Chapter 8: Speyside’s Presentation
Shops lined the perimeter of the plaza, already bustling with many people. Some faculty members and senior faculty would give their morning and afternoon final presentations at the central plaza, while other general faculty and students would present at the four directional plazas and the central plaza during available time slots.
Incidentally, while Glen would normally give the presentation on the final day’s finale, for some reason it had been assigned to me this time.
Most likely, they arranged it that way to introduce the new senior faculty member. In any case, thanks to that, I was grateful to be able to see the cultural festival all the way to the very end.
While thinking such things, I peered at the western plaza and noticed various shops were set up. And I recognized some of the shopkeepers.
“Ohh!? Aoi-neesan!?”
“What the!?”
“Neesan, are you here to observe!?”
For some reason, the Nevis family and members of the White Ash were grilling meat and selling miscellaneous goods. The stern-faced men saw me, called out my name, and started making a commotion.
As the people around began turning their gazes toward me wondering what was happening, I approached the food stalls and spoke quietly.
“There are many people here, so please keep it down. By the way, why are you all running shops?”
When I asked, the men pointed at the plaza and the people gathered there.
“The cultural festival is prime earning time, you see.”
“Though this year’s been iffy.”
At those words, I tilted my head.
“I’m relieved to see you’re conducting such wholesome business. But with so many people here, it’s still iffy?”
The sales seemed very good. That’s what I thought when I asked, but apparently it was different.
“Well, you see, normally if we quickly secure spots within the academy grounds, various trading companies will pay good money to buy those locations from us. Especially companies from other countries—it’s good advertising for them, so they’re willing to pay high prices. It makes for a tidy sum, but this year they’re being stingy.”
“That’s right. Nothing but cheap companies. So we figured we’d make more profit doing business ourselves.”
“If we don’t give up the spots for a day, maybe those trading company folks will reluctantly pay up.”
The men explained the situation with laughter. It seemed they had planned to secure spots first and collect money for them, but couldn’t find buyers at their usual rates.
That all the trading companies were uniformly holding back from opening stalls was a bit strange. There seemed to be some reason for it, but investigating that probably wasn’t my role.
“I think legitimate business is better. I hope your sales continue to rise.”
When I said that, the men gave wry smiles and replied “Yes ma’am.” It felt awkward to just leave like that, so I purchased one item from each shop.
Various things happened and I was running short on time. I hurried toward the next venue. At the destination plaza’s back area, Speyside was already there with arms crossed, having arranged the equipment I had prepared.
“Oh, Aoi-sensei. You’re a lifesaver. I wanted advice on how to arrange everything.”
When he said that, I looked around the plaza. There was plenty of space. However, naturally, it was a completely flat venue.
“Then, let’s first use earth magic to create some undulation. If we install lighting in those recessed areas, I think it will be effective. I’ll handle the other stage preparations.”
“Understood. Please, I’m counting on you.”
After a brief coordination meeting, a bell rang as if it had been waiting for that signal.
In front of the audience gathered in the plaza, Speyside bowed gracefully with beautiful form. He naturally had somewhat theatrical movements, but now, given that this was a presentation venue, it looked truly beautiful.
Drawing everyone’s attention, Speyside opened his mouth with a smile.
“Ladies and gentlemen who have gathered here. I teach water magic at Fidic Academy. My name is Speyside-Aud. In this presentation, I will demonstrate magic using very delicate magical power manipulation. Please be sure to watch carefully, down to the finest details.”
Speyside delivered his introduction with a resonant, oratorical style. He seemed to have a talent for presentation. He appeared more confident than during normal conversations.
While I was admiring Speyside, he smiled again, looked around at everyone, and opened his mouth.
“First, let us prepare the stage.”
With that preface, he began chanting earth magic. Earth began rising up in various places, creating several small hills throughout the plaza. Speyside stood in the center, but he had properly arranged the venue so that he would be visible to everyone.
