Although the idea of the "Gate Card" had originally come about in order to lure out the "Invisible Man."
But whether it was Professor Kazel or Professor Silf, neither actually cared all that much about the existence of the "Invisible Man."
Especially after dealing with the major threat that was Vampire Vlad, the "Invisible Man" seemed even less important.
After all, at St. Marian's Academy, similar "hidden pieces" were actually not uncommon.
As long as they didn't cause too much trouble, the professors generally turned a blind eye.
To make such a big production of it now, if it was only for the sake of some trifling "Invisible Man," would inevitably feel like a bad deal.
So after Professor Kazel and Professor Silf put their heads together, they decided to formalize this Easter Dueling Festival!
And it just so happened that lately there had been a lack of morale-boosting events...
Professor Silf communicated with the Principal, both sides agreed, and so the matter was settled.
Next...
Posting advertisements, running newspaper ads, selling tickets, making eggs...
Everything was operated in the manner of a formal competition.
In short, the St. Marian Dueling Festival absolutely had to be built into a brand!
If it went well, it might well be held once every Easter from then on.
...
"Wait, making eggs?"
Dark keenly caught the key element in this and couldn't help interrupting Professor Kazel's explanation.
Professor Kazel gave a mysterious smile: "You know about Easter eggs?"
Dark: "Of course I do."
Professor Kazel twirled his wand like a pen and said, "Since it's the Easter Dueling Festival, we ought to make some souvenirs with a festive atmosphere, so..."
Dark hurriedly interrupted, "No, I mean, have you ever thought about selling the eggs?"
Professor Kazel was slightly puzzled, "The eggs are of course meant to be sold. Our academy's expenses are quite large, so we always have to find ways to maintain revenue."
Dark asked curiously, "Then how do you sell them?"
"How else would we sell them?" Professor Kazel spread his hands. "160 Saint Coins each, equivalent to 10 credits."
Dark shook his head, "Why not sell them for 188? It's only 28 Saint Coins more, and it'd make for a good omen. Besides, if you only sell the eggs as souvenirs, even if ten thousand people buy them, one each, that's only 1.88 million Saint Coins. How could that make any money?"
"How so?"
Professor Kazel was suddenly intrigued.
But Professor Silf suddenly cut in, "The eggs are just souvenirs; the bulk is in the tickets. Averaged across all tiers, ticket prices come to around 1,000 Saint Coins each.
Each branch arena can provide us with tens of millions of Saint Coins in ticket revenue. Even after deducting costs and expenses, it's still an enormous figure."
Dark glanced at her and shook his head again, "Making money on tickets and making money on the lottery aren't mutually exclusive. We just need to place a few limited-edition prizes inside the Easter eggs sold to the public, and we could easily double sales. Of course, those prizes would have to be attractive enough."
"Or, we could make a series. Turn popular Magic Guide Spirits into figurines and place them inside the eggs.
The more popular the Magic Guide Spirit, the smaller the quantity—artificially manufacturing rarity... If someone wants to draw the figurine they want, they'd have to buy far more eggs than necessary."
"In short, there are many such methods, you could even... ah!"
At this point, Dark suddenly stopped.
Because he suddenly realized that the money-making methods he was describing might not be all that useful to the academy.
After all, the academy wasn't short of money at all...
But Professor Silf, who had just cut in earlier, now showed keen interest: "Don't stop, go on."
Dark couldn't help smiling, then poured himself a cup of black tea and continued, "We could absolutely add some articulated figurines, similar to Magic Guide Chess pieces, among the models. Of course, this kind of figurine would have to be even fewer and rarer.
Most importantly, do the publicity well, so consumers know what they can draw from the eggs.
After this Easter, you could drop the Easter label and sell the eggs all year round without interruption. Trust me, the business opportunity here is enormous."
"So this exploits consumers' gambling mentality?" Professor Silf weighed.
Professor Kazel also said, "Artificially manufacturing rarity, thereby giving the scarce figurines added value. By then, even people who don't even like figurines would buy the eggs in order to draw a high-value figurine..."
Professor Silf suddenly blurted out, "This is way more reliable than betting."
Dark: "??"
