I Was the Strongest Sword God in My Past Life

part 31

Clatter.

Savoring the subtle aroma of the tea, Zien placed his cup down. Selfis, however, hadn’t even touched his.

“Hehe, how are preparations going? I’ve called to ask after you.”

Human greed knows no bounds.

Selfis, the principal, had one goal: to make Arcana the unparalleled prestigious institution. Yet, competitors abounded.

‘Sellia… Croa… Leona! If I win first place in this tournament, I can clear them all out this time! It’s possible to become the sole prestigious institution.’

A beaming smile spread across Selfis’s face at the thought. Naturally, he took an interest in Zien, the contestant. In truth, he wished to coach him personally, being a Level 6 Saber himself.

‘If only I had retired three years later, I would have taught him myself! Ah, such a pity.’

But Selfis’s corpulent body made it impossible.

“Ah, of course, I’m not doubting your abilities! Haha! How are the preparations coming along?”

“Yes, they’re going well. Hmm, but…”

As Zien’s face clouded with concern, Selfis asked with a surprised look,

“Speak up! What’s the issue?”

“Ah… It’s nothing major. Just that the facilities are a bit…”

Unlike clubs with funding, Zien had only been provided with a room. Consequently, the room was embarrassingly bare.

‘Our room will eventually serve as a guild office.’

It was unfit for such a place to be so empty. Selfis pondered for a moment, then said with a kind face,

“With such an event ahead, what’s a little funding! I’ll pull the funding from those other clubs without results right away!”

“Thank you.”

Zien expressed his gratitude.

‘Indeed, the principal.’

At least in this school, Selfis was the law.

“Hehe, no need for thanks. But I do expect… Haha! Good results at the event, right?”

However, this favor was all due to Zien’s achievements. If he slipped up even once, who knew how Selfis would react. Of course, Zien was well aware of this.

“Yes. You can look forward to it.”

* * *

G Channel Broadcasting Station.

With the launch of the largest broadcast battle survival looming, dark circles were heavy under every staff member’s eyes. They were in the throes of overtime hell… At G Channel, there was an unspoken rule in such situations.

The office door of the producer, marked [In Progress!], was never to be opened. Not even if it was the director. No exceptions.

“Arrrgh!!”

Bang! Slam!

But that rule had just been broken.

The one who shouted was the assistant PD, Caston. Caston waved a sheet of paper at Brodo.

“That guy! He applied! The Tower! The orphan! The test!”

The Tower. The orphan. The test.

Cryptic keywords, hard to understand. But Brodo immediately kicked his chair away and stood up.

“Ah! He finally applied. I was so anxious, thinking he wouldn’t participate, really! Hahaha!”

“Exactly!”

Brodo and Caston hugged each other and bounced around the office.

“We had to catch that guy. Lucky you, Caston!”

“I was really trembling. The deadline was so close.”

Clap clap clap. The two men high-fived. Researching participants is a director’s basic task. Brodo had already completed his research on Gian.

“Story, character, face. It’s all alive. And the Tower incident to boot!”

Gian fit all three aspects Brodo mentioned.

Story.

His past as a last-place orphan from the orphanage to captivate the viewers.

Character.

Gian’s swordsmanship was beyond imagination. Especially the sword, a magical device, was always popular with the public.

“So I hear the school gave him the nickname ‘Sword God’? Tell the design team to make his costume like this. Match it with the color of the sword, in black.”

Brodo sketched the clothing design on paper. In an instant, a black martial uniform of Section 3 was drawn.

“Hmm. Section 3… has a martial arts vibe, doesn’t it? But doesn’t black seem a bit villainous?”

“It matches the color of the sword. Send it as is to the design team.”

“Wow~ As expected! You’re so detailed.”

An excited Caston gave a double thumbs up, and Brodo waved it off as if it was nothing.

“Let’s push him so he doesn’t get eliminated early. Start him near places where good items drop, and fill the surroundings with weaker ones.”

Caston grinned and shot with his index finger as if it were a gun, even blowing on it afterward.

“Yes, boss, I’ll get right on it.”

With his spirits high, Caston left, and Brodo picked up the participation papers. He was eager to find out who the other two participants joining Gian were.

“Shall we start with the face? If not, maybe add a costume or a mask… Ah, but with the timing, perhaps a mask isn’t suitable?”

Brodo slowly scanned the list.

[Gian Russel]

[Chris Arun]

[Isabel Blitz]

“Hmm.”

Chris Arun.

“A small and cute type… definitely popular, but not the lead number? …Tsk, why did Arcana include such a person?”

Brodo held Gian in high regard for his star quality.

“Such a teammate would mean early elimination. Star quality means nothing if you’re eliminated so trivially.”

Battle Survival was certainly an entertainment program, but it was anything but easy. The participants were the top Sabers from their respective schools.

Some teams, including the Celia Academy, were strong not only in star quality but also in skill. Brodo, greatly disappointed, flipped the paper expressionlessly.

“Next is… Isabel Blitz. Isabel Blitz? Blitz, Blitz?”

Brodo exclaimed, his complexion turning pale.

“No! The real Blitz?!”

The tycoon among tycoons, Tower Master Yubel. His family name was Blitz.