Confirming that the ground’s shape was set, I invoked wind magic.
“Wind Carrier, Air Plane.”
As I spoke the spell name, colored glass that I had prepared in advance danced lightly through the air and was installed throughout the venue. Thinking this too was part of Speyside’s performance, cheers arose.
“Now then, let us finally demonstrate water magic. Everyone, please try not to blink if possible.”
When Speyside said that with a mischievous smile, yellow cheers went up. I was slightly irritated, but well, it couldn’t be helped.
“Momentary Night, Magic Night.”
I invoked an auxiliary spell to make the visual effect even better. The moment the magic manifested, thick clouds formed in the sky above, casting the plaza in shadow. The clouds formed at the extremely close distance of several dozen meters from the ground, making their shadow darken the plaza like night.
In that setting, Speyside’s magic was completed. Water spouted up like fountains around Speyside one after another, creating multiple thin pillars of water.
Confirming this, I activated magic that produced light by combining fire and water magic.
“Light Band, Line Light.”
As I spoke the spell name, light was emitted from each colored glass installation, beautifully illuminating the fountains that Speyside had created.
At that fantastical sight, sighs of wonder could be heard from the audience more than cheers.
Perhaps encouraged by the audience’s reaction, the beautiful fountain show continued for several minutes, ending with Speyside, now soaked with water, taking a bow in a masterful showman’s pose befitting a first-rate performer.
It was a truly excellent show, and as water magic, the position adjustment of multiple water columns and the variation in water volume strength must have been very delicate and difficult. I heard later that the audience’s reception made this the best-received presentation so far.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
After watching Speyside’s presentation, I continued on to observe more of the cultural festival. Glen was apparently guiding royalty from various countries, but since I didn’t know what route he was taking for the tour, I hadn’t encountered them so far.
“Aoi-sensei!”
“Yes?”
While wandering around, my name was called and I turned around. There were Aile and the others. Aile, Liz, and Bell were holding bread and meat skewers in their hands, and they looked like they were enjoying the festival the most so far.
“Good afternoon. Are the three of you looking around together?”
When I asked, Aile nodded with her eyebrows forming a ハ shape.
“Yes. We were with Shenley this morning, but her father arrived before noon, and we ended up going separate ways.”
“Shenley-san’s father did? I see… Do you know where they went?”
“Eh? I think it was the central plaza…”
When I asked about Shenley’s location, Aile blinked and told me.
“Thank you. I’m curious, so I’ll go check on them.”
When I said that, Aile and the others seemed to sense something and just replied without saying they’d come along.
Heading to the central plaza, I noticed that the number of people and the atmosphere had increased somewhat. Since this was after the senior faculty presentations had ended, I thought the number of people should normally be decreasing, but now many people were gathering in the plaza where there were no presentations.
Looking closer, besides residents and tourists from other countries, I could see many figures who appeared to be armored knights. Among them were also mages from other countries wearing robes. I thought that senior faculty presentations naturally drew various people, but it seemed to be different from that.
“Oh, Aoi-kun.”
Glen called out to me, confirming my thought.
“headmaster Glen. You were in the middle of giving a tour.”
Saying that, I looked at the group lined up behind Glen. Besides Middleton and Lea, I could also see Diaggio and Ramsey, whom I had met at Maple Leaf. And there were two others I didn’t know: a short man with a black beard and a blonde, slightly portly man. Since I knew more than half the faces and their positions, I naturally understood what kind of people the other two were.
“This is Aoi-sensei, it has been a while.”
“Long time no see, Aoi-sensei.”
“It has been a while.”
When Middleton and Lea greeted me familiarly, I replied, and then Diaggio and Ramsey also came over.
“Aoi-dono. It has been quite some time.”
“Thank you for your help last month.”
I replied to Diaggio’s greeting as well. Ramsey watched the three of them from the corner of his eye, then showed his teeth in a fierce grin.
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