Chapter 10: The Academy’s Entrance Ceremony: The Antonym of Peace-3

The entrance ceremony began to head toward its conclusion.

The ceremony, which started with rehearsals at dawn, was approaching its end with the final speech from the Heroic Studies Department.

Of course, there was still a speech from Phia Parma after the Heroic Studies Department’s turn, but no one here was seriously intending to listen to her speech.

Perhaps the third faction that supports her might lend an ear.

In that sense, the ceremony practically ended with Allen Price’s speech.

Leon, who was watching the final speech of the ceremony on screen, let out a sigh of relief.

He was finally able to successfully wrap up such a major event.

Throughout the entrance ceremony, Leon, as a prince, managed to avoid making any noticeable mistakes.

Considering he had hastily prepared his speech in just one day, the content was excellent, and thanks to practicing all morning, he didn’t stutter once in front of the audience.

Although Allen’s turn was still remaining, Leon wasn’t particularly worried about him.

He was someone who had always been comfortable standing in front of others.

Leon couldn’t imagine a guy who once performed an outrageous dance, moonwalking in the middle of a royal ball, making a mistake out of nerves during his speech.

‘For him, it was a pretty solid speech.’

Although Leon had refined a few noble expressions and tightened up the structure, Allen’s original script had no major flaws.

Considering that Allen wasn’t used to using aristocratic language, his script could even be said to surpass Leon’s in quality.

If Leon had asked him where he learned to write like that, Allen would have probably replied that it was from the times his company commander made him write speeches as an assistant officer, but Leon had no way of knowing that.

Thinking that Allen had an unexpected talent, Leon turned his attention back to the screen.

On it, the dean of the Heroic Studies Department was delivering a welcome speech to the new students.

The elderly man, characterized by his long, white beard, seemed to embody the exact image of a hidden master.

True to his appearance, the dean of the Heroic Studies Department was a legendary figure in the field of heroes.

Even though he had retired from his role as a hero, he was still one of the top archmages in the world.

And depending on who says the same words, they can feel entirely different.

What might have been a boring speech if delivered by an ordinary dean became an inspiring one when spoken by a legendary hero.

The students listened to his speech with a level of enthusiasm that couldn’t even be compared to the other deans.

It made sense, given that to activate magic, one must recite incantations, and those incantations were a collection of words unconsciously uttered by a mage in a trance state, where imagination reaches its peak.

Because the archmage’s everyday language and the expressions he used in his speeches were fragments of his subconscious, the students hung on to every word of his speech.

Though he used terms like responsibility and duty frequently, none of the students dismissed it as the nagging of an old-fashioned elder.

On the contrary, some students even thought that perhaps those very words contained the secret to his great magic and diligently took notes during his speech.

The archmage’s speech passed by in a flash, fueled by the students’ passion.

He stepped down from the podium to thunderous applause and returned to his seat.

Soon, Allen ascended the podium.

Responding to the archmage’s speech could have been an overwhelming task for a young professional just starting out.

However, the valedictorian of the department, under the guidance of the world’s top archmage, was expected to be capable of such things.

And Allen was more than equipped for the task.

Before the crowd of 50,000, he read his speech without a hint of nervousness.

For someone who had already been an internationally renowned actor, this level of attention was nothing.

When his speech reached the middle, Allen pulled out a pen from his pocket.

Upon seeing the pen, Leon could only offer a wry smile.

‘He’s finally pulling out that pen.’

From the day Allen became a hero, he always carried a pen in his pocket.

If he didn’t have one, he’d transmute a nearby scrap of metal into a pen—he liked them that much.

Whenever fan service wasn’t going well or when he had to give a speech or an interview, he would pull out that pen.

“Do you think I can only make a pen like this? Do you think the works we create are as productive as just this pen? Our creations hold value because there are fans who love them.”

To prove this, whenever fans approached him during his time as John Armstrong, Allen would reward them with excellent fan service.

Some even said that the success of the John series was partially due to the fan service provided by the actor John Armstrong.

Of course, using the pen metaphor wasn’t entirely appropriate in this situation, but that was a minor issue he could adjust to.

With Leon’s help, Allen’s speech was refined to focus on protecting people and fulfilling his duties as a hero.

Just as the dean had emphasized a hero’s duty and responsibility, Allen’s metaphor fell perfectly in line.

‘And then he’ll probably say… something like, “I’ll show the strength of a hero no matter the odds, and even if I’m the only survivor, I’ll fulfill my duty. I will lead the charge!” … Where did he pick up such dramatic lines?’

