ALL NOVEL Chapter 37
As I stepped out of the Student Council Building, the blue sky welcomed us.
Suddenly, Irene asked me, “What do you think of Violet?”
There was no need to ponder,
“It’s garbage that barely qualifies as a school! Waste! A pile of filth!”
“Yeah, you’re right. It is garbage.”
Irene’s expression turned a bit somber upon hearing my response. Did I go too far?
As we passed through the courtyard, she paused for a moment.
“Could you wait a second?”
There stood a massive statue covered in vines at the edge of the courtyard. It seemed to depict a person, but it was in a terrible state of disrepair.
“I didn’t realize the vines would grow so much in just a few days of neglect,” Irene began to pull the vines off the statue herself. A girl around my height tugged at the tangled vines, which easily fell away.
“I’ll help too!”
I had no idea what I was doing, but I started pulling off vines and tossing them aside. They came off easily when she pulled, but not when I did. What’s the difference?
As we somewhat cleared it up, Irene brushed off the tiny leaves and dust stuck around the statue.
Only then did I realize it depicted a young couple. They looked incredibly dignified.
The faces of the figures looked somewhat like the girl beside me. As I examined the statue, I understood why.
[In honor of the great heroes Orion Solstice and Zora Anis from Polaris. F.E. 17.]
“Aha! This is Irene’s parents!”
“Yeah, that’s right. They are my parents.”
The statue portrayed Irene’s parents.
They were more famous by their titles: the Spearman of the Lances and the Witch of Dawn. Heroes who took down countless high-level monsters solo and vanquished ugly Awakened villains one after another. The leaders of the Helios Clan.
Of course, at the current point in time, both of them were deceased. I had no clue what was going on now.
She gazed at the statue and spoke calmly.
“Ever since I was a child, I dreamed of entering this school. My parents were alumni, and I heard it was a highly prestigious academy. They said the rules were strict, but it had a wonderful tradition and history.”
She turned her head toward me. Her expression was a mix of disappointment, emptiness, and bitterness.
“But I never thought it would turn out like this. In fact, I had heard some worrying stories before enrolling, but I thought they were exaggerated. I had no idea it was the reality.”
Irene muttered with a serious look on her face.
“And, above all, the entrance ceremony…”
“The entrance ceremony?”
“Violet, you know about the incident where monsters appeared during the entrance ceremony, right?”
“Of course!”
It wasn’t just something I knew; I had actually died and resurrected because of that monster.
“A normal school would make it nearly impossible for a gate to open inside and let monsters appear. The Awakener Academy is built in a stable place. Besides, the incident itself has been swept under the rug. They labeled it as a mere accident. Is that reasonable?”
“Now that you mention it, it does seem strange.”
“But it just got buried as if nothing happened—even with fatalities! The response and attitude of the Student Council and Board of Directors are suspicious. But… there was nothing I could do.”
Indeed, I found my thoughts aligning with hers. That incident seemed far too suspicious to me as well.
I could see Irene’s shoulders droop after she explained. Seeing that adorable girl look so glum made my heart ache. I had nothing to lose, so I decided to help her out a bit.
I led her over to a nearby bench.
“So, do you have any idea why this school has changed so much?”
I started with a light question to break the ice.
“Well, I really didn’t have the time to look into the school’s past because I was busy helping other classmates.”
I recounted the school’s recent years, mentioning how it had suddenly absorbed and consolidated surrounding schools. Irene might have some insight into clan dynamics.
“That’s surprising. Thanks for telling me. It does seem strange.”
“Do you know anything about the Board of Directors of Polaris Comprehensive Academy?”
I quickly got a response.
“The Board of Directors of Polaris Comprehensive Academy is one of several companies and foundations operated by the Magnavis Clan. You know what kind of clan Magnavis is, right?”
Of course, I knew it well. They were one of the four major clans managing the Rust Room, responsible for the western region.
“The Student Council President may be a problem, but the Board of Directors is suspicious too! How could they manage to suppress reports about such incidents?”
“Right. We need to look into this further. I’ll ask some contacts in the clan without crossing any lines. But…”
As Irene was talking, she suddenly stopped and looked at me with a peculiar gaze.
“By the way, how much of our previous conversation did you hear?”
Oops, I had let it slip that I heard everything from the start.
“Actually, I heard everything from the beginning.”
She began anxiously looking around.
“Absolutely, under no circumstances, tell anyone else! You didn’t hear that conversation, got it?”
I quickly nodded at her serious warning. I needed to shift the topic of conversation.
“By the way, about the Duel Arena, do hunters outside solve problems with duels too?”
“It’s not uncommon. In fact, it happens quite often. But this is a school. We’re still students. Asking us to resolve such absurdities through personal fights doesn’t make sense.”
Her voice had risen a bit; the hint of anger was evident, but she quickly composed herself and continued.
“Still, we have to do what we can right now.”
“If what we can do is…”
“I plan to focus on my training first. First, the Freshman Management Board, then the Student Council, and lastly…”
I could guess what word she left out: Student Council President.
