Chapter 464: 16-year-old Inglis and the Knight Academy Seminar Festival (2)

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“Alright, let’s go, Glis! Everyone!”

“Yeah, Rani!”

Along with Inglis and the others, several Flygears took to the sky at once, forming a formation shaped like an arrowhead. Even that alone drew a chorus of “Ooooh!” from the audience, but it was merely an initial alignment—the real show had yet to begin.

“Now then, Leone!”

From atop the Flygear Carrier, Principal Miliera called out to Leone. At the forefront of the formation was Leone and Meltina, riding together on a single Flygear.

“Alright! Let’s begin!”

Leone raised her black greatsword and activated its Gift. In an instant, the entire scene transformed. A pitch-black, empty space. A pocket dimension created by the Gift of the Artifact. The entire audience was caught up in the effect, transported all at once.

“Wooooaaaah!?”

“W-what is this!?”

“Did it suddenly turn into night!? T-this is amazing!”

As astonished murmurs, far louder than before, rippled through the crowd, Inglis and the others spread out, centering their formation around Leone and Meltina’s Flygear. Locking eyes with Rafinha, positioned on the other side beyond Leone’s group, Inglis exchanged a silent signal.

The first to move from here would be Inglis and Rafinha. Starting from behind on either side, they would overtake Leone’s group and cross paths in front of them—but not in a straight line. Instead, they would spiral through the air in an intricate maneuver, performing an acrobatic flight.

It wasn’t a technique meant for fighting Magic Stone Beasts, so they had all practiced it extensively just for today.

Mounted at the rear of each Flygear were colored lights prepared by Principal Miliera, leaving glowing trails that painted the space according to their flight paths.

Inglis and Rafinha’s Flygears shone with a blue light.

“Glis!”

“Rani!”

As they crossed flight paths in front of Leone’s group, Inglis and Rafinha briefly touched hands midair before passing each other.

A wave of cheers erupted from the crowd, and taking that as her cue, Meltina began to sing in a beautiful voice. In sync with her song, the rest of the first-year students, including Liselotte, also took flight.

Liselotte, who followed closely behind Inglis and Rafinha, was marked by a red light. Other students had green or yellow lights. The reason for isolating the audience in the pitch-black subspace was to make the lights from the Flygears shine even more vividly.

And the reason Leone was serving as Meltina’s pilot was that activating a Gift while performing acrobatic maneuvers would be too much of a burden for one person alone. As Meltina’s voice filled the air, the colorful lights spread out in all directions, weaving through the darkened space.

The audience, captivated, watched in silent awe, forgetting even to blink. Then, as Meltina’s song reached its final note and Leone’s pocket dimension dissipated—

Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!

A thunderous round of applause erupted, surrounding Inglis and her companions.

“Wow, that was incredible! So beautiful!”

“I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

“Definitely worth the price of admission!”

Watching the enthusiastic reactions, Principal Miliera nodded in satisfaction.

“Everyone, that was wonderful! With this level of excitement, the Seminar Festival is a huge success, and as for the revenue… ufufufufu…!”

She waved at them with a bright smile—though there was something just a bit mischievous about it.

“She’s happy, but her expression is a little shady, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, Rani. I can practically see money signs in her eyes.”

“Well… I suppose that just means she’s under a lot of pressure…”

Leone gave a wry smile.

“Yep. If we want to keep getting free meals at the cafeteria, we’ll have to do our part.”

“That’s right, Chris! We’ve still got plenty to do, so let’s keep at it!”

“Oh dear, and now I can see food in your eyes…”

Liselotte sighed with a half-smile.

One way or another, the Seminar Festival had only just begun.

♦♢♦

“Hello~! Are you hungry~!? We’ve got freshly caught fish from Vault Lake and grilled meat skewers! We also have vegetable and cheese soup, and for those with a sweet tooth, pancakes loaded with homemade jam! We all worked really hard to make these for you~♪”

With a bright smile, Rafinha called out to passersby, inviting them over.

The main stage for the Seminar Festival was set up outside the Flygear Dock, near the Flygear Carrier. However, the dock itself was also open for visitors to explore freely, and several food stalls had been set up to accommodate them.

