The Ultimate Choice

Like the hero who saved a western town, Leopin left.

The thugs, now piled up like a field of corpses, were pulled out of the rubble by the academy’s rescue team.

They were about to be loaded onto stretchers and taken to the infirmary, but the thugs refused the stretchers.

Not by their own will—rather, their tough-looking classmates seized them like captives and dragged them away.

Among them, one person was struggling especially hard.

“N-No! Th-That’s not it! I’m the vice principal! I’m not a Class 1-15 student! Let go, zansu!”

He was dragged off by burly men like an alien being captured.

“Don’t give us that weak-ass lie, you bastard!”

“Your creepy way of talking is identical, but there’s no way that nouveau-riche scumbag vice principal would be dressed in rags like that!”

“I-It’s true, zansu! A-At least take me to the infirmary, zansu! Everything hurts, zansu!”

“We Class 1-15 don’t go to soft places like the infirmary!”

“You trying to embarrass our crew even more, you bastard!?”

“When we get back, we’re branding you! We’ll beat that rotten attitude out of you—prepare yourself!”

“Ky… KYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!?”

Dragged into the residential district’s slum—the turf of Class 1-15—the vice principal was beaten senseless by delinquent students.

He became like a filthy rag, crawling like a zombie to the infirmary to beg for help.

Thanks to treatment there, it didn’t become life-threatening, but…

Because the treatment was delayed, he was left with an unexpected lasting mark.

A burn-brand on his face.

On his forehead, in huge letters: “FAKE VICE PRINCIPAL.”

The moment he looked in a mirror, it went without saying that his shriek echoed through the entire infirmary.

The vice principal changed into a new tuxedo, wrapped an ill-suited bandanna around his head, and returned to the principal’s office.

There stood the principal, so furious he looked like steam might be coming out of his head.

“Acting Vice Principal Yesman, we just received a notice from the Board of Education! You are being demoted by two ranks!”

“Ky… KYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!?! W-Why, zansu!? I haven’t done anything that deserves a demotion, zansu!?”

“There are two reasons! First: you used the infirmary!”

“No! Th-That can’t be, zansu! Teachers are supposed to have no penalty for using the infirmary, zansu!?”

“That is correct—but you used it too many times! And your reasons were far too disgraceful! Struck by divine lightning, and then trying to ‘discipline’ students only to get counterattacked…! Complaints from sponsors flooded in!”

“Ggh…!”

“And the second reason: once again, you failed to award the prize money! You were this close to awarding it to a future first-rate patissier…! The sponsors are furious that a young talent was ‘snuffed out’!”

“Th-That’s because… if I gave it to Kurumi, then I’d have to give it to that trash too, zansu! And whatever I give that trash comes out of my own pocket, zansu!”

“You should have given it anyway! Whether your wallet hurts or not is none of my concern!”

“N-No! Th-That’s too cruel, zansu!”

“The sponsors say that if you award the prize money even now, they’ll arrange with the Board of Education so it becomes only a one-rank demotion! Now choose, Acting Vice Principal Yesman!”

There were two options.

Accept the punishment and take a two-rank drop, from B+ to B-…

Or hand ten million Ender to Leopin and keep it to a one-rank drop, from B+ to B…

For Yesman, both were a “NO” choice.

“Ggh… gggigigigigi…! I hate both! I hate both so much, zansu…!”

On the forehead marked “FAKE VICE PRINCIPAL,” blue veins bulged in layers.

“If you refuse to choose, it will automatically be a two-rank demotion!”

At the principal’s merciless voice, the vice principal agonized until he could practically see his life flashing before his eyes.

“Gi… gigigi… gigigigi…!”

He could no longer even speak properly, only letting out creaking groans like a rusted machine.

‘—If I get demoted two ranks, I’ll be one step away from becoming a lowly ordinary teacher, zansu…! But even so, I absolutely refuse to give any more money to that trash, zansu…! I’ll need far more bribe money soon so my son can enroll in this academy, zansu…! B-But if I fall to an ordinary teacher, I’ll lose even the qualifications to get him admitted, zansu…!’

“Gi… GYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!”

The next day, I didn’t wake up feeling great.

“All night I kept hearing bird noises… Because of that, I had a weird dream. Even if it was a dream… the vice principal being nice to me and all…”

But my body seemed to be in perfect condition—when I woke up, I’d leveled up.

“I’m kind of getting into the habit of checking my status the moment I wake up.”

“The new job is Fireworker, huh. Even earlier in the day than Patissier was.”

A “Fireworker,” as the name suggested, was a craftsman who could make fireworks.

Because it handled “gunpowder” inhabited by a fire spirit, it was a production job, yet also a magic job.

The skills looked like this.

“I’d like to try making fireworks, but I don’t have any gunpowder. Even if I did, right now I’d prioritize using it as a weapon.”

In that sense, in this frontier academy, fireworks might be an even more luxury item than sweets.

“Come to think of it, Monaka liked fireworks. I hope I can make some for her someday.”

Muttering that, I left my house for school.

It was a clear day, the sunlight strong.

Tom was sprawled out on the roof, enjoying an early sunbath.

“Yesterday I used scrap logs from the residential district to make steps up to the roof. Looks like it’s already turned into Tom’s catwalk. I’m off, Tom.”

Half-asleep, Tom flicked his black tail and saw me off.

I was about to leave the forest feeling refreshed, but the moment I saw the tree at the forest entrance, I blurted, “Whoa!?”

A bloodstained notice had been nailed to it like some cursed doll’s offering.

The area around it was covered in scratch marks, even signs like someone had slammed their head against it.

The notice had this title: