Many supporters backed the ceremony honoring Onesco's feat. Large donations came in, and it was held on a grand scale.
The schoolyard of the Royal Pioneer Academy was used as the hall, and decorated lavishly. Limited to the Leakweight Kingdom, many powerful people and reporters visited.
The location of the Royal Pioneer Academy is secret, and the place is not made public. The magic that moves a long distance in an instant, the transfer magic circle, is normally hidden so only school staff can use it.
Today alone it was opened. Principal and vice principal, as hosts, rubbed their hands nonstop in front of the gate welcoming the guests.
"Welcome! Welcome, you have come! I am Nekodoran, principal of this academy, the one who raised Onesco-kun!"
"Yes! The principal's support was a little, zamasu, but I am the one who guided Onesco as the main, Yes-man, zamasu!"
Principal and vice principal jabbed each other with their elbows, never letting up on the appeal.
"Please entrust your precious sons and daughters to me!"
"Then I will make them fine students, zamasu!"
A supporter stopped in front of the principal and the vice principal. Both of them snapped straight.
"Eek!? W-we're deeply honored that you came!"
"O-of course the trash is shut out! Not even the first letter of his name gets in!"
They were so rattled they forgot their usual speech tics. The supporter nodded without a word and walked through the welcome gate.
Staff hurried over and led them to an entrance marked Royal VIP. The uneven pair let out a breath.
"I-I don't feel alive in front of that person..."
"Yes... the principal looked like a bullfrog stared down by a snake, zamasu..."
Once the guests were gathered, the commemorative ceremony was held. There was a stage in the hall, and reporters packed the area around it.
A little away from that were the guest seats. Dressed-up guests sat at tables with white cloths. A lavish meal was being served.
Both sides were standing-buffet booths, and the whole student body was delighted at a feast after so long. Among them, the upper-class students, Monaka and Kotone and the others, were inside a glassed special room.
In time, fireworks coloring the sky announced the start of the stage event, and a live orchestra began. To loud applause from the whole hall, Onesco, the principal, and the vice principal took the stage.
The vice principal served as master of ceremonies. He held the magic loudspeaker with his little finger raised, and cleared his throat.
"Ahem! When Onesco was granted the job of knight at the entrance ceremony, it clicked for me, zamasu! This excellent student is a diamond in the rough, zamasu! After that, I gave her special guidance, zamasu! Sometimes strict, sometimes kind... And the two of us swore, zamasu! That we would climb the stairs to holy knight together...!"
Not only the vice principal. The principal used all the time he could and appealed to the guests that this was his achievement. Onesco watched that with a blank look.
"Lastly, to honor Onesco-kun's achievement, Class 1-B is raised two ranks!"
Class 1-B: B+ → A
"Now, Onesco-kun, tell everyone your joy now, and your respect for me!"
At last the loudspeaker was turned toward Onesco. She reached to take it. The vice principal refused. "I will hold it for you, zamasu."
With no choice, she gave her thanks as it was.
"Honored guests, thank you truly for gathering today for me. Becoming a holy knight was my dream, and I never thought I would climb the first step this fast. This is entirely thanks to a certain person. No. It is all because that person was there."
The vice principal turned the loudspeaker on himself and cut in. "That is me, zamasu, isn't it!" Onesco shook her head and said it clearly.
"No. It isn't."
The principal cut in further. "Then it is me!"
"No. Not at all. I cleared the trial because Leo..."
The familiar strange cry came through the loudspeaker, so it hit harder than usual.
It was like lightning falling on the whole hall. A crack ran through a glass. The guests covered their ears and shrank.
Usually the vice principal was knocked out here. Today he was a little different.
He glared at her as if looking at a traitor. He hid the loudspeaker behind his back so the voice would not leak, and put a threat in his tone.
"As I thought, Onesco, you had a weakness held by that trash too, zamasu...! You are Monaka's attendant, zamasu, so I was right to wonder, zamasu...! If you say that name, you will have a bad time, zamasu...!"
"What!?"
Onesco flinched, then answered at once.
"I-I don't have any weakness held! He really helped me! Leopi..."
"Still saying it, zamasu! Then I have an idea too, zamasu!"
The vice principal leapt back and shoved a hand into his tuxedo.
"I did not want to use this, zamasu, but there is no choice, zamasu!"
The hand he drew from his breast was shaped like a pistol. Pinched at the fingertips was...
"Th-that's... my ticket!? And two of them!?"
"Yes, zamasu! The ones you used at the store, zamasu! I will use these and give an order, zamasu!"
The vice principal smiled and raised the thumb of his finger-pistol, like cocking a hammer.
"Slave ticket effect, activate! The order to Onesco is...! Pronouncing and writing the word Leopin, and any word that sounds like it, forbidden for life, zamasu!"
Onesco cried out in shock.
At last someone other than Leopin had drawn that scream out of her. The vice principal's face was twisted like an evil laughing mask.
He had done it. At last. He had sealed that trash. He had won. This was his victory.
After that, in exchange for lifting the order, he would make Onesco chant his name instead of that trash.
Then, against that trash, complete victory.
But that too was a moment of glory, like an illusion. The portrait of Onesco on the ticket at the vice principal's fingertips shook its head.
A refused order. In the end, again.
The vice principal screamed.