The group met up with Noel at the hall, which was the venue of the lucky draw announcement. They hadn't managed to see her all day, so it was quite reassuring to know that she came for the festival as well.
"Noel, why didn't you take part in the selection process?" Lunaria asked Noel while waiting for the lottery to start. "Everyone else was present."
"That's because I will be one of the few guards on the day itself," Noel made an apologetic smile. "Dad… the Commander of the Knights wants me to be one of the few stationed just in case the fight goes over and they need someone who is able to step in to break the fight."
"I feel like you are pretty unfortunate, since you missed both the examination and the performance due to your position," Kaze grinned at her. "Don't worry, you will get your chance soon."
"Right, I heard from Dad that you duelled the King," Noel dropped the volume of her voice as she asked Kaze this. "How was it?"
"Noel… why are you asking this now?" Yuuji sighed, looking around them. "Imagine if people overheard us by accident."
"Aw, it's fine isn't it?" Noel pouted. "I never sparred with Sir Ethan before so it's natural I am curious."
"Em… to answer your question, Sir Ethan was terrifying," Kaze tried his best to explain the overall summary of the fight. "His use of giant sword was extremely terrifying. It was very hard to counter him along with his destructive force."
"Mm, mm," Noel nodded enthusiastically at his words. "Sir Ethan must be very skilled with the giant sword. There are a few ways to counter giant sword users, but with his expertise, he must he aware of them and found a way to counter it too."
"He wasn't even serious yet when we fought. The only time was when he tried to kill me for real," Kaze shuddered at the vivid memory of the attack. "Using Titan to deal Overhaul on me… I don't even know what type of magic attack that is."
"It's probably a mix of his personal strength and magic attack," Lunaria immediately answered with a sharp look in her eyes. "I would say it's a mix between earth magic and wind magic based on the analysis I had at the time, but it could also be due to his own strength in delivering such a powerful blow."
"… Lunaria… are you perhaps still angry?" Kaze sweatdropped at her change in attitude.
"Nope. It's more like I'm formulating a plan on how to push back against the attack if I were in a duel with him," Lunaria giggled, causing everyone around her to shrink back as it sounded like a maniacal laugh instead.
"Ohh, let's discuss together then!" Noel, who was oblivious to this, proposed to help Lunaria with the analysis. "I want to try 'fighting' against the King too."
Before the two could begin their questionable discussion, the lottery event started. The entire hall turned dark before filling with lights again. Instead of the usual bright lights, it was somewhat moody and gave off a party vibe. Different coloured light orbs floated through the air, causing the student body to leak gasps of amazement at the countless little orbs that illuminated their dark hall.
With the orbs fluctuating between a spectrum of selected colours, an emcee appeared on stage dressed in a goddess' outfit.
"Hi everyone! This is an announcement from the Student Council. We will reveal the contents of the lottery, how it would work and how you will receive your names shortly, so please make sure you have your lottery number with you," The emcee stated. "Our honoured guests would be arriving shortly."
"It seems like the Student Council is going to be the one to run this event after all," Yuuji turned to Chris. "Got your number?"
"Yep. Irene's hoping for a consolation prize or something," Chris grinned, point at his girlfriend who was praying silently while clutching her number.
"Have you heard of the rumours? Some say it's going to be a prize like winning some furniture," Mitsui nudged Kaze lightly. "What do you think?"
"I don't know, it could be anything honestly," Kaze glanced at his number. "I just hope to win something, that's all."
"Knowing you, you could win first prize," Yuuji smirked at him. "Your luck is godly."
"If you mean my luck to attract attention, I sure hope not," Kaze sighed at this. "I don't mind first place, but please don't jinx me."
"My personal guess is that most of the items are not going to be something I would want," Lunaria looked at her elven friends.
"Some potions would be good, along with a grimoire of sort," Sera stared hopefully at the stage.
"This is going to be our first lucky draw in a while, so it better be good," Shoko tapped her feet impatiently. "I just hope the prizes aren't something lame."
"It might be best to keep your hopes lower. The school isn't so lavish as to be able to afford some valuable items and simply put it up for lottery prizes," Mitsui told Sera.
"Thank you for the wait everyone! We will now begin by explaining the process of the lottery," the emcee stated after a bit of confirmation from the backstage members.
