Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 77

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Wow! How beautiful!”
“My goodness, this place could genuinely serve as a tourist attraction. Can we actually go inside that building over there?”
“I heard you can pay to take a rowboat and see the interior.”
“Let’s go, honey! We brought plenty of travel funds!”
We rented a gondola with a guide, and the guide graciously extended his hand to help Hubert, a beautiful lady, aboard with utmost courtesy. Hubert herself looked thoroughly displeased, but we found it amusing.
“First, I should explain why this place is called Dragon Lake.”
The guide rowing the gondola began his spiel as we glided into the building where aquatic plants had begun to accumulate in patches. Though the structure was already beautiful, seeing it submerged in water added an ethereal quality—as if we’d stepped directly into a fairy tale.
I’m starting to think I deserve a commendation rather than community service. The Academy is probably going to make decent money off tourism here.
“This is classified information, but this place itself bears the marks of battle with a dragon. Though the dragon escaped, it’s said to be connected to Evan Laef, notorious as the Academy’s troublemaker, and the eccentric Common Professor rising through the Magic Department, isn’t it?”
The troublemaker Evan Laef he’s talking about—that’s me.
As I stood there unable to speak, merely frowning, Hubert, Leri, and Kanna all shook with laughter.
But if a mere guide knows the details this well, how classified can this information really be? The Headmaster’s definitely getting disciplined for this, isn’t he?
“Though they say the dragon escaped, two people—a single undergraduate and a professor—managed to subdue it! That’s something the Academy can truly be proud of!”
I liked that comment. I nodded in agreement, and Hubert, Leri, and Kanna all nodded along with me.
“But madam… or rather, Evan.”
Hubert, who had been splashing the lake water with her hands like a girl out for a boat ride, leaned in close to me and said something meaningful.
“I’m sensing a faint demonic aura emanating from the lake water.”
A demonic aura? Isn’t that from the dragon we fought back then? Since Hubert was whispering, I whispered back, but Hubert shook her head with a puzzled expression.
“No, it’s not the dragon’s aura. It’s a different demon.”
“Really? I can’t sense anything.”
At Leri’s opinion, he stirred the lake water, but said he couldn’t detect even a trace of aura. Hubert, looking even more bewildered at Leri’s assessment, furrowed her brow sharply, then scooped up some lake water and sniffed it.
“Strange. Did I misread it? But it feels so foreign.”
“Did someone poison the lake?”
At Leri’s mention of poison, Kanna was faster than anyone, scooping up lake water and bringing it to her lips, gulping it down in one go. I was used to it, but Hubert and Leri were shocked.
“N-no poison. It tastes bitter and salty, kind of like limestone, but…”
“Honey, you’re my friend! You can’t just eat anything like that without thinking!”
“I-I have resistance, so… it’s fine.”
“That’s not the point! If you keep eating things that are bad for you, the people around you will worry!”
As Leri made a valid argument, Kanna admitted fault and promised to be more careful going forward. But limestone-rich groundwater surfacing… something about that bothered me.
After circling the lake and paying the guide, Hubert, excited about where to go next, linked her arm through mine and pestered me. Leri said I should forgive her since she’d been looking forward to this outing for so long, but Leri himself couldn’t hide his excitement at finally getting to play after so long.
Seeing them so happy like this made it awkward to mention that I had plans for the afternoon.
“I’m sorry to both of you, but I have business this afternoon, so I’ll only be able to share lunch with you.”
“Ehhhhh?! Why?! I was so looking forward to spending time with you today!”
“That’s right, honey. We should take care of our guest who came from so far away.”
As they both clung to me, it was Kanna who looked even more flustered than I did. She must have known my schedule inside and out.
“I-I’m sorry, but Evan…!”
“It’s fine, Kanna. Let me explain.”
I offered a silent bow to both of them as an apology and explained the important schedule for today.
“Actually, tonight at the Common Grounds, invited singers and students will be performing on stage. There will be plays, songs, and comedy acts as well.”
“Oh, oh my, you mean to say…”
“I’ve decided to participate with a band performance. The main event is tonight, but rehearsals start this afternoon.”
“Kyaaah! I’m definitely coming to see you!”
“Glow sticks? Should I buy glow sticks? You should have told me sooner! I could have made a banner!”
This was becoming too much pressure.
I grabbed a meal at my favorite Dining Hall with Hubert, and promised that on the festival’s final day we’d definitely tour the events together, but both of them were fixated on the fact that I would be performing on stage.
So the club activity was the Band Club after all—did I sing too, and if I was performing at the festival stage, wasn’t my skill quite good? I fielded a barrage of questions and answered only what was necessary.
“I don’t sing. I play guitar.”
“Oh my, guitar is the heart of a band! Why didn’t you mention this before! You should play for us more often when we’re at the Tower!”
“To be honest, I haven’t been learning for very long.”
