"Everything is ready. There shouldn't be a problem."

Atlas Megrail casually sat on his chair while looking at the scenery outside. A small orb rested on the wooden table beside him.

"If everything goes well, then we can push the narrative forward. Add a little bit more oil to the fire, and we'll be able to get her out of the Academy."

That's good.

A soft voice replied from the orb.

It was unknown to anyone but Atlas who the voice belonged to.

What about the kid? Did you let him in on the plan?

"Kid? Hm, you mean Phecda?"

He's quite a promising prospect. His talent evaluation has him as a potential 'Fiend Rank Prospect.'

"Fiend, you say?"

Leaning on his chair, Atlas thought back to Phecda.

Within the organization there were ranks. They went as follows; Discardable, Crazed, Fallen, Fiend, Low-seat, High-seat.

The highest rank within the organization was the High-Seat, something of which he was a member of. It was the highest rank within the organization, with only the leader ranking higher.

Below them were Low-seats, those that had the potential to become High-seats but weren't quite there yet.

Fiends came after.

Strong members with a lot of potential, but easily controlled.

Thinking about the conversation he had with Phecda not so long ago, Atlas suddenly smiled.

".....I wonder about that."

You wonder? Is there something wrong with Phecda?

"No, nothing."

Atlas shook his head. He had only had a brief conversation with him. He wasn't quite sure of whether he had a potential higher than his current 'fiend' ranked potential.

From what he saw, he had the makings of someone who could become a seat.

'Well, who knows...'

The future was hard to predict. He needed to observe more before coming to a proper conclusion.

In any case, he remembered what the question was about, and answered.

"I didn't let him in on the plan, but I'll probably tell him that something is going to happen."

Oh?

There were no hints of surprise in the voice. It was as if they could tell exactly what Atlas was thinking.

Let me guess. You want to see if he's capable of stopping what we've done.

"You know me well."

Atlas laughed as his finger drummed lightly against the wooden table beside him.

"If we let him in on the plan, and he tries to stop it to buy 'her' trust, then it might look too unnatural. It might even make things look suspicious."

You're right.

"If he can stop it, then there's a chance he might earn her trust. If he fails, then our plan succeeds and we can push her out of the Academy. Both are tempting options."

....It looks like you've thought about all possible scenarios.

"Hmm."

Leaning his head back, Atlas's gaze drifted into a haze, his eyes losing their focus. It was as if he had been transported to another realm, detached from the present moment.

Gradually, his eyes closed.

"Haaa..."

He let out a long breath.

"All scenarios... I wonder about that."

***

9:58 a.m.

A few minutes before the announcement.

"Haaa... Haaa... That's it....! Haa... The announcement is... Haa... about to come. I can't take it anymore."

"Yes... Haa..."

"No... More..."

"Huuu."

Taking a deep breath, I wiped the sweat from my body. My entire body was screaming with pain, and looking at the others who appeared to be utterly exhausted, I wiped my forehead.

"I guess we can take a break."

Thump. Thump...!

Kiera and Josephine dropped to the ground at the same time.

"Haa... I'm dying."

"W-water."

Perhaps because I had been training with incredible intensity ever since I had entered the Academy, I was used to the high-intensity training unlike everyone else who was showing signs of exhaustion. In particular, Kiera and Josephine were breathing hard as they lay flat on the ground.

The other two didn't seem to be as tired.

But I could tell from just a glance that they shared the same sentiments as the girls.

I shrugged my shoulders.

'.....They're supposed to be the elites of this world. This shouldn't be too much for them.'

I was still weaker than them. That much was clear to me. However, the gap which seemed insurmountable at the start was starting to shrink.

It became clear to me why. Compared to them, I was putting an extra 3 to 5 hours into training. The extra hours were allowing me to close the gap between us.

"Oh, the announcement is here!"

Suddenly sitting up straight, Kiera took out a small orb.

There, she started to read.

[Midterm Announcement :

Labyrinth.

Explore the artificial labyrinth with team members. Points will be awarded for each monster that is killed.

At the end of the labyrinth, there will be a boss monster.

Combat with other teams is allowed. The team with the most points will win.

Announcement End]

The awaited announcement regarding the midterms arrived just as anticipated.

"A labyrinth...?"

Everyone was staring at the orb in Kiera's hand as it displayed a message above, almost like a hologram.

'What happens if I pass my hand through...?'

Would it pass through the projection?

"This is interesting."

Kiera was the first one to voice out her thoughts.

"So not only do we get to fight monsters, but we also get to fight other cadets?"

"It seems like it."

Luxon replied from the side.

"If we defeat the other teams, all their points will be transferred to us."

"Hehehe."

Covering her mouth, Kiera started to laugh to herself while quietly mumbling things like, 'fucking bastards, I'll show you that I wasn't lying in the interview...'