Whenever they weren’t performing, the students took turns manning the stall. Right now, Rafinha was at the front, acting as the vendor. With her cheerful and outgoing personality, she was a natural at this kind of work. Before long, her and friends’ stall was bustling with customers.

“Wow, it’s getting busy! We need to hurry…!”

Liselotte quickened her pace, ladling out soup from a large pot.

“Having lots of customers is great, but isn’t she advertising it a bit much?”

Leone commented as she flipped another pancake onto the plate. Among them, Leone was the best cook, and her efficiency showed.

“Well, Rani probably just wants to sell as much as she can and do her part, right?”

Leone had a point—after all, the soup had been prepared in advance by the cafeteria staff and only needed to be served, and the homemade jam also wasn’t made by Inglis and the others.

However, the pancakes were indeed Leone’s work, and the skewers were being grilled by Inglis herself. Dressed in an apron to protect against oil splatters, with a headscarf covering her hair, Inglis looked just like a hardworking town girl assisting in a kitchen. So while Rafinha’s words might have been a bit of an exaggeration, they weren’t entirely false either.

“Alright! That’s three orders of grilled skewers and pancakes! Thank you~♪ Meltina, did you hear that? Can you bring them over?”

“Y-Yes! I got it!”

Rafinha and Meltina were the ones taking orders at the front of the stall.

Unlike Rafinha, who thrived in this kind of social setting, Meltina had no prior experience with customer service. Though she was a little flustered, she was doing her best.

“Here you go, Meltina. These are the meat skewers.”

“And three servings of pancakes. Be careful, they’re hot.”

“Thank you both.”

Though her hands were still a little unsteady, Meltina carefully carried the orders to the waiting customers.

“Sorry for the wait.”

“Oh! You’re the girl who was singing while riding the Flygear earlier, right!?”

“Huh? Ah, um… I apologize if my singing was unpleasant to hear.”

“No, no! It was amazing!”

Hearing this, other customers nearby turned their attention toward Meltina.

“Oh, you’re right! It’s the girl who was singing earlier!”

“Oh my, you’re even more beautiful up close!”

“It was truly wonderful! I was deeply moved!”

“That was a real treat to witness!”

In no time, a small crowd had gathered around Meltina.

“U-Um… Thank you, everyone!”

Though she seemed a little embarrassed, there was a happy glow in her expression.

“Hey, you! Do you ever perform outside of events like this? I run a tavern, and we regularly bring in singers and dancers for our stage! Would you be interested in performing for us?”

“I-I’m honored, but I don’t think someone like me is…”

Just then, Rafinha popped her head in from the side.

“Yes, yes~♪ You see, we’re actually in a fully residential academy, so we need the principal’s permission to go out. Meltina might be interested, but could you get the principal’s approval first?”

“Oh, is that so? Alright, I’ll see if I can ask her later.”

“Thank you very much!”

Rafinha skillfully shielded Meltina from the conversation.

“Thank you, Rafinha.”

Meltina let out a deep breath.

“It’s nothing. Besides, it wouldn’t really be ideal for us to be hanging around a tavern, right?”

“Yes, that’s true. A tavern must have dishes we don’t normally get to eat, so I’d probably end up feeling even hungrier than necessary.”

“Uh… That’s not exactly the issue here, but—haha.”

Meltina was, after all, a princess of Venefique. While Inglis and Rafinha were also daughters of noble families, Meltina was a sheltered lady of an entirely different social class. Unlike Inglis and the others, who were more familiar with common life, her way of thinking was sometimes slightly different.

“Still, I kind of get what Meltina’s saying… Cooking really makes you hungry.”

Inglis glanced down at the skewers of fish and meat sizzling deliciously in front of her. The aroma was rich and enticing, stirring her appetite.

“Yeah. I totally get wanting to eat the food rather than sell it.”

“ “ “……” ” ”

Inglis, Rafinha, and Meltina all stared intently at the skewers and pancakes sizzling deliciously before them.

“H-Hey! Don’t look at them like that, you three!”

“They are products! You must not eat them!”

Leone and Liselotte quickly put a stop to their gazes, making the three of them shake their heads vigorously. If they ate anything without permission, they’d have to pay for it.

And they didn’t exactly have the money for that.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep