The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 70

There was always a quiet atmosphere on Acken Island during the breaks.

The buildings in the education district which were usually packed full during the semester were now completely empty. Less than half of the student body stayed at the academy instead of returning home. Regardless of where you went on the academy grounds, the atmosphere was bound to be the same.

Because of the break, the business zone in the commercial district was also in a slow season. It was a period where even many of the store owners would opt to take a break as well.

“Hmm…”

I folded my clothes while looking out a window in the academy’s office building, which was near the entrance of the education district. I neatly lined up the buttons on the sleeves and made sure the collar was smoothly folded, so the lines all matched up.

Sure enough, now that I had gotten my school uniform back after asking Bell Maya to wash it, it was crisp and clean.

It was difficult for me, on my own, to properly take care of my uniform. Thanks to Bell Maya helping me out, I was greatly indebted to her.

“We always do the laundry in large amounts anyway, so adding in one more uniform doesn’t change much.”

“Even then, that doesn’t change the fact that you already have so many other things to take care of. Thanks for helping me despite being so busy.”

“Since you were originally a student at Ophelis Hall, the least I can do is lend you a hand as well. There’s no reason for you to feel pressured, so whenever you need it washed again, please let me know.”

Bell Maya hadn’t changed one bit since I’d first met her so long ago. She really was indeed first-class at taking care of everything.

Her once pleasantly simple senior maid’s outfit had been replaced by a rather fancy head maid’s outfit. Though, her emotions and monotone voice remained unchanged.

But it did seem like her hair had gotten longer. On the right side, her long hair flowed down and was decorated with a nail-sized rose pin.

“Did you say the restoration of Ophelis Hall has been completed? That means the incoming first years will start to enter the academy soon. The maids must be having a hard time these days.”

“Young master Ed, I must ask. Why are you still speaking to me formally?”

“It’s more comfortable to speak to you formally.”

“But it’s more comfortable for me if you speak informally.”

“It really is more comfortable speaking formally, though.”

I felt like we were having a strange war of nerves.

Actually, since she was the head maid, she was just barely considered to be at a ‘senior-level’ position amongst all the academy’s employees… And since I was no longer an aristocrat, nor a student at Ophelis Hall, it was a bit of a burden to speak casually to her.

I also didn’t want to make it any more confusing about who was higher up than the other later on, so I was just naturally being polite to her. But I supposed it made Bell uncomfortable. She was still a maid by nature.

“Anyway, the restoration of Ophelis Hall is now complete, so I feel like my workload is starting to stabilize again.”

“I’m a little surprised that the entire restoration was able to be completed in nearly a semester’s time… It seems like the academy used all their power to restore it as quickly as possible.”

“It is one of the most important facilities in the commercial district. Most of the students that were temporarily living in other facilities within the commercial district have also been assigned their rooms recently and are starting to move in. The same goes for the incoming first years.”

The second semester of my second year had ended. Thus, winter break had also come to mark the end of the year.

The exams were fairly easy, so my grades were decent and the closing ceremony had ended without any issues. Once again, there was a peaceful atmosphere at the academy.

But for the academy’s administration, winter break was a time for preparation for the start of the next semester.

It was a period in which they had to finish everything that needed to be done between the end of the previous semester and the upcoming one. It was also used as a transition period, systematically making changes to the academy.

Within each professor’s laboratory, they were busy preparing the academic schedule for next semester while continuously working on their research.

The same went for the incoming students entering the dormitories. Because each student had their own circumstances and their schedules might be different, there were many students that chose to move into the dorms early during the long winter vacation, as it better suited their schedules.

“By the way, there was something I actually wanted to ask you, which is why I personally met with you.”

Bell spoke as she stood around for a while.

Now, with the title of head maid, she must have been slowly but surely gaining more responsibilities and starting to feel them weighing down on her.

If it were just asking to deliver a washed school uniform, she could have just ordered a lower-ranking maid to do so, but the reason she had come all the way herself… It was because she had something to tell me.

“Starting from this break, there will be a total of seven new students residing in Ophelis Hall that we will need to take care of.”

Of all the new students coming in, there were only seven. A number that was so blatant, it showed just how difficult it was to have the honor of staying in Ophelis Hall.

“There was a name that I recognized, so I came to talk to you.”

