Evil Avalon

Chapter 99-Class competition results announced

(TL:By Rafael,valhallatls.blogspot.com)

-- Kaworu Hayase's point of view

　It is time for the examinations to end, and a notice announcing the end is issued simultaneously to each student's arm terminal. At the plaza in front of the Adventurers' Guild, where the headquarters for the inter-class competition was set up, the results of rankings and scores were to be announced, and students from all classes were gathering one after another to watch and talk about who would win in the top class.

　

　We, on the other hand, were in a bad shape. We were sure to finish at the bottom of the standings. Even so, we came together with the E class students to burn our regrets into our eyes so that we could make the most of them next time. The other classes were looking at us with white eyes, wondering why we had come to hear the obvious results, but we were aware of that.

　

　I ignore their stares and check my watch. It was almost time to start announcing the results. Looking ahead, I saw the teachers and staff members hurriedly moving around in the administration headquarters.

"The results have been tallied, so I'll move on to the announcement of the results of the inter-class competition. The video is ...... fine, it seems."

　A woman in her thirties, wearing a suit and tie, held a microphone on a specially set up platform in the plaza and explained the results while checking a large screen behind her. She is the head of the first-year class of the Adventurers' School.

　

　A short distance away, several people are holding a large camera. The images being taken by that camera can be accessed and viewed from any arm terminal by entering the specified address. Even students still in the dungeon can see the live video.

"I got  ...... just in time. It was more complicated than I thought."

　Tsukishima, who had left the group on his own, called out to me from behind, boldly saying that he was going to get a big magic stone. I wonder if it's true that he had already gotten the promised magic stone and completed the registration.

　

He winked at me and said confidently, 

"Well, I got a magic stone that even A-class students can't get, so you can count on me, can't you?"

　Tsukishima-kun says confidently with his chest out while winking. Even though I was told to expect it, I wanted him to support the total magic stone amount group until the end. If what he says is true, I'm wondering how that is possible even in the first place, but for now, let's focus on listening to the announcement of the results.

"First place went to Class A with 846 points. The breakdown is--'

　On the screen behind me, the first place, Class A, the score, and the breakdown of the score are displayed. I was not surprised, since they were leading in a number of events in the midway results announced at 9:00 a.m. this morning.

"Oyay!"

"We did it,  Sera-sama!

"Ladies and gentlemen, you did a great job."

　The A-class group in front of us cheered. The breakdown was: first place in the three categories of "reaching the designated point," "depth reached," and "designated quest. Especially in the "Reaching the designated point," the group had scored more points than any other class. Yuma also worked hard until the end in this category, but the difference in experience, level, and the presence of helpers was too great to overcome.

　

 "That class has too many layers. Unlike our class, there is not a single minnow."

　In Class A, there are no dropouts, and anyone who comes out of the class has the strength to become a competitive force in his or her own right.  No matter what the event, no matter how the class is divided, the strongest class in the school year is Class A. 

　

I have been striving for that place for a long time, but with the person I am now, it seems a long way off in the distance. Shaking my head to dispel any thoughts of weakness, I listen to the next announcement.

　

"The next one was Class B, with 828 points."

　I can hear the sighs and disappointed voices from Class B as they realize they have lost to Class A by the narrowest of margins; many of them seem to have a strong rivalry with Class A, and I can see some of them glaring at each other.

'Damn, only by 18 points."

"Sorry, Suo ......."

"We all did our best. Let's win next time."

　The first-place finishers were "defeat of designated monsters," "depth reached," and "total amount of magic stones," while the rest were in second place. It seems that there are many talented people in this class. I wondered if they had an agreement with Class A to be ranked first in the same depth of attainment.

　

　In the center of the group, a male student with long black hair who appeared to be the class leader - was it Suo? Perhaps the reason he was able to fight so well was because of his popularity and leadership ability. I would like to analyze and share this information with Naoto and his team later.

　

"Next, in third place is Class C with 438 points."

　

　Class C was far behind Class B in second place. The difference in points was due to the fact that Class A and B dominated the top two places in almost all events. However, looking at their levels and equipment, they do not look so inferior. There are some excellent students, such as the male student wearing the Japanese-style armor. How could there be such a big difference in scores?

　

The C class doesn't get any help. There may be a powerful organization in the background, but they are not overprotective like the aristocrats. They don't intervene in every single test between students.

