On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 378

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

First Day of Infiltration, The Organization Was Destroyed — Episode 378
Festa Preparations (1)
“Without a lord, how can the territory function…….”
“Station capable people there.”
Gilbert’s eyes gleamed at those words.
‘Capable people?’
That meant—
Was he talking about me?
Recently reached Master grade?
“So it’s me after all!”
“No.”
“Oh.”
“You have plenty to do here. I’ll station someone else.”
“Ah……I see.”
At least Ziel had no intention of relocating his base until the students he currently taught had graduated.
He had no thought whatsoever of abandoning his position as a teacher at the Academy.
Even if the Second Years graduated right now.
“Then is it Kelvin?”
“Kelvin has much to do as well.”
“I see.”
“Finding people isn’t difficult.”
“But it’s the Boss’s territory, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you send someone trustworthy to ensure it’s handled properly?”
“If they can’t do it right, I’ll replace them with someone else.”
“Ah…….”
Gilbert suddenly realized how different the Boss was from ordinary people—his thinking was purely efficient.
“We’ll go during the break period. Accompany me then.”
“Yes, understood.”
Fifteen thousand acres, no less.
While not as vast as the territories of Rihart or Kundel, that scale was certainly large enough to establish genuine authority in the region.
It wouldn’t be easy to draw in people, develop the land, and construct buildings, but given time, it was entirely possible.
‘So that’s where the Organization’s true base will be!’
Gilbert thrilled at the prospect of finally escaping this cramped Academy and establishing a proper stronghold.
‘Rihart must be absolutely terrified.’
Everything else had been a misunderstanding, but this much was real.
In the Western Region, the Steelheart Family would be restored, wielding a midsize territory—a fact that had thrown the Rihart Family into emergency alert.
Of course, Ziel cared nothing about it.
“Now I need to prepare for Festa.”
During his assassin days.
He lived uncertain whether he’d see another dawn.
With his self controlled by others, he had never once dreamed of a future.
That’s why Ziel saw only the present.
“It seems opinions should be coming in.”
“Ah, yes. Today’s the final deadline for Festa planning. Let’s hear the students’ ideas in class today.”
“Understood.”
And this Festa would be somewhat special.
Because there was another event alongside it.
“When are they arriving from Telbier?”
“Three days before Festa, so they say.”
“This really is going to be massive in scale.”
The external exchange competition with Telbier Academy.
‘They’ll be gnashing their teeth after their humiliation at the last tournament…….’
The Second Years who had stolen their victory would be their primary targets for revenge.
But Telbier must know.
That they were outmatched.
Surely they didn’t have an instructor of the Boss’s caliber, and yet less than a year had passed—what could they possibly be hoping to accomplish?
‘Are they all bringing out Magic Swords or something?’
Unable to see any plausible path to victory, Gilbert’s imagination ran wild.
The Second Years were simply that formidable.
Across the entire Empire, there were likely no youths of their age group with comparable skill.
Truly, it defied explanation any other way.
“Boss, our kids should be able to beat Telvir’s Second and Third Years, right?”
Gilbert asked, half-hoping.
And the answer that came back exceeded his expectations.
“We’ll beat the Fourth Years too.”
* * *
The Second-Year Exclusive Auditorium buzzed with activity.
The discussion continued right up to the end.
“We’re really doing this? Really? How are we going to handle the sculpture?”
“We just call Lord Mortis, right?”
“Isn’t that something we need to ask the Teacher about?”
“There’s nothing wrong with asking, is there?”
Three candidate proposals had been narrowed down.
First.
“Fine. Then let’s go with an ice sculpture. But this is going to be brutal. We’ll need to ask Professor Emeric separately too. To keep the ice from melting.”
“That’s something we figure out through trial and error. Or does someone want to learn Magic?”
“I’ll do it!”
“Someone get Quantus out of here!”
And second.
“This one’s going to be tight too.”
“I don’t know. Quantus says he’ll do it himself. Still, we should trust him this time. Doesn’t he have the most experience exploring Ruins?”
“You mean destroying the most Ruins?”
“Ann, I need a favor. Keep an eye on him so he doesn’t go wild.”
“It’s always me.”
It was Labyrinth Exploration.
They’d decided to try it based on Quantus’s experience getting lost in Ruins, and fearing they’d be stuck with a “physique exhibition” otherwise, they’d found a compromise.
And finally, third.
“But is that day really right? Are you sure?”
“It’s certain. I calculated it—the moon will be at its largest that day. The full moon arrives. We hold the masked ball beneath it. Isn’t that romantic?”
“It’s romantic, but… if the moon doesn’t come out, we’re ruined, right?”
“Are you disrespecting our Family? We’ve been watching the sky since our ancestor’s time!”
“The Riversong Family really did that?”
It was a masked ball to unfold beneath the full moon.
Everyone argued and sometimes debated fiercely, but underneath ran the same current.
Anticipation and excitement!
That’s what Festa meant.
A day for students who’d struggled all year to shed their exhaustion and gain the hope to carry them into the next semester.
“We’ve prepared three options… which one do you think the Teacher will choose?”
“Obviously the Labyrinth Exploration!”
“If he picks that, we’re all really done for……”
Students already growing dizzy at the thought of creating a maze!
