208. Entrance Exam and Valentines Day [5]

Leia-sensei handed out the admission guidelines to each of us and briefly outlined it.

「The entrance examination is held on February 1st, about three weeks from now. What I’m thinking is having Allen as the chief examiner and Ria and Rose as the assistants. How about it? Won’t you accept it?」

She looked at me with an unusually serious expression..

「Well, uh… Why would I be the chief examiner?」

「Well, it’s a『tradition』. Basically, in the entrance examination of the『Five Academy’s』, the highest achiever of the previous year is supposed to be the examiner. Most likely, the chief examiner for Ice King Academy will be Sid, and Idol for White Lily Academy.」

「Is that so…」

It is difficult to refuse when she says that it’s a tradition.

(But, leaving aside Idol as an examiner, Sid-san being an examiner, huh…)

The students who are going to take the Ice King Academy entrance exam this year are going to have a hard time.

「By the way, last year Sie was the chief examiner, Lilim and Ferris served as her assistants. How about it, Allen? Wouldn’t you please accept it?」

Sensei came up to me and seeked an answer right at this moment.

(She’s originally a pretty pushy person, but isn’t she a little more pushy than usual today?)

When I sensed something was out of place,

「Nee, Leia… What is this?」

Ria said, pointing to a certain page of the application guidelines.

「Guh…」

「T-This is…!?」

There was a photograph of me holding a sword clad in jet-black robe.

In addition, it was accompanied by the sentence,『The examinee who can land a hit on the Evil Swordsman Allen Rodore, will pass on the spot!』in bold letters.

「Ha, hahaha… Y-You know, it’s just something to fire up the applicants! The expression may be a little too provocative, but… That’s what advertising is all about, isn’t it?」

Sensei said while scratching her head. Her eyes moved every which way.

「Hou, there is something else on this page, too.『Save Thousand Blade Academy From the Evil Clutches of Allen Rodore!』- I think it’s a little too much firing up, though.」Rose said.

「W-Well, it’s…」

Sensei was unable to make any more excuses.

(『Evil Swordsman』and『Evil Clutches』, huh…)

That’s harsh writing.

「Everything about this smells really suspicious… I can’t help but feel that there is something you aren’t telling us.」

「It is certainly a famous story to some extent that the Five Academy’s makes their excellent students an examiner, but… I’ve never heard of any exam which pushed one student so far to the front.」

When they both shoot a sharp gaze,

「Fuu, okay okay… I’ll tell you everything.」

As though having resigned herself, sensei dropped her shoulders and slowly began to talk.

「It’s embarrassing, but our current financial situation is very tight. The reason is that, as you know, the academy building was completely rebuilt last September. There were a lot of subsidies from the government, but… Even so, the majority of the reserve will be cut off, and this fiscal year’s finance is expected to be significantly going into deficit.」

「I-Is that so…?」

Rebuilding the academy building.

The cause was the incident in which Fu Rudras and Dodriel Barton suddenly attacked Thousand Blade Academy.

In front of the overwhelming power of Fu, I was driven into a corner, but…

Zeon, who snatced my body, went on a rampage, and I managed to survive without any problems.

The academy building, however, collapsed completely in the process.

「The current international situation is very unstable. We don’t know if Thousand Blade Academy will be a target again next year. In the sense of self-defense measures as well, we want to secure excellent human resources. We want to attract a large number of examinees and use the examination fees to restore our finances. All of us teachers at Thousand Blade Academy held a day-night meeting to achieve these two objectives. And you, Allen, were selected.」

「Uh… What does that mean?」

I don’t understand why my name appeared there.

「It is no exaggeration to say that the name『Allen Rodore』is now echoing throughout the Imperial Kingdom. By taking advantage of that fame and putting it into practical use, we aim to secure excellent examinees and acquire a large amount of exam fees!」

Sensei said, extolling a plan which sounded very reckless.

(My name is not so famous, and there is absolutely no publicity effect like that.)

Then, sensei continued to just smile wryly.

「With our basic strategy in place, we started working right away. I went to the city of Orest and raked up your impressive tales and reputations. But that’s where a big problem came up.」

「A big problem…?」

「For some reason, Allen’s reputation was surprisingly bad. You repelled the Black Organization many times, protected Tenshi-sama from the attack of the demon, and even developed the first『wonder cure for curse』in human history. You should be a hero class character who has saved the Imperial Kingdom so far, but… the rumours were, Allen Rodore is trying to overthrow the state by joining hands with Rize, he is connected to the demons behind the scenes… On top of all that, people even asked if you weren’t a Thirteen Knights of the Oracle?」

「I-It has gotten bad to that extent…?」

I knew that my reputation was extremely bad, but…

I’ve never heard of that last rumor.

「We were forced to make a major change to our plan, and we decided to incorporate the idea of reversal. We decided to thoroughly make you play the part of a villain. But this is a desperate measure for us as well. There is not one teacher in Thousand Blade Academy who genuinely thinks you are evil!」

Sensei spoke passionately and grabbed my shoulders tightly.

「I-I see…」

I understand what she is saying to some extent.

(But this has become troublesome again…)

My reputation, which was not good to begin with, will get even worse if those advertisements were spread around.

And when I sighed a little,

「You made a lot of excuses, but… To sum it up, you’re just using Allen as a bait, right?」

「Guh… T-That’s right.」

Sensei bit her lower lip in response to Ria’s sharp point

「B-But you see! As we aimed, the『Allen effect』was tremendous! Here, look at this!」

She said, taking a piece of piece paper out of the drawer.

「…This is?」

「It’s a record of the number of examinees at Thousand Blade Academy over the past decade. And the part which is worth noting is here, take a good look at the number of candidates this year!」

「This is a tremendous number.」

It was an astounding phenomenal figure of more than three times as much as an average year.

(I can’t really believe this is my effect, but…)

Sensei’s goal seems to have been achieved for the time being.

As the talks calmed down a little, I asked a question.

「What happens in the case that I don’t supervise the exam?」

「…Our academy will be『done』for scam.」

「…I see.」

She seems to be acting without thinking as usual.

「Haa… Okay, I’ll take it on.」

I am indebted to sensei in various ways so far, such as teaching the training method of soul dress and efficient strength training.

And the financial situation of Thousand Blade Academy becoming tight is also partly my responsibility for not being able to control Zeon.

「I-Is that true!? You’re really going to do it!?」

「Yes. But please stop doing these kinds of selfish acts, okay? At least please consult with me firs–」

「Yoshi! Yoshi, Yoshi, Yoshi!」

Sensei made a fist and shouted with excitement.

(Haa, she’s not listening to me at all…)

Looking at this situation, I’m sure she will do the same thing again someday.

「Nee, Allen… I think I’ve said it once before, but you should be a little more strict with people… But, I don’t think you’re ever going to change though.」

「Tell me about it. This kindness is a virtue, but also a drawback. I don’t think we can change it either.」

Ria and Rose seemed to have given up on changing me, and sighed.

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