It seemed to be her own way of wanting to uncover the school’s absurdities and the tragedy of the entrance ceremony.
But I wondered if that was too ambitious for now. She looked really strong just from the glance I got.
I didn’t think Irene, who had even less experience and power than before the main story, stood a chance of winning.
“Anyway, thanks for offering to help. I have my own stuff to investigate, so let me know if you find anything new. Don’t push yourself too hard!”
“Got it.”
I went back and immediately started searching for information.
***
That evening, the third Violet emergency meeting was held.
– Central Team, Southwest Team, have you found anything? –
– Um, well… not much is coming up. –
There are various means to find information, but in this information age, the top priority is the internet.
The Central Violet Barracks team grabbed their tattered laptops and smartphones. The Dungeon team, which had recently gotten a room after bouncing between motels, turned on a tablet that had lost its owner.
– It would be great if we could replicate electronic devices. –
– Complex machines tend not to perform well when replicated. It’s better to just buy them. –
The school team was sifting through books in the library, mainly looking for parts related to the school’s history.
By the way, why are there so few students in the library?
– Did anyone find the school introduction pamphlet? –
– It’s hard to find one that isn’t covered in dust. Books with no classification numbers are everywhere. –
While 8th clone fiddled with the smartphone from the Central team, she began explaining.
– First, let me describe the situation on the school’s website. You know there’s a section for school introductions and history, right? The kind that shows where our school started and how much it has changed… the usual stuff. But… –
8th clone paused for a moment before continuing.
– It’s not there! –
– Not there? –
– Not a single thing! These guys aren’t managing the website. Since the 20th year of the Federation, there have been no updates. Student statistics and staff information are just vaguely listed. –
8th clone adjusted some data.
– Want to know something even creepier? Look closely. When I searched for news articles with the keyword ‘Polaris Comprehensive Academy’? –
8th clone shared her screen. The laptop’s display popped up. After limiting the search to this year, she typed away, and less than a hundred articles were generated during that time. Most were random entrance exam advertisements, promotional articles, or vaguely related terms mixed in.
The other articles were also similar; nothing detailed about the school itself. Most of it was trivial information.
– But, do you know what happens if we flip the clock back a few years? –
Setting the search period back a few years and hitting enter, articles suddenly poured out like a mountain. Reactions about the school, various news articles, opinions, and critiques were overflowing.
– I checked! Since about 6-7 years ago, information related to Polaris Comprehensive Academy has suddenly dropped. Newspaper articles? Don’t even get me started. –
– What? There’s such a huge difference between the amount of material concerning the school in the past and now? –
– Let’s look for some articles written in the past first. –
As I surveyed the monitor, material of all kinds began pouring out.
[The Growth and Limits of Polaris Comprehensive Academy: Future Tasks]
[How Orion the Spearman Became the Best: The Educational Philosophy of Polaris]
…
While scrolling down, I spotted an intriguing title. It was from a small community site discussing issues related to hunters and Awakened ones.
[Ah! Warm and Beautiful Memories of Polaris Class 13! Fe. 18.05.29]
– Check this out. –
The post featured a photo of a diploma alongside a nostalgic account from an older individual recalling their past.
<... the entrance ceremony for new students. A mid-level monster suddenly barged into the middle of the auditorium. I was shocked, and everyone was terrified, but it turned out to be a hologram. Seniors comforted the sobbing freshmen with laughter. Apparently, it was a traditional initiation of our long-standing school. Afterward, I also welcomed the freshmen who cried and laughed. ... Regardless of seniority, we were happy and friendly. Like family! ... Ah! Youth! Oh, memories! Although I retired due to injury, I still miss my school days...>
– So, even back then, it was an annual event for monsters to invade the entrance ceremony. Though a fake one.-
– Is that person for real? –
– Given the diploma verification, it seems legit. But the last post was from 7 years ago, and it says the author withdrew. –
We continued searching for school-related materials.
– Is there no alumni association? –
– There is, but the number is invalid. –
– They’re not reachable either. –
It was bizarre.
The more we searched, the more we felt an invisible wall. It felt like someone had deliberately controlled information regarding the school online for the past five years.
As we approached the 20th year, the amount of articles describing the school or discussing issues dropped sharply.
Yet within that time, we managed to find a clue.
In both cases, when we were looking into the school consolidation issue before, one name kept popping up.
[Sudden Expansion of Departments: Is it Appropriate? Vice-Chairman Valefor: 'To Specialize Awakened Education']
[Polaris, a Prestigious School: Expansion of Admission Criteria – The Plans of Vice-Chairman Valefor]
– Vice-Chairman Valefor? –
– Let’s look him up. –
Surprisingly, upon entering the chairman’s name, we quickly figured out who he was.
He was someone incredibly famous!
On the screen appeared a photo of a young-looking man with long gray hair tied back.
– Notice Valefor, former head of the Magnavis Clan, current chairman of the Polaris Board of Directors, an S-rank hunter, and a high-level mage with a level 5 fighting power… Why are there so many titles following his name? –
– Although he looks young, he’s probably older than he seems! He likely experienced the first and second-dimensional invasions that happened before the Federation. –
He was surprisingly a big deal. With that kind of power, he could be on par with a decent army.