Based on the explanation, it seemed like they would be able to vote on the items they want to join the lottery. Because every item was different depending on how highly they were rated, there could be objects like swords that were not as useful to everyone since not every student was a swordsman. In retrospect, this meant that if a student saw an item that they wanted, they could choose to join the lottery pile along with the others. From that pile, the emcee would pick a random number.
This wouldn't work for every item, as expected. If there were items with only one count instead of multiple items at once, then everyone would be forced to join. It was also up to the emcee to choose if they would select the entire group or allow the students to make the choice themselves.
For example, if a consolation lottery prize was 10 potion bottles, with one bottle per person, then there would be two methods to the lottery. One, the students who were interested would choose to take part and the emcee would draw 10 numbers from the pile; two, the emcee selects the entire student body and draws from everyone instead.
Depending on the situation, factors like quantity, quality and even rarity would make a difference in lottery method. This way, there was a higher chance of students getting what they wanted instead of a random student getting what they don't need. What this also meant was the fewer people wanted a specific item, the higher the chances of getting that item within the selected pool.
The way that people would cast their 'vote' to take part in a specific item lottery was simple. Since their number was already coordinated with their magical signature, all they had to do was input a certain amount of mana into their bracelets. The magic input would be read by the system automatically and the number of the students based on their bracelets would appear in the lottery pool. This was a simple and efficient way of making the lottery all the more interesting.
Following the explanation were the items available for the lottery. Much like an auction, they would start from the revealing of the lowest tier rewards all the way to the top one by one. With each reveal came the time to pick a specific winner. Everyone was allowed to repeatedly vote as many times as they wanted, so they could take part in all of the lotteries too.
With each reveal of the winners, the light orbs would float to spell out that specific number before dispersing yet again. The number of orbs in the room had increased to the thousands and floated all around, creating an even livelier atmosphere for the lottery sessions. Even teachers would be able to take part, but the priority would be given to the students of course. Those who had not registered their names during the morning or lost their number would have to either miss out on the chance to get chosen or somehow find a way to prove themselves if they wanted to take part.
The first few items were revealed over the next few minutes. From points to exchange for items to magic potions, most of them were pretty standard items to set the bar for the lottery itself. Naturally, the enthusiastic student body immediately casted their votes.
However, there was one problem that most people had considered. If they were allowed to cast their votes again and again, wouldn't that mean there was a higher chance of winning different types of awards? Since the number was going to be repeated in the pool again, it was likely they would be chosen for the lottery itself. If the school chose to not allow those students to not be able to vote after winning a prize, then that would deter everyone from voting early on as they would all want to aim for a higher prize.
To combat this problem, the students were not specifically told about the consequence of voting too many times. Should one student have won a prize beforehand and chose to vote again, the chances of their number showing up for the emcee to pick from would decrease by half. This meant that if a student had 25% chance to get chosen in the first round and won, his chances would decrease to 12.5%. Assuming the second round has the same number of students as the first, the student who won would participate in the second round with a 12.5% chance of winning only.
So, what would happen to that extra percentage of getting chosen? It would be too difficult to distribute it to the other participants since it would result in a too complicated system.
This was where the 'special' draw came in.
A special draw was essentially where the system chose a number outside of the participation pool using the percentage of chance that was not included. If the 12.5% chance was excluded from the pool, that chance would automatically fall to the rest of the student body who had not been chosen. If 96 out of 100 students chose not to participate in the second round of 4 people and 1 with 12.5% chance, that 12.5% chance would fall to 96 students. 96 out of 100 students would be 0.96 of the population, which would then be multiplied with the 12.5% chance being converted to 0.125, making the chances of the students outside of the pool to win still very insignificant.
This meant that even if the chance of being picked was excluded to the participants, the majority of chance would still belong to those originally in the pool since their chances of being picked were still 25% per 3 students, except for the 12.5% fourth person and the multiplied percentage outside of the pool.
The multiplier problem would easily continue like questions involving multiple people choosing second times in the pool itself or even questions with multiple selections in a row. With much work put into the system itself, the emcee would essentially be impartial throughout.
"Are you all not going to vote?" Kaze asked the group, seeing them simply watching the first few prizes being awarded to the other students.
"You can vote. We all already have the things that we need," Lunaria smiled at him. "It's alright. If you see anything you want later on, we will help to vote for you."
