Chapter 44: After Event Celebration

After entering the palace, they were shown to their room. Each of them had their own room. Even a commoner like Razé was given a gorgeous room. Unsurprisingly, Carna’s room was next to Ruben’s. After that, they were served tea in the parlor to relieve the wariness of their journey.

So elegant!

In the military, there was no such thing as taking short break during traveling. Razé was inwardly astonished with the new experience as she filled her stomach with the light refreshments.

“Your friend has arrived.”

A while later, Folia walked into the parlor. Razé was relieved when she saw the cheerful look on her face.

“Razé-chan! How have you been?”

It was the second time Razé had been asked that question today, and she just nodded her head. Her angel today was ethereal as usual.

Folia passed a paper bag to her, saying, “Zale-sama asked me to give this to you.”

“Huh?” Razé didn’t expected a gift from Zale. She looked inside suspiciously and saw a letter. It said, “Please look after Folia. Use this in case of emergency.”

She nervously checked the contents inside the bag and found a device that would send electric shock when activated by magic, something like a taser.

“Wow…” Her face was twitching. She was terrified when she thought who was this meant for. She immediately teleported the item to her room.

Folia: “What is it?”

Razé: “… Cookies.”

Folia: “I see!”

Razé felt a bit guilty when she looked at the naïve girl.

Ruben: “Everyone is here. Then we can start our discussion.”

They moved to a large room which was prepared for their gathering. The room was divided into meeting space and work space.

Folia turned to Razé and said, “The palace is amazing! I feel like I’m in a fairy tale.”

Razé: “I was thinking the same thing too.”

Folia: “Right?”

She nodded her head and Folia laughed cheerfully.

Hmm. This is the right one. Razé felt relieved to find someone whose reaction was according to her expectation. She had entered the Imperial Palace a few times before like when she was conferred the title Wolf Fang. But she was a commoner both in this life and previous life, so she felt dizzy looking at the elegance feeling shown by the aristocrats.

“Let’s start our discussion.”

Carna, as the chairperson of the committee, hosted the meeting after everyone had sat down.

The main theme of the 1st Centrior School Festival was ‘Milky Way’. Carna had proposed this theme hoping to create a stage where every single student could participate actively and shine like stars. The steering committee was in charge of creating decorations related to this theme. Razé would have to return to the military after three days, but the other members would continue with the preparation.

With wealth and magic in their hands, they should be able to complete this task in a short time. The purpose of this gathering was to prepare the details for the after-event celebration which would be held on the night of the last day of the festival.

First, each of them would present their ideas about the content of the event.

Carna, who had the memories of her previous life, proposed a campfire as it was the standard agenda for an after-event celebration. As for everyone else, although the details varied, in overall they suggested for a party.

“Razé, what about you?”

Finally, it was Razé’s turn. Although she was busy with monster hunting, research and other tasks, she also had come up with an idea to propose during this meeting. “I would like to suggest candle night.”

“Candle night?” Ian repeated the unfamiliar words.

Razé: “Yes. Each person will light a candle and we will arrange the candles in the training ground. I think it will look like the theme Milky Way. Ah! I just thought of something. If we cover the candle with translucent paper, we can write a wish or something on it.”

Carna: “That sounds lovely! What if we use magic and release it to the sky as the finale?”

Razé remembered something from her previous life, and could guess that Carna was thinking about the same thing.

Folia nodded her head with sparkle in her eyes. “Write your wish and release it to the sky… I think that’s really good!”

“It fits the ‘Milky Way’ theme very well.” Ruben’s words were the clincher. They decided to go with Razé’s idea. With lantern as the model image, they proceeded with the discussion and made decision for details.

Folia: “This would have more impact during rainy days where there are no stars in the sky.”

Luca: “… Then, we can use my magic to make them waterproof.”

Folia: “Really?! You can even do that? Luca-sama, sugoi!”

Luca: “It’s just a simple matter…”

Listening to their conversation, Razé felt glad that Folia was there. Whenever she was around, they could feel a warm and cozy atmosphere regardless where they were. And Razé could see the unexpected side of these ikemen, so she was very happy. When she recalled the taser that she had received, she felt grateful that Folia left that guy to joined them here.

Carna: “We can dance outside after releasing the lanterns. What do you think?”

Claude: “Then it would be better if we arrange the lanterns at random height during the dance. Once the dance is finish, we let them fly into the sky. What do you think?”

Carna: “That sounds great!”

Claude nodded and wrote the plan on his notes.

Adis: “We need to find translucent paper with decent quality.”

Razé: “I know a good shop in Beham.”

She teleported some papers from her home and held it in her hand. She found the workshop during her undercover activity. The main product of the shop was wrapping papers. It reminded her of the beautiful wrapping paper for the sweets she received from her subordinate.

“The shop name is Happy Leaf. Their main product is wrapping papers. And this is a writing paper. Why don’t you all take a look?” Razé passed the sample around.