"Ahem." Professor Silf quickly said, "This method of yours does have great feasibility. But how it actually turns out still needs to be backed by facts. This Easter Dueling Festival can serve as the perfect testing ground."
Dark said in surprise, "It's decided just like that?"
Professor Silf said casually, "People's desire to buy the eggs is evident every Easter. It's just that before you put forward a concrete proposal, no one had thought of it in such detail. I think it's feasible. Kazel, what about you?"
Professor Kazel nodded vigorously, "Highly feasible!"
"That's good then." Professor Silf said, "I think Cynthia would also approve of your proposal. If your proposal can truly generate revenue for the academy, the academy will give you the reward you deserve."
...
Seeing that the two professors were about to launch into a conversation centered on the "eggs," Dark hurriedly said, "By the way, Professors. What did you call me here for? It can't just be to make me drool over this Gate Card, can it?"
Professor Kazel said, "Of course not. Now that the competition is being formalized, it wouldn't do to put only the Gate Card inside the prize eggs.
And the grouping of years one to three, and years four to six, isn't quite appropriate either. We wanted to ask if you have any opinions?"
"Not appropriate? I think it's quite appropriate." Dark smiled with narrowed eyes.
Competing against third-years still gave him a chance.
But if he had to compete against fourth-years, wouldn't that just be asking for a beating?
He was still just a first-year newbie baby—he needed a beginner's protection period!
But Professor Kazel smiled, "You may have misunderstood me. I mean dividing it more finely—years one to two in one group, years three to four in one group, years five to six in one group. Splitting it neatly into three tiers: low, middle, and high. This way, for you it would also..."
"I think that won't work," Dark said. "Easter is only one day, so time is already tight as it is. Dividing the groups too finely would make the whole schedule overly cramped."
Professor Kazel nodded, "True."
Dark said, "We can set some conditions then, to reduce the number of participants. If only the top four get rewards, there shouldn't be many contestants. After all, it's Easter, and the Dueling Festival is only one part of it—we can't put the cart before the horse."
"Same as what we thought," Professor Silf said. "But what if the students, in a recreational mood, all want to participate?"
This was actually the point that troubled them.
Students' enthusiasm could not be stopped.
As professors, it wouldn't do for them to forcibly impose restrictions.
Dark thought for a moment, then said, "Then build them a platform to show off."
Professor Silf asked, "How so?"
Dark said, "Add a preliminary round that everyone can join—each Magic Guide Spirit you take down earns one point, and the first thirty-two people to reach ten points within half an hour advance to the main competition, that sort of thing..."
Professor Silf's expression shifted, "That's a good idea. As expected, your thinking is more expansive."
No, it's that your thinking is too narrow.
Dark secretly rolled his eyes. In fact, he could think of many more methods; this one was just relatively simple and easy to carry out.
And the academy actually didn't lack activities of this kind.
The Halloween event, for instance, was quite good.
It's just that it seemed to be an event created long ago, with little to do with this generation of professors.
To put it plainly, this generation of professors lacked experience in organizing events.
The on-campus activities of St. Marian's Academy hadn't changed in decades, and if the idea for the Easter Dueling Festival hadn't happened to be sparked by the "Gate Card" this time, there probably wouldn't have been any change at all.
But Professor Silf's ability to correctly recognize her own shortcomings—knowing to call in others when she couldn't solve something, rather than clinging stubbornly to her own views—was already excellent enough.
With this experience under their belts, they might be able to organize even more interesting on-campus activities afterward.
For example, that indispensable campus staple—a sports meet!
...
After helping the two professors answer more questions related to the Easter Dueling Festival, Dark finally left the office before the afternoon's History of Magic class began.
"Haah—"
He rubbed his empty stomach and let out a soft sigh.
...
After the details were finalized, St. Marian's capacity for action was still extremely powerful.
Just the very next day, on Friday, when Traveler Street opened again, a notice for the Easter Dueling Festival was posted on the announcement wall at the Castle's entrance.
The Dueling Club's president, Joe William, and vice president, Enia Knight, personally pasted the poster—hastily thrown together the previous night—onto the announcement wall.
