The Scheme Behind The Scenes

Time rewound a little, to lunch break.

Back when Leopin had been enjoying a lively lunch with the pretty girls…

Vice Principal Yesman had been summoned to the principal’s office.

“Vice Principal! What is the meaning of this!? That was supposed to be the event to select our school’s very first student council president! I even put up our prized Flying Dragon Hide because I wanted to stage it dramatically…! And yet it was found so easily by trash from the ‘Special Training Class’! That is impossible!”

Principal Nekodran shouted at him, while the vice principal looked utterly helpless and fidgeted with his fingers.

“T–that’s what’s strange about it! I definitely cast a concealment spell on the Flying Dragon Hide and slipped it inside the school flag! While the spell is active, even a professional treasure hunter would have difficulty finding it!”

The principal slammed his fist down onto the desk in front of him.

“And that is precisely the evidence of your blunder! Something that even a professional treasure hunter would struggle to find could not possibly be found by unemployed trash! Because of your mistake, the hide had no concealment spell on it!”

“T–that still makes no sense! The Flying Dragon Hide was hung high up on the school’s tall wall! I arranged it so it couldn’t be taken unless a ninja or thief climbed up, or a mage pulled it down with magic! There is no way an unemployed nobody who can do nothing could have taken it—!”

“Hmph. Same issue! Because you failed to fasten it properly, the wind or something blew it away!”

“N–no way! I am not some person who makes mistake after mistake! I’m not like that trash!”

“Then how do you intend to explain your mistake of calling the Flying Dragon Hide ‘something filthy’!? That hide is a prized gift from one of our most influential sponsors! Because you called it ‘something filthy,’ they are furious!”

“T–that…! Y–you misheard! I said it was ‘something perfect’!”

“Then when that trash offered you the hide, you should have accepted it! If you had, we could have resolved everything without angering the sponsor!”

“I–if I accepted it, that would mean acknowledging that trash as the student council president! You understand too, Principal! It’s impossible for trash from the ‘Special Training Class’ to become student council president!”

“Hmph! I have had enough of excuses! As long as that trash has the Flying Dragon Hide, our reputations are ruined! Get it back somehow! If you cannot, you will be demoted to acting vice principal!”

“Ugh…!”

Yesman faltered.

But the more cornered he became, the more devious his mind worked—and he quickly had an idea.

“Th–then, how about this!? We make that trash ruin the Flying Dragon Hide himself!”

“Ruin a precious hide…!? What a foolish—!”

“That is exactly the point! Then he will be seen as someone who doesn’t understand its value, and all the sponsors will turn against him!”

“I… I see! That is a clever plan! The more that trash gathers the sponsors’ hatred, the more freely we can toss him out like garbage! …But how will you do it?”

“Leave that part to me! Trapping that idiot is child’s play for me…!”

The principal and vice principal exchanged looks and grinned.

““This time, we’ll finally see that trash’s face when he’s made to suffer… Heeheehee…””

Of course, it hardly needed saying that this scheme ended in catastrophic failure.

Vice Principal Yesman not only failed to recover the Flying Dragon Hide from Leopin—he ended up having it turned into a coat.

Worse still, he loaned out magical tools and actually helped Leopin with the work: the ultimate own goal.

After bolting out of the leatherworking classroom, Yesman rampaged down the hallway, shrieking.

“Kie! Kie! Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Again, that trash…! Again, that trash…! Detestable! Detestable!”

In the hallway, busts of the principal and vice principal were displayed alternately.

Yesman deliberately chose only the principal’s busts and kept knocking them over.

Then the man himself appeared.

Seeing Principal Nekodran running down the corridor toward him, Yesman hurriedly covered it up.

“P–Principal, this is terrible! Leopin is a horrendous delinquent student! Just as you said, he truly was a rotten egg! Please look—this trash destroyed the hallway like this!”

Yesman naturally pinned the blame on Leopin.

But the principal did not even care that his own busts were toppled.

“More importantly, this is an emergency! We received an inquiry from a sponsor regarding the god item owned by Vice Principal Yesman!”

“Huh? A god item?”

“The one you loaned to Leopin-kun during that leatherworking class! I had no idea you possessed such an unbelievably rare item!”

“W–wait, th-that was actually…”

Before he could admit it was a lie, the principal swiftly snatched the needle and scissors sticking out of the vice principal’s breast pocket.

Then he clasped the utterly ordinary needle and scissors as if praying to a divine gift.

“Ohh, as expected of a god item! It looks like an ordinary needle and scissors at a glance, but the aura is different!”

“P–Principal, that is actually—”

“Vice Principal! The Royal Museum contacted us and asked if they could display it for their 100th anniversary! If it becomes known that our staff owns a god item, our Faculty Rank will rise without question!”

“Th–that’s bad! Those needle and scissors are—!”

“Vice Principal! Surely you are not going to say you can lend it to that trash, but not to the Royal Museum!? If you said that, you would be insulting the Royal Museum!”

…In the end, without being able to tell the truth, the ordinary needle and scissors were taken away by the principal as “god items.”

The vice principal’s stress accelerated even further.

“Gugigigigi…! This is all that trash’s fault! At this point, I won’t be satisfied until I utterly crush him!”

“What is the matter, Vice Principal? You seem quite worked up!”

The physical education teacher, Nickbacca, called out to the vice principal who was raging in the hallway.

In that instant, an evil black lightbulb went off in the vice principal’s head.

“Yes! Instructor Nickbacca! What will you be doing in physical education class after this?”

“Well, since it’s the first day, we’ll do an orientation and maybe run around the forest—”

“No! Real combat instead! Today’s physical education will be barehanded brawling! And there is a delinquent student I desperately want you to give your passionate instruction to! To straighten out his rotten character, I want you to beat him into a pulp—completely and utterly!”

But it hardly needed saying that this scheme also ended in disastrous failure.

And at last, divine punishment fell.

The needle and scissors sent to the Royal Museum were immediately exposed as fakes by expert appraisal.

The vice principal suddenly became infamous throughout the education world as a “fraud educator.”

Worse yet, it only added fuel to the fire that Nickbacca got knocked out by Leopin.

Taking the situation seriously, the Frontier Education Board released an unprecedented statement that very day.

“Not only do you have a fraudulent educator, you even have a physical education teacher who gets easily defeated by a student! The students of the Royal Pioneer Academy seem high quality, but the teachers seem low quality!”

Just as students were evaluated by rank, the faculty were also ranked by the Frontier Education Board.

“We have determined that a reevaluation is necessary! Therefore, we will reduce the rank of the Royal Pioneer Academy’s principal, vice principal, and physical education teacher by one level!”

“W–what… Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!?!?”

Upon receiving the notice from the head of the education board, Principal Nekodran, Vice Principal Yesman, and Nickbacca all wore expressions like it was the end of the world.

However, they still did not know.

As long as they continued treating Leopin as their sworn enemy, this “end” was only the beginning.