Chapter 245: Free Party Time
———Lynda———
<8: 56 am>
“Celebrate increased dungeon instances day…” I repeated what the school had announced yesterday in the afternoon. It’s an extremely ridiculous thing for a school to celebrate. More importantly…
“Urgh…” Trener groaned loudly as he sat down, clearly having quite a nasty stomachache.
“What did I tell you about taking it slow?” Histon reprimanded him for looking so miserable early into the day. He got way too excited about the mountain of food and drinks. I know they got some really expensive stuff like caviar and real-deal parmesan, but surely he could savor them at a more reasonable pace.
The others are all chatting and celebrating with music blaring in the background. Everyone seems to be taken in by the atmosphere of the stadium that was modified into a giant party room for everyone choosing to attend. Even those who are not associated with the school came to enjoy the free food and drinks. It’s pretty rare for them to let strangers into this place. They must be very confident of their security.
“Certainly could’ve been more dignified.” Luik quietly remarked as she ate her food.
Aside from the ambience and food luring people in, there isn’t a lot to gawk at. There is an area full of weapons for anyone with an adventurer card can take three for free. They are above the standard, but nothing really impressive.
But back on the topic of strangers, there are a few people I recognize but know full well to be from other states. I’m surprised they have the time to come here. The numbers of them are small, but the fact that they are even here at all is certainly worth keeping in mind.
*Clash* *Clank*
Oh, right. The fight pit. Kind of a wild thing to be put in the middle of the party. I still don’t know what sort of crazy program exists to essentially make sure a death doesn’t occur in there. I’d assume that there is a limit to such a miraculous feat, but so far, it doesn't look like we’ll ever find it, which is actually quite comforting.
Regardless, the fact that there is something to observe in the somewhat uneventful area is quite nice. Perhaps the spectacle hearkened back to darker times in human history, but there’s no death, and wrestling and boxing and all that also exist.
“Mhmm…” Luik mumbled to herself as she took a sip of wine and looked at the battle. Don’t tell me she’s raring to go while getting drunk. I don’t really know why the alcoholic stuff was left unsupervised with people under the drinking age walking around. She’s being quite brazen with her consumption.
I think this is like one of the few brazenly illegal things this school is doing. Admittedly underage drinking has always been a common thing, so this is probably quite low on the list of offenses.
“At least get yourself sober before trying anything.” Kroin said, also anticipating her to do something while under the influence.
“…I’m drinking juice.” She said despite the strong smell of alcohol swirling around her. She doesn’t need to lie about that, no one here is gonna care anyway.
About other notable details in this modified stadium, there’s a VIP floor as well, visible from down here. I can see a few expected faces, and a few I don’t recognize.
A young-looking woman with long white hair and a rather simplistic white dress, a green-haired woman beside her, both are conversing with Coach Wana. On the other side, a blue-haired catgirl is talking to Rico. What else do I see from here… Is that Meansha Melis? I didn’t expect her to be here. I’m surprised a billionaire like her would come out of hiding and actually participate. I know this party is probably organized by someone as wealthy as her, but still…
Hmm… A few more people I don’t recognize up there. It’s hard to tell since they’re pretty high up and our spot isn’t the best for taking a peek at them.
“So why did they even organize this? We know something is coming up, but for it to be this…” Kroin asked. If he has no clue then chances are none of us do either.
“That’s the fun part isn’t it? Trying to figure that out.” Suddenly an obnoxious voice came into our earshot.
“The hell are you doing here?” I asked the one who was also holding a wine glass.
“Partying! Obviously!” She said with a smug smile as she leaned closer. “Who can really resist such a fancy shmancy buffet with lights and music? Also a gladiator arena? Right up my alley!”
That’s just how she normally talked, she’s not even drunk yet.
“I’m asking why you are talking to us, go somewhere else. Did your friends kick you out of the group?” I doubt that’s actually the case, but I say that anyway.
“Why not? Didn’t Emmie take a liking to you specifically? Some of us got hands on powerful weapons and dumped it on someone in the school we think will go far in this line of work.” She blurted out that fact when I really don’t want to talk about it.
“Huh? Really?” Luik asked. Come on now, even if that’s true, taking this crow’s words at face value is just asking to be mocked.
“Of course! Not that it really mattered that much if the fighter ain’t interesting already.” Kenni said with a smirk. “Aside from you, there were four other weapons thrown out there to the people outside the class. Try to find them, I guess.”
She then walked away without any fanfare. I’m confused, did she expect me to go hunt them down like I’m looking for the other parts of a macguffin?
“What in the world is she insinuating?” Kroin asked, also baffled by her sober behavior. I don’t want to see what she’s like when she’s actually drunk.
“Who cares? She likes to talk nonsense anyway.” Histon meanwhile doesn't care about any of that vague nonsense. He then got up to go get another serving of food.
“He doesn’t seem to bask in the spirit of the party.” Rousi remarked.
“I think that’s a better description for Trener, and let’s leave it at that.” I said, not wanting to say the thing out loud. We already heard the news. His uncle turned out to be dead. Supposedly he had a manic episode before running into the local dungeon and got himself killed. That sounds like a terrible way to go out.
Trener doesn’t know the guy, but he definitely got a lot of crying from his mother. That’s gotta sting. He doesn’t really describe what happened in detail, but it does look like he might get a dungeon ban if she doesn’t calm herself down in the upcoming days.
“You’re Trener, correct?” And now someone else is approaching us and it’s her of all people!?
“Now what, is everyone from that class gonna come to chat?” First Kenni, and now Emmie. Just what is going on today?
“I cannot guarantee such a possibility. I am here for a personal reason, and this is the most convenient time to say it.” Emmie said, sounding about as calm and composed as ever. “I’m only here to deliver the news and go back to my usual routine.”
“And why this guy?” I said while pointing at Trener who is trying to not make eye contact.
“He needs to hear it.” She explained. “Trener, I killed your uncle.”
“...Huh?” Trener paused whatever he was doing and actually tried to make eye contact, but she already walked away.
“Uhhh…” I really don’t know what to say with that information. Knowing her, she was probably being completely serious. I can unironically believe that she killed someone and have the gall to say it to their relative’s face not long after.
“What the hell happened? What’s with the mood change? I was gone for like a minute.” Histon remarked as he came back with an assortment of expensive stuff on his plate.
“Emmie just barged in and said that she killed Trener’s uncle, you know, the guy that went missing until they found his corpse in a dungeon?” I explained the situation to him.
“...Wasn't he in a different state when that happened?” He pointed out.
“Well, yeah, but you know her, she can easily zip around many places super easily. We all know Kenni could do it, so someone stronger than her definitely can.” I don’t really know any case of her being sighted out of town, let alone the state, but I am pretty confident that she can do it.
“No? Do any of us know her that well?” He argued.
“At least, her penchant for chaos is only second to Kenni, so such a wild statement should be considered.” Kroin chimed in. “But really, should we even be talking about this? We should have some class.”
“He doesn’t even care about that uncle of his, so why not?” Histon pointed out.
“...Hey, if what she said is true, doesn’t that mean some sort of elaborate cover up?” I blurted out what I was thinking in the middle of the conversation. “The official story is that he was mauled in a dungeon, which would be pretty easy to verify with people standing guards there and the talk of a manic episode that supposedly a lot of people witnessed. If he doesn’t come out he obviously gets got by something in there… It’s a pretty sound explanation that’s hard to falsify, so it doesn’t seem like something the officials would say if it’s not the whole story?”
“I think you’re overthinking it. If it is true, then it’s simply that they purposefully omitted what killed him in that dungeon, the rest could be true.” Kroin pointed out. “It's a lie by omission. I could see why they wouldn’t disclose what did him in. In the first place, do they even know who Emmie is? Is it even necessary to bring her into the conversation with so little info on their part? People do all sorts of things to simplify their story.”
“Hey, I think you guys are forgetting how ridiculous this all sounds even in a more simple version.” Histon chimed in. “You’re telling me someone went to another state just in time to encounter a guy who’s not in his right mind who looks like he was about to get himself killed anyway, then died to said person, then there was a cover up on top of that?”
“We lived in a time full of magic and monsters, dude. I think something like that is at least way more likely nowadays.” Being skeptical of these kinds of scenarios is just asking to look like you’re still stuck in the past, specifically a year ago. “I do get that it feels like a string of coincidences that’s hard to believe, but I think sometimes looking at things at face value is fine, at least initially.”
“...Ain’t that how a bunch of troglodytes got swayed by obviously false claims?” Histon pointed out.
“Shush, the context is different here, got it? Don’t lump me in with those guys.” I know that sounds kinda bad, but in the first place those guys can’t even be swayed from their first impression.
…My plate is completely cleaned. Time to go get a refill.
There’s so many tempting sweets, but I want to save that for later. We have until literally midnight for the party to be over. There are probably still a lot of people who planned on coming here or just realized that they can enter the party despite not being affiliated.
Heck, people from far away are here. I’m seeing that pink cat lady and the blonde one with a giant sword. Can’t see the big armor guy though, maybe he’s not here? Or maybe he’s just out of armor for this occasion.
…There’s so many options to pick from, but I really need to hurry with the long line. I can worry about regretting it later.