Josephine's face scrunched up on the side.

"It can't be that..."

"Kakaka."

Briefly staring at them and then the announcement, I took my attention away from them and thought back to the vision. It had been nagging at the back of my mind for the past several hours.

'...As usual, there's not much I can work with.'

The only thing that I was able to pick up was that the backlash from the entire situation was going to affect Delilah.

Perhaps, this was in fact the goal of the organization.

It wouldn't come as a surprise to me if that were to be the case. I wasn't exactly sure what their goal was, but given that I was here, there was something that the organization wanted from the Academy.

If that was the case, then Delilah was most likely their biggest obstacle.

"Hmm."

But what exactly were they planning?

'Should I just go ahead and ask?'

This option wasn't exactly out of the table. I didn't want to, but it would clear up a lot of my troubles.

'Then again, if they wanted my assistance, I'm sure they would've told me something was up by now...'

Still, it wasn't as though I was without any clues.

There was in fact one clue that I had managed to pick up from the conversation.

'If there's anyone to blame, then blame the inspectors.'

It wasn't hard to piece out all the pieces from there. So long as I figured out who the inspectors were, and what their job was, then I figured that I would be able to figure everything out.

"Hoo."

Letting out a long breath, I stretched my arms a little.

'I guess I'll start there.'

But first...

"Are you guys ready?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Frowning, I stood up.

"We've had enough rest. Let's start again."

But just as I stood up, I stopped and noticed that something was wrong with the others.

Their expressions...

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

They looked like they were constipated.

***

Haven Education Department.

There was a conference held by the high-ranking members of Haven and the other Academies.

There were ten people in total, consisting of Haven Chancellor Delilah Rosemberg, Chancellor Joffrey Stein, Chancellor Merylin Parlias, and a few other notable figures belonging to the other renowned Academies within the Empire.

In order to ensure that everything flowed smoothly, a meeting was taking place.

With that being said, the current focus was on the expected viewership of the event.

"The last time we held a similar event, we reached a viewership count of about 20 million active watchers. The annual draft receives about 100 million, so realistically speaking, we should be aiming for 20 million plus."

The viewership was important. The midterms weren't only about testing the cadets so that the Guilds had more information about them, but it was also a source of income for the Academies.

With people subscribing to the event, the Academies would receive a percentage of the profit coming from the viewership.

It costs a lot of money to run an Academy.

For that reason, events such as these were regarded with high importance.

"We've already marketed our sides quite well. Johnathan has a lot of pull in our region."

"The same goes for our Karl. We've run a few promotional campaigns."

"We say that our goal is 20 million, but I think we can aim higher. This year prospects are very promising."

"Say, 30 million?"

All in all, it was a fairly normal conversation.

Sitting by the side, Delilah watched all of this with an indifferent expression. The reality was that she felt sleepy.

Hearing the other Academies brag about their cadets was something she wasn't particularly interested in.

That was until Joffrey Stein, Chancellor of Montel Institute spoke up.

"There's something that I'd like to address."

The atmosphere turned quiet as his deep voice echoed out. With everyone's attention focused on him, he tapped on his mana pad and displayed a certain interview.

It was an interview that everyone was all too familiar with.

With a lot of the fire on your team captain, your team is currently under a lot of pressure. Do you have anything to say to that?

Yes.

What is it?

Suck my ba-

His gaze turned towards Delilah.

"Haven needs to think of properly punishing their cadets. This type of conduct is embarrassing."

Following his words, Delilah frowned. Before she could say anything else, as if in agreement, several other members present spoke up.

"Her behavior is indeed inappropriate."

"....I agree. She must be punished."

"We can't encourage such behavior. It might impact the viewership rating of the event. We must do something about it before the citizens think that the cadets are some crude kids that can't control their mouths."

Words of criticism continued for a long time. Very obviously, the members of the other Academies weren't pleased with the way a few of Haven's cadets behaved during the interview.

After quietly accepting all the condemnations, Delilah looked around the room.

"....Is that what everybody thinks?"

"Yes, we must punish her and release a statement condemning her actions. There's a high chance we might lose viewership because of the interview. It's best if we do something about it quickly."

"I agree."

"Same."

It was the inevitable outcome. Kiera had indeed gone a little overboard with the interview.

The public backlash was quite severe with several hate comments directed towards her and her team.

Had it been any other occasion, Delilah would've agreed with their requests.

However...

"No."

Delilah shook her head.

".....There's no need to punish her. In fact, we should all be praising her."

"Uh?"

"What sort of..."

"We were at 15 million before the interview."

"....?"

Sliding a paper across the table, her eyes traced the very top of it where it read;Current subscription count: 83 million.

"We're now at 83 million."

The event.

It had blown up.

All of it thanks to one simple interview.