Chapter 187: The Festival Begins (4)
“Kyung! Joon! Nim! Scroll♪ Programming~!”
The people gathered in Fael Square chanted like fanatics.
“What, what? What are they doing over there?”
“Are they practicing their talent show early? What is it?”
“I don’t know. Let’s go see.”
The Scroll Department’s Kyung-joon praise booth, which had started to attract people not only from passers-by but also from other booths.
“Kyung! Joon! Nim! Scroll♪ Programming~!”
The newly gathered students also chanted Kyung-joon along with those around them.
Of course, not all of them praised Kyung-joon with sincerity like Edict on the podium.
They just joined in because it looked fun.
But that was enough.
For the students of Fairy-Elven Magic Academy who were tired of studying, every single one of these things was a precious time to relieve stress.
Even the students who were just watching without participating chuckled and said that everyone was crazy as a joke.
It was a moment when a good perception of Kyung-joon was naturally being embedded in the students.
“Ugh….. They’re really making a fool of themselves.”
Zot clicked his tongue as he looked from the Magic Tool Department booth towards the Scroll Department booth.
This situation was not very pleasant for Zot.
His Magic Tool Department booth was only crowded with Proxy Attendance Stones, but the Scroll Department booth, which he already didn’t like, was so crowded.
He couldn’t help but be jealous.
“It’s so noisy, it’s killing me. Crazy b@stards.”
Besides, it was extremely noisy as it was the booth right next door.
If there were no spectators, he would have gone straight over and protested, but with so many people gathered, he couldn’t.
He needed a good reason.
“My apologies for the long introduction! Then let’s get right into the demonstration!”
Edict’s long praise for Kyung-joon finally came to an end, and he finally began his demonstration.
He held up the scroll in his hand and showed it to the audience.
“This is the Kyung-joon-nim style exclusive scroll that we barely managed to reproduce in the department lab according to the paper! It’s already been written! All that’s left is to activate it by chanting the activation key! But it’s no fun just activating it like that……!”
Crumple, crumple.
Edict crumpled the scroll he had painstakingly written like trash and made it all fit in one fist.
“Look! I crumpled it all up like this! Will this really work?”
There’s no way a scroll that’s been crumpled up like this will work properly.
It probably won’t even respond to the activation key.
Of course, that’s the case with ordinary scrolls.
“Yes! Of course it will work! This isn’t an ordinary scroll, it’s Kyung-joon-nim’s scroll!”
Scrolls written with the Kyung-joon style writing method worked even if they were wet, crumpled, scratched, or torn.
Edict confidently declared that it would work.
“Hic! Then let’s get right to it!”
With a drunken hiccup, he immediately chanted the scroll’s activation key.
“The scroll’s activation key is 『the words we kept chanting earlier in its crumpled state』! Now, let’s all say it together! One, two, three! Kyung! Joon! Nim!”
Edict took the lead and chanted the first part of the activation key.
“Scroll♪ Programming~!”
Then the audience chanted the rest.
At the same time.
Thump!
Edict thrust his palm, with the scroll on it, towards the sky.
Wooong!
Then the crumpled scroll begins to glow with mana.
The magic written on the scroll is a very basic, basic magic that any wizard can use.
It’s Energy Bolt.
Shuuung!
A large and mighty Energy Bolt cuts through the air.
A perfect spherical Energy Bolt without a single distortion.
If it were an ordinary scroll, it would have malfunctioned or exploded on the spot the moment it was crumpled.
All the students at Fael University knew this much as a matter of course, so the perfect spherical Energy Bolt that was crossing the sky could only look more beautiful, both magically and academically.
And the end of that beauty is a fierce explosion!
“Huh?”
Zot saw the Energy Bolt flying towards his booth.
And then, in the blink of an eye.
Kwaaang!!
“Aaagh!!”
The Energy Bolt exploded and engulfed the Magic Tool Department booth.
Dust explodes and expands in all directions.
Smoke billows up above it.
“Cough! Cough! What the hell……!!”
As the dust cleared to the left and right, and through the rising smoke, Zot was sitting on his butt.
The proud blond hair of the Kalisberg family was gone, replaced by a funny black afro.
“Zot! Are you okay?!”
Fortunately, Keron, who had gone elsewhere to organize things, escaped with just a little soot on his cheeks.
However, Zot, who was at the center of the explosion, and the magic tools on display around him were all messed up.
“Sh|t……! I knew it from the moment he started drinking and acting crazy! You trashy b@stards!!”
Zot swore and immediately got up from the floor.
Then, kicking away the debris of magic tools that blocked his way, he strode towards the scroll booth, towards the platform where Edict was.
He was going to give them a piece of his mind.
The Energy Bolt had just given him the perfect excuse, so it was just as well.
“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Huh?”
Zot shouted at Edict, trying to express his anger as much as possible.
“I was speechless when you kept going on and on about Kyung-joon-nim or whatever since earlier, but I let it slide because it’s a festival! But now you’re going beyond noise pollution and destroying other people’s booths?! Huh?”