　It is true that without help, it would be a tough battle, as I have experienced firsthand. After all, in order to compete with the upper class, they must either prepare helpers or eliminate the rule of helpers. In any case, it is a difficult problem.

　Next up was to be the announcement of the 4th place winner, but there was some kind of a mix-up with the teachers at ....... Something seems to have happened. I was looking at them and Mashima-kun told me what was going on.

　

 "Hayase, it seems there was an addition of points just before the tally."

"Addition of points? Maybe it's a D class."

"Maybe it's because of the magic stone I got."

(TL: Someone beat this guy for me.)

　I thought it would be a D class since I can't think of any score addition in our class, but Tsukishima-kun grinned next to me and said, "Expect it from me."

But even if I could get a magic stone of such a high level, it would not be enough to reach the score of D class. In other words, a change in ranking is not possible.

　

　

　--That's what I thought.

"Excuse me. In surprise  of everone the fourth place, E class, with 349 points."

"What?"

"What does that mean?"

"There's going to be a breakdown!"

　Not only the E class, but even the higher ranked classes all groaned and shouted in surprise at once. That's because, until the announcement of the scores this morning, we had been separated by more than 100 points from the fourth-place D class and had been the worst by far. I, and my classmates, were having a hard time understanding what was going on. Everyone was staring at the score breakdown on the screen, trying to figure out what had happened.

　

　I was not surprised to see that the "designated quest" led by Naoto was in third place. I know that they were doing well along the way. However, "reaching the designated point" and "defeating the designated monster" were at the bottom of the list, with almost no points, and the "total amount of magic stones" was zero points due to disqualification.

　

　Yes, the scores were hopeless, just as they had been this morning. Who would have thought that they could turn the tables on Class D here? But--

　

(Depth of attainment is ......1st place? What does that mean? What was even Sota doing to achieve that ......)

　

　I had thrown several messages to Sota since yesterday to let him know that the total magic stone amount group was disqualified, but there was no reply. Even before that, I tried to get confirmation of where he was currently and what he was doing, but there was no response. Being tied for first place, I had no idea that he was following the top class to the end of the 20th floor ....... What a reckless thing to do.

　(TL: Someone beat her too.)

　If he've made it that far, he would have probably been exposed to the "aura" of a high-level monster more than once. Even if it is not as strong as the "aura" of the man from the Brocade Club, it is far superior, and it weakens the spirit of the adventurer by eating away at it. I thought that Sota, being a small man, would not do anything reckless, but how could he go so far as to ......

　

　

　A further question comes to mind: why did Class A and Class B allow Sota to accompany them? The opponents were all aristocrats and had a large number of helpers, and there was no reason to go out of their way to make an agreement with Class E. Even if they allowed us to accompany them on a whim, it was too dangerous to take Sota, who is level 3, up to the 20th floor. I wonder if he is even safe and alive.

　

"But ...... even this should be far from a reversal. What's going on?"

　

　Mashima was next to me, wondering. Even if the depth of attainment was the best, the score gap with the D class was too wide to make a comeback. As they carefully searched the big screen for any other reason, a new reason appeared on the screen, and the students were once again in a daze.

　

"Magic stone rating"?

　

　The "magic stone rating. The more you have, the more points you will get. The higher the rank of the magic stone, the more special bonuses are awarded. Naturally, in order to get such a magical stone, it is necessary to defeat a monster of such a high level that even the first or second highest rank cannot defeat it. Although the magic stone rating has a large number of points, it is impossible to get such a magic stone with the strength of the E class, so it has been a category that had been excluded from the beginning in terms of strategy made by our class E.

　

　But it seems that what they got was not just a magic stone.

　

"Someone in our class got a level 25 ...... magic stone that is also a raid boss level magic stone?'

"Tsukishima-kun by any chance, Did you?"

"...... No. That's not the one I got. Who is it?"

Mashima-kun was surprised that we, the E class, took the magic stone rating, but tried to get information from the surroundings in a loud voice. Tsukishima-kun said, "I took a big magic stone," so I asked him about it, and he said that the magic stone he took was different from that one. Then, who in the world would have gotten it?

　Raid bosses are special boss monsters that can be summoned only under special conditions. The amount of magic power in the magic stones they drop is said to be two orders of magnitude greater than that of ordinary monsters. If they are level 25 raid bosses, they are so valuable that they should be called treasures.

