Chapter 85: Love and Flowers
The corridors of the Evernight Academy rang with Rosen's frantic bellows.
"You little brats! Cease this at once! Who authorized you to use the inkwells as soccer balls?!"
Before the words could fully leave his mouth, an inkwell traced a perfect arc through the air, colliding with the center of Rosen's forehead with a wet splat. Deep indigo fluid cascaded down his hair and face, making him look like some sort of abyssal mabeast freshly crawled from the Great Cascade.
At the sight, a child pointed and shrieked in delight.
"Not good! Principal Rosen has turned into a monster! He's going to eat us! NIGERUNDAYO!"
The children scattered with peals of laughter, leaving behind several bewildered skeletons and a dripping, expressionless Rosen. He looked at a nearby skeleton who was staring at him blankly, let out a weary sigh, and began the long trek toward Lloyd's office. His eyes had completely lost their highlights.
"I believe... I require a sabbatical," Rosen muttered.
Lloyd didn't look surprised. He offered a few words of consolation while heading to the "crime scene." Looking at the wreckage of the corridor, he massaged his temples. His heart felt heavier than a mountain of lead.
Ever since the Great Purge began, the undead instructors had been drafted to the front lines. This had halved the Academy's faculty just as student enrollment spiked. Without the chilling presence of the Skeleton Mages, the children had completely reverted to their primal, chaotic natures.
Naturally, as the Principal and Vice-Principal, Lloyd and Rosen had become the children's favorite targets for mischief.
Lloyd clutched his hair in frustration. "We have to find a solution. If we don't, we'll be broken beyond repair before the teachers return."
Rosen wiped a smear of ink from his cheek and glanced out the window. "Perhaps... we should send them outside?"
Lloyd followed his gaze. The infrastructure of Iron Fortress was complete, but beyond the main thoroughfares and residential blocks, many areas remained barren—functional, but devoid of beauty.
Lloyd's eyes lit up. "You mean... a landscaping project?"
A master plan formed in an instant: something to vent the children's boundless energy, beautify the capital, and serve as a brilliant propaganda piece for the Evernight Empire's "People-First" policy.
"Come on! We're seeing Lord Greed immediately."
The Lord's Mansion, Greed's Office.
Greed was neck-deep in logistics reports regarding the military sweep. Lloyd and Rosen stood before his desk, speaking at breakneck speed as they outlined their planting initiative.
"And that is the proposal, Excellency!" Lloyd puffed out his chest, trying to look authoritative despite the circumstances.
"Excellency, it is for the sake of the environment! More importantly, it fosters 'Team Spirit' and 'Practical Capability' in the students!" Rosen added, nodding vigorously, still bearing the faint stains of the "Abyssal Monster" incident.
Greed paused his work and looked up. Strictly speaking, he considered these two humans his instructors in the ways of the world. He weighed the feasibility of the plan. A moment later, a thin smile touched his lips.
"Permission granted."
Just as the duo thought they had secured a free pass to slack off, Greed added:
"However, as this is an Academy event, there must be an evaluation. Upon completion, I expect a comprehensive analytical report. This includes planting protocols, projected survival rates, and the input-to-output resource ratio..."
The two men felt their souls wither under the mountain of bureaucratic requirements, but they took their orders and dejectedly withdrew.
The Next Day.
The announcement of Iron Fortress's first "Love and Flowers" festival spread across the territory like a wildfire.
Sunflower House.
Hans was currently reading a book of fairy tales to the children.
"...And then, the wicked Goblins dug a pitfall and captured the beautiful female Knight—"
SLAM!
Hans snapped the book shut, cursing inwardly. Who the hell gave me this 'bedtime story'? It's probably a Kararagi forbidden text!
Lily raised her hand innocently. "Hans-nii, why did the Goblins want to catch the Knight-oneesan? Did they want to play tag?"
Hans broke into a cold sweat. Just as he was about to invent a desperate lie, Miguel burst in holding a flyer.
"Hans! The Academy is organizing a tree-planting event! Can we go?!"
The children's attention shifted instantly.
"Hooray! No classes!"
"Trees! Trees!"
Hans let out a breath of pure relief, tossing the questionable book into a corner. "The Guild is closed today! We're going planting!"
"YAY!"
