810 – Newbie, Welcome (9)
Director Kaizowski stared blankly at the scene before him, where the human rights of the Homunculus, something he had longed for yet was denied by everyone, were being acknowledged.
Was it really this simple?
Was my wish…?
He felt a sense of emptiness that surpassed gratitude.
If it was this easy, then why was it never given to me?
Was it that it wasn’t given when I wanted it?
[You want to know why?]
“Please answer me. Did I really have no opportunity at all?”
[Looking at your sorry state, you’d still be here in 500 years.]
“Impossible…”
[It’s not that you had no opportunity. You don’t know how to seize your chance. Can you make me laugh like Oknodie?]
Like Oknodie.
At that thought, Director Kaizowski’s mind, which had been racing, cleared up once more.
Oknodie, treating the Homunculus as equal humans, sought to claim their rights.
Instead of despairing over the fate of the subjects, Oknodie actively appealed to the Principal, showcasing the advantage of nurturing these subjects like students.
That’s right.
The chance for salvation was always there.
If Director Kaizowski had made a proposal like Oknodie’s, the Homunculus would have always been free.
Just as the Principal said.
500 years?
No, even 1000 years would be a lifetime.
He had never considered it.
“What will happen to my contract now?”
[The production of Homunculus is now entirely at my discretion. If the will of others is involved in the Random Lottery, it will only cause trouble. No student, no professor can intervene. You, Kaizowski, are no exception.]
“That means… my contract…!”
[Correct. It’s liberation. Little One.]
“!!”
With the Principal’s indifferent gesture, the contract mark that restrained Kaizowski’s body and soul was destroyed.
Kaizowski was liberated from inhumane experiments, becoming truly free.
“Ugh, sniff…!”
Unable to hold back his tears, the old man—no, the once-standard model Homunculus reborn as a durability-expert type.
With pure specs alone, he could clash with upperclassman Knight Department Students, and the tears of this walking national budget were anything but ordinary.
Oknodie secretly wiped away the tears with a handkerchief, while Kaizowski stifled his tears, stating he was now okay.
“Tch. I haven’t even filled a 50ml beaker yet.”
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing at all!”
Later, he vowed to make Kaizowski weep again at the right opportunity.
Unbeknownst to Oknodie, Kaizowski, with a wry smile, swore to never show such a vulnerable side again.
This was the moment Kaizowski’s tear collection, no less powerful than the Howling Mandragora’s elixir, skyrocketed from rare to legendary fame.
*
As Director Kaizowski transformed into a man who wouldn’t cry, a shocking declaration echoed across the campus, stirring the tear ducts of many students.
[Little ones. This week, I declare that a special Weekly Event has arrived.]
The Principal’s wide-area voice magic resonated throughout Gift Island.
There was no way their tear ducts wouldn’t be stimulated.
Experience had taught them that not all Weekly Events had the same difficulty levels, and some were notoriously difficult.
Fear gripped the students.
The events conveyed indirectly through Professor Mahabharata boasted an abysmal level of difficulty; how terrifying would a Weekly Event proclaimed directly by the Principal be?
[From today, a “Kiddie Zone” will be newly established at the Gift Academy. Existing students will belong to the “Adult Department,” accepting 383,520 Homunculus as first-year students in the Kiddie Zone.]
The students froze.
A Kiddie Zone?
Was this a boon or a curse?
[For your reference, the building for the Kiddie Zone will be constructed by you.]
The students despaired.
This had to be bad news for certain.
“This is unfair! Students on leave or those attending remedial classes aren’t being forced to build the building!”
At the brave shout of a senior, the Principal rained down a bolt from the clear sky onto the head of the audacious student.
“Gya-ha-ha-ha!”
[Shut up. If you’re angry, then you be the Principal.]
“…”
Most students sulked, busy carrying materials or engraving magic circles to construct buildings while cursing, but some had different reactions.
The seniors who had been hired early on to expand Oknodie’s Homunculus facilities were thinking:
“Did Oknodie actually foresee that we would be drafted for such facility construction and voluntarily reduced our workload?”
“No way. How much does this child respect the seniors…!”
“He even chipped in his own money!”
The production department students, who were generally lower class and lacked experience, would be the ones responsible for the construction of the Kiddie Zone facilities.
It was already unmistakable that the real profit-generating products were magical tools, and upperclassmen concentrated in that field, thus leaving the lower-tier production students in charge of the construction of the Kiddie Zone.
[The trustworthiness of Production Department seniors skyrocketed.]
[The trustworthiness of Magic Department seniors skyrocketed.]
With trust established, previous actions began to look quite different through rose-colored glasses.
“Oknodie! Are you seriously suggesting the facilities that are going to treat students severely are ones that the Principal foresaw would be deemed ‘boring’ and destroyed in the future?”
“Huh?”
As Oknodie looked puzzled, the seniors nodded, thinking that the long-denied Homunculus training facilities could now finally be built.
“I can’t answer that!”
“Cough, pretending not to know, but having a heart full of concern for the seniors, aren’t you a lovely little one!”
