The Student Council
The room was completely dark, lit only by the beam projector, forcing us to rely on its glow to make out faces. The first thing that caught my eye was a girl sitting alone in the corner with her eyes closed.
She had the small frame of a child, but I recognized her instantly.
Her name was Erien, right?
The girl who had attacked me without warning during the entrance exam. That was all I knew about her.
Her voice sounds familiar, though…
No matter how hard I searched my memories, I couldn’t recall anyone who looked like her. There had never been anyone named Erien either.
Still, I never expected to see her here.
I pulled my gaze away from Erien and scanned the rest of the room. Beatrice sat at the center of the long table like a commander, surrounded by several professors. The only students in the room were me, Elena, and Priya.
Erien… I still wasn’t sure if she counted as a student, so I’d hold off on that. Anyway.
I found a seat and settled in. Elena followed and sat to my left, while Priya took the spot on my right.
“Hmm, looks like everyone’s here.”
When Beatrice nodded, the door closed with a soft click. She tapped the magic tool in front of her with her index finger, and I immediately felt the room being enveloped by something.
Soundproof magic.
If they were going this far, it had to be something serious.
Once Erien took her seat across from us, Beatrice finally spoke.
Beatrice’s voice was solemn and serious, completely different from her usual playful tone. Honestly, I only had one guess. After all, there was no other reason she would summon the three of us.
At that moment, Priya, sitting on my right, poked my side repeatedly. She then signaled for me to lean in, clearly wanting to say something.
What now?
When I brought my ear closer, I could feel Priya’s light breath. It was a little creepy, but I didn’t show it. She whispered,
“Hey… why are we even here??”
“……They’ll tell us.”
“Ohhh!”
God, what an airhead. Still, she’s cute, so I’ll forgive her.
When I looked up, the beam projector was already displaying some documents.
The recent event held for the first-years… a demon appeared there.
Just as I thought. It was unusual for demons to act so openly. The real problem, however, was that the demon had appeared on land owned by the academy.
Tinesi Academy had multiple measures to prevent outsiders from entering. There were alarm spells and even barriers that could make entire areas invisible. Yet the demon had slipped through without leaving a single trace.
Which means…
…Therefore, we believe there is a spy inside the academy.
Of course. There was no way we wouldn’t suspect a spy. Even in the game, demons couldn’t infiltrate without leaving any trace. They would usually just ignore the alarms and barge in anyway. By the late game, the academy was basically destroyed, so the alarms became meaningless. But to infiltrate the academy at its peak without leaving a single trace? That was definitely the work of a spy.
But here was the real question.
“Then why were we called? You’re not suspecting us of being the spy, are you?”
There was no reason to drag the three of us into a briefing about a spy. We didn’t seem to be here as observers or witnesses either.
At my question, Beatrice paused for a moment before answering.
“Actually, Kiren, you were one of the prime suspects.”
“…Why? You’d better have a good answer.”
“Because you were too strong. Among all the students who have ever entered the academy, the only one who could even compare to you is the Sword Saint.”
Oh, was that a sign of respect? In that case, I’d accept it. I quickly dropped the glare I’d been giving her.
Still, that didn’t really answer anything.
“So why exactly did you call me here?”
“I have a proposal for you.”
Ah, she was back to her usual casual tone. Beatrice handed me a sheet of paper she had prepared in advance.
“What is it, what is it? I wanna see too!”
“Let me see it too.”
Since there was only one copy, both Priya and Elena pressed in close. I felt soft, golden warmth against both arms.
Don’t these two have any sense of shame?
This was driving me crazy. Thankfully, my iron will kept things from getting awkward. I turned my attention back to the paper.
“The Student Council?”
Did Tinesi Academy even have a student council? I searched my memories, but nothing came up. Of course it didn’t—there had never been one. All events and activities were handled directly by the professors, and they did an excellent job of it.
So why create a student council all of a sudden?
Wait a second. Could it be…?
“I see. So that’s what this is about.”
“Huh? What, what? What is it?”
“You believe the spy is among the students rather than the professors. Correct?”
Beatrice looked surprised for a moment, then shook her head with a small smile.
“Really… there’s nothing I can hide from you. That’s right. There is no spy among the professors. Absolutely none.”
“Absolutely?”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
The fact that Beatrice was this certain meant she had already taken measures to confirm it. If the professors weren’t suspects, then the conclusion was obvious—the spy had to be a student.
Now I understood why she had given us this paper.
“So this is it. Establish the Student Council and use its activities as a cover to investigate the students and find the hidden spy. Right?”
Beatrice nodded.
“Exactly. And I believe you three are perfect for the job. Above all, you’ve fought a demon directly and even killed it.”
“Understood.”
From what Beatrice said, it seemed we had been completely cleared of suspicion.
…But.
“Is she joining the Student Council too?”
