Chapter 780: The rewards and an apology
\'The students that were watching us all this time weren\'t too surprised to see how I was the winner of this little competition, but there sure was a joyful atmosphere when the competition was concluded.\'
They knew me well as the weapon user that wanted to become a magic archer, someone that had problem with forgetting things, and someone that knew better about theories than the rest of the students.
Many of them had attended same classes as mine and had seen me do things that I did not want to, things like answering questions in a way that attracted too much attention, but since the situation itself was always like that, even I had no choice in this matter.
\'They knew me, and I was one of the prime candidates for the position of the winner.\'
So all those who had bet on my victory were celebrating since they got to have some good earnings, while the rest enjoyed seeing the reaction of the others.
"I don\'t remember calling the two of you… and why are you holding him like that?"
The puzzle was solved for now and we knew how things might have unfolded from his side… so, as we stood in his office before him, with Rein hugging Harry \'lovingly\', I could only sigh at his exhausted expression.
"He\'s fluffy~."
Rein didn\'t like how he had distributed extra points to us, or how his random points had caused such troubles among the houses.
The fact that we dealt with the demon cultists and the things that happened after that weren\'t going to change.
What we did was going to remain a fact and everyone already knew all about it.
"Headmaster…"
We were past that war and those things were over already. Overthinking about it wasn\'t going to do us any good.
But still, it was his request in the first place.
\'He sent us there to investigate the movements of those bastards and it was because of them that we ended up in that kind of situation.\'
He knew he was responsible for everything and we almost died in the fights with those guys, so he was also responsible for everything that happened with us.
"Don\'t worry about me. I might look like this but this isn\'t the first time I\'ve been in this kind of situation."
He looked tired even though he was a transcendental being.
He was pretty fine when we saw him a while back but now that we were in his office, looking at him closely, the low vibes from him seemed more like a normal, old human\'s exhaustion.
And his wizardly charming looks did not go so well with his current state.
"Who\'s worried about you, hump."
"That would be your good partner, Miss Uriel."
But he was still his cheerful self that could smile at my dear lady.
"Ugh, you are a bastard. That point distribution and all those things… you know how much us poor kids suffered because of you?
Why even do something so stupid just to reward us for something that wasn\'t even related to the house things."
She was angry a while back but not anymore.
Seeing his current state melted her anger and now she was back to her grumpy self.
"Haha, so you all were having fun with that little thing? It\'s quite surprising seeing how you all figured this out in only a few hours."
He laughed and used his Mana to free his poor owl from the poisonous grasp of Rein, and thanks to his help, Harry slipped out of her hands and flew back to him.
"Well, I had some work for your presidents but seeing as the two of you are here as well, how about you help them out a little as well?
The outskirts are still not quite well and your pretty pink Nightingale seems to have become more worried lately."
He was giving us another request even though we had just returned from that place, but, since it was related to the outskirts of the island, we didn\'t really have any problem with this request.
"Wait, wait, wait. You\'re asking us to shamelessly do something already? Don\'t you have something to give us?"
Rein looked at him with an angry look that not only did not like the way he had taken the fluffy bird away from her, she also did not like the way he was being so unfair.
"Something to give? Right… how can I forget that, hahaha."
She gave him another upset look when he just laughed it off like this was no big deal and she knew, all of us present here knew just how well he had avoided talking about the point distribution.
\'It was clear he did not want to talk about what he had done and we can understand his reasons since it was neither ethical nor legal under the academy rules, but since he had done it in a roundabout way, he also did not break any rules.\'
He exploited the loophole and did something that he was allowed to do as the headmaster and there was nothing wrong with that.
But, if we do talk about it and he has to answer our questions about his own actions, there we\'re going to be problems… so, it was better this way.
"I don\'t like it when you laugh like that, bastard."
"Can\'t do anything about the age-old habits now can we, young miss."
He liked teasing her and seeing that angry look she has though not the way I did.
She was just an interesting person in his eyes, a child he had fun playing with.
"Haha, anyway. You two did better than perhaps any council member I\'ve ever had.
With you all finding out about those bastards, doing so much research on them, and informing us of their existence on time, I don\'t think we would have had one of the most crucial nations of this world.
Not only did you save countless lives, you also did well in the battle against those bastards.
I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done for us… and, also…"
He stood up from his place, placed Harry on the table before him and walked in front of the table without finishing what he was saying, and before we could say anything afterwards, he bowed to us…
"I apologise for everything you had to go through."
"Headmaster?"
"Hey…"
President Zodiac and Cradle were stunned by what he was doing already, but even the two of us couldn\'t understand why he was doing this.
"A simple apology isn\'t going to suffice for what you have done for us, for this world and for this academy… however I still wish to express my deepest gratitude for everything you did in that foreign land.
From finding the bases of the enemy, to tracking down them inside the city; from presenting the detailed plan to us, to saving the lives of all individuals of the city by risking your life and revealing your existence, your powers to the world; for helping the elders defeat strong enemies, demons that might have become the cause of your deaths."
He was sincere.
He wasn\'t just saying those things for the sake of saying them, he knew the impact of what he was doing better than anyone else in this world.
\'He was the headmaster of the great academy and a central, one of the most powerful and influential individuals of this world.\'
Him bowing before us, bowing before anyone else in this world out of apology was no simple thing.
It meant a lot.
It contained importance and meaning, as well as a great deal of respect for the ones he was bowing before.
"I\'m indebted to you. Both of you. For everything you did for everyone this time."
He smiled at our surprised faces and just the way he had walked forward, he went back with the same elegance that had mesmerised us earlier.
"And…"
He summoned two unique things from his storage space and placed them on his desk.
"The rewards. They had to be appropriate for a feat like yours."
He had made it clear that he would reward us for every kind of achievement we made during the requests that he made of us.
And also how the rewards had to be appropriate and in line with the achievements.
And, though his sincere apology had shocked us a little, the rewards that he had prepared for us this time were certainly something that surprised us once again.
"I was saving these for appropriate candidates, but… I think you\'ll use it well as well."
On the desk before him right now shined two unique divine objects that all four of us recognised instantly.
"Destroyer…"
"It was never lost, I see."
"So you were the one that killed that creature as well, headmaster?"
There were nine famous holy swords in this world that were known by all those who were interested in the weapons of the past.
One of the objects on the desk was a sword that was said to have been lost with time.
And, then the other object… a skill stone so distinct that one only needed a look to know its identity.
"Are you about this, headmaster?"
"No one else saved the world here, Eon."
These two objects weren\'t only precious, they were invaluable things.
One of a kind in this entire world.
Giving these to us wasn\'t a small decision.
\'And the rest of the people in power also weren\'t going to be too happy about this.\'
Though, if he was serious about it, who were we to decide such precious rewards?