I crushed the crystal in my hand and scattered the powder in time with the moment Freya and Ciel were about to brush past us.Ssshhk-.No matter how quick their movements were, they couldn’t avoid the particles scattered in an instant.“……!”Freya and Ciel covered their mouths and noses with their sleeves to block inhalation of the particles for a moment, but this didn’t act through the respiratory system.“Kh.”Struck directly by the particles, their legs seemed to lose strength and their speed dropped sharply.Watching the two stagger, Elena asked in worry,“You didn’t throw something dangerous at them… did you?”“I’m not that bad a person.”Blowing the yellow crystal dust still left on my glove—huff—I brushed it off and explained.The crystal I had just crushed and scattered was a [Lower Paralysis] crystal.Any target that came into contact with the particles of this crystal would momentarily fall into the status ailment [Paralysis].Of course it didn’t lock the body up completely, and its potency varied greatly depending on the target’s resistance to status ailments.For targets with excellent physical abilities like Freya or Ciel, at most it would only slow their movements for a few seconds.You could think of it as similar in effect to a Slow spell.'But a few seconds in a race like this can make an enormous difference.'At my explanation, Elena scratched her cheek.“Feels a little dirty. A paralysis crystal, really.”“Dirty? People sprinting at full tilt against a feeble mage like me are the dirty ones.”“……Come to think of it, that’s true.”“The finish line is right ahead.”While Freya and Ciel were faltering, Elena and I crossed the finish line without incident.At the same time, the emcee’s voice rang out.“Miss Elena of Saintea and President Loen cross the finish line! They come in first place!”“Waaaa!”The Saintea side shouted loud enough to shake the arena. The emcee continued.“Very good. Students of the Saintea side, please follow the guides’ instructions and exit the grand stadium first! Enjoy your meal!”The Saintea students, who now could eat first, let out even louder cheers.They would not only secure good seats in the cafeteria but also be first into popular eateries and nice cafés to enjoy limited-time items.“Oooo!”Amid the pouring, fervent cheers, Elena beamed and waved to the students.Then she spoke quietly to me.“Loen, you wave too.”“……”After a brief hesitation, I also waved toward the stands after Elena.Even if this cheering wasn’t entirely for me, it still didn’t feel bad at all.***After the two-person three-legged event and the subsequent lunch break.Starting at 15:00, a large-scale event for students participating in the Sports Festival was held.It was the “Treasure-Hunt Event,” with luxurious prizes personally prepared by Freya, the Student Council President of Ishtal.Tap tap-.Through loudspeakers throughout Ishtal, the emcee’s voice rang out.“Attention, everyone! The long-awaited Treasure-Hunt Event will be held from 15:00~ ”Students strolling the gourmet street or chatting in cafés paused and lent an ear to the emcee’s voice.“The slips with the treasure-hunt prizes are coated with special mana, so you can estimate their approximate locations through mana detection. The slips can exist anywhere—in parks, classrooms, shopping streets, forests—so please search diligently! As you all know, the S-rank prize is a date ticket with the President! Please search hard~”“Ooh!”A robust cheer resounded through the streets.Aiming for the special prize—a weekend date with Freya—many male students set out to scour the Union.Like an ebb tide, crowds of students spread out into each region of the academy.“Will you be participating in the treasure hunt as well, Mr. Loen?”After lunch with Elena, I nodded at her question.“I plan to patrol the academy and work off what I ate. I might as well roam around for the treasure hunt too.”There were several reasons I decided to participate in this treasure-hunt event.First was, of course, pure interest.Finding hidden treasures and earning prizes is quite fun. The date ticket with Freya was one of them, so there would be the fun of searching.Second was mana-detection training.Since the slips were imbued with mana, it was perfect for developing the ability to sense and detect mana while moving through various places.Mana detection is a skill useful in many ways and a basic competence for mages.As a modern person, it still wasn’t familiar to me, so I needed to train it continuously.Third was, naturally, retrieving the Dark Magic Stones spread through the academy.Other regions were fine, but I wasn’t reassured about the spirit academy side where Kiriel was president, so I intended to use this chance to look more closely around that area.Normally, wandering all over someone else’s territory might draw strange looks, but with this treasure-hunt event, roaming freely wouldn’t be a problem.The last reason was—'Naturally, to prepare for a demon assault.'Even though the Chairman had left a message saying not to worry, I couldn’t leave everything to him.I should do what I could do.Rather than sitting still, it would be better for me to be the bait and lure them out.If I avoided crowded places and moved to sparsely populated ones, the students would be safer.Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, Elena slipped in a remark.“It’s not for the date ticket with Miss Freya, then?”To this I made a show of being uninterested and said,“If it’s Freya, I can meet her anytime under the pretext of a meeting. I don’t particularly need a date ticket.”“Hmm, I see. Still, you don’t like giving the chance to someone else, right?”Elena half-lidded her eyes, her golden pupils gleaming.“……”Her gaze seemed to see right through my inner thoughts, but I borrowed the power of a trait and slid past it smoothly.“It’s not exactly pleasant to have any random riffraff approach Freya.”“It’s fine to speak frankly. You two were even engaged once.”“The engagement was family circumstances. What would kids have known?”“……Well, in any case, do your best. Ah, and the information-accord contract we made the other time will soon be delivered to the General Student Council Office.”“Looks like approval came down from the home country.”Elena slowly nodded.The accord for exchanging monster information between House Celestia and House De Valis, which began with the Blood Demon’s weakness matter.By my intervening midway, instead of House De Valis, I personally entered into the accord.