### Chapter 23
23 The Other Side of the Evil Scheme
The scene shifted back a little, to lunchtime.
While Leopin was enjoying a cheerful lunch surrounded by beautiful girls...
Vice Principal Yes-man had been summoned to the principal's office.
"Vice Principal! What is the meaning of this!?
This was supposed to be our school's very first event to select a student council president!
We even brought out the prized Wyvern Leather to make it dramatic...!
Yet it was so easily found by that garbage from the Special Development Class! Unbelievable!"
Principal Nekodran roared. The vice principal looked troubled and kept tapping his fingers together.
"Th-That is strange, zansu!
I definitely cast the disguise magic on the Wyvern Leather and mixed it in with the school flags!
While the magic was active, even a professional treasure hunter would have had trouble finding it!"
The principal slammed his fist down on the desk in front of him with a loud thud.
"That is the very proof of your failure!
Something that is difficult even for a professional treasure hunter could never be found by a jobless piece of garbage!
It is your mistake—the disguise magic was not cast on the leather!"
"Even so, that is strange, zansu!
The Wyvern Leather was hung high on the school building wall!
I made sure it could only be taken by a ninja or thief climbing up, or a magician using magic to pull it down!
There is no way a powerless jobless person could have taken it...!"
"Hmph, that is the same thing!
You did not attach it properly, so it must have been blown away by the wind or something!"
"Th-That can't be!? I am not the kind of person who makes such mistakes! I am different from that garbage!"
"Then how do you explain the mistake of calling the Wyvern Leather 'filthy'!?
That leather is a rare item given by one of our most influential sponsors!
Because you called it 'filthy,' they are furious!"
"Th-That was...! A misunderstanding, zansu! I said 'perfect item,' zansu!"
"Then you should have accepted the leather when that garbage offered it!
If you had, we could have settled everything without angering the sponsors!"
"If I had accepted it, it would mean acknowledging that garbage as student council president!
Principal, you understand, zansu! It is impossible for garbage from the Special Development Class to become student council president!"
"Hmph! Enough excuses!
As long as that garbage has the Wyvern Leather, our dignity is completely ruined!
We must find a way to take it back! Otherwise you will be demoted to acting vice principal!"
"Uuuh...!" The vice principal faltered.
However, the more cornered he was, the more his wicked mind worked, and he quickly came up with a brilliant idea.
"Th-Then how about this!?
We make that garbage destroy the Wyvern Leather himself!"
"Destroy such a valuable leather...!? What a foolish suggestion...!"
"That is the point, zansu! Then that garbage will be seen as someone who does not understand value, and he will earn the wrath of all the sponsors!"
"I... I see! That is an excellent plan!
The more that garbage draws the sponsors' resentment, the easier it will be for us to throw him away with a clear conscience!
...But how exactly will we do it?"
"Leave that to me, zansu!
Tricking that idiot is as easy as eating breakfast for me...!"
The principal and vice principal looked at each other and grinned wickedly.
""This time, we will make that garbage scream...! Heh heh heh...!""
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
However, it goes without saying that this evil scheme ended in complete failure.
Vice Principal Yes-man not only failed to take back the Wyvern Leather, but it was turned into a coat right in front of him.
Moreover, he ended up assisting Leopin's work by lending him the magic tools—an ultimate own goal.
The vice principal stormed out of the leatherworking classroom and rampaged down the hallway with strange screams.
"Kyaaah! Kyaaah! Kyaaaaaaaaah!
That garbage again! That garbage again! How infuriating, how infuriating, zansu!"
Along the hallway, busts of the principal and vice principal alternated.
The vice principal only knocked over the principal's busts.
Then the man himself appeared.
When he saw Principal Nekodran running down the hallway toward him, the vice principal hurriedly tried to cover it up.
"P-Principal, this is terrible, zansu! Leopin is an unbelievable delinquent student!
Just as you said, he really is a rotten egg!
Look, zansu, that garbage has destroyed the hallway like this!"
The vice principal naturally tried to pin the blame on Leopin.
However, the principal did not even glance at his own fallen bust.
"Never mind that, this is serious!
There has been an inquiry from the sponsors about the god items owned by Vice Principal Yes-man!"
"Eh? God items?"
"The ones you lent to Leopin-kun during the leatherworking class earlier!
I had no idea you possessed such ultra-rare items!"
"Eh, um, actually those are..."
Before he could say they were made-up, the principal snatched the needle and scissors that had been sticking out of the vice principal's breast pocket.
He then reverently held the perfectly ordinary needle and scissors as if they were gifts from the gods.
"Ohh, as expected of god items!
At first glance they look like normal needle and scissors, but the aura is completely different!"
"Um, Principal, those are actually..."
"Vice Principal! The Royal Museum has requested to display these for their 100th anniversary!
If it becomes known that a teacher at our school owns god items, your 'Teacher Rank' is guaranteed to go up!"
"Th-That would be bad, zansu! Those needle and scissors are..."
"Vice Principal! You are not seriously saying you cannot lend them to the Royal Museum after lending them to that garbage, are you!?
That would be an insult to the Royal Museum!"
...In the end, unable to tell the truth, the ordinary needle and scissors were taken away by the principal as god items.
The vice principal's stress only increased.
"Gugigigigi! This is all because of that garbage too, zansu!
At this rate, I will not be satisfied until I crush him completely!"
"What is the matter, Vice Principal? You seem quite worked up!"
The PE teacher Nickbacca called out to the rampaging vice principal in the hallway.
At that moment, a wicked black lightbulb lit up in the vice principal's head.
"Yes! Teacher Nickbacca! What will you be doing in the upcoming PE class, zansu?"
"Well, since it's the first day, I was thinking of combining it with orientation and having them run around the forest..."
"Nooo! Real combat instead, zansu! Today's PE will be unarmed fistfighting!
There is a delinquent student I would very much like you to give your passionate guidance to!
Please beat him to a pulp and straighten out his rotten personality, zansu!"
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
However, it goes without saying that this evil scheme also ended in complete failure.
And finally, divine punishment descended.
The needle and scissors sent to the Royal Museum were quickly identified as fakes by experts.
The vice principal instantly became known in the education world as the "Fake Educator."
Moreover, Nickbacca being knocked out by Leopin made things even worse.
The Pioneer Education Committee took the matter seriously and immediately issued an unusual statement.
"Not only do you have fake educators, but even a PE teacher who gets easily defeated by a student!
It seems the students at the Royal Pioneer Academy are of high quality, but the teachers are not!"
Just as students were ranked, teachers were also ranked by the Pioneer Education Committee.
"We have determined that a review of the rankings is necessary!
Therefore, the ranks of the principal, vice principal, and PE teacher of the Royal Pioneer Academy will each be demoted by one rank!"
Principal Nekodran: SS- → S+
Vice Principal Yes-man: A+ → A
Teacher Nickbacca: C+ → C
"Eh... Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!?!?"
When the head of the education committee delivered the news, Principal Nekodran, Vice Principal Yes-man, and Nickbacca all wore expressions as if the world had ended.
However, they still did not know.
As long as they treated Leopin as an enemy, this ending was only the very beginning.