Carna: “It is translucent, so pretty. Now I want it too.”

Razé: “If you like it, then I’d be happy to give it to you. There are not many occasions for me to write letter anyway. Instead of letting it collecting dust, it’s better if I give it to you.”

Carna: “Really? Thank you.”

Razé felt her heart fluttered when she saw Carna’s beautiful smile.

Victor-kun, thank you for the souvenir! It was very useful!

Razé felt grateful to the subordinate who created the opportunity for her to find these papers.

Razé: “I’ll go to the shop tomorrow and make an inquiry.”

Carna: “Okay. If we use a good quality paper, then it’s better to use good quality candle too. Tomorrow we will separate into three groups. First group will procure the paper, second group will look for suitable candles, and the third group will take care of waterproofing and other magic-related issue.”

Razé, Claude and Adis were in the first group. Carna and Ruben were in the second group. Luca, Folia and Ian would handle the magic related preparation.

About the second group, nobody would comment anything. Razé sent a cheer to Carna in her heart. As for the third group, in case they made some mistake and somebody got hurt, then Folia could help with her healing magic. Razé felt that the grouping was done nicely.

Razé was glad that Claude was there to help her to procure the papers. As for Adis, she just hoped that he wouldn’t cause any trouble when they were outside with his usual attitude. But she knew that he normally was serious about his task, so she wouldn’t complaint anything.

Carna: “Beham is quite far from here…”

Razé: “There’s no problem. I can use teleportation with two people (easily).”

Luca: “Huh?! Even for that distance?!”

Luca, who was good at magic, was surprised with Razé’s words.

Err…Is it supposed to be difficult?

Razé was Shian’s ace that could teleport around 500 people at once; just like a teleporter machine. She was so used to it, so her sense of judgement in this topic was not so reliable. By right, it was extremely difficult for someone whose specialty was movement magic to teleport across the country.

Razé: “I already marked a location in Beham. There should be no problem…”

Luca: “Are you serious?”

Luca got on his feet and reached out his hand trying to touch Razé’s charm (earring). He activated an assessment magic while touching the magic stone.

Zap!

“Huh? I was repelled?” Luca was trying to use assessment magic to read the information accumulated in the magic stone. He was startled because his magic was reflected. This meant that she has a higher magic stone activation ability than him.

“Luca-sama. Are you alright?” Folia was surprised and hurriedly rushed over. Luca’s magic was said to be among the top in the academy, and Razé could repel him. Everyone was staring at Razé.

“Umm…” Razé broke into a cold sweat, not knowing how to explain.

“Just as expected from the scholarship student scouted by the principal himself. I’ve been curious about something. What were you doing before you join the academy?”

Razé casted down her eyes after hearing Adis’ question. I’m screwed…

She had never expected that Luca, who was not really fond of commoner, would touch her charm. She was totally unprepared… Perhaps she was too happy to spend her day off that she had let her guard down.

Carna: “Adis-sama, you… Razé, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Razé knew that Carna herself was curious but still helped to cover for her. Luckily, Razé had prepared some excuses that could be use if she got busted.

“It’s okay. I didn’t mean to hide it from anyone. I work as an adventurer while I move from place to place.”

Her work history as an adventurer was recorded in Razé Granoli’s fake profile. This adventurer profession was a good cover if someone found out about her ability.

“I have long experienced in this profession so I’m quite good at fighting.”

Actually, it was a miracle that she hadn’t got busted until now considering she was surrounded by these talented golden eggs[1] for almost two years.

“I knew it. You’ve been slacking off in the tournaments.”

Razé was a little annoyed by Adis’ confident words.

“…Look who’s talking! It’s not good for commoners to show off their talent. Besides, I’m perfectly fine as long as I can study at the academy.”

Razé felt that this should be enough to make them believed this identity. Then, it should be highly unlikely for them to suspect her of being a soldier.

“Since when have you been an adventurer?” Folia asked with a worried face. She remembered the black wound on Razé’s side although Razé had been covering it with illusion magic lately.

Razé: “Since I became an orphan. Since I was 5.”

Folia: “I see… Did you meet any dangerous situation?”

Razé: “Well, I’m an adventurer after all. But there were people who helped me, and I have this magic stone too. You shouldn’t mind me. Thanks to that experience, I’m living a fulfilling live like now.”

Razé didn’t want to see her angel with a sad face. So, she smiled at Folia and stroked her hair.

At that time, they heard the sound of knocking on the door.

“Pardon me. The dinner is ready.”

“Okay.”

Ruben replied to the butler. Then he said to them, “Let’s end our discussion here for today.”

Carna: “Okay. After the dinner, we can decide what time to leave tomorrow. Then everyone should rest early. It’s a holiday after all.”

Ruben: “You’re right.”

And so, the group went to the dining hall for their dinner.

[1] 金の卵(lit. golden egg) means youth with promising future. ↩