"B-But… that is too embarrassing…" Kaze muttered, looking down in shame as all of his friends gave him encouraging looks. "You are all always looking out so much for me…"
"Kaze, we all know that you are less fortunate than us, so we will be willing to help you no matter what," Yuuji patted his shoulders gently. "If you are really concerned about us treating you well, then remember to treat us back properly when you make it big in the future."
"You talk as if I will become so successful in the next few years," Kaze chuckled and gave Yuuji and quick hug. "Thank you everyone. Even though I don't know the contents of the lottery, I will rely on you all."
"No worries~ this is one of the benefits of saving our lives," Mitsui giggled, referring to the giant centipede battle. "You saved us, so this is our way of paying back."
"Oh right, that makes more sense," Yuuji laughed. "We still haven't really paid you back for saving us."
"Well, I don't have to pay for the house rent like you all do, so that's already returned. Also, Lunaria contributed half the effort and got severely injured," Kaze tried to change their minds. "Wouldn't it make sense to pay her back too?"
"They already did, in the form of being friends with my sisters while treating them kindly," Lunaria grinned, trying to make Kaze back into a corner. "So in that sense, we still haven't fully repaid you. Do you think our lives are worth mere rental fees? I'm disappointed you value us so little Kaze."
"Oh, Lunaria's putting on her negotiation mode," Sera laughed at Kaze over the little comedy drama that was happening. "Kaze, just give up. We have already accepted to bid for you if we even win. Besides, the chances of us actually winning something that we want is also low with how many students there are."
It was as Sera had said, winning the lottery itself was already a miracle. There were students from all 3 years, so they already had a lot of trouble with trying to win in the first place. Getting something that Kaze want was just a side quest.
Without much choice left, Kaze could only accept their kind gesture with an embarrassed look on his face.
Even more time went by with items being revealed. Coupons that allowed one to play most of the games in the festival for free, free meal at certain restaurants, discounted item coupons, decorative items, books. It was surprising to say that Albert somehow managed to win one of the items he wanted, which was a coupon to free alcohol at a certain bar in the city. It wasn't much, but it did make Albert grin throughout the rest of the lottery.
"Now, we will reveal the next item," the emcee announced after applauding for the last winner of the prize. "We are moving on to the intermediate category. This means that any items next shown would be worth much more and possibly even bigger in size."
At her words, the students began buzzing in excitement once more. It was likely that even more votes would be casted for each item here on out. Lunaria's group looked at each other for a silent confirmation and decided that they would help Kaze depending on the item itself along with their own wishes.
Another few rounds of lottery quickly resumed. Picking up the pace even more than the beginning, the students were voting a lot more frequently too. With prizes like training swords, a chair for working and even a travelling bag being revealed, it made people wonder what could possibly be in store for them for the higher-end items.
Somehow, Yuuji was able to make a win for one of those travelling bags. Deciding to give it to Kaze after seeing how Kaze travelled before with all of his belongings, Yuuji used up half of his winning chance already.
Other than that, Shoko won 1000 free exchange points, Mitsui a huge stuffed toy and Irene a low-end magic crystal for channelling magic. With all of them getting satisfied smiles, it did put a little pressure on Kaze for what prizes that would come next. He had zero confidence in luck-based events like these, as he believed more in hard work.
Moving on to the higher end of the spectrum, the prizes available were dwindling drastically with over half of the student body waiting to win a prize impatiently. Even though the school decided to award everyone 100 points for participating, it was never enough to satire their hunger for expensive prizes.
"Now… it's time for the top 5 prizes!" The emcee shouted enthusiastically throughout the hall. "There won't be anymore prizes better than what comes next, so place your bets! For our number 5 prize on the list, the lucky winner will be walking away with 3 high-end potions that will boost your magical output for an hour! Only 5 of these 3 potions are available, directly given to us by the guild of the city. With 5 lucky winners, let's start the lottery!!"
Instantly, the entire hall went into a frenzy. Swordsman, mage, archer, or any class a student was, no one would pass up a high-end potion. Since everyone was able to use magic in a fight other than Kaze, it would be dumb to not accept the free potion. With nearly everyone betting on it, Kaze passed on this one because he didn't find a reason for needing it. He hadn't even used a potion that boosted magic output before since it wouldn't impact his performance one bit, making it something worthless to bid on.