Of course, Allen couldn’t admit that these lines were from the Ranger’s Creed, even if his lips were torn apart.

As he anticipated that line coming up, Leon prepared himself to applaud.

“The strength of a hero—”

It was at that moment.

Bang!

A loud explosion, powerful enough to drown out Allen’s voice, tore through the air as a projectile whizzed past his head.

The projectile pierced straight through the chest of the dean of the Heroic Studies Department, who was seated behind Allen.

The massive projectile, closer to a harpoon than an arrow, pinned the dean’s body to the wall behind him.

Red streaks, like paint splashes, spread from the dean’s back onto the wall.

Before he could even pull out the harpoon from his chest, another followed, piercing through his head.

It was instant death, plain for anyone to see.

The dean’s body, now headless, slumped forward.

In less than 0.1 seconds, before the other deans could even react, their seats were blown up.

In the spots where the deans once sat, only tattered cloth and scorch marks remained, as if to signify that people had been there.

“?!”

As everyone froze in shock, masked assailants descended from the dome ceiling.

Some of them aimed high-tech magic bows at the chancellor.

Others conjured fireballs or lightning orbs with their staffs and aimed them at the audience.

Seeing this, the Heroic Studies students, who were about to rush onto the stage, hesitated and stopped in their tracks.

Even though Hetairo Academy was known for its high standards, the students were still just that—students, and many of them were non-combatants.

With hostages being taken, the Heroic Studies students couldn’t attack the assailants recklessly.

The identity of the terrorists who had plunged the dome into fear was quickly deduced from the marks on their masks.

They were cultists.

These were fanatics who rejected the holy gods and worshipped evil deities.

They were infamous worldwide as terrorists.

And the reason they had come here was obvious.

This place, where the most promising young talents in the world were gathered, was the perfect stage to bring despair to the followers of the holy gods.

The Academy had been exposed to the threat of terrorism dozens of times a year, and today, unfortunately, the attack had succeeded.

While the audience was in a state of panic from the academy assault event, Leon quietly observed the screen from backstage.

His guard, Carl, did not advise him to flee; instead, he too simply watched the screen beside Leon.

“It’s finally begun.”

“It had to be this year, didn’t it?”

The two of them responded to the academy raid scenario with dry indifference.

No matter how elusive cultists were, governments weren’t incompetent enough to completely fail in tracking their movements.

The Shadow Knights of the Kingdom of Reben, the External Intelligence Bureau of the Parma Empire, the Dark Guardians of the Elves, and so on.

Since the establishment of these organizations, no government’s intelligence agencies had ever failed to detect the cultists’ movements.

When a terrorist attack succeeded, it was usually because they were deceived by false information or limited by administrative constraints, not because they were entirely oblivious.

And as the imperial prince, Leon had the right to access all the information from the intelligence agencies.

He hadn’t received any reports indicating a cultist attack during the entrance ceremony.

Therefore, he was certain that this wasn’t a real cultist attack.

So what was this situation?

It was none other than the academy’s unscheduled raid scenario.

The academy had started these events after a devastating terrorist attack hit the institution 100 years ago.

Since then, they had worked with not only the imperial intelligence agency but also other nations to establish a comprehensive anti-terrorism system, though even that wasn’t enough to satisfy them.

There are no absolutes in the world, and no shield is impenetrable.

They had prepared a scenario for what to do in the event of a successful terrorist attack.

The goal was to train the residents and students of the island to respond without panic even in the worst-case scenario.

The scenarios would occur suddenly, whether during a school festival, an entrance ceremony, or even in the middle of a class.

However, to prevent people from becoming complacent in the face of annual events, these scenarios were held without warning once every four or five years.

And it seemed that the academy had prepared a scenario for this entrance ceremony.

Whether it was due to a sudden impulse or the dean’s boredom, they had prepared the raid scenario for the year Leon enrolled.

‘Well, they got me good.’

The academy’s decision to suddenly move the entrance ceremony to a dome, to gather all the current students for just the entrance ceremony, and to send out the entrance notifications a day before were all part of their plan.

They even used the frivolous speech of the princess and Leon’s status to make the operation more seamless.

People gathered in the dome without suspicion, and the scenario successfully caught everyone off guard.

The sight of knights blocking the way to the stage behind the scenes only confirmed Leon’s suspicions.

He looked around.