“Are you talking about Tanya Rothstaylor?”

“…Yes. As a matter of fact, she has already applied to enter the dormitory before the break had even started.”

Incoming students were allowed to enter their dormitories at any time over the break. It was meant to allow the students some freedom to prepare for the upcoming start of the semester.

Though, most of them finished their preparations back home and only came to the academy around the time of the class assignment examination. After all, there wasn’t much to do if you arrived early.

“She has been appointed to the newly reconstructed Ophelis Hall and is currently in the process of moving in… That made sense, given her position.”

“……”

I was someone that had been excommunicated from the Rothstaylor House.

Tanya was an esteemed daughter that received much affection from the Rothstaylor House.

“And since she is your younger sister, I’m sure you must know much more about her than I do, but… it seems that she has a heavy grudge against you, believing that you have tarnished the Rothstaylor’s family name.”

“I see.”

“……”

Bell kept on staring at me as if my emotionless response were unsatisfactory.

“Is everything okay? I can only judge from the personal information I receive in advance and my first impressions, but… even seeing her for a brief moment, it felt as if Lady Tanya was a person that holds a lot of meaning to her family’s honor.”

“I understand what you’re trying to say.”

Being hated by someone that shared the same blood as you. If you started to be looked down upon by a family member with whom you once shared a caring environment growing up together, it would certainly be both mentally difficult and tiring.

In short, Bell had come to me in advance since she was worried. Perhaps she was trying to prepare me for what was to come?

“Thank you for your concerns.”

I already knew quite a bit about Tanya.

Act 3, Chapter 3. In the pre-election episode centered around the political transition with the student body president, she was someone that aimed for the honor of being the first first-year student president in Silvenia’s long history.

As was typical with characters that came from the Rothstaylor House, they were all villains.

Tanya was someone that looked up in awe at esteemed honor and glory. To someone like her, here in Silvenia which is full of stars, the title and honor of being the youngest student president must have looked like a tantalizing treat.

I gently closed my eyes.

The villainous esteemed daughter.

Tanya was a stereotypical villain herself, but you couldn’t simply view her as a villain that was expendable. That was because Tannya also had her own natural talent.

She was a political genius.

On her own, she came to learn how to argue for a cause, divide opposing sides, scratch away at an opponent, mislead the problem, and bring legitimacy to herself.

Thus, political war was ultimately a fight in the dirty mud. At least, that is the case with Tanya’s values.

Politics was not the process of finding the best option, but rather the process of finding the one that was the least bad.

If there was an absolute evil and a lesser evil, the public would eventually take the side of the lesser evil.

The one that ended up victorious in a war of politics was always the one that was of the lesser evil.

That was the value in which Tanya Rothstaylor had instinctively become enlightened by.

Given that, she must have come to Silvenia early to start gaining as much influence as she could before the semester started.

She must have been trying to appease the influential and high-spirited individuals within the academy.

In the process, she must also have been wondering about what to do with me, Ed Rothstaylor. After all, he did come from the same bloodline as her.

While we might have shared the same blood, since I had been excommunicated you could say we were nothing more than strangers.

Still, given Tanya’s character, I didn’t think she would sit around and leave the man that had tainted the name of her family alone. But still, I couldn’t tell if she was going to be vindictive enough to actually make an aggressive move in dealing with me.

Because how would I know?! It was not about someone else, it was about me!

I’d played Silvenia’s Failed Swordmaster a countless number of times already. I did know about Tanya to a certain extent, since she took on the role of an important villain, but… Ironically, I didn’t know anything about myself.

Ed Rothstaylor was just a villain that came out for a brief moment at the start of the story before quickly disappearing…!

There wasn’t even any proper information on him in the setting’s book, and in the epilogue, there wasn’t even anything special about him either. He really was just an extra…

I didn’t know what he was like back at the Rothstaylor household, how he was perceived by the family, his relationship with Tanya Rothstaylor… I really didn’t have a single clue about it. Not a single damn one…!

However, considering the history of my body… I could at least infer that he hadn’t been treated particularly terribly or well.

I was glad that he had just been treated normally, but it would have also been great if I weren’t despised for being so arrogant and incompetent.

“Well, right now I am quite busy… so as long as Tanya doesn’t show any signs of doing something in particular, I don’t really have a reason to worry about her.”