By the time Hans and the children arrived at the assembly point, it was a sea of humanity—and bone.
Stacks of saplings and sacks of flower seeds were piled in the plaza next to child-sized buckets and shovels. The students lined up to receive their tools. One Skeleton Soldier stared at the tiny, plastic-looking trowel in its massive, calcified hand, appearing to undergo an existential crisis.
Lloyd stood atop a temporary platform, holding a megaphone.
"Students! Parents! Welcome to the inaugural Love and Flowers Festival! Our objective is simple: To fill every corner of Iron Fortress with Love and Flowers! Now... I declare the festival OPEN! Move to your designated sectors! ACTION!"
The crowd of humans and skeletons exploded outward, charging toward their zones. Hans led his "Sunflower Unit" to their assigned plot.
"Alright, kids! Let's do this!" Hans clapped his hands. "Our motto is: Competition first! Friendship... a distant second!"
A short distance away, Lily was huffing and puffing as she dug a hole for a sapling taller than herself. Hans walked over to check her progress and froze. Lily had jammed the tree into the hole upside down, its roots pointing defiantly toward the heavens.
Hans massaged his forehead. "Lily... you planted it backward."
"But Hans-nii," Lily said with absolute innocence, pointing at the bare roots. "This way, the feet of the tree can see the sun first!"
Hans stared at her. Is she a genius? I literally cannot find a logical flaw in that sentiment.
Meanwhile, Miguel was trying to maintain order. He was directing two Skeleton Soldiers to water some freshly planted sprouts. "Right there! Be gentle! Even distribution, don't use too much—"
The skeletons didn't care for nuance. They hoisted their massive buckets and simply let go.
K-SPLASH—!
Two buckets of water, not a drop spared, slammed into a single tiny daisy. The poor flower, experiencing a level of hydraulic pressure it was never meant to endure at its age, was instantly washed into the next zip code. Only a small whirlpool remained where it once stood.
Miguel stood with his mouth open, staring at the skeletons. The two undead high-fived their bony hands, celebrating a "Mission Accomplished."
Over in Grog's sector, things were equally "special."
Grog wanted to display his professional expertise as an orchardist. He was explaining how to determine soil acidity to his children and a group of skeletal students.
"Look, you grab a handful of soil and touch it with your tongue. If it's astringent, it means—"
Before he could finish, three skeletons simultaneously knelt, grabbed handfuls of dirt, and shoved them into their jawbones.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
As they chewed, dirt leaked out of the gaps in their mandibles. After a thorough tasting, the three skeletons shook their heads at Grog in unison. They let out a "Gah," as if to say: Your teaching is flawed. This soil has no umami.
By mid-afternoon, the entirety of Iron Fortress had been transformed into a chaotic, joyous plantation. Lloyd and Rosen were running themselves ragged between sectors.
"Who mixed the fertilizer with flour and tried to bake it?! Stop! That is not edible!"
"You over there! Do not use your own ribs to measure the depth of the hole!"
"And you! Little boy! You are not allowed to ride on a skeleton's head and pretend you are a Dragon Rider!"
As the sun dipped toward the horizon, the first Love and Flowers Festival concluded with everyone in a state of total exhaustion.
Along the streets of Iron Fortress, rows of teetering, lopsided saplings and flowerbeds had appeared. If one looked closely, the flowers had been arranged into a very shaky, misshapen skull pattern. Everyone was covered in mud—the skeletons included.
Hans leaned against a tree he had personally straightened at least eight times. He looked at the mud-covered children of Sunflower House and offered a weary, genuine smile.
Lily ran up, brandishing an empty watering can. "Hans-nii! Did we win?! Are we number one?!"
"Of course!" Hans declared, hands on his hips. "The Sunflower House is always number one!"
In the distance, Kaito stood atop the city walls, overlooking the messy, vibrant land. Greed's shadow appeared behind him.
"Master, the evaluation results are in," Greed's voice was a flat line. "Based on planting standards and projected survival rates, the 'Sunflower Group' led by Hans... came in dead last."
Kaito's gaze lingered on the scene below. He watched the children chasing each other and the skeletons clumsily cleaning their tools. For a moment, he felt a flicker of something resembling joy.
"Tell Lloyd there will be no rankings for this event."
"Every participant is a victor."
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