RATH 102
TL: Eevee

11. Not a myth, but a legend (15)

#21 Their story: Aris ril Letia’s story.

I have to stay focused.

For some reason, it felt like I was constantly getting carried away.

“Even we would have trouble against those numbers. We need reinforcements.”

No matter what kind of hellish training we received in Yugrasia, I was just one person.

Fighting against thousands with just thirteen of us was impossible.

“That’s true.”
“To be honest it was a far stretch…”

Everyone else nodded in assent to my opinion.

It was an opportunity to make our vice-president Risen who would always thoroughly corrupt our minds, see some sense and advance the discussion.

“Either we wait for reinforcements, or we retreat here.”

At the very least, the vice-pres and I needed to take on the Pres and the Nermia girl 1 on 1.

Pres was educated in the same Yugrasia we had, and even among us he was one of the strongest, and despite not attending Yugrasia, Nermia was about as powerful as he was.

If we had still been the Yugrasia of last year, without Professor Nicerwin, would we have been a match for her?

She would probably have shown us all what a monster she was as she single-handedly fought against an entire enemy school on her own.

If I had not been seduced by Professor Nicerwin’s devil’s tongue during the enrolment period, and went to Arucia as I’d originally planned.

Would I have been a match for Nermia at this time?

Never.

That was how strong she was, and that was how talented she was.

“Our objective is to secure our freedom from the night study by winning the imperial festival. Whether Pres lives or dies after that is irrelevant.”

Right now, Arucia and Marcis had taken Pres in out of necessity.

When the imperial festival ended, he would return to Yugrasia.

We could leave the execution for then.

-Aris… so the fact that he needs to be executed hasn’t changed.
-M, My goddess. This was because he betrayed the school! There are no personal grudges behind this!
-I, I suppose so. Our Aris is charming enough that you could make any man fall for you!
-Goddess!

It appeared that the goddess was making a giant misunderstanding.

I couldn’t say that I didn’t have any of those feelings when I was talking with Siir, but now was different.

I simply, wanted our school to win.

Really!

“Kugh… so it looks like everyone’s here.”

While we were discussing about what to do from here, our vice-president, who was so beaten up that ‘tattered’ would be the appropriate way to describe him, appeared.

“You’re late.”
“Ahh, I took on Lady Nermia this time round. I was this close to losing, you know.”

If you just listened to him grumble you wouldn’t think anything was out of the ordinary, but if you looked at his uniform, the upper half being shredded so badly it no longer functioned as clothing, and his lower half which had been reduced to shorts, you could tell just how ferocious of a fight he’d just been in.

But the vice-president’s next words were completely unexpected.

“Seriously… someone else at the same level as Lady Nermia showed up out of nowhere.”
“What?”
“Same level?”
“Yep, same level. She was wearing a Marcis uniform, but oddly enough she wasn’t using magic.”
“It can’t be…”

It was a shocking turn of events.

No matter how wide the word was, the majority of the students at the imperial festival were teenagers.

Even the oldest ones were only barely in their twenties.

No matter how much of a difference in talent existed, depending on how they were taught, how they were trained, the differences between individual ability would always make itself known.

And yet if a powerful person on Nermia’s level appeared out of nowhere, that meant that Marcis’s education, at least on a very small, very elite scale, was the same as ours!

“This is impossible!”

It was infuriating to admit it, but Yugrasia’s education methods let one surpass their limits as humans.

To think that even Marcis could achieve that!

It was probably not the same hell as our school was, however.

Because if a second existence similar to the silver devil existed in the world, that was no less than a sign that the world would come to ruin.

“But, her skills at least were the real thing, Lady Aris?”
“Urghh…”

Said the vice-president with a serious face.

It felt even more like the truth when a normally flippant person was serious.

“We have to acknowledge it. Didn’t Professor Aruhan teach us that although we may overestimate an opponent, we cannot underestimate them?”
“Yes, it was my mistake.”

Although such a possibility made absolutely no sense, nothing had less sense than the silver devil’s very existence.

