The Wheat Field: From The Side, Or From Above?

Around the time Leopin was savoring the finest breakfast and enjoying the finest mood….

In the academy principal’s office, the atmosphere was not exactly the finest, but it was beginning to escape from the worst.

The wig that Kakerukun had arranged through a secret route arrived today.

He had spent the past few days crying constantly, but this good news after so long brought a smile back to his face.

“Y-yeah! With this, they won’t notice, right! Right!?”

When he put on the wig and sought agreement, the vice principal nodded happily as well.

“Of course, sir. After all, it is a custom-made item that perfectly recreates the hair texture from the principal’s real hair.”

The reason the vice principal kept using vague pronouns as he explained was part of preventing information leaks.

The fact that Kakerukun had gone completely bald was a secret known only to the two of them.

“I’m so glad! Now I can finally appear in public! …Oh, come to think of it, there’s one more piece of news today, right?”

“But this news is bad news, sir. Perhaps it would be better to inform you a little later….”

Not wanting to ruin the smile that had finally returned to Kakerukun, the vice principal hesitated to speak.

But Kakerukun urged him on, so he had no choice but to confess.

“Reporters will be coming to this academy for coverage, sir.”

The content of the “bad news” the vice principal told him was as follows.

The other day, at the press conference in the Royal Capital, Kakerukun had admitted in response to the reporters’ questions that wheat flour had circulated in the residential district.

This reached the ears of the king of Leak Eight, who ordered that this great achievement be made known to the people as well.

Currently, at this Leak Eight Kingdom Pioneer Academy, only those called supporters, who had invested large sums into the academy, could watch the students’ pioneering lives.

This was a measure similar to an advance privilege for those who had invested, but once a certain period had passed, the pioneering lives were scheduled to be opened to the general public.

However, this time, by a single word from the king, it was decided that they would be specially opened to the public.

The vice principal continued with a bitter expression.

“Moreover, this time, they will not be using still images from a true-photo device, but a live broadcast using a transmission device, sir. They say they will show footage of the wheat field to the entire nation, sir.”

“Wh… whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?!?”

What this meant was that videos taken by a transmission device would be delivered to the citizens in real time.

Because of that, if anything bad was shown, it would be impossible to cover it up.

“Wh-what do we do, what do we do, what do we do!? The only wheat field in this academy is the one Leopin made!? If that gets covered, Leopin’s achievements will spread!? That’s no good! That’s no goooooooooooooooooooooood!!”

Faced with this sudden major crisis, Kakerukun clutched his head without caring that his wig had shifted out of place.

Then, the door of the principal’s office was suddenly knocked on with a tap-tap.

Kakerukun hurriedly fixed his wig and replied, “Who is it!?”

The one who opened the principal’s office door and entered was Weiss, the student council president of this academy.

“Excuse me, Principal, Vice Principal. As I was passing in front of the hallway, I heard what seemed to be a rather enjoyable conversation…. If you are troubled, please leave it to me. If you use the wisdom of this Sage, not even a single glimpse of that trash’s form will appear before the world.”

“Huh, really!? Do you have some good idea!?”

“Yes. First, regarding the wheat field, we will have them film Leopin’s wheat field. However, we will not let the reporters go near it. After all, that house has a violent bear. But we cannot tell the reporters that, so we will give them some suitable reason, such as wheatgrass being a delicate plant, and have them film it from around the residential district.”

“But what will we do if Leopin-kun comes to the field at that time?”

“Yes, it would be terrible if that trash even appeared at the edge of the frame. Therefore, on the day itself, please order Leopin to take supplementary lessons until the coverage ends. How about having him compete with the newly appointed Sir Vibe?”

Kakerukun seemed convinced and said, “I seeee!” but the vice principal raised an objection.

“But since they are covering the wheat field, there is no way we can avoid having them cover food made from it, sir. Even if we make it using the wheat flour currently handled at the School Store, that is imported only because it is super low-quality, sir. If we serve food made from wheat flour so bad even dogs would not eat it, we will become a laughingstock instead, sir.”

“Then why not import something of extremely high quality?”

Weiss adjusted his square glasses with his index finger and gave a sly chuckle.

“Using the top-secret import route, of course…!”

