Student Council (6): The Confession Gambit
I couldn’t help but stare in bewilderment at Elza, who had suddenly disguised herself as a demon. Why on earth would she transform into something like that? Was this part of the demon training?
“I am a demon. I am not the student council president.”
She answered my question in an incredibly awkward voice. Risa tilted her head at the response.
“Huh? But that’s clearly the student council president’s voice, isn’t it?”
“It’s a misunders—”
“It’s obviously the student council president.”
Risa cut Elza off mid-sentence and pressed her. Of course, she was simply stating the truth from her point of view, but Elza couldn’t hide her embarrassment.
“Ugh.”
Finally unable to endure it any longer, she pulled off the demon mask. The moment it came free, Elza looked straight at me and asked,
“How exactly did you know?”
“I’m not sure how it appears to others, but even if you layer magic power over it, the president’s unique magical signature cannot be concealed.”
That made perfect sense. The mask was constructed from magic power, so it would normally look like a demon without raising suspicion. But from my perspective as someone pretending to be blind, it must have appeared completely different.
This means the whole disguise was pointless.
She grumbled inwardly and tossed the mask onto the floor. Just as she opened her mouth to speak again—
Whoosh!
A sharp sound of air being sliced came from directly behind her. Elza ducked her head in a panic.
“Tch!”
The next instant, Luden’s sword swept through empty space. It was the flat of the blade, but it would have been a clean hit. She had clearly been waiting for a moment of carelessness.
Whoosh!
Without pause, Luden brought her sword down again. Elza drew her own blade in a flash and blocked the strike with ease.
Clang!
“Ugh!”
Luden’s arm trembled as she gritted her teeth. Elza looked at her and spoke calmly.
“The surprise attack was good, but you revealed too much killing intent.”
With those words, she gently redirected the blade. Luden’s sword slammed harmlessly into the ground.
“Huh?”
“Please step back.”
Elza kicked Luden squarely in the abdomen.
Thud!
Luden flew backward from the blow, but she didn’t travel nearly as far as expected.
Did she block it?
The moment that thought formed, a bundle of black flames descended from above like a meteor.
Elza narrowed her eyes.
The magic power is even denser than yesterday.
In just one day, her power had grown noticeably stronger. Wondering what was happening, she swung her sword horizontally.
Boom!
The black flames vanished completely. But in the same instant—
Humm.
Flames erupted from the ground beneath her feet. Caught off guard by the unexpected ambush, she flinched. As she prepared to counterattack—
It’s an illusion after all.
Just as I suspected, the flames were one of Lillia’s illusions. The pain that spread across her body felt remarkably real, but compared to the horrors she had experienced on the battlefield, it was nothing.
Elza ignored the illusion entirely and charged straight at Lillia.
“?!”
Lillia’s eyes widened in shock. No one would have expected her to shrug off the pain so easily, illusion or not. Just before Elza’s sword could reach her—
Clang!
A barrier of holy power materialized, stopping the blade by a hair’s breadth.
The saint’s power has grown stronger too.
How could they all improve so dramatically in a single day? As that question crossed her mind—
A chill ran down her spine.
She had almost never felt this kind of instinctive dread before. The only times she had were on the battlefield, but there were no demons here.
What is this?
She shifted her gaze immediately. There I stood, radiating an overwhelming amount of magic power. The moment she saw me, she understood.
I was going to settle everything right here.
That’s definitely the technique he used during our last spar, isn’t it?
She had only seen it through a screen, so she didn’t know the exact mechanics, but it was clearly a trump card. And since I hadn’t used it yesterday, it must have some kind of cooldown.
Then there’s no reason to face it head-on.
The moment she finished organizing her thoughts and moved to act, I suddenly thrust my arm into the air and clenched my fist.
Twitch!
Her body froze in place. It was as if time itself had stopped; she couldn’t move a muscle.
What in the world…?
As confusion flooded her, I shouted urgently.
“Please attack us fairly right now!”
The instant the words left my mouth, my entire party charged toward her. At this rate, a clean hit was guaranteed.
I was trying not to use magic power.
I had to admit it. If she didn’t take my companions seriously, she might actually lose. With no other choice, she released her full power.
Whoosh!
Blue magic power exploded from her body. Her previously frozen form slowly began to move again.
Still slower than usual, though.
Thinking that, she kicked off the ground.
Boom!
The shockwave from her movement sent every incoming attack slamming into the innocent earth instead. While everyone searched for her after she vanished—
Whoosh!
I was the only one who could keep up with her speed. I fired an arrow without hesitation.
“?!”
Elza deflected the arrow heading straight for her.
Tingle.
Her palm felt like it was about to split open from the impact alone. Even so, I could only click my tongue inwardly. I had thought the timing was perfect, yet she had still blocked it.
Even with Possession and doping active, she was stopping every single attack. I already knew she was a monster, but this was beyond imagination.
Space Arrow and Time Arrow don’t work either.
Her magic power was simply too vast. Those two techniques were completely ineffective. Using my incomplete first awakening skill wasn’t an option either.
That would just kill her.
For now, I would try everything I could. If none of it worked, only the final resort would remain. With that decision made, I continued my assault.
Elza continued to block every attack my party threw at her. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead as she took shallow breaths.
“Phew… You really came thoroughly prepared.”
She slowly scanned our group. The female members panted heavily as they stared at her. This fight should have ended long ago, but my support from the rear kept their attacks from landing cleanly.
On top of that, that phoenix was incredibly annoying. No matter how many times she cut it down, it regenerated endlessly. I had heard it was a legendary creature, but I never imagined it would be this troublesome.
Still…
The end was finally in sight. The battle I thought might never finish was about to reach its conclusion.
“Phew. Everyone worked hard. Holding out this long is quite respectable.”
Her words made the women’s eyes burn with fury. It seemed they had taken it as mockery rather than praise.
“Anyway, let’s end this now.”
She began walking toward us slowly. I let out a small sigh as I watched her approach.
“Sigh… It can’t be helped.”
“?”
Everyone, including Elza, tilted their heads in confusion. Ignoring their reactions, I spoke in a grave, sincere voice.
“I like you, President.”
“Wha—?!”
It was another confession, but this time my tone was far more serious than before. Perhaps that was why her face flushed bright red in an instant. She hadn’t even flinched at Sherry’s black flames, yet a single sentence had this effect on her.
“Baran?”
“What are you saying all of a sudden?”
“Baran?”
“What’s with the sudden confession, Baran?”
The four of them stared at me with dead eyes. I pretended not to hear them and continued watching Elza carefully.
She’s flustered, but there’s still no opening.
It seemed she had built up some resistance since I had used this tactic once before. I pressed further.
“I am not joking. I truly like you, President.”
“D-do you think I’ll get flustered just because you suddenly say something like that?!”
She fanned her face with one hand. Despite her words, her body was honest. It looked like I could push even harder.
I continued without pause.
“I am not trying to fluster you. I simply do not know when I will have another chance to confess, so I am telling you now!”
“S-such things should at least wait until after the fight…”
“No. I believe this is the optimal timing.”
“H-how could this possibly be the optimal—”
Thwack!
Before she could finish, Risa smacked the back of her head with her staff.
“……”
“……”
An incredibly awkward silence fell over the group. Then a message appeared before my eyes.
You have cleared the quest: Survive the Survival Training!
The party has successfully captured the Student Council President!
Additional rewards have been granted to the player!
It was the moment the “Confession to Scold” strategy succeeded perfectly.