“Since I am just a mere employee on the sidelines, if that is what you have to say then I have nothing more to say on the matter.”

“Either way, thank you. I was in quite a bit of trouble because I had to wash my uniform before I went to take care of my duties as a scholarship student.”

“It was nothing. It seems that Lady Lucy has been in your care a lot these days. We were rather worried, given that we haven’t been able to fulfill our duties properly in taking care of her.”

“You even thought of that?”

Bell continued talking.

“Recently, when I was washing Lady Lucy’s clothes, I noticed strands of blonde hair attached to them. And when I was taking care of your clothes, it had strands of her snowy white hair and also had the same fragrance that we use when washing Lucy’s clothes…. So, it was just a guess.”

It was true that Lucy had become more attached to me.

There had been many times when I wasn’t taking care of any physical labor that I would instead lie down to take a nap. But when I woke up, lying on top of my stomach was a snoring Lucy.

Just as Bell had said, I had been in strange and sticky situations dealing with her. But I was surprised that she had picked it up with just one wash of my clothes… Just what could she have become if she weren’t a maid…?

“Well… You don’t have to worry about that, Ms. Bell. Since you sometimes come out and give me ingredients and lend me a hand, I can’t help but be more grateful towards you. Now that you are the head maid, there must be many other things that you have to worry about, right? Well, whether there are any complications with your personal relationships or not, it’s all up to you to take care of.”

“There are already so many talented people that are helping me out with my work. In fact, since my main focus has now become management and supervising, the amount of physical labor I have to do myself has decreased. I have become somewhat more comfortable. And as for complications with my personal relationships, compared to you, young master Ed… Uhm…”

As Bell kept talking, she suddenly paused for a moment and looked at my washed uniform before blurting everything out.

“Never mind. It was just an excessive worry of mine. No matter how complicated the personal relationships around you might be, ultimately it is something that is your own to take care of.”

“Hm?”

“I won’t intrude into your privacy. No matter which of the ladies you may decide on… It’s all up to your choice.”

As she said that, we both let out a sigh and the traces of our breath disappeared into the sky.

“It’s gotten a lot colder. Make sure to take care of your health, young master Ed. Even just a slight sickness in the winter will make you suffer a lot. It seems that you might have a slight fever, since your face is reddish.”

“…Does it show that much?”

As expected, she had been the ace among the maids of Ophelis Hall for years. That was why she was able to check another’s health just by looking at their face.

“For the time being, because of my circumstances I might have to live with a slight fever.”

“There are a lot of people around you that will also get hurt if you don’t take proper care of your body. Health is the most important thing, after all. It’s only going to get a lot colder, so please be careful.”

And then Bell stood still, looking at me before saying it once again.

“…But are you really going to keep talking to me with honorifics?”

Seriously… This is insane…

I thought about speaking casually to her when it was the right time, but…

At that point, for some reason I was kind of determined to not back down, too…

***

“Thank you, scholarship students, for coming here. My name is Anise Haylan, and I am working as the senior assistant here in Assistant Professor Cleoh’s Lab.

“Eugh… Oghhh… Uhhh.”

“Assistant Professor Cleoh has been awake for the past forty-four hours due to working on the academy’s agenda and reviewing the academic schedule for next semester. Since the deadline for the agenda is tomorrow, she isn’t really in a state where she can properly communicate right now. So, on her behalf, as the senior assistant I’ll deliver any important information instead.”

Behind Anise, who was brightly smiling with a bright face, was a lady with blonde hair that was lying face down on her desk.

With her glasses falling off and the way her exhausted head was resting, she looked more like a zombie than a human being.

On one side of the fairly spacious lab stood three male students, including myself. We were all scholarship students that had been picked from each grade.

Clevius Nortondale, Ed Rothstaylor, Onyx Pelomier. Following the order, we were a first, second, and third year. Though, we would all soon be moving up a grade.

“Wh-What the?! Ed Rothstaylor… What are you doing here…?”

As Clevius looked at me, he jumped back, startled.

Even though he was a descendant of House Nortondale, who were considered the greatest swordsmen on the continent, because of the mistakes he made as a child he had basically been kicked out. Thanks to that, he no longer had any self-confidence and felt negatively about every situation.