So assuming that the aforementioned scenario was possible.

Because it wasn’t like there was zero precedent in the form of fairy tales, stories and myths.

Even if you were to look at the founding history of the empire, although unofficial, the first emperor was said to have achieved the realm of swordsmaster at just fourteen years of age!

-Hey Aris, if you’d met that teacher at age 13, you probably could have beaten that unofficial record, too?
-Don’t even say such a thing! If I haven’t caused the end of the world at least a dozen times in my past life! Goddess is sentencing hypothetical me to a fate worse than death!
-S, sorry… my bad…

I accepted the goddess’s quick apology.

Meeting Professor Nicerwin before the age of 13, there couldn’t be anyone in the world who could have ever experienced such a travesty.

“Uh… Lady Aris?”
“Yesh?”

Perhaps I’d dwelled on such a horrifying thought for too long, but everyone was looking at me.

“I’m sorry. What were we saying?”
“N, nothing. We were discussing how we’d already requested reinforcements on our way back.”

Although my actions were hardly appropriate directly in front of my seniors, even if I was the progeny of a high-ranking noble house, but it wasn’t that big of a problem because this was Yugrasia, the summoner’s school.

In cases where one was a contractor of a high-ranking summon capable of communication, such cases were commonplace.

“Reinforcements… how many did you call for, vice-president?”

We defeated a hundred-something Arucia students in the earlier skirmish, but at least that many reinforcements of their own would arrive from Marcis.

This would probably be the biggest battle in the entire event, so at the very least we needed at least an entire year group’s worth of numbers in order to guarantee victory.

“A hundred.”

…Except for the number of first years!

“That’s too few!”

Even if they were spread out over multiple different sites, normally in siege battles, only the elites remained at headquarters.

If the main headquarters were destroyed where all the key members and leaders were, then the other students in the other castles would lose their commanders.

Who would want that?

So it was obvious that the main base would have the greatest numbers and the strongest fighters.

And we were invading a base like that with just a hundred, no, a hundred and twelve people

“I know what you’re thinking right now, Lady Aris. But I have a method to obtain victory with those one hundred.”

When I scowled slightly, the vice-pres confidently puffed out his chest.

“…Method?”

We had to beat a thousand with just a hundred – no, actually, since we attacked them just now they’d also bring in reinforcements of their own, wouldn’t they?

So that meant we had to fight over a thousand of their students with just a hundred of ours, and there was a method to win despite those odds?

“We can’t simply lose a hundred of our forces so easily. Tell me this method.”

At my words, the vice-president hesitated slightly.

“I cannot tell you of the fine details of this plan. Because the more people that know of it, the more likely it is to fail.”
“Am I included in those people?”
“Yes, Lady Aris is also included.”

My trust in this plan plummeted.

“Because this is a method that Professor Nicerwin saw fit to personally teach me, and only to me.”

My trust in this plan skyrocketed back.

And at the same time, my feelings of pity for the students that would be my enemy also rose.

What kind of merciless strategy that Professor Nicerwin, who was equally merciless with his allies, unleash upon them!

“Well, but if I were to briefly summarise it…”

The vice-president made a face that seemed extremely evil even to me, who was on his side… and said.

“Sedition and lies.”
…Eh?

#22 Their story: A certain villain boss’s story.

“Everything has been taken account of.”
“Has it now…”

Was it the empire’s interference tactics.

Or was it because of our nervousness for our final strike.

There were no casualties in the spontaneous riot that had occurred, but there were numerous injuries.

“Are we going to carry on like this?”
“We’ve come too far to stop now. Even if we stop here, all that’s left for us is death at that cruel emperor’s hands.”
“I understand.”

We had come far, far beyond the point of no return.

As we had mobilised all our troops, we had already been tracked down by the empire.

There was no way to turn back.

We could only advance forwards.

“Proceed as planned.”
“Yes!”

As my subordinate nodded once and hurriedly moved out, I too, rose from my seat.