Another clone began reciting the chairman’s background.
– Alright, I found it. This person served as the clan’s top leader until 2015 before stepping down. He has been serving as the vice-chairman of Polaris’s Board of Directors since 2016, and from 2020 onward, has been the chairman!
The school consolidation and expansion began right when he moved to the Board of Directors!
While listening to this explanation, the first clone, who was sifting through books in the library, suddenly gasped.
– Ugh! Look at this! –
– What is it? –
The first clone had laid out the school introduction brochures by year on an empty desk in the library.
– Our department is the Dungeon Strategy Management Department, right? –
– Yeah. There was no such department in the in-game academy! –
– Look here. Up until a few years ago, there was no department like that. –
The ancient 2017 school introduction brochure removed from the library showed:
[Departments – Combat/Tactics, Field Support, Exploration and Search, Strategy and Management]
– It looks like they only operated a handful of departments that integrated various subjects in the past. But now let’s look at today’s introduction brochure? –
As they spread out the brochure, I saw that the number of departments had nearly doubled from just four a few years ago. It was like rabbits multiplying; Fibonacci sequences weren’t even necessary.
– Just look at the state of things; they’ve split the Art Department into Primitive Art, Renaissance Art, Impressionism, and Romantic Art. It’s a terrible act. This isn’t graduate research; why bother with such inefficiency? –
– It looks like a trick to artificially inflate student enrollment. They could have just expanded the existing departments! –
– There might be other factors, like restrictions on the number of students assigned to each department. –
The first clone, who had been waiting in the library, continued to examine the book and pointed at a section.
– Look at this, admission criteria have continued to grow. In the past, there were only standardized tests, but now there are all sorts of trivial things like special admissions and donation-based admissions that showed up after we enrolled. –
We all sighed. The more we looked, the more absurd it became.
After the current chairman took office, the school suddenly swelled and tried to accept students by any means necessary. We were curious about the reason.
The sixth clone proposed a hypothesis.
– Perhaps it’s for profit? They might be planning to milk tuition fees through degree selling. –
The second clone pointed out something.
– Valefor was the head of the four major clans. Judging from his resume, he’s a walking war machine. Is a guy like him going to be here because he needs money? –
– Maybe he’s losing it… –
– Stop talking nonsense! –
After a moment of silence, something snapped in seventh clone’s mind. The lightning-fast thought swept across the Violet Network.
– What did the Student Council President say in the daytime? Didn’t she mention ‘5 years of enrollment’? –
– You’re right. Let me check the pamphlet we brought. –
In a moment, the library erupted with gasps and cheers.
– Found it! Here! Wait, what? –
– What? The Student Council President from the first year? –
At the entry for <2020 Student Council List>, the name ‘Croscelle Torrance’ appeared at the very top. It was him.
The minds of all the Violets started spinning rapidly.
Based on the information we gathered, we quickly pieced together a logical conclusion.
– The chairman consolidated surrounding schools into Polaris and split the departments. –
– The year Valefor became chairman, Croscelle became Student Council President from his first year. –
– The Student Council President has a direct line to the Board of Directors. –
– And now the school has turned into a mess. Within five years of the new chairman taking office. –
We all questioned.
– Is all of this just a coincidence? –
Upon investigation, it seemed we had caught a clue.
However, the fundamental question remained unanswered. The words ‘Why?’ lingered in all our minds.
– We can’t explain why they expanded the school’s size. We’ve merely discovered a correlation. –
– We can’t explain why the upperclassmen are acting like tyrants and the professors are so incompetent. –
– Why did monsters invade the entrance ceremony? –
We all desperately tried to find reasons for it.
– If the Student Council neglected the suddenly expanded school, an environment for tyranny could have emerged. Perhaps the Student Council President facilitated that. –
– The standards of professors or instructors may have declined due to the abrupt expansion of the school… so we could explain that. –
– But the reason for the monster invasion… I have no idea! –
No, we still didn’t know the fundamental answer.
– So, what are they trying to accomplish here? –
– I don’t know, maybe they’re running a child pedophile club in the school basement? –
We still hadn’t reached a conclusion.
– Still seems strange; I need to tell Irene. She might be able to find information that we don’t know. –
– Right, that’s a good idea. –
The meeting ended, leaving us with only more questions.
– Shall we take a look around the school? There are many unused and empty buildings here. Let’s do some searching for items. –
– Sounds good! Let’s search at night… maybe ask some professors how the old school used to be? –
– Well, all the professors here are strange. I doubt any of them would give proper answers. –
We tilted our heads in confusion. I wondered if anyone could specifically explain how this school had changed since the chairman took office.
However, the expression ‘The darkest place is right under the lamp’ was certainly true.
The next day, I would find someone who could answer my question very close by.
“Hey, you! Are you practicing swordsmanship properly these days?”
“Yes! I am!”
“What ‘yes’, what ‘yes’! Just look at how you swing that sword. Tsk tsk… Get down! 50 push-ups!”
“Kyaaah!”