I already knew that, given his position in his family, he wouldn’t be able to get enough support to continue going to the academy.

While I thought that he must be doing something else to keep attending the academy, I guess that was how he ended up paying for the leftover tuition.

Other than him, there was also the third year senior Onyx, who had a rather solid frame. That was something completely new to me. I had heard that he was in the same combat department as Clevius, though.

“Together, what we are in charge of doing is preparing for the upcoming first-year class assignment examination and supervising the day of the exam. You can think of that as our main task.”

Anise continued smiling as she laid out several papers onto the table.

“Over the last week, Assistant Professor Cleoh has been working hard and going through a lot while preparing this plan for the class assignment examination.”

The annual incoming student class assignment examination that Professor Glast was usually in charge of. Of course, this year Assistant Professor Cleoh would be in charge instead.

Naturally, I already know the results of the exam.

During Assistant Professor Cleoh’s class assignment examination, not a single student made it into Class A of the magic department.

In a way, you could say that she was even more wicked than Professor Glast, but it wasn’t because her personality was bad. Rather… The fundamental design of the test was flawed.

Actually, it was hard to call it a flaw as it was rather just an extremely high level of difficulty. Clearly a mistake that Professor Cleoh had ended up making.

For the incoming students, who didn’t know anything, they might just accept the fact and think,Ahh, this is how hard it is to get into Class A. I need to work harder if I want to move up.

Regardless, it was still more fair than Professor Glast, who picked the students for Class A based on his own uneven standards. As strange as it might be, even though no one had been selected to go into Class A, it was hard to call the test unfair.

“Last year, the test was held in the northern forest of Acken Island. However, this time it will take place in the Right Mountain located off in the northwest. Even though they call it a mountain, it is closer to a large hill. However, it still will take some time to climb, as the path is rugged. It probably won’t happen, but we should still be prepared in case there is someone that gets hurt.”

Acken Island became more crowded with people the further south you went. Naturally, that meant the further north you went, the quieter it became. It made sense, with nature being left untouched.

That was because there were only two bridges, one in the southeast and one in the southwest, that connected to the protruding peninsula of the Nofaren continent.

Since the bridges connecting to the main continent were the main point of travel, it was only natural that the further up you went, the less people there would be.

Right Mountain was located on the northern side of Acken Island and had maintained its natural beauty. Still, Assistant Professor Cleoh had chosen that location for the class assignment examination.

“The main point of the test is similar to last year’s. We will place magic power stones across Right Mountain and students will have to search for them individually, using their own mana resonance. Once they find one, they will then head to the top of the mountain and present it to the ‘Substitute Altar’, completing the test. In doing so, they can even get accepted into Class A. As for the other grading criteria, it has been organized in the document.”

“…I think there will be too many students getting accepted into Class A?”

Onyx Pelomier. The third-year student in the combat department with a rather sturdy frame. He asked an obvious question.

“If they are a student in the magic department, won’t they be able to find the magic power stone right away? There could also be people that find them through simplistic labor rather than actually using their magic power resonance. All they have to do is find one and present it to the altar, that’s it?”

“Of course, the path to the top won’t be so clearly paved. Throughout it, we have all kinds of hallucinatory magics and magically engineered items imbued with directional deluding magic. Plus, around the top of the mountain they will have to face off against mid-rank and above monsters.”

“You’re even going to gather monsters? What if somebody gets injured?”

“Naturally, it’s all just hallucinatory magic. However, if they can’t defeat the hallucination, they won’t make it through. It won’t be an easy feat without any combat experience.”

In short, the contents of the examination included the following: finding a magic power stone, reaching the summit, fighting against the monster apparitions, and successfully presenting the altar with the magic power stones… With each aspect of the test, the criteria on grading had already been made.

“Onyx, you will assist Assistant Professor Cleoh with developing the plan to obtain and arrange the magically engineered items. Clevius, you can submit the documents to Trix Hall and get the necessary supplies that we already applied for. And Ed Rothstaylor…”

Maybe it was because I was the only other second year, but Anise started to speak casually with me.

She walked up close to me, smiling brightly as she gave me a friendly offer.

“Let’s go to the site together.”

I’d never actually had the chance to have a conversation with her before, but seeing how sociable she must be with that bright smile of hers, I had quite a high impression of her.