Back and forth

"I decided to give you all a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to feast your eyes on the barrier's core before it is sealed off in the Academy's vault, where it steadfastly does its duty for centuries to come!"

Castor cheered out, on the verge of breaking into a dance, and then he reached out behind the podium, taking out a piece of bluish-purple crystal with a murky black base.

The man licked his lips, barely able to swallow his own saliva, and placed the crystal on top of the podium before stepping to the side as if even he himself felt unworthy to take attention away from it.

"Behold! A crystalized scale of an ancient dragon straight from the fallen city of the ancient Draconids!

"!!!"

Castor announced, and his audience let out an almost unison gasp.

"After thousands of years dipped in the mana spring, this scale turned into a powerful magic catalyst of unparalleled toughness and hardness! It has become essentially unbreakable! Which is, of course, the indispensable component of the magic barrier's core."

The headmaster sang praises towards the crystal and even threw in a little laugh.

"As a core, this crystalized scale of an ancient dragon was inscribed with the necessary magic formula, linking it with my mana pool! Normally, in the case of magic barriers for buildings or cities, their formulas are constructed in a way that drains mana out of the creatures who receive the protection, but I, your headmaster, boast a mana pool exceeding the sum of the mana pools of everyone within the Jade city combined making me the perfect replacement! With me around, the barrier can be erected not only around the Jade Academy but the entire Jade City, too~!"

"...haaaaaa…"

The presentation turned into a boast, and although everyone else seemed excited about it, Melinda wasn't amongst their ranks, which she showed by sighing discreetly but deeply.

While the headmaster continued gloating about the intricacies of the barrier generously sprinkled with self-praise, Melinda kept sending glances toward Zane, but she knew that doing it too much would eventually get the attention of others, so she lowered her head, trying to find something more interesting on the ground.

"...hmm…?"

She even ended up putting her hands in her pants pockets and furrowed her brows as she felt something under her fingertips…

"Of course, the magic barrier's specification aligns with all the rules of the international peace treaty amongst the races! The barrier is as strong from the outside and inside alike, making it impossible to launch spells from inside while being invulnerable from any outside factors."

"Cool, cool… Hmm…? It survived the laundry?"

The black-haired headmaster pointed out while sending a meaningful look towards the exchange student who should be paying attention to such things—that being Melinda—but she merely acknowledged it with a light nod before turning her attention back to the single toothpick that she found in her pocket.

"Heh~"

Melinda chukled while raising the toothpick to her chest level and started inspecting how its color has change as the headmaster continued insisting on how amazing the crystalized scale was, and how much mana he had, and how did that made the barrier such a wonder.

Then Vendro'in proceeded to activate the barrier, blessing the students with the sight of the expanding translucent membrane, with the distinctly bluish-purple hue reminiscent of the crystalized scale, covering the entirety of the Academy's grounds, outer walls and gate included.

"...haaa…"

Melinda breathed out while shifting the toothpick between her fingers, but then she glanced up, looking toward Zane out of habit.

"Hm?"

She let out a surprised voice when she saw him stare right at her.

For some reason, he seemed very worried…

…but there didn't seem to be anything remotely dangerous going on…

"...?"

"...!"

Melinda stopped moving the toothpick, rasied her brow, and motioned at Zane with her chin, wondering what was the matter but that made the white-haired young man shake his head from right to left slightly for some reason.

"?"

"!"

Melinda blinked a few times and tilted her head, unsure what Zane wanted to convey, but whatever it was, he seemed very intense about it.

And then the white-haired man's distorted venomously green eyes shifted down at the toothpick in the gold-haired girl's hands and he decisively shook his head.

"..."

Melinda furrowed her brows at the toothpick before lifting her head and looking at the crystalized scale of the ancient dragon - relaxing her brows in realization - and then gazing up at the translucent bluish-purple membrane of the barrier high in the sky above the Jade Academy.

And then she lowered her gaze back at Zane and smiled brightly - with pure, child-like joy.

"...~"

*WHOOOSH*

And then she flicked the toothpick into the sky.

*pop*

"!!!"

"What the…!?"

"KYAAAAH!"

"..."

With the object being a lot more aerodynamic this time, the shockwave the projectile produced was merely a strong gust of wind that still managed to let the people call out in unease or even fear, getting their attention to the point that no one besides Zane and Melinda noticed the barrier popping up like a soap bubble grazed by a bullet…

*crack*

…which coincided with the crystalized scale of the ancient dragon shattering into pieces and crumbling off the podium while the headmaster, Castor Vendro'in, remained in place.

Vendro'in was still holding out his hand, showcasing whatever remained of the crystalized scale, still smiling so much his eyes ended up closed.

He stayed like that during the hustle and bustle the students made, pointing to each other, the trajectory of the unidentified light flying off into the distance and disappearing from sight.

He stayed like that even after other teachers got the situation under control and everyone calmed down.

"...huh…? Where did that crystal go…?"

"Did the headmaster teleport it to the vault already or something…?"

"I mean… he looks so calm… Everything is alright, isn't it…?"

The black-haired man even stayed like that for so long that the students began murmuring to each other in confusion, and even his colleagues became uneasy.

"..."

"...~"

Vendro'in stayed like that while Zane was staring down the grinning Melinda with his face stuck in an I-am-so-done-with-you expression…

*plop*

"HEADMASTER?!"

…and finally, after a shockingly long amount of time, headmaster Vendro'in fell forward, face-first just as he was standing, hitting the ground with a pitiful sound without even trying to break the fall with his hand still raised to the side.

"Dear Perseverance! He is unconscious!"

"What in the world happened?!"

"Wait! The barrier is gone!? What happened to it?! And what's with the dragon scale?!"

"The crystalized scale shattered!"

"Charl! Get the students into the building and call the guards! Vince! Use the purification spell on the headmaster, just in case… Charl! Are you deaf?! Don't just stand there. Get the students into the building!"

The headmaster's fall was the signal for chaos to erupt, and only one man - Melinda's class's strict-faced homeroom teacher - stepped up to do something about it.

Needless to say, the investigation began and concluded without resolving the mysterious case.

The headmaster wasn't hurt, physically that is, his mana depleted completely but it wasn't the reason for him losing conscience - he merely fainted from sheer shock of his barrier and the crystalised scale of the ancient dragon being destroyed.

Funnily enough, because of that, the announcement that the students were summoned to hear out - the actual one, because apparently, Vendro'in was simply intercepting the whole event with his boasting - had been posted as a written statement on the Academy's notice board.

~To allow our students to develop their independence further, Jade Academy, in cooperation with the Emeraldios Empire's royal family, hereby establishes an additional course - two weeks of on-the-job training - in whose the final mark will influence the student's overall evaluation score at the end of the year. The students wishing to recommend the business, institution, or facility they want to undergo the course in are required to fill in the necessary documentation (the forms are available in the vice-headmaster's office). The students who do not have a recommendation in mind will be admitted to businesses, institutions, or facilities that offered participation in the course if it is deemed necessary. No specific starting time for each individual course is stated, but the course must be completed before the last month of the semester starts. ~

The note was signed by the vice-principal Gregorius Ten'trin and caused quite a stir among the students.

"...doesn't that look like something created specifically to bother me…?"

That, of course, included Melinda, who furrowed her brows, squinting her eyes at the notice as if trying to intimidate it into changing what was written on it.