Huh?
Why is that man on the stage with the rest of them?
Yoel had many questions seep into his mind, after witnessing that strange turn of events.
The men and women on each side of the vice principal's side all formed a shoulder-to-shoulder formation on him.
Along with the man who was looking over Yoel's aptitude test earlier today.
However, there had been barely any time for Yoel to contemplate what he had just seen.
As the vice principal's announcement had just begun.
The tone that he had addressed the students with was quite different, in contrast to his earlier announcement, before the exams had begun.
This time, his mystical abilities had been on full display once again, but he had chosen to showcase a way more sinister side of his enigma this time around.
The temperature of the auditorium suddenly shifted. The incredible warmth Yoel had felt from the many humans gathered in one place was extinguished in an instant.
Chasing away the mundane warmth, was a mystical cold. A cold so frightening that it had every student in the auditorium on edge.
This time around, Yoel did not dare use his Shadow Sight, even if the point of origin was himself…
He felt that if he did, something terrible would happen.
As if waiting for a cue, the vice principal remained silent for a few minutes.
He had been waiting for each and every student to turn their attention to him.
That was right. This cold… this sensation. This feeling.
It was as if the vice principal was not a vice principal right now, and the students were not simply students.
It was as if a king was addressing his troops.
And then, a deep sigh escaped his mouth, audible enough to reach even Yoel's ears, who was located in the back of the auditorium.
"Examinees– or rather, now students of Lannister Academy. I have a lot of things to share with you about today."
A small pause followed the man's words. The people beside him remained unmoving. Almost like statues.
"Our exams, which we host each and every year… did not go as planned. I believe that many of you have realized that the difficulty of the exams was impossibly high."
"First and foremost, once someone suffered great damage, they would be automatically transported outside of the dungeon, to safety."
Another pause took place, this one even longer. A nervous feeling had welled up within Yoel's heart.
He already had a slight assumption about the man's next words.
"For this exam, this was not the case, unfortunately. Someone managed to get past our defensive systems and had successfully altered the number of years you'd be sent in the past in."
"In short, this means that the monsters you faced were extraordinarily strong. The monsters you were supposed to face were only a shadow of the ones you fought."
A silent understanding spread amongst the crowd like fire.
"We were unable to retrieve you from the dungeon. We could only watch as you desperately fought against those abominations, and died by their hands. Got injured by them.."
"It is also one of the reasons why you now wear those uniforms. Your achievement of simply surviving that hellish situation is more than enough to grant you a spot in our academy. After all, this year's freshmen are significantly less in number."
A solemn mood reigned over the auditorium. The now freshmen students needed time to process the situation. They had missed death by a hair's breadth.
Some had taken it more lightly, evidently prepared for the worst happening. Others… shook uncontrollably, reliving the harrowing memories of the past, within that hellish jungle.
The jungle really had stuck true to its name.
"This means more than your early entrance ceremony, however. This infiltration to our system was not on coincidence, or some random cyber attack. And this brings me to my next point, my students."
"This attack is merely the beginning. We have gotten many reports of villages on the outer border of the continent witnessing strange phenomena."
"And as we are right now, we do not possess the force required to truly go against this mysterious force."
After that insane drop of a bomb, the very air inside the auditorium seemed to freeze in place.
Many hearts began to beat rapidly, and many held their breaths.
This had all been orchestrated.
For the first time since coming here, the young men and women had felt vulnerable.
The academy they once thought to be impregnable, was indeed not impregnable.
It was something that was waiting to happen, but the fact that it happened so soon made each of them deeply concerned.
Without much to say, many students looked around for affirmation.
Affirmation that they were not the only ones going through some kind of emotional battle.
And indeed, most of the students had their gazes glued to the ground.
It was a nigh-impossible thing to grasp, but the students of this prestigious academy were not strangers to such things.
In fact, many of them had already made similar theories about what had happened.
Without a doubt, some may have predicted such an outcome.
Yoel himself had been thinking the same.
He had let it drift to the back of his mind during the time he was inside that dungeon, but now that he had been outside, the thought assaulted him often.
It seems that his thoughts weren't for nothing, after all.
"And so, as a community, we believe that we should not keep this hidden from you. This announcement today, apart from informing you about your acceptance into our academy– is to also inform you of the potential dangers you will face here, in this academy."
"Whoever wishes to leave right now, you may do so. Your memories of this place and how to use your enigma will be erased for your own sake. Whoever wishes to stay despite the consequences they may face in doing so later on, I welcome you to Lannister Academy."
Is this what that devil was speaking about when he said the path to reclaiming my lost memories would be a thorny one?
It seems that he knows more than he lets on.
I mean, of course, he does. He's a Devil for The Ones' Above sake.
With the vice principal's insane revelations and announcement, a few students who lived through the dungeon incident reluctantly stood and left the auditorium.
While a few students from the higher years also took their leave, albeit reluctantly.
Surprisingly, a huge number of them remained in the auditorium.
Of course, Yoel was amongst them. After he decided to become a contractor, he sealed his fate.
He was not sure if his former companions had stayed as well.
The vice principal's face contorted, the changes on it barely visible.
But whoever could see it knew that the man had resolved himself to stand tall, no matter the outcome of this announcement.
"I see many of you have chosen to stand with Lannister Academy. I hope you all understand that hardship and dark times await us all."
But then, his tone grew louder, fiercer.
"But, you shall not be unprepared. We will do all we can to prepare you, and ourselves for the future. For this exact reason, I have brought the men and women that stand behind me. Each one a master of their own art, they shall spend their years teaching you to their utmost ability."
So, those people really were professors, huh?
The group of professors that stood on each side of the vice principal seemed extremely different, as opposed to how they had been before the announcement.
Insurmountable power nestled deep within their eyes, their statue-like formation, which had not moved even an inch since the vice principal's announcement started proof of their well-trained discipline.
Another sigh, this one filled with relief, escaped the vice principal's tired lips.
"That was only the first part of my announcement. The ones who left simply aren't meant to hear this."
This time, no pause took place. Leaving many students stumbling for words at the sentence that came next.
"Lannister Academy, along with the rest of the academies that teach people of the mystical and supernatural abilities of us humans, the Enigma, have come together to reveal the existence of such power to the rest of the world."
"We believe that it will be inevitable for the world to learn of something such as this, because we anticipate that the enemy this time around is not targeting just our academy, but the entire world instead."
Once again, the all-familiar silence washed over the crowd like a tidal wave once again.
They themselves learned about enigmas and avon not too long ago, and now they want to reveal this to the entire world?
This will not produce positive responses.
Yoel was confused at the academies' decision to reveal the mystical abilities of awakened humans to the world.
But alas, perhaps they had bigger plans in mind.
After all, he was sure that the academy was still keeping many things hidden from them, but Yoel honestly did not mind.
What they had revealed was already enough. He was sure that any more than this and a genuine panic would take place in the auditorium.
Yoel couldn't help but feel an unexplainable feeling well up from his heart.
This is… an interesting turn of events, Lannister Academy.