Behind the stage were high-ranking nobles. While the top students from each department were gathered, most of the top students were originally high-ranking nobles.

This was not due to any corruption.

The academy, which prided itself on being open to all capable individuals regardless of their social status, did not offer additional benefits to high-ranking nobles.

However, in reality, high-ranking nobles, who had been receiving various potions, family vision magic, and the best tutors since childhood, were indeed at an advantage compared to commoners.

Occasionally, a genius might come along who could overturn this, but such cases were extremely rare.

Typically, the top student was always a high-ranking noble.

And with this privilege derived from their high-ranking noble status, they were also more likely to be familiar with the academy.

Whether it was a sibling, parent, or friend.

In the high-ranking noble network, information about the academy was common knowledge, and a raid scenario was also a conceivable scenario.

The proof was that the people behind the stage were as calm as Leon.

In fact, if they were panicking in such a situation, it would mean they were either out of touch with high society or lacking in perceptiveness.

In stark contrast to the calm backstage, the audience beyond the screen was in a state of panic.

Unfortunately, most of them were commoners or lower-ranking nobles.

They weren’t familiar enough with the academy to consider such raid scenarios as normal.

Some perceptive individuals tried to raise suspicions, but the academy was unlikely to be so careless.

This was because some upperclassmen (mostly graduate students) who had been on the island for a while performed desperate acts for their junior students.

• Get away!

Boom.

An upperclassman threw himself in front of a junior, causing his head to explode.

There were very few freshmen who could maintain their composure as the dean was assassinated in real-time and an upperclassman exploded.

Leon, meanwhile, was smirking as he brushed his fingers through the barrier-like atmosphere enveloping the dome.

If someone could so subtly envelop a wide dome with a temporary barrier, they would be a cardinal level.

‘The academy is quite serious.’

Normally, where would a civilian ever enter a barrier used for filming or training grounds?

Leon, who frequented the barrier because of Allen, was an exception. Most would have been oblivious to this barrier.

‘Consider it a good experience, friends.’

Leon smiled with satisfaction at the potential classmates.

There was nothing more honest than a person confronted with fear, and they would reveal their true selves. This would be recorded by professors observing from somewhere.

There might be some embarrassment in the process, but no professor would view it as a negative point.

After all, isn’t the academy there to help them overcome fear and grow into respectable heroes?

At that moment, one of the heroic candidates leading the charge to find comrades was swiftly subdued by the raiders.

It was to be expected.

The ones playing the role of the raiders were either professors from the Hero Department or graduate students.

It was beyond the capability of inexperienced freshmen to overcome them with just courage.

However, showing courage in such a situation would leave a good impression on the professors.

Then suddenly, Allen appeared on the screen.

He was standing at the podium, frozen with a pen held up in one hand.

Was he perhaps panicking?

That couldn’t be.

Although his behavior was a bit frivolous, Allen was also a high-ranking noble.

His father, mother, and even his elder brother were all alumni of the academy.

Moreover, his family was well-regarded in high society and even had connections to the intelligence agency.

There was no way he wouldn’t notice the scenario…

At that moment, Leon’s mind recalled Allen’s growth.

While other noble children were studying with tutors in their mansions, he had been training with fists in the imperial training grounds or the knight training center.

When he was in high society, he had lived only in the barrier due to the John series.

And crucially, he was so lacking in social awareness that he didn’t know any noble manners.

‘No way… Oh, no way.’

To make a mistake in such a situation.

Leon regretted his thoughts exactly three minutes later.

A graduate student playing a raider approached Allen.

There had been occasions when junior students couldn’t handle sudden changes and froze.

With such complacent thoughts, the graduate student approached Allen.

At the moment he reached out to lower the arm of the unfortunate junior.

“Shall I show you a magic trick? This pen will disappear.”

“Hmm?”

The moment Allen’s voice, which was thought to be frozen, echoed through the dome via the microphone, everyone’s attention turned to the stage.

Before the people’s focus could fully settle, Allen turned around and jabbed the pen into the raider’s eye.

Then he grabbed the raider’s head and slammed it down onto the podium as if nailing it.

Thud!

The sound of hammering and metal piercing flesh echoed through the dome via the microphone.

The raider, who had been Allen’s magic assistant, either fell or rolled off the podium.

In a scene beyond imagination, while tens of thousands of people were frozen, Allen whispered into the bloodstained microphone.

“Ta-da~”

Leon and Carl wiped their faces without saying a word.