Now that he thought about it, that red hair seemed familiar to Brodo as well.

“Ah! I saw it during the exam!”

Gloves that freely manipulated fire.

A magical tool of ability, and the firepower was extraordinary.

“Her alias is the ‘Crimson Witch’… Certainly, the character is outstanding, and the costume would be easy to manage.”

A witch, after all, Brodo thought, should have a pointed hat.

“Even her face is of celebrity quality…”

Brodo, arms crossed, pondered for a moment. A combination of a skilled orphan boy and a tycoon’s second-generation girl. Somehow, Brodo felt his blood boiling.

“This will work. This will definitely catch on!”

A skilled teenage Saber.

The love of a handsome boy and a beautiful girl.

The social gap that hinders them.

“An unscripted drama. If the Arcana team takes off, the sponsorship system will become incredibly active.”

Brodor knew well that viewers would gladly open their wallets for a character they loved.

* * *

Gien. Isabelle. Chris.

Though it was a weekday, the three were sitting in the clubroom instead of the classroom.

A prime spot bathed in bright sunlight. Thanks to the chairman and Selfis’s support, the clubroom had quite a few new pieces of furniture.

“Why does the clubroom suddenly look so shiny?”

As Chris said, the support was a bit excessive for the number of people. A large table with premium tea bags and snacks. And not to mention, a large screen and a long sofa that one would expect to see in an office.

It wasn’t a club that had achieved any notable results; rather, it was just a personal clubroom. The fact that it received such support was evidence of Selfis’s growing interest.

“Now that Isabelle is here, shall we start our first meeting?”

The reason Gien had called both of them to the same place for the first time was to discuss the battle survival game.

A massive suburban event with a prize of 500 million coins. But this was merely a step towards their goal.

“Firstly, we need to win the battle survival for three main reasons.”

At Gien’s words, Chris raised his hand eagerly.

“The prize money?”

“That’s part of it, but there’s a bigger goal. The first is SP. SP points have more benefits than you might think.”

Isabelle rested her chin on her hands and hummed thoughtfully.

“Could it be because of the gate?”

“Exactly. Once we’re second years, we’ll use the SP points we’ve accumulated to buy the rights to choose a gate. We’ll be able to participate in any gate we want.”

Gien knew the history of zones one through four like the back of his hand. He planned to use that experience to choose a gate that suited his taste. The criteria were simple: the most challenging gate. That way, they could minimize damage to other parties and increase the chances of getting good rewards.

“It’s common knowledge that the harder the gate, the better the rewards.”

Isabelle narrowed her eyes at Gien.

“Are you saying you can pick out which gates are the hardest?”

A hint of skepticism.

To Isabelle’s question, Gien smoothly transitioned with a sly tone.

“I have to be the top scorer in the upcoming written exam.”

“…Well, okay. What’s the second reason?”

“Before I tell you the second reason… let me first talk about our party’s goal.”

The three had gathered for the purpose of winning the battle survival. But that wasn’t Gien’s ultimate goal. If it was just about winning, there would have been no need to negotiate with Selfis in the clubroom.

“Our party’s goal is to become a guild. The first guild in school history.”

“A guild, not a party?”

To Chris’s puzzled look, Jian began to explain slowly. The guildification of the party. This was Jian’s core strategy to become stronger faster than anyone else before graduation.

“Yes, that guild. You see, Chris, the school’s graduation criterion is the exam. As long as you do well on the test, classes have nothing to do with graduation.”

“Right.”

Chris nodded in agreement.

In fact, the three people in this room were proof of that.

If you have the skills, Arcana will gladly provide any convenience.

“When we become sophomores, we’ll focus on extracurricular activities instead of classes. But to go off-campus, you need an outing pass. What if the SP you earn is more than the SP you spend on the pass?”

“Then, what?”

“We’ll take on every request. From cleaning to minor escort duties to gate clearing, as long as the reward is right.”

An office masquerading as a party for requests.

“How about it? Shall I explain more?”

A plan on an unexpected scale.

The other two’s gazes turned to Jian.

Jian smirked and pulled out his phone.

The site he showed was the school’s homepage.

[1st Place – Jian Russell – 1,080 SP]

459 SP from the gate evaluation test.

500 SP from the tower incident.

Jian was the top SP earner among the freshmen.

“We can do off-campus activities with any number of people whenever we want. It’s like running a guild at school.”

Jian’s goal wasn’t the third or fourth-grade gates distributed within the school. He needed a diploma, but there was nothing left for him to learn at school.

‘What if it becomes possible to clear high-level gates off-campus while attending school?’

Then, becoming stronger than in a previous life through the rewards of the gates is also possible.

And if Jian teaches Isabelle and Chris through his experience? By the time of graduation, an elite party will be born, one that could stand alongside Desire and even the government’s direct Saver.

“Now.”

To make it easier to understand, Jian wrote on the blackboard:

1. Earn SP for outing passes through off-campus activities.

2. Fame and money from off-campus activities.

3. Government permission to participate in gates.

“It’s a plausible strategy, but can we pull off the third one?”

Isabel questioned. The government imposes strict limits on gate participation due to penalties. Notable penalties include desolation, manifestation, and mana surge.