The instant those words came out, Kakerukun shot up from his chair with a clatter.

“D-don’t tell me, Weiss-kun, you know I am ba…!”

The vice principal beside him instantly covered Kakerukun’s mouth.

The vice principal whispered sharply into Kakerukun’s ear.

“Principal, calm down, sir. We were conversing in code, sir. Weiss-kun is probing us like that, trying to obtain the principal’s secret, sir.”

The principal and vice principal turned probing gazes toward Weiss, but he did not break his poker face.

“Let us put aside, for now, what I heard and what I know. What I need you teachers to do is secretly arrange the finest wheat flour and turn it into bread. As for who should make it, let us see. How about asking Toinette-san?”

“Toinette-san? Who’s that?”

The vice principal immediately covered for the blank-looking Kakerukun.

“Principal, Toinette-san is a student of Class 1-12, and the daughter of a famous family of royal pastry chefs, sir.”

“That is correct. At the entrance ceremony’s Rite of Ability Awakening, Toinette-san was granted the job of Royal Pastry Chef.

That means there is no doubt she will eventually enter the royal court as well.

If we have them cover bread made by such a thoroughbred, its newsworthiness will be exceptional….

The reputation of this academy will become rock-solid.”

Thus, under Weiss’s leadership, a new operation began to move.

If one were to name this operation, it would likely be something like “The Great Operation to Steal Leopin’s Achievements.”

And preparations for this theft operation proceeded smoothly.

Toinette, the pastry chef of Class 1-12, was originally a cake maker.

She looked down on bread so much that her favorite phrase was, “Even if there is bread, one may simply eat cake.”

Making bread was something she would normally refuse to do even if it killed her, but when Weiss the Sage requested it, she readily accepted the task of making bread.

Since she had never made bread even once, she was forced into quite a struggle.

However, as expected of the daughter of a prestigious family of pastry chefs, on the day of the coverage, she stayed up all night and completed the bread.

“I-it is finished…!”

It was bread that shone so brilliantly it could be mistaken for yellow sapphire.

Toinette placed that one and only loaf of bread into a glass case meant for displaying jewels and showed it to Weiss.

Weiss widened his eyes at its beauty.

“Oh, what beautiful bread…! So plump and glossy…!”

But at the same time, he noticed something.

“But there seems to be only one…?”

“Weiss-sama, that is only natural. What this Towa makes are not foods, but works of art. Works of art have value precisely because only one of them exists. Therefore, this must never be placed in one’s mouth, and must only be gazed upon.”

“Hmm… so that is how it is. But on the contrary, that may make it even more newsworthy….”

From early that morning, many reporters had visited the academy through the teleportation magic circle.

It was the first time outsiders had entered the academy since the commemorative ceremony for Onesuko overcoming the trial of the holy knight.

Incidentally, the reporters who came this time had been selected differently from the reporters last time.

As a further aside, at this time, Leopin had been driven toward the lake northeast of the academy and was in the middle of supplementary lessons with Sir Vibe the PE teacher.

And the one serving as the reporters’ guide was Kakerukun, the principal.

As per the original operation, he had them film the wheat field from the residential district.

The reporters were greatly excited by the wheat field, where large ears of grain swayed.

“Please look! A wheat field spreads across the entire area! It looks just like a golden sea! They say that at pioneering academies, it takes at least one year to make a wheat field!”

“No, with a field this magnificent, I think it would take two years!”

“Oh, the expert says the same! To think he accomplished this in less than half a year, as expected of Principal Kakerukun!”

“Why, I can only say that it is truly magnificent! Principal Kakerukun, I would like to see the full view of the field. Would that be all right!?”

After being praised to the skies by the reporters and accompanying experts, Kakerukun was in high spirits.

“Heheh! Then let’s go to the school building’s observation deck! From there, you can see all of my field at once! Right, right!”

The group climbed up to the observation deck of the castle that served as the school building.

Kakerukun did not know that the wheat field could possibly contain such a trick.

“Wow, please look! What a wonderful view! …Huh? I did not notice it when looking from the side, but from above, part of the wheatgrass has been harvested, and I can see letters. Let’s see, Le-o-pi….”

“Ba… bankruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupt!?!?”