Chapter 348: Changes to the Representative Lineup!
Starting with the attack on Hagun Academy, the so-called "Eve Festival" officially came to an end.
The attack incident caused entirely by Akatsuki Academy was reported to viewers across the country by every major media outlet, together with footage of Hagun's campus reduced to wreckage.
Naturally, the League would not tolerate terrorists who had committed such unprecedented atrocities of such vile nature.
The Seven Star Sword Art Festival's operating committee soon began pursuing responsibility and even considered stripping the members of Akatsuki Academy of their knight qualifications.
Everyone believed they would be severely punished.
If things went badly, they might even be arrested and imprisoned.
Of course, there was no way they would be allowed to participate in the Seven Star Sword Art Festival.
However, after a person calling himself the director of Akatsuki Academy appeared, the situation took a sudden turn.
Tsukikage Bakuga.
He was the current Prime Minister of Japan, the person who held the highest authority in this country.
At a time when Akatsuki Academy was being heavily criticized, he, who called himself Akatsuki Academy's director, appeared before the media.
But what he did was not apologize.
This middle-aged man had no intention of apologizing at all.
He merely revealed a bright smile and spoke to the people across the country.
"Very surprising, isn't it?"
"The academies belonging to the League are completely vulnerable."
"The campus was destroyed, the teachers and students were powerless to resist, and even the representative competitors participating in the Seven Star Sword Art Festival were all heavily injured."
Along with Tsukikage Bakuga's words, footage of the miserable state after the battle at Hagun Academy appeared.
In the end, the image froze on the scene of Nene suppressing everyone from Akatsuki Academy.
"Look. If Yaksha Princess, who is currently ranked third in the KOK world rankings, had not acted, Hagun Academy would not even have had the ability to handle this crisis."
"And those who acted were merely a few student knights!"
"What you are seeing is the strength of National Akatsuki Academy!"
"They will replace the Seven Star Academies. They will replace these dogs of the League and shoulder the future of our country!"
Guiding public opinion.
This was the method those in power were best at.
The One-Armed Swordsman was ignored.
Twin-Wings was ignored.
Even the fact that Yaksha Princess herself was a teacher at Hagun was ignored by them.
This speech could be called full of holes.
Would anyone believe it?
Of course they would!
Most people believed it.
Because the one giving the speech was the spokesperson of the nation they believed in.
And the nation's goal was to take back the right to educate Blazers that had been stolen by the League.
When it came to reclaiming sovereignty, who would dare say no?
Even if one could tell at a glance that this was a conspiracy, and even if a simple analysis revealed countless flaws, the direction of public opinion still changed.
Whether it was the police or the judicial institutions, they completely stopped taking action regarding Akatsuki Academy's atrocities.
Not only that, they even claimed that "the attack on Hagun Academy was merely a false report, and everything was only an accident that occurred under the agreement of both sides."
After changing the direction of public opinion came the confusion of truth.
This had always been a method the media excelled at.
Now, with the country itself intervening, they were forcibly turning black into white.
Moreover, they could even produce so-called evidence.
That evidence was the fact that not a single person from Hagun Academy had died in this incident.
Looking from this point alone, this matter, defined as an "attack incident," did indeed reveal a trace of strangeness.
Naturally, the League, the Seven Star Sword Art Festival operating committee, and the seven knight schools could not possibly accept such a claim.
As the incident gradually fermented, it became just as Pierrot had said back then.
In order to maintain their "credibility" in Japan, which had been pushed to the brink of collapse by this incident, the League had no choice but to accept the challenge from the country itself head-on.
In the end, the incident concluded with Akatsuki Academy participating in the Seven Star Sword Art Festival as the "eighth school."
…
"I'm sorry."
After Kurono finished explaining the final result of this incident, she apologized to Luke, Ikki, and Shizuku, who stood before her, for her own powerlessness.
However, Luke merely shook his head and rejected Kurono's apology.
"The fault in this matter doesn't lie with you, Director. No one would have expected the country itself to be standing behind them."
"Facing an opponent of this level, expecting you to do something with only the position of a school director is nothing more than fantasy."
Luke had learned a little about the history of this world.
Aside from the existence of mana, the development trajectory of this world was not very different from his original world.
The main divergence point appeared during World War II.
After World War II, the two major organizations, the Union and the League, were born.
When Japan joined the League, the process was not very harmonious.
At the time, anti-war sentiment was widespread, and Japan, which had been forced to join the League, had essentially given up the right to become a powerful nation.
Supporters and opponents fought until both sides were battered.
Even after Japan ultimately joined the League, many people still believed that the country did not need to join the League and could exist independently in the world.
This incident could be called the final eruption of the hidden danger planted back then.
"I still can't believe that Tsukikage-sensei would do something like this…"
Facing Luke's comfort, Kurono's expression did not improve.
She held a ladies' cigarette in her mouth and sighed somewhat bitterly.
Ikki, who stood to the side, asked with some curiosity,
"Director, do you know Prime Minister Tsukikage?"
"When I once attended Hagun Academy, Tsukikage-sensei was Hagun's director."
Kurono's gaze drifted, as though she was recalling the past.
"In my impression, he was an extremely intelligent and rational elder, very worthy of respect."
"Tsukikage-sensei and Nangou-sensei from Bukyoku at the time had an enormous influence on Nene and me."
"After becoming a politician, what exactly happened that made Tsukikage-sensei do something like this…?"
The ashtray on Kurono's desk was already filled with cigarette butts.
It looked almost like a sea urchin.
She was probably truly feeling extremely irritated and troubled.
After making this judgment, Luke did not intend to let her and Ikki continue discussing this topic.
No matter what, things had already reached this point and could not be changed.
Rather than thinking about useless things, it would be better to think about what they should do next.
So Luke spoke and interrupted their conversation.
"You didn't call the three of us to the director's office just to talk about this matter, did you?"
After her words were interrupted, Kurono froze for a moment.
Only after several seconds did she return to her senses.
Her condition had been extremely poor recently.
Restoring Hagun Academy, which had almost been flattened, had consumed a huge amount of her energy and time.
On top of that, she also had to worry about the follow-up to this attack incident, as well as the matter of Tsukikage-sensei.
Kurono had not slept peacefully for several days.
Looking at Luke, she knew he was changing the subject.
However, Kurono herself truly did not intend to keep agonizing over this matter.
She extinguished the cigarette in her hand, then looked toward Luke, Ikki, and Shizuku, whom she had called over, and spoke somewhat solemnly.
"I called you here today to reconfirm whether the representatives are still willing to participate."
"Akatsuki Academy has officially been decided to participate in the Seven Star Sword Art Festival. Almost all of them are elites from the underworld."
"This year's Seven Star Sword Art Festival is different from previous years. One careless mistake could turn it into a true fight to the death."
"As a teacher, under these circumstances, I need to reconfirm your intentions."
Saying this, Kurono glanced at Shizuku, who seemed somewhat puzzled.
There was a reason she had called Shizuku here even though this was a confirmation of representative competitors' intentions and Shizuku herself was not a representative.
"Arisuin, Toutokubara, and Hagure have all chosen to withdraw."
"Arisuin's situation is rather complicated. You should understand it better than I do."
"As for Hagure… after personally witnessing that kind of battle, she has probably become somewhat dispirited."
"Kurogane Shizuku, when Arisuin chose to withdraw, he also hoped to transfer his right to participate to you."
"What do you think? Will you accept it?"
…
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