“Yes, but opposition inside the kingdom was quite fierce too. I don’t know if I should say this, but your reputation isn’t exactly good, is it?”“No need to mince words. It’s very bad.”These days, my infamy had lessened compared to before, but the change in reputation was limited to inside the Union.My recent course wasn’t yet widely known across the continent and the social world.And even if it were known, a reputation that had solidified for so long as a total reprobate wouldn’t change in the near term.Entering into a contract with a dangerous element like me was an enormous gamble from Celestia’s perspective too.Even if it looked a bit subservient, it might have been better to make a formal accord with House De Valis, but for now they seemed to have chosen the contract with me.Elena said,“Professor Andrea put in some effort for this. I also added a little pressure.”“You thought I would be worth that much.”“It’s a kind of gamble. At least I thought the odds were high.”Elena smiled at me.She called it a gamble, but there was a certain conviction in her voice.It was probably Elena who persuaded Professor Andrea as well.I couldn’t afford to harm those who trusted me. I’d cooperate as much as possible.Answering with a smile of my own, I said evenly,“Very well. As for the matter of contracting with me, it will never be something to regret.”***The treasure-hunt event was the main event of the Sports Festival.Its scale and the lineup of prizes were no joke.The reason strength was put into this event was Freya’s strong desire to hold something that would be fun for all the academy’s students, not just a few representative athletes.Of course, Freya herself paid a great price to carry that will through.“Ishtal District 7, dormitory zone cleared. Total prize slips found: 13. Three B-rank, ten C-rank. No further mana responses.”“No S-rank slips found.”“Moving to the next location.”“Move to the next location! Proceed to the old dining area!”“Mana detection team in the lead!”Students formed systematic squads to check the mana responses of the prize slips.It looked like far-seas fishing fleets sweeping the ocean in an organized drive hunt.Looking down from her office at the students moving systematically, Freya slumped her shoulders.“This isn’t what I wanted……”Exploring various places of the academy to cultivate a spirit of adventure, the joy of discovering a slip in an unexpected place, the sense of reward in obtaining small prizes—It was a treasure-hunt event she’d hoped everyone could enjoy at ease while feeling these elements on their own skin.But to see them forming teams and scooping up prizes like a net sweep in this collusive fashion—Collaboration between students or even group competition was something Freya could recommend, but this kind of collusion she hadn’t anticipated.“Well, it’s fine. It’s not like everyone is doing that. There are many who are enjoying it purely as you intended, President.”“If that’s the case, I’m relieved.”The total number of prize slips hidden throughout the Union was 777.Around seven hundred C-rank lower prize vouchers like lottery tickets, gift certificates, and Sports Festival memorabilia were placed at random by going around each academy’s territory.The traces of mana ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ were also engraved heavily to make tracing and discovery easy.However, B-rank or higher slips had some of their mana traces erased, so unless you got close, mana tracking was difficult, and care was taken to hide them in places hard to find with the naked eye as well.Like under a dresser, behind a garden stone, or inside a bird’s nest in a tree.The value of the prizes rose accordingly, consisting of worthwhile items like stipend vouchers in partnership with each academy, academic achievement grants, or high-end writing instrument sets.And the seven A-rank slips came with lower-grade artifacts that included the items below, raising their value to a tremendous level.Of course, Ishtal’s budget wasn’t used here.It was all prepared by taking out every last bit of Freya’s personal funds.Because of that, even her personal deposit entrusted to Steel Bank had run dry, and her cash on hand was scant.“…….”Freya stared for a moment at her empty frog coin purse, then nodded.Even if the frog’s belly was empty, if everyone was happy with this, that was enough.Last was the single S-rank…… the weekend date ticket with herself, designated as a prize.It was a prize she absolutely didn’t want to include, but she couldn’t ignore her aides’ strong insistence that it had to be put in for the success of the Sports Festival and the treasure-hunt event.For the time being, she’d yielded to their pressure and added it to the prize list, but she had hidden that one at some tightly concealed location in the academy, hoping it would never be found.She had practically erased its mana traces, just enough to keep up appearances, so she was sure no one would find it.Of course, the place where the S-rank slip was hidden wasn’t merely difficult.It was also an answer to the past incident at the Great Hall, to Loen helping her then, so if he sensed her true intent, it wasn’t impossible that Loen could find it.That aside, when she thought of Loen, the memory of the strange powder he threw in the two-person three-legged race earlier rose up, and her head heated a bit.“…….”She had thought first place was guaranteed, but to think he’d use such a cowardly trick.While Freya was thinking that for a moment, someone approached nearby.A familiar atmosphere of mana and a familiar gait.Freya realized who it was at once and turned around to speak.“Senior Jeremy.”Jeremy scanned down the treasure-hunt prize list and smiled.“The prizes are quite provocative. It seems this is why the male students are so enthusiastic. Might I try searching once, perhaps?”“Senior, you too…….”“A jest, Miss Freya. By the way, do you know where Loen has gone?”“I understand he has also joined the treasure-hunt event.”“I see.”Jeremy stroked his chin and fell into thought.“Why are you looking for Loen?”At Freya’s question, Jeremy’s eyes glinted quietly.“I have something urgent to discuss with him. The Dark Magic Stone…… that I was keeping has gone missing.”

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