"Lunaria, you're not going to bid on it?" Rena asked Lunaria when she saw the dragonkin princess not emitting magic into her bracelet.
"Nope. I figured it is pointless for me after all," Lunaria giggled. "I would still be able to beat most people here even without the potion."
"That's a genius and a fighter for you," Chris laughed aloud at Lunaria's response. "I want it! Can you imagine how expensive one normally would be?!"
"Even us nobles are longing for them," Mitsui grinned, placing her bet even though her chances of getting one was now significantly lower after winning. "Yuuji, what about you?"
"Oh, you bet I'm betting," Yuuji chuckled. "Why wouldn't I? Father would be pleased."
Unfortunately for their group, neither of them won the sets of magical potions.
The next item was another high rarity item, a piece of crystal ore that could be used to forge on any piece of equipment or armour. Needless to say, there were only 3 of such pieces available for 3 students each, making it another highly requested item.
Once again, Kaze couldn't bid on it because he didn't have any armour to begin with. All he had was the one that the King gave him, so he didn't dare to temper with it. Even though he had the sword, it really wasn't something worth using the crystal on since Kaze didn't plan on holding on to it for very long until he found a new replacement.
Entering the top 3 most exquisite items of the lottery, the third-place price happened to be 20,000 points, something that made all the eyes of the students widen at the mere mention of the digit itself. With that many points, they wouldn't have to struggle to gain points as much anymore with how many points that was. Neither one of Lunaria's group, as usual.
As for the second-place prize, this one threw everyone in for a loop because it was something personally chosen by the King himself. It turned out the rumours were true after all, but that would mean the top prize and the secret prize were both something even better than what the King of the nation chose to put on a lottery.
It turned out to be a medal of sort that was specially crafted by the city's finest craftsmen who would usually serve directly under the King. For something of that quality, it would easily be worth 5 gold coins. For comparison, the typical annual salary of a noble was 20 gold coins. Even though it served no practical purpose other than for display, it still caught a lot of attention since it was something that could be kept as a fancy item.
This time, Lunaria chose to bid as well seeing that it would be a good souvenir. Kaze also bid, but only because he wanted to give it back to the King. It was a weird reason, but Kaze wanted to think of it as payment for the sword and armour. Even Kaze himself knew it was stupid, thus why he didn't dare mention it to his friends because he was pretty sure they would pummel him.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, the goblet was eventually taken away by the hands of another noble's child. As he left the stage while caressing the goblet with much glee, people began to speculate as to whether he would keep it or resell it at a pawn shop. Needless to say, some were even beginning to make bargains from the student to buy it off him.
"Finally, the moment we all have been waiting for, the first prize of the lucky draw. What would it be?" The emcee grinned, gesturing to the stage. "Everyone! Please put your hands together for… a flower!"
At her words, the entire student body went silent. They didn't understand what was so significant about a flower, causing them to feel confused, as if they were being pranked.
Four high-class adventurers from the guild showed up to the stage. Bringing along a small, secured case with magic locks on it, they set it on a small display table at the front of the stage and unlocked the case. What that was inside of it was an even smaller display box with a single flower inside of it. Since the students were considerably far away from the flower itself, they were unable to determine what it was.
"R-Rena, don't tell me…" Sera, who seemed to know what it was with her excellent eyesight, trembled as soon as the flower came into view.
"Yes, it is," Rena gulped and agreed with her elven friend. "I can't believe this is the top prize for a simple school lottery…"
"Students and teachers, what you see before you is the one and only… Phoenix Orchid," the emcee spoke with a solemn voice to convey that she wasn't joking.
At once, the entire student body went into a full frenzy. It was plain obvious that everyone knew what it was. Even the teachers were muttering among themselves with quite the excited look on their faces.
"A… Phoenix Orchid?" Kaze felt a little stumped. "What the heck is that?"
"Kaze… are you kidding me?" Irene groaned at his words, her excited state immediately changing to disbelief. "It is one of the rarest flowers in the entire nation."
"Not only is it extremely hard to find due to it blooming under very specific requirements, but it is also a very valuable item to have," Lunaria explained to Kaze, her hand shaking slightly from the pressure. "Not even the elves themselves are able to cultivate such a flower… I want it."