“But in the end, isn’t this just us doing what we want? The Teacher said so himself.”
“True, but the Teacher’s opinion matters too.”
And then, finally, Ziel walked in.
Ziel took the proposal document right away.
“Three candidate proposals, I see.”
Everyone swallowed hard.
Which proposal would be adopted?
The students could choose, but Ziel’s opinion mattered too.
He’d never steered them wrong or suggested anything impossible.
The silence didn’t last long.
“We can do all three.”
“……!”
“This Festa will run for four days. We’ll do one each day, and on the final day we can focus on the external exchange tournament with Telvir Academy.”
At that unexpected answer, everyone’s jaws dropped.
“All three……”
“We’re doing all of them…?”
“Really all of them…?”
They’d thought they’d focus on just one and prepare for the tournament.
But Teacher Ziel, as always, exceeded expectations.
“T-Teacher, will there be time to do all three?”
“I’ll help you.”
“Right.”
It was always like this.
Plans that seemed impossible!
Yet in the end, they pulled it off.
“Ice Sculpture. For that, I’ll need to meet Lord Mortis. Zephyros can maintain the temperature with magic.”
The most difficult hurdle—securing the right personnel—was resolved just like that.
“Zephyros?”
“The teacher’s new subordinate, apparently.”
“A subordinate……?”
Second matter.
“Maze Exploration. For that, we just need to design the maze—the construction itself will be quick.”
“As expected of Teacher Ziel! You understood my heart perfectly!”
“Sit down, Quantus Hopel.”
“Yes, sir.”
And third.
“Masked Ball. I’ve read about it in novels. They say it’s romantic.”
“Oh!”
“A full moon, they say.”
Ziel wanted to experience the feeling of romance for the first time.
“We’ll do this too. But does that full moon actually rise?”
“Yes! I’m certain of it!”
“Good.”
Thus all three projects were confirmed to move forward.
They were dumbfounded.
“You’re really going to do all three?”
“We’re really doing it…….”
“What, what do we do now?”
After a brief moment of shock, the students sprang into action.
“There’s no choice. We need to assign a leader to each project.”
“No choice about it—what kind of…….”
That was true.
And one of those leaders was Quantus.
“Divide them fairly. One-third each.”
“But wouldn’t building a maze be fun?”
“I want to try that one.”
Unexpectedly, many students showed keen interest in Quantus’s Maze Exploration project.
In contrast, the Ice Sculpture—which looked difficult—didn’t draw much enthusiasm from the group.
“Ice Sculpture looks like fun though…….”
“Watching it’s fun, but making it is another story entirely, Yurio.”
Yurio, who had proposed the Ice Sculpture project, grew despondent.
But since they said they’d bring Lord Mortis, there was no need for real concern.
Finally, the Masked Ball.
“……This actually passed?”
“What, you just threw it out there on a whim, didn’t you, Yon?”
“No! I’m telling you, a real full moon will actually rise!”
The full moon rising was certain.
The problem was that things should have stopped there.
As the originator of the project, Yon naturally became its leader!
‘Can I, can I really do this?’
This level of attention was the first time since that incident.
But once it had passed, there was no getting out of it!
“Now let’s divide up the personnel. Who wants to join the Ice Sculpture team?”
“I’ll give it a try. Seems like it’d be fun?”
Delev raised his hand eagerly, and Kus immediately called him out.
“Delev, I saw what you made in first-year crafts class.”
“That, that was just a little thing—bigger ones are different!”
Celia pondered.
‘Ice Sculpture does look interesting.’
The Maze Exploration wasn’t really her taste, and that meant she’d have to go with the Masked Ball instead?
‘This could be fun.’
Celia chose this option.
“Then I’ll go with the Masked Ball.”
“Oh, then I want to go with the Masked Ball too.”
“Me too!”
Several students following Celia joined in.
In the midst of this, Delev overheard a conversation that made his ears perk up.
“How can I get a scholarship?”
“The Ice Sculpture would be best, wouldn’t it? The most people would see it, right?”
“The Masked Ball doesn’t look bad either. We don’t do balls at our academy anyway. I heard Telvir does.”
“Is that so?”
A scholarship!
At those words, Delev’s heart turned.
“Kus, I’m sorry.”
“Huh? Where are you going?”
“The Masked Ball.”
Watching Delev stride away, Kus let out a soft laugh, as if to say, ‘Of course.’
“Wherever Celia goes, you follow.”
Another misunderstanding had been notched onto his record.
‘Ugh… I actually wanted to do the Masked Ball… but I guess I should join the Ice Sculpture side instead, huh?’
After much deliberation, Karen too joined Yurio’s Ice Sculpture team.
“Seriously! I said I hate the Labyrinth Exploration!”
“Please, Ann. Only you can do it. Who’s going to stop Quantus when he goes berserk?”
“Why is it always me!”
“Because you’re Ann…”
There was also Ann, dragged into joining because of Quantus.
Her whole body resisted, yet her feet naturally drifted toward Quantus’s group!
“Ann! You came!”
“I was dragged here. Sigh.”
‘Which one should I go to?’
After some thought, Maris turned her direction toward the Labyrinth Exploration, which looked the most interesting.
The remaining students finished joining their groups after their own deliberation.
Ziel was satisfied watching his students sort themselves out.
“You’re doing well.”
“The plans are better than expected, Boss?”
“Yes. Gilbert, Kelvin—suspend the secret base construction for now. Gilbert, you join the Masked Ball group. Kelvin, help out the Labyrinth Exploration team.”
Having given orders to both of them, Ziel had chosen the Ice Sculpture for himself.
“I should go meet Lord Mortis.”
Now it was time to move busily forward.

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