Chapter 168: Clown Union Club 15
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 168: Clown Union Club 15
There were dozens of clubs at Croa Academy.
For high-ranking nobles, it was easy to leverage family connections before even stepping foot in the Academy to find out which clubs existed, which were the most prestigious, and who was enrolled in them.
However, for lower-ranking nobles—and especially for commoners—simply getting into Croa Academy was a monumental struggle. They had no way of knowing what their extracurricular options were.
To accommodate those with fewer connections, the Academy would post a comprehensive list of every club on a massive bulletin board once the recruitment period began. This board was a lifeline for students, allowing them to see which organizations existed and who their members were, making the selection process much easier.
There were only three days left until the deadline.
Most first-year students had already joined a club, and even those who hadn't were usually narrowing down their final choices. Since the freshmen already had a general grasp of the available options, they usually only stopped by the board to check the school newspaper or official notices. Under normal circumstances, the board wasn't particularly crowded because of the clubs themselves.
At least, that was the case until yesterday.
* * *
On the way to class.
As Lucas walked toward the Special Class building, a voice called out to him.
"Good morning, Your Highness."
"Oh, right. Good morning, Jimina."
The student blushed, looking thrilled just because Lucas remembered her name.
No matter how much the Academy emphasized the principle of equality, few people actually felt comfortable speaking casually to Lucas, the Crown Prince of the Empire. To commoners, the Crown Prince was a distant, legendary figure they might never even see in their entire lives.
Most nobles had been summoned by their fathers, the heads of their respective houses, before entering the Academy and given a stern warning: 'I won't ask you to become close with His Highness, but for the love of God, just don't get on his bad side.'
The Special Class students had also been wary of Lucas at first, but they spoke comfortably to him now for two main reasons.
The first reason, ironically enough, was Loki.
Watching the way Loki spoke to Lucas, the other Special Class students couldn't help but think, 'Compared to that guy, speaking informally is nothing.'
The second reason was Professor Elicia.
When facing Elicia in combat, everyone in the Special Class shared the same realization.
Protect Lucas because he was the Crown Prince?
There was no such thing. If you wasted a single second worrying about his status, Elicia would beat you to a pulp. If Lucas were a mage, it might have been different, but since he wielded a spear, he was simply "Front-liner Number 1."
The people the Special Class students actually prioritized during combat weren't the Crown Prince, but the mage Clara and the sorcerer Frederick.
‘Still, I feel like they treated me with at least some respect in the beginning.’
When they first started training under Professor Elicia, everyone except Loki had been somewhat mindful of Lucas’s status, but that had long since vanished.
‘Ugh! He’s getting in the way! Loki, hurry up and move this!’
‘Argh! Lucas, if you’re going to pass out, at least do it against a wall! Why did you have to collapse right in the middle of the battlefield?’
‘....I... haven't passed out... yet...’
‘What does that matter? You can't fight anyway. Just hurry up and lose consciousness so you can wake up and fight again!’
‘Now, now, Brother Lucas. God says do not faint, but stand tall.’
‘I literally just lost consciousness...’
‘It wasn't me who said it, it was God.’
* * *
‘Get up, you pushover! Everyone else is down, you’re the only front-liner left!’
‘What? I can't hold out much longer either! Lucas was the first to go down, so just wake him up!’
‘Do you think the Professor is going to wait for us to wake him?’
‘Do you think that wicked Professor would wait? Just use spirit magic and dump cold water on his head. Ah! Wait, Professor! I think your attacks suddenly got stronger—that’s just my imagination, right?’
‘Uh... he is the Crown Prince, though. Is it really okay to wake him up by splashing water on his face?’
‘If I go down too, there’s no one left to protect Frederick! Then we’ll have to face the Professor without her being cursed for the rest of the session!’
‘Splashing him now.’
Though it was the first time in his life he’d been treated with such blatant disregard, Lucas actually enjoyed his current life. It wasn't that he had some strange fetish for being insulted; he simply knew he had grown more in his time at the Academy than in all his years at the palace.
‘What?! The Clown’s club registration failed because of the name? Aren't you the Crown Prince? What were you doing instead of helping him?’
‘Hey! Those are the Academy rules! What do you want me to do about it?!’
‘Are rules more important? If the Clown is sad today and struggles during our session, are you going to take responsibility? Do you want to go another night without sleep?’
Recalling the conversation he’d had with Yerika at the Imperial Palace after school yesterday, Lucas realized once again that the hypothesis that Sacred Power is proportional to a person's character was utterly false.