This was the first time throughout the entire auction that Kaze was able to see such a crazy glare in Lunaria's eyes. In fact, everyone around him had that same glare as they understood the true value of such a flower.
"We are very lucky to be presented with such an item for the Moon Festival. The Phoenix Flower is something that everyone knows of," The emcee proceeded with her explanation of the item. "However, most, if not, all of us have not seen one in person before. A single petal from the flower is able to make you dozens of gold coins. With extremely proper care and alchemy, you just might be able to extract the tiny bit of nectar it contains and brew it to form what we know as a 'pure' potion of your choice. I will not continue to explain because essentially every part of the flower has its use, so…. MAKE YOUR BIDS NOW~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!"
The entire hall exploded into the biggest mess it had been since the start of the festival. With every single student and teacher available placing their bets into the system, even Kaze couldn't handle the excitement of having such a unique item that he bid without hesitation. Lunaria, who was standing by his side this whole time, had unconsciously squeezed his hand tightly as though they were holding each other's hands from the very beginning.
"A-Ah, Lunaria, it's painful…" Kaze winced slightly at how hard she was squeezing his hand and complained, but the noise generated by the crowd was too much for Lunaria to hear him.
Once the bidding time was over, the system quickly began generating a number from within the hundreds of people available. There could only be one winner.
Watching the orbs starting to gather overhead made the entire hall silent. The tension that formed was so thick that not even a knife could cut through it, considering the current circumstance. There was no explanation made as to why the flower was there, how it was found and by who, but that didn't matter. All that everyone cared about right now was who the Phoenix Orchid was going to go to.
After a few long seconds of impatient waiting, the orbs finally spread apart to reveal the numbers of the lucky winner.
"The winner belongs to...!!!!!!!!... A, Are?"
The emcee's enthusiasm slowly died off as the orbs revealed themselves. Along with every person in the hall, they were staring in utter confusion at the numbers present above them.
There was not one set of numbers, but two that appeared.
It wasn't like one appeared after the other, but both simultaneously.
"A-Ahaha… um..." the emcee tried to remain calm and kept looking at the people behind the stage for further instructions. "P-Please wait for a moment, everyone."
With that, the emcee disappeared behind as well, leaving the crowd in a silent state of confusion.
"Do you think the system made an error?" Irene whispered to Chris, who was equally stumped.
"I-I don't think that is possible?" Chris slowly shook his head. "The school wouldn't be so lousy…"
"Well, this is certainly quite the surprise," Yuuji chuckled lightly and sighed. "Too bad both aren't my number."
"Same," Irene simply shrugged and looked around her. "Everyone is also lost."
"Yeah, it is the Phoenix Orchid we are talking about after all," Noel sighed as well. "It is a shame."
"Hm, we do have a winner among us though," Sera smiled mysteriously, attracting all of their attention instantly.
Pointing to the person in front of her, everyone turned their heads to see Lunaria standing in a complete daze. When looking at the number on her paper slip, it matched the exact first combination that was shown by the light orbs.
"L-Lunaria…" all of them shuddered, noticing how stunned Lunaria herself was that she actually won the first prize.
"… Who got the second one then?" Shoko asked, giving while giving her friend a tight hug. "I don't hear anyone from the crowd cheering or anything…"
"Because… that person is me," Kaze muttered from beside them.
At his words, all of his friends excluding Lunaria turned to him instead.
This was quite the unbelievable situation they were in. Both Lunaria and Kaze's number combination showed up at the same time.
"E-Everyone, may I have your attention?" The emcee quickly appeared on stage again, looking quite frazzled. "May I please invite the two winners to the back as well? We would like to have a discussion with the principal himself…"
By command, Kaze and Lunaria snapped out of their dazed mode upon being called. Looking nervously at each other before their friends, Lunaria was the first to start moving through the crowd. Since she still had her hand clamped to Kaze's, he got dragged behind her.
"H-Hey, look…"
"Lunaria-sama won…"
"She won…"
"Who is she with?"
"Oh… him…"
"Both of them won? I don't believe it…"
"What do you think happened?"
"I don't know…. Damn it…"
Murmurs came from all sides as the two walked past the crowd that parted like the red sea to form a small path for them. Even so, Kaze and Lunaria felt as though they were in a dream, something that was impossible actually happening.