　

　The problem is the difficulty of defeating such monsters. It would probably be necessary to gather a dozen adventurers equal to or better than Kaga of the Kinran-kai in a well-balanced manner. It is hard to believe that the students of Class E, who cannot rely on helpers, can come up with such a thing - but since it is actually added up as a score, I have to believe it.

　As each classmate was pondering this, a loud voice was heard from the upper class.

"What do you mean, Kikyo Sera?"

"I don't know either. But we can only think so,......."

"The level of the inferior class has already been confirmed."

　The sudden loud voice made everyone turn their heads and pay attention. The one who was shouting angrily with his eyes peel open was the B class leader, Suo. I was surprised, too, because I had thought he would never be that distraught. The person he is talking to is Sera-san, who is at the top of his class. Do they know something?

"Sensei," said Mr. Sera.

"That magic stone was the magic crystal of the "Great Demon", wasn't it?'

　"Let me see the data."

　Suo-kun crowded up to the head of the school who was on the stage and asked for the disclosure of the data. In the class competitions, the arm terminal automatically tallies the monsters defeated, the number of people defeated, and even their names. If you defeated a raid boss, the system would tell you who defeated him.

'The location is the 20th floor, and we have confirmed the defeat of the Great Demon. The defeaters are Akira Tenma, Kotone Kuga, and Sota Narumi.

'Hey, what the heck! That's a great demon?"

"Only Three? How is that possible? Did the helpers assist them?"

"I know who Tenma is, but who are the rest?"

　Everyone was surprised to hear the name of the raid boss. And with only three people ...... helping out?　Then it is not described as "three people to defeat". The Great Demon seems to be a famous monster, but what kind of monster is it? ......It has a unique name, so I guess it's not a proper  common monster.

　

　And there is still a surprising point. Sota, of course, was there, and even Kuga-san. She was also out of the total magic stone amount group, but I had no idea that she was fighting a raid boss on the 20th floor. I had no idea what was going on at that time because of all the unexpected things that happened.

　

"Butao is different. ...... He's just a mobster. Tenma must not be at a high enough level at this point. What about Kuga,...... if she were to get serious,......."

　

　Tsukishima-kun, mumbling to himself. I don't know how much Sota has improved his abilities lately, but I can clearly  tell  that fighting raid bosses is clearly impossible for him, and Kuga, who was an E class dropout not too long ago, should be different as well. If so, did Tenma-san beat him by herself? Even if she was able to defeat him, how did the magic stone come to belong to the E class?

　

(If I don't know anything...... then)

　I call up the phone screen from the terminal on my arm and try to call Sota. But no matter how many times I call him, I can't get through, and the message I sent him doesn't get read. What the hell are you doing? I just want to know if he's okay. Mashima and other classmates tried the same thing, sending messages and making calls, but the results were the same.

"Quiet. Lastly, I would like to announce the fifth place--Class D--"

　No one is listening to the announcement of the results anymore due to the shocking fact of the ranking of E class. Too many questions led to speculation, and the information was so convoluted that it was almost impossible to keep track of it all. Some of the students are even exchanging information with each other, even jumping from one class to another. Mashima-kun is also being asked what kind of people Sota and Kuga-san are from the upper classes, but even we don't know what's going on, and I don't think he  has any answers.

　

　

　In the midst of the crowd, there was someone walking gracefully with bright azure hair.She did not seem to be an ordinary person, even from the way she walked.

　

　When her eyes met mine, she smiled and headed straight for me.

　

 　

"Wait a minute, lady. Is there someone named Sota Narumi here?"

　　

　A female student who turns her folded black fan toward me, then puffs it open and elegantly covers her mouth. She is a sophomore because of the blue color of her scarf. I can tell she is an aristocrat because of the golden badge on her chest. My heart leaps when I am spoken to by someone of an unexpected status.

　

 "I think ...... Sota is still in the dungeon. ...... Um, who are you?"

"I am Kusunoki  Kirara and I'm going to be the one who will be holding the tea party tomorrow as scheduled, so could you tell him to be sure he's not late?"

　She looked at the screen and mumbled to herself, 

"You are doing a very conspicuous thing, aren't you?"

Kusunoki is the leader of the eight dragons, as I recall. Why would such a bigwig have a ...... tea party with Sota?

　

　My mind is on the verge of overheating from the rush of surprises but all I could do was stand there staring at Sota's phone number.

TL Note- Unexpected results, I never thought about the magic stone and I am also inviting readers to beat that guy up, voluntar registration are open in  the  comments section. 

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