t be able to work as a scholarship student. That would mean that her tuition and dormitory expenses wouldn’t be paid.

There must have been quite a few times where she went to work with a sick body after getting used to living a life on thin ice.

“I envy you Ed.”

“Me?”

“Because you have goodHandicraftskills and talent, you can eat and live well in the camp on your own.”

“I learned it when I had my back against the wall. There’s still a lot of difficult things I need to do.”

“Is that so? I guess it might have seemed like a statement that ignored the effort you put in. Sorry.”

Anise stood up, brushing off her clothes. She grabbed the rest of the sweets.

“Anyway, I guess I should also buy some of the necessary school supplies before the prices rise any more. It’ll be a bit difficult to buy them now, but I guess it’s still better than buying it later. Thanks for the info.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll get going first, then. Though, it is a bit strange. Seeing the market move at such a scale, it’s probably because of theElte Company. But why would they bother doing that?”

Anise was the top student assistant in the school. It was only natural that she was going to analyze the situation taking place in front of her.

“If they continue to do that, theStudent Councilwon’t leave them alone. If they didn’t do anything, they could still manage to slowly take over all of the transactions and logistics that take place in the commercial district, building a steady profit. So, I don’t see why they would try and start a confrontation.”

After saying all of that, Anise shook her head.

“Well, I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. After all,Lortel Kehellandis a much smarter and more thorough person than I am. Still, I can’t help but wonder what her real intentions are.”

Anise finished with that comment, giving a final farewell before leaving.

What were Lortel’s intentions… I was also curious.

And there were several ways to figure out her intent.

Well, the surest and most accurate method had already been decided.

***

“The distilled liquorClentreeisn’t all that great a gift though.”

She was asking herself that question.

There was no need to go looking for her.

After finishing my work for today to some extent, I came back to the camp with a decent amount of luggage… There, sitting on a tree stump, Lortel sat rolling around a bottle of alcohol.

It seemed that, in the time before vacation began, she was not as busy with the store as I had thought.

“Dune is seriously… If you were going to bring over alcohol by misusing funds, it should have at least been wine… Just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean it’s good.”

“It’s the drink he gave me, so why do you care?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because, in a way, it’s also like a gift I gave to you.”

I put my things down on a nearby workbench as I sat down next to her.

“Speaking honestly, it’s my property. Dune was embezzling money privately to import goods like these. Sadly, he doesn’t even realize I know about it.”

“…Why are you pretending to not know?”

“That way, when he starts to climb up, I can knock him back down.”

Dune’s comment about Lortel being cold-blooded made sense.

She had a completely different plan for Dune. She already had a chain around his neck that she could use to strangle him.

And she would pull on it the moment Lortel wanted to make his crimes public.

“Do you drink often?”

“No, I don’t drink.”

“Oh my, that’s a shame.”

Under the moonlight, Lortel sat on a tree stump, smiling… She quietly put the alcohol in her hand down on the rock.

“It’s a bad habit of mine. No matter who they are, if I want to trust them then I have to put them in shackles. Just like I did with this drink.”

“That doesn’t necessarily make it a bad habit.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that.”

Lortel had a smile on her face, yet she looked strangely lonely. It wasn’t even for just a day or two.

“Did you know the only person whose life I don’t have wrapped around my fingertips is you, Ed?”

“……”

“It feels unusual to go and call it special treatment. Well, it’s more that if I try to control you, you’re going to be the one swinging at me first. Well, there’s no need for us to have that type of relationship, so maybe it’s fine just staying as equals like this.”

The moonlight reflected off of the alcohol bottle she had put on the floor. The moonlight that passed through the glass became cloudy, coloring every corner of the stone.

“That’s not bad.”

And like that, we looked up at the moon while sitting next to each other for some time.

How much time had passed?

Finally, Lortel stopped speaking emotionally and finally brought up the main topic.

“You seem to have something you want to ask me. I’m quite quick at these things, aren’t I?”

Her foxlike smile was as bewitching as always.