“Pretending not to know because revealing your true feelings would be embarrassing, such a shy child!”
“How could we ignore the true feelings of such a wonderful child? We were the trash!”
“But what happened to the Foundation’s training facilities did seem right, didn’t it?”
“That’s true.”
Facilities that were intolerable had to belong to the Foundation!
Of course, some raised concerns regarding this.
For instance, the Student Council President candidate Burte Glass, shocked by the sudden emergence of 383,520 new voters.
“While you can fool the world, you cannot fool my eyes! What differentiates the results of reviving the Foundation’s training facilities from the ‘young masters’ and ‘young ladies’ of the Foundation?”
“Eh?”
“Is that really so?”
Although the Wahyhiemhai Foundation was no more, the fear that the Foundation had once held on the world was still vivid.
Among those who witnessed the final battle between the Director and Demon King Oknodie, fear of the Foundation’s might lingered.
Indeed, even at the battlefield of that time, a dimensional erosion phenomenon was occurring, akin to Shinjeongsan—the world’s highest mountain and a massive open-field dungeon.
A Magical Territory-level dungeon was born out of the fight.
Considering the idea of constructing facilities capable of nurturing such monsters would send a chill down anyone’s spine.
Clack. Clack.
Already, the unresting mood on the construction site worsened by Burte Glass’s interference was further stirred by the strange clicking sound of high heels.
The current strongest contender and Student Council President candidate, Velvet Belle, sensed the crisis and decided to appear upon hearing the Principal’s announcement.
“Velvet! Say something! If this continues, that cunning Oknodie will revive the Foundation within the Academy…”
“You’re not very sensitive.”
“What? Why are you suddenly speaking about sensitivity…”
“The Homunculus are not very sensitive.”
“What?! You, you, you scoundrel, you don’t mean…!”
Velvet attacked Burte Glass instead of Oknodie.
By the time Burte Glass realized Velvet’s true intentions, it was already too late.
“I, Velvet Belle, and the Western Noble Union promise to spare no support of any kind for the welfare and survival of the Homunculus.”
With that, Velvet launched a campaign directed at the voters!
Rather than confront the formidable 383,000 new voters, she aimed to swiftly leave her competing candidate Burte Glass in the dust through her campaign.
Thus, Burte Glass was easily eliminated from the Student Council President race.
“Wow, Senior Velvet is incredible!”
“Oknodie. I thought we would see each other again when the election period arrived, but I didn’t expect to be the one looking for you.”
“Hehe. I got lucky! If it weren’t for the green man issue, the Principal probably wouldn’t have accepted the new students with such ease.”
Feeling quite pleased, Velvet smiled.
She quickly changed her expression and proposed a compromise.
“Let me tell you in advance, being president is a troublesome position. There’s so much to do, and the responsibilities are hefty. Problems caused by graduates and students on leave never cease from various regions of the continent.”
“So?”
“Leave the troublesome tasks to me. If you have any pledges you want to fulfill, I’ll inherit those.”
Velvet’s compromise was a proposal for a merger of support forces and a unification of Student Council President candidates!
“Really? You can grant me all of my pledges?”
“Just say it.”
“You just said ‘anything,’ right?”
With sparkling, twinkling eyes, Oknodie’s gaze gleamed.
A rare fluster appeared on Velvet’s face with a slightly awkward smile.
“Whether I can grant them is another story, but we must listen first to assess their possibility.”
“Then the Homunculus Human Rights Protection Ordinance’s Homunculus Random Gacha replenishment system must be included as it’s already been discussed with the Principal! It’s mandatory for the welfare facilities and policies that Grandpa Kaizowski demands.”
“If it’s just that much, it falls within the realm of reason.”
From here on out, supported by the Homunculus, Oknodie’s plans would undoubtedly follow.
Velvet’s capabilities would be tested based on the policies that emerged from here.
“What’s next on your agenda?”
“We need to gather a lot of professors who are lacking!”
“That… doesn’t sound bad. Since there’s big profit at stake, donations supplied to the Student Council from outside the Academy will increase significantly. I genuinely like it.”
“And please place these individuals into positions!”
“Those individuals…?”
It was a request for professor appointments.
While the fact that the Student Council would be able to choose professors was secondary, there was also the willingness to defer a portion of the valuable opportunity to Oknodie.
Except for the fact that all those showing up behind Oknodie were dressed in Butler and Maid outfits.
“…If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, those people all seem to be from the same organization.”
“Wow. Senior, you really did catch that!”
Oknodie grinned brightly as he spoke.
“They are the butlers and maids from the Foundation, like Joanna and Reap! Proven educators capable of producing new students annually through the training of young masters and ladies! Experienced in teaching many children! Specialized educators for children! Verified candidates for the Kiddie Zone professors! What do you think?”
The remnants of the Foundation.
They were requesting to make those who came to trust Oknodie into Kiddie Zone professors.
Even someone like Velvet, who intended to nod at nearly any condition, could not simply agree this time.