A declaration of war against the emperor.

It was not what I had wanted, but as the leader of the anti-empire army whose history spanned over a thousand years, it was something I had to do.

“How much longer will it take for us to hijack the magic video tools?”
“In about five minutes time, we will have total access to every magic video tool in the empire.”
“Very good. The castle walls have already been conquered… are there any issues with the men assigned to the castle gates?”
“There were some injuries due to the earlier riot, but not to the point that they cannot keep the walls under control.”
“Tell them not to be complacent. If we look down on them simply because they are children, we will be countered. Never forget that they are the greatest future geniuses of the empire.”
“Yes, sir!”

Although there were some setbacks, they were not unsurmountable ones.

Although we couldn’t see the events of this imperial festival due to our poor start getting us discovered by the empire, the level of the students are always similar every year.

The only real outlier was Yugrasia which even had a swordsmaster.

Why a swordsmaster appeared from the summoner’s school Yugrasia and not the swordsmanship school Arucia was unknown, but the place we were attempting to conquer was Arucia’s main base.

On the contrary, due to Yugrasia, both Marcis and Mercaria were sending their students over here, so we could create even better results.

“We have control over all the empire’s magic video tools!”
“Very good, now is time for action!”

I heard my subordinates roar.

The time we would unleash our hatred of the empire, that we had only kept burning within our chests, was finally here!

“Aside from the injured, all units get to your stations!”

I looked on as everyone filed out one by one.

There was probably no more reasons for us to return to this dark underground hideout.

Because no matter what happened here, we would prove that we existed!

“This is a good place.”

Once I came up to the surface, I found a place with a good background and took out a magic video tool.

All the magic video tools in the empire were already under our control.

“Let us begin.”

I nodded and poured in magic power, and started a historic broadcast.

“My name is Pelarius run Magratina. I am a descendent of the royal family of the country of Magratina, which was destroyed by the empire long ago in the past, and the current leader of the anti-empire army!”

The wise old man had long vanished. Right now, I was a descendant of kings, fighting against the empire!

“I, Pelarius run Magratina declare! At this moment!”
“Fuck you Nerkiaaaaaaaaaa!”
“Fuck you, Nerk… wait, no!”

Just then, a powerful voice roared from behind me.

“What?!”

What my eyes beheld when I turned my head, was a ruin that once used to be a castle wall.

And that was just the beginning.

“Send everyone there, and block that place!”

The students we’d only just managed to lock up could escape through the destroyed walls.

A person that seemed to be a commander issued a command to blockade the broken walls…

“You block it then.”
“Yeah, always ordering us around. It’s not like you ever even do anything to begin with.”
“What the hell did you just say to me you little shit?”

A sudden insubordination of the soldiers? At this time?

‘Kghh…’

I hurriedly urged my subordinate who was holding the magic video tool to focus back onto me.

If that scene was broadcasted as is to the entire empire, then our value would drop to the ground.

“I declare once again, as the leader of the anti-empire army, I declare war on the Karuan!”

It was then.

That we could hear the sounds of singing.

A beautiful chorus that could not be produced from the throats of man.

But what was inside that song was not beauty, but a power more destructive than any other!

“What the…”

I dumbly turned my eyes to the sky.

Tens, no, hundreds of spirits and elementals were singing as they flew through the air.

And the moment the song ended, every single elemental said in one unified voice.

-Elemental Roar.

#23 Their story: A certain viewer’s story.

The people who had been enjoying the imperial festival found themselves faced with chaos.

Every single magic video tool in the capital had suddenly began to show the face of an old man.

And the words that came from that old man were absolutely shocking!

“Wh, what’s this?”
“…I know right?”
“Is it some sort of act?”

And then the citizens of the empire would be shocked again, but in a totally different meaning.

-Elemental Roar.

As they saw the anti-empire army get completely annihilated by Yugrasia’s attack, an attack targeted solely for a single traitor!

And on that day, the fall of the anti-empire army was broadcasted live throughout the empire.