I pointed at Erien, who was sitting across from us. She was clutching a small sword tightly to her chest, staring at us.
“Yes, she’s included as well.”
“Why?”
“She has also killed a demon before. Besides, the student council president must be a second-year according to the school rules.”
She had killed a demon? Actually, now that I thought about it, that wasn’t all that surprising. The story turned into a dark fantasy apocalypse in the later stages. A second-year could definitely handle a lesser demon. Yeah.
“When she was five.”
“….”
Okay, that one was actually scary. She had killed a demon at five years old, not even as a second-year?
Stay calm. I couldn’t show any surprise here.
“Hmm, that’s quite impressive. Not as much as me, of course.”
Perfect. I stayed in character.
Anyway.
“So that’s why you assigned Priya as my watcher. To check whether I was on the demons’ side or not.”
No wonder they’d put a watcher on me. Beatrice looked genuinely shocked.
“To think you’d figure that out too…”
No, Priya was the one who told me. But I kept that to myself. Priya was too busy stuffing the snacks from the table into her pockets to even hear our conversation.
As long as I stay quiet, it’s fine.
Anyway.
“Well, that’s all I had to say. If you have any questions, come find me in the principal’s office. I’ll take care of your classes for you.”
“Thanks for your hard work.”
Beatrice left the room, leaving the five of us behind.
…Five?
Priya, Elena, Erien, and me. The fifth person was…
A face I had never seen before had joined us. A young professor with short brown hair who looked exactly like the school nurse I had a crush on in high school. The name tag on her left chest read Catherine.
Catherine had been sitting with perfect posture, looking extremely nervous. When she noticed my gaze, she jumped up in a panic.
“U-um… I-I’ll be the advisor for the Student Council… My name is Catherine……”
If someone walked in right now, they’d think we’d forced her to introduce herself naked. Her entire face was bright red. She was hiding behind the student council document like a shield.
Is this combination really going to be okay?
A super shy professor, a wind-blade one-trick mage, an airheaded tank, the current strongest fighter (me), and the mysterious girl Erien. It was certainly full of personality, but something felt… off.
At that moment, Erien—who hadn’t said a single word until now—stood up. She crawled across the table on all fours like a cat and sat down right in front of me.
“Do you have some business with me?”
“Of course I do. Did you already forget?”
Erien suddenly grabbed my right hand. I was startled by her sudden action, but her target wasn’t my hand. It was the ring on my finger.
“You got a weapon.”
Her words brought back the memory from the entrance exam. What she had said to me right before I left the testing ground.
When you get a proper weapon, we’ll have a real duel. Both of us giving it our all. No holding back.
So that’s what she meant. She wanted to duel again?
What the hell did I do in my past life to make every girl I meet want to duel me?
Still, I had no intention of refusing. I was curious about Erien’s full strength too.
“Very well! I accept your challenge!”
I was about to stand up and head to the training ground when—
“Wait!”
Elena grabbed my arm.
“…What is it?”
“Kiren still hasn’t fully recovered yet. Look!”
Elena lifted up my uniform shirt. The bandages wrapped around my abdomen were visible. I didn’t have any actual wounds from the fight with the demon, but there was still some pain, so I had wrapped them as a precaution.
But Erien simply said,
“That looks like a perfect handicap. No problem.”
I want to duel! Silver-haired, blue-eyed girl! I had no idea how strong she was. Just sparring with her felt like it would skyrocket my stats. I could feel it.
I tried to shake Elena off and head to the training ground, but—
“No.”
This time it was Erien who stopped me.
“We promised. No holding back. Full power. But in that state, it’s impossible. We’ll do it next time.”
Having unilaterally declared her decision, Erien left the room.
“E-Erien! Wait for meee……”
Catherine hurried after her.
Are you kidding me?
I said I’m fine!
The person in question says he’s okay! Why won’t you duel me?! What are you, my mom? I even set up the perfect duel conditions! Why can’t we duel!!!
But since I couldn’t show my frustration outwardly, I kept it all inside.
“Kiren!! Then duel me instead!!”
Priya immediately tried to take the opportunity, but when I poked her soft side, she made a weird “hwek” sound and collapsed to the floor.
“If you want to duel, ask me again after I’m fully healed.”
“Uuuu… but I’m fine……”
After glancing at Priya sprawled on the floor, I left the room with Elena.
Well, there was nothing else to do. Might as well head back to the classroom.
Or so I thought.
“U-um, Kiren!”
“What?”
Elena grabbed my right arm again. Then she said,
“Instead of the classroom… do you want to go to the infirmary?”
“…The infirmary?”
“I-it’s not that I really want to go or anything! I’ve just been studying medical arts lately!”
Elena spoke with both hands on her hips, her face slightly flushed. It was obviously a lie.
Should I play along for now?
I was curious what she was planning to do once she got me to the infirmary.