William had smooth red hair and was tall and sturdily built; standing together with the equally tall, ponytailed girl Enia, they made quite a fitting pair.
But the two of them actually didn't get along very well.
William smoothed out a corner of the poster, looked at the White Dragon in its center that had indeed burst out of the paper's surface, and said apologetically, "I'll have to rely on you again this time, Classmate White Dragon."
Enia scratched her yellowish long hair and complained, "President William, this is false advertising. Pandora said she isn't planning to take part in this Dueling Festival."
William folded his arms and patiently explained, "Enia, this isn't called fraud, it's called promotion. Even if Classmate Dragon doesn't participate in the Dueling Festival, that doesn't change the fact that she's a student of our academy. And the prefix of this event is St. Marian, and only then the Easter Dueling Festival..."
Enia froze on the spot, and only after a long while said angrily, "President, if you keep being like this, you'll get beaten up after graduation."
William said leisurely, "It's fine. Once I'm out there, there won't be many people who can beat me."
"Forget it." Enia chose to give up. "President, do you think this Easter Dueling Festival will turn out well? And that... egg thing?"
William said again, "Enia, you must remember, the only project we're in charge of is the Dueling Festival. The figurine egg project is someone else's responsibility."
"Hey, can't I just be interested?" Enia said. "Do you think I have a chance of drawing a figurine of my Sweetie?"
William: "Is your Sweet-Sweetie a popular Magic Guide Spirit?"
Enia shook her head, a little dejected.
But William said, "If it's not popular, then you should be able to draw it. Of course, provided that it's produced at all."
...
The Dueling Club's president and vice president were actually walking signboards in themselves; just standing there was enough to attract people.
Once the two had pasted up the poster, students immediately turned toward them and saw it.
"Easter Dueling Festival—an unprecedented preliminary battle royale?"
"Easter eggs—the most beautiful White Dragon!"
"There's an extra event this Easter?"
"The winner's reward is a secret passage pass?"
"You can draw Magic Guide Spirit figurines out of the Easter eggs?"
"No way? Where can you buy them?"
The crowd swarmed over, and the chatter gradually grew.
Most weren't very interested in the secret passage pass; instead, the preliminary battle royale and the figurine eggs drew their attention more.
After that, within a very short time, news of the Easter Dueling Festival spread throughout the entire Castle.
Some even carried the news to Traveler Street.
The more astute merchants among them immediately realized the business opportunity, and before long someone proactively approached the academy to discuss on-campus distribution rights for the Easter figurine eggs—or outright contract manufacturing!
As for piracy and copycats...
They still wanted to keep their place on Traveler Street.
But this also served as a reminder to the academy staff in charge of this project.
To not forget, when producing the figurines, to print the academy's crest and a product serial number on the bottom.
Of course, all of this production work was carried out locally by the St. Marian dueling branch arenas.
This way, they could be put on sale immediately after production was complete.
Backed by Magic Guide technology, St. Marian's Academy's productivity was extremely astonishing.
And the promotion for figurines of certain popular Magic Guide Spirits had already quickly gotten underway.
...
On Monday morning, as Dark ate the breakfast brought by DemiDevimon and opened the newspaper, he discovered that news of the St. Marian Easter Dueling Festival had actually made the front-page headline of the Great Sage Daily!
The very next day, the pages of the Great Sage Daily were completely dominated by an illustrated guide of popular Magic Guide Spirits!
If even the Great Sage Daily was like this, let alone the other tabloids.
Perhaps at this moment, both inside and outside the kingdom—and even the nations of Demi-human Species such as elves and beastmen—had already been overrun by overwhelming advertisements.
Clearly, once the massive machine that was St. Marian's Academy began to operate, it truly could not be underestimated.
Although there was only a short half-month left until Easter, it seemed to be plenty enough time?
...
Under this influence—from the inside out, and then from the outside in—the interior of St. Marian's Academy also began to grow excited for Easter.
Originally, Easter, as a festival fixed on a Sunday, had no extra holiday and no special activities, and had never stirred up any waves.
But this year's Easter was clearly different.
The first-year boys, for instance, were especially interested in the Dueling Festival's preliminary battle royale.
...
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