“S-still, Evan, you play incredibly well. You’ve practiced so much, um, really a lot.”
“No wonder Father’s communications keep cutting out whenever he mentions muscle training. So you’ve been hiding this from him.”
So Gerth had picked up on that nuance. I was feeling quite nervous now.
“It’s not like my body is split in two. If I focus on one thing, the other naturally gets neglected. Don’t apologize so much to the Third Princess.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
“When does it start? I’ll be cheering from the front row!”
With so much anticipation, the pressure was immense. But when Hubert, looking beautiful in that fox mask, leaned in close with sparkling eyes, all I could say in return was that I’d do my best.
“I’m sorry, but I should get going now. I need to do a final run-through with the band.”
“Yes! Evan, you’ll do wonderfully!”
“Should I buy a video recording device right now? It’ll be expensive since it uses mana stones, but…”
“Let’s do it! I’ll spend every last crown of my allowance if I have to! Father will be disappointed if we don’t capture this!”
A video recording device using mana stones—I’d seen one at an electronics shop on Market Street before. Even used models from years ago went for three hundred million crowns. Could Hubert really afford such an expensive item with just his allowance? I was envious.
“If I mess up the performance, it’ll be embarrassing. I’d appreciate it if you’d delete the recording in that case.”
“No way! Evan, your performance will be a tremendous success! One hundred percent success! A grand triumph! A moving spectacle!”
That’s exactly why this much anticipation was putting me under pressure. I left Kanna in charge of giving the two of them a tour of the human world and headed to the rehearsal venue. The place was crowded with people preparing the stage, but the Third Princess, who led our club, stood out distinctly among them all.
“Evan! You’re five minutes late!”
The Third Princess was standing on a ceremonial palanquin to avoid being swept up in the crowd, conducting everything from the front, and had brought various expensive materials that took up considerable space.
“Evan! You probably already know, but let me confirm once more. This is the special effects timing schedule.”
The Third Princess really was throwing money at this stage. I was worried our performance might get buried under it all. With colorful lighting as the base, pyrotechnic effects erupting from below, and a massive LED screen capturing each band member in a full show—it was quite the spectacle.
“Let’s go! The popularity award is ours!”
No, I was confident that with our skill level and all this extravagance, we’d win the grand prize unanimously.

Even the Third Princess, who had money to burn, apparently didn’t have the spare funds for special effects until rehearsal. Strange as it was to say, thanks to that constraint, Sunbird’s contributions truly shone. His direction—anticipating when special effects should appear, adjusting the band’s positioning from below the stage to find the most striking angles—was extraordinary. Why didn’t that bastard just become a proper stage director instead of playing triangle?
“Once you’re done with your hands, we’ll move to makeup! Before that, costume team! Get them changed and be careful not to let any of the glitter fall off!”
What kind of school festival club band had dedicated makeup and costume teams? More importantly, the costume and accessories that Princess Sera had painstakingly crafted through her interpretation of the song featured a design so esoteric it wouldn’t appear even in fin de siècle or apocalyptic fiction.
No, this transcended apocalypse entirely—it was more post-apocalyptic. Spiky and defensive-looking, yet the leather was torn in places, exposing skin. If I were to wear something like this, I could practically see Gerth appearing with that look of his.
“Dude, this is so cool!”
Yeah, I figured you’d like it, Reina. At least someone appreciates it.
“It’s absolutely magnificent, Your Highness!”
But Eugene, you hated that combat uniform so much before—why do you like this? The male heart is truly fickle.
“Evan Laef! Please put it on quickly!”
“Ugh… okay.”
I reluctantly pulled on the waterproof leather jacket that was already full of holes. Wind whistled through the gaps.
“I can see my bra through this. Is this really okay?”
“The Third Princess said it’s fashion!”
Well, I suppose I should be grateful I wore nice underwear today. Eugene’s wearing pants so low you can see the label, so I guess it’s fine.
Bruno Kenin’s song typically carried themes of overthrowing imperialism, saving the people, extracting the lifeblood of the masses—that sort of thing. But the Third Princess’s interpretation was unconventional, to say the least. The song continuously features rain, which symbolizes the endless tears of suffering people crying out in despair and hopelessness. Anyone with normal thinking and basic literacy would naturally arrive at such an interpretation.
Yet the Third Princess took the lyrics literally, viewing it as an apocalyptic scenario where rain never stops. The Princess’s imagination was as free as her mouth.
For that reason, these clothes we’re wearing have raincoats as their theme. But since it’s an apocalyptic situation, there’s no resources for repairs, so they’re torn in various places.
We’re supposed to sing on behalf of ethnic minorities being driven out by the Empire, but Her Highness interpreted it as continuous rain gradually reducing the land’s surface area, leaving humanity with nowhere to live.
Thus emerged the concept: “Our band are explorers searching for land where humanity can take root and survive!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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