“Uh…… uh……”
Edict blinked his eyes as he saw Zot who was furious.
He was trying to figure out what had just happened.
[Status Abnormality: Drunk]
But his drunken mind wasn’t working so well.
“Oh my~ Why is our believer so angry……? Hic!”
“What? What believer are you talking about……!”
“Oh my~ Oh my~ It’s a festival, don’t get so worked up, why don’t you join me in calling out to Kyung-joon-nim. Call out to Kyung-joon-nim, you’ll become prettier~♪ Call out to Kyung-joon-nim, you’ll become more handsome~♬”
Edict put his arm around Zot’s shoulder and started singing.
“Pfft……”
“Kuk……”
Fortunately, the funny situation eased the tense atmosphere of the audience a little.
They didn’t mean to laugh at him, it was just funny.
“Grrr……!”
But to Zot, the laughter sounded like they were laughing at him.
Zot lowered his protesting hand and clenched his fist in anger.
Just before his fist was about to fly.
“latela! sa det! (Earth! This b@stard’s head!)”
Thump!
“Kuh?!”
Along with the spell, Edict was hit in the back of the head and collapsed forward.
Rustle.
The pillar that had risen from the ground turned back into soil and buried Edict as if to bury him.
Step, step.
A female elf student walks leisurely towards the fallen Edict.
It was Teclyn Uo, the wizard of the Uo family.
“Sigh.”
She shook her head in dismay as she looked down at Edict.
“Shove this in his mouth.”
“Oh, okay.”
Teclyn handed a bottle filled with a pale green liquid to a nearby classmate.
It was water brewed with Minto Alda, also known as the Tree of Memory, and it was a surefire way to sober someone up.
Edict deliberately avoided drinking it because he said it gave him a headache and only worsened his hangover, but now was not the time to be thinking about such things.
A 『duel』 almost broke out.
Thud.
Teclyn bowed her head politely to Zot in front of her.
“I apologize. I’m sorry our foolish rep made such a scene because of the festival.”
Zot is momentarily at a loss for how to react to Teclyn’s sincere apology.
But he soon decides on his stance.
“No, do you think this is something that can be resolved with an apology?”
It was the stance of a so-called Karen who picks a fight at a store.
Zot continued, with his arms crossed and his whole body expressing annoyance.
“Look at that, look at that. Our booth is all ruined because of you guys. How are you going to compensate for that? Huh?”
In the direction Zot pointed his chin, there were magic tools scattered on the floor because of the Energy Bolt.
Teclyn replied politely, with the same dignified expression as before.
“We’ll help you clean up. And if anything is broken, we’ll compensate you for it.”
At Teclyn’s words that they would compensate, Zot smiles to himself.
They already admitted they were wrong.
He’ll push them a little further and make them completely embarrassed in front of all the spectators.
Only then would he feel a little better.
“Ah, of course you’ll compensate. And do you think this is something that can be resolved with an apology and compensation? You’re still thinking like you did back in magic school? I’m the rep, the rep. Magic Tool Department. This isn’t a matter between individuals, it’s a collective problem between departments~”
Zot was beating around the bush and being sarcastic.
“……How can we apologize to your satisfaction?”
Teclyn frowned imperceptibly.
“Ah~ I’m saying it’s not about the apology~ Are you slow-witted? Is that how all Scroll Department kids are?”
Zot’s relentless teasing went too far and became a personal attack.
Some of the spectators, uncomfortable with this, gave him disapproving glances.
It was a look given to someone who couldn’t read the room.
In the first place, among the magic university students, the Energy Bolt from earlier was nothing more than a normal prank.
Unlike scrolls, magic tools are sturdy and don’t break easily with just that much.
It was a fact known to all students at Fael University that magic tools are more durable than scrolls.
And today was a festival where everyone was drinking and having fun.
At first, they understood Zot’s anger to some extent, but……
Now it was a bit much.
“No matter how little research you have, how can you call it ‘otherworlder’s scroll programming?’ Oh my~ I know research is all about mixing things up and experimenting, but aren’t you ashamed of yourself for always advocating for tradition and history? Tsk, tsk.”
It had been a while since he switched from honorifics to informal speech, and the content of his words had completely changed.
Nevertheless, Zot’s mouth wouldn’t stop running.
“Zot…… Let’s just end it here and……”
His friend Keron, at a loss for what to do with the increasingly hostile atmosphere around him, tugged at Zot’s sleeve.
Zot wasn’t an attention seeker.
Normally, he would have stopped when Teclyn apologized.
But somehow.
Today, Zot couldn’t stop there.
━Hehehe…… Yes, yes. Are you angry? Annoyed? Do you hate the sight of them?! Express everything as it is!
Zot Kalisberg, a student who hated the Scroll Department and was blinded by his inferiority complex and pride.
The evil voice that had just echoed in his ears showed him a sense of pleasure and exhilaration that he had never felt before, as if all his pent-up frustration would disappear.
Just one more step.
He felt like he could achieve that exhilarating pleasure if he just crossed one more line.
In the end, Zot crossed the line one step further.
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