Once they made it to the back of the stage, they could see the committee working behind all in a hushed discussion with a few teachers. From the side, the principal was seen hurriedly walking towards them too.
"S-Sir, the two winners," The emcee passed Kaze and Lunaria nervously to Aldwolf.
"Ah, thank you," Aldwolf panted lightly before taking a deep breath. "Alright, I just need one confirmation from the both of you: did you two cheat?"
The committee in discussion also stopped to listen to the principal questioning them, seeing that this would either help to clear the mystery or leave more unsolved questions. Seeing that they system itself never had any problem in the first place, they were also stupefied as to whether they should make another draw.
"No, sir," Lunaria shook her head. "I swear on my father's name."
"No… sir," Kaze gulped. "I don't have anyone to swear it on, but by the King's title."
At their words, the committee members groaned softly, knowing that this was definitely something the system had done by itself. There was no way the princess of a foreign nation along with a random student would work together to even be able to sabotage the system in the first place. Even from the looks on their faces alone, it was clear that they were being honest.
Aldwolf gave them a firm nod before retreating to the shadows to continue the discussion with the rest of the committee.
Kaze and Lunaria, now standing alone together, were able to take some time to digest the situation. Realizing the severity of what was happening, they couldn't help but wonder what would happen to them. For Lunaria, it essentially meant losing the flower; for Kaze, it could be losing the flower AND Lunaria.
For god knows how long they stood, the committee seemed to have made a decision at last. They stepped away and went back to work, leaving Aldwolf and the emcee to the two yet again.
"Listen, what we came up with is… it would be unfair to reroll the decision," Aldwolf calmly explained. "We are willing to pass on the Phoenix Orchid to the both of you to share, if that is fine. We understand the importance of the decision and the flower, so we must get confirmation from you two. I don't care if you are royalty or anyone else, it has to be mutual."
"…. Sir, we… I would like to accept the proposal," Lunaria was first to open her mouth. "I am fine with it because I trust Kaze would make the same decision too… Kaze?"
"… Yes sir," Kaze nodded lightly at this. "Lunaria and I would accept the Phoenix Orchid together."
"Excellent," both Aldwolf and the emcee breathed a sigh of relief at their words. "Come on now, you two have to step out together. Also, try not to go out while holding each other's hands so tightly. I won't judge what your relationship is, but it is probably best not to give the already confused crowd a worse idea."
Kaze and Lunaria slowly glanced to their side to realize how they had been holding their hands for so long, only to be mentioned by the principal himself. Blushing brightly, the two quickly let go of their hand and looked away, feeling the embarrassment catching up to them. The fact they were able to hold each other's hands all the way through the crowd of students… it was bound to cause rumours to spread, for sure.
The rest of the event was a blur. From heading to the stage to receiving the flower… all Lunaria and Kaze could think about was the decision and the handholding itself. Everything else was simply white noise.
Once the students had settled down and were allowed to release, only were Kaze and Lunaria let go. Since there was a chance that if the two could leave earlier when everyone was still around, it would make for a crazier situation than it already was. Kaze and Lunaria both had no idea of the chaos the decision caused due to them being unfocused the whole time they were on the stage. Thankfully, Lunaria had safely secured the flower in her dimension storage already.
- - - - -
"L-Lunaria…" Kaze muttered.
"Kaze…" Lunaria moaned back.
The two were walking together down the street together, heading back to their house. The roads were essentially empty, with only their silhouettes reflected by the lights from the nearby houses.
Even though they were already told what to do along with the outcome, they still acted like they couldn't believe it. Of all things they would win, it would be the most valuable item.
They didn't even care what the secret prize was.
After walking a little longer, they stopped to stare at each other in disbelief.
Finally, unable to contain it anymore, they… laughed.
Really hard.
The two made it back home eventually, only to be greeted by their friends with perplexed looks on their face because they were still laughing even when they had reached back to their house. Stumbling around like he was drunk, Kaze collapsed onto the porch while Lunaria had to support herself against the wall.
"…. You two…"
"Haih…"
"I don't even know what to say…"
Unexpectedly, the first day of the Moon Festival coming to an end on a stranger note than they would have expected. The group had their dinner and went to bed early to prepare for the events of the next day, which was only bound to continue getting weirder.