‘That Minotaur-like woman. One of these days, I’m definitely going to expose your true nature to Loki.’
As he walked through the campus, returning the greetings of students and professors alike, Lucas noticed a massive crowd gathered around the bulletin board.
‘Is something going on?’
People occasionally gathered at the board for major announcements or the latest edition of the school newspaper. Back at the start of the term, when Loki had dueled Rophri, a huge crowd had gathered to read the news.
“......................”
Curious about what was drawing the crowd, Lucas approached the board, only to realize that the human body truly freezes when it receives a massive shock.
At first, he tried to look where the official notices or the Newspaper Club’s articles were, but his eyes instinctively sought out the greatest source of chaos. They drifted toward the club list, and he saw it.
[ A Clown-created Union of members who strategize to catch Professor Elicia, make Frederick exercise, and occasionally raid dungeons to find artifacts Club ]
Ah...
“What the hell kind of club is that?”
“Uh... it says it’s a 'Clown-created Union of members who strategize to catch Professor Elicia, make Frederick exercise, and occasionally raid dungeons to find artifacts Club'?”
“I’m not an idiot. I can read. But is a club name like that even allowed?”
“How should I know? No one’s ever made a club like that before.”
“But if it’s on the board, doesn't that mean it got official permission from the Student Council and the Academy?”
“The Student Council and the Academy allowed that? The Academy is doomed.”
“Wait, if you look closely, some of the words are a different color and font.”
“Oh! You’re right. Let’s see. Clown... Union... Club?”
“Clown Union Club? Is it some kind of code?”
Lucas had already half-lost his mind the moment he saw that violent club name.
‘I... I joined that club?’
Lucas wiped his face with his hand, his palm trembling. Suddenly, he remembered what Loki had said during lunch yesterday.
‘Don't worry. I’m going to give it the most clear and descriptive name in the Academy.’
Lucas had felt a sense of dread from Loki’s aura back then, but since Loki said he’d secured permission from the Student Council, Lucas had assumed he’d chosen something... sane.
While this situation was a tragedy for Lucas, who was a member of that club... for the students who weren't in it, it was pure comedy.
“This is ridiculous. Hey, who the hell made this club?”
“Hold on. There are too many people, I can't see the details.”
The students gathered at the board stood on their tiptoes, pressing closer to see who the madman was who created such a headache-inducing club—and who the fools were that actually joined it.
Unfortunately, from where Lucas was standing, the information section was perfectly visible.
[Club Name – A Clown-created Union of members who strategize to catch Professor Elicia, make Frederick exercise, and occasionally raid dungeons to find artifacts Club]
[President – Loki]
[Members – Lucas Leonhart, Kuran Isar, Ren, Frederick Nicholas.]
“Isn't Loki the Emperor’s disciple?”
“Wow, I thought he was weird ever since he started wearing that mask, but he’s a real riot.”
“Wait... why is the Crown Prince in there...?”
“Hey, don't joke around. There’s no way His Highness would join such a weird cl— wait. It’s really him.”
* * *
“Loki!”
The Special Class students nodded in grim understanding as Lucas burst into the room, shouting Loki’s name at the top of his lungs.
‘He saw it. He definitely saw it.’
How could they not understand that feeling? They had felt the exact same way. Every student in the Special Class had been forced to see that club name on the bulletin board on their way to school. Every single one of them had entered the classroom looking for Loki.
However, Loki was always the last to arrive, so he was nowhere to be seen.
Just by virtue of being in the same class as Loki, the Special Class students had drawn all the unwanted attention on their way in. Even students who hadn't joined the club, like Gashurin and Clara, felt second-hand embarrassment.
In particular, Lucas, Kuran, Frederick, and Ren—the official members—vowed to give Loki a piece of their minds the moment he showed up. Frederick, specifically, had nearly fainted when he saw his own name included in the actual club name.
Slam!
When the door to the Special Class was thrown open with enough force to nearly break the hinges, the students prepared to demand an explanation, assuming it was Loki. But the person who burst in wasn't him.
"Where is Student Loki?! I can somehow wrap my head around 'Clown Union Club,' but this is just too much! I cannot be the advisor for this! No, I won't do it!"
It was Professor Idra, the faculty advisor for the [A Clown-created Union of members who strategize to catch Professor Elicia, make Frederick exercise, and occasionally raid dungeons to find artifacts Club].