Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Essence
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Neru was being punished in the middle of the student council room, kneeling with her hands raised in the air.
“Waaah… I’m dying, nya….”
Her teary complaint somehow felt familiar.
Was it a relief? Maybe.
The student council had set a trap targeting Adel, but Neru had stumbled into it by mistake…
Unfortunately, she had a clear record of offenses.
First it was “stealing food,” then “fleeing during lectures,” and now “secretly raising a slime in the library.”
Her history was impressively colorful.
“…Zero points.”
“Urk…!”
“Sorry, President…!!”
The two who had mistaken Neru for Adel immediately slammed their heads to the floor.
“There are other things to misunderstand! Their species are completely different to begin with!”
“Wh-what?! That’s species discrimination, nya!”
Carnel cleared her throat a few times to steady the mood, then spoke again in a solemn, elegant tone.
“This time, spe-cial-ly! I’ll let it slide.”
“R-really, nya?”
“Of course!”
As Neru started to sneak her hands down.
“Of course!”
At Carnel’s words, Neru jolted in surprise and raised them again.
“There was no harm done this time, so I’m letting it go!”
“O-okay, nya….”
That was when it happened.
*Knock. Knock.*
Someone rapped on the student council room door.
“President…! It’s the target…!”
“What…!”
“Wh-what do we do…!!”
Carnel’s eyes flashed.
“E-everyone to your positions! Stick to the plan…!!”
***
[See you later, Lev.]
“…Yeah.”
After parting with Lev, I headed to the student council room.
Along the way…
“…….”
I ran into Klaus right in the middle of the hallway.
“Adel….”
But… his soul looked half-gone.
“Urgh… I really am trash….”
Why was he like this now?
Our brilliant protagonist was suddenly beating himself up, calling himself trash.
“Am I… really that weak…?”
[What’s wrong?]
“There was a spar during today’s lecture…?”
A spar, huh.
Come to think of it, around this time, Swordsmanship was mostly spars.
“I couldn’t do anything and just lost….”
[I see.]
“I… took down that crimson beast last time, right? Sure, you’d wrecked it into scraps, so I just finished it off with one slash… but it was still a crimson beast?”
Fair point.
Even if it was in bad shape, the fact remained—it was a crimson beast.
“But… apparently, that was it.”
Klaus covered his face with both hands and hung his head.
“I thought I’d gotten pretty strong by now… at least strong enough that no one could look down on me…!”
But why was he telling me all this?
He could just go talk to Charlotte.
‘Oh.’
Come to think of it, Klaus and Charlotte hadn’t crossed paths yet.
“But I got completely crushed… crushed! I couldn’t even defend properly, let alone attack!”
[Who’d you lose to?]
“Someone from my class….”
[F Class?]
“…Yeah.”
……I had nothing to say to that.
Losing to someone from F Class? How weak was he?
Hadn’t he awakened just recently?
And now he’d lost to another F Class kid?
‘Why are you like this?’
At this rate, he wouldn’t even see the spatial mage, let alone survive the midterm evaluation.
“Sigh… what should I even do?”
I didn’t know either.
I’d only ever handled fully completed protagonists—this half-baked one was a first.
“I really am trash….”
“Ah, there you are.”
A voice cut into Klaus’s muttering.
“What, you’re here too?”
It was Veronica.
“Hah, Dean?!”
[Hello.]
“Uh, hi.”
[What brings you here?]
“Not here for you….”
Veronica glanced at Klaus as she said that, then turned straight to me.
“Wanna come along?”
[No.]
Some bad feeling made me shut down Veronica’s offer flat.
“Why not.”
[Heading to see the president.]
“Ugh… have you caused trouble again?”
[I didn’t.]
“Didn’t you? Wasn’t it you raising a slime in the library?”
…Raising a slime in the library?
What was that about?
“Eh, whatever. You, come on.”
“M-me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“What’s this all of a sudden….”
“Hmm… counseling?”
With that, Veronica grabbed Klaus.
“Take care~”
And sauntered off.
‘Kidnappings are popular today, huh.’
Was abduction the trend lately?
I stared blankly at their retreating backs for a moment, then shook it off and headed to the student council room.
*Knock. Knock.*
I knocked, and soon there was movement inside.
*Clank…* The door opened, and a familiar voice greeted me.
“Ahem. What brings you here?”
It was Carnel.
‘But….’
Something was off.
The student council room… it looked different from usual.
Too nice, maybe?
Sparkling window frames, fluffy sofa… even the air felt different. Some air freshener?
[The vibe’s different from usual.]
“Hah… what are you talking about? The student council room is the same as always!”
It wasn’t.
Something was definitely different.
“Heh heh heh… so you’ve finally been tempted to join the student council too?!”
[Not really.]
“Eek….”
Carnel’s expression crumbled in an instant.
“…Then why are you here.”
Ah, getting snippy.
[I came to pick up Neru, President.]
I pointed to the corner with my finger.
There was Neru, kneeling with her hands up.
“…Take her.”
Hmm… letting her go this easily.
Guess it’s settled as guilty after all…
‘Oh dear.’
I shook my head sympathetically.
“Ah, Adel! You came to save me, nya…!”
[Nope, I got caught too.]
“Wh-what…!!”
[Kidding.]
The joke got way too big a reaction.
“Ahem.”
Just then, Violet approached with an awkward cough.
“By any chance… have you thought about joining a club little bro…?”
That set off the room—the atmosphere suddenly buzzed.
“Ah, this is so comfy~.”
“This… this is the president’s grace….”
The student council room brimmed with an oddly “great” vibe.
“Care for some tea? It’s black tea brewed from herbs airlifted from the northern peaks today….”
“We’ve got cookies too! Freshly baked chocolate ones….”
…I looked at Carnel.
“Ahem! This is just part of standard student council duties! To promote student welfare… very strict… that sort of thing!”
Carnel spouted nonsense while awkwardly sweating bullets.
“Li-little bro, wanna join the student council…? It’s nice here….”
Violet’s words welcomed me, but her face and body language said the opposite.
The total reverse, really.
“As you can see! Such a pleasant! Innovative! And above all, free atmosphere in the student council!”
Carnel’s eyes sparkled as she jabbed a finger at me.
“Well? Want to join the student council now?!”
It did look amazing on the surface.
Honestly, I wavered a bit. So I pulled out my whiteboard firmly and…
[I decline.]
Refused.
“E-eh….”
***
“…You want to start a club?”
[Yes.]
Carnel answered with a pout.
“…Starting a club isn’t that easy.”
I knew that.
But I still had to do it.
Why?
‘Achievement were on the line.’
Joining any club gave an achievement reward.
But starting one myself?
‘All stats +1.’
Of course, the requirements were tough too.
“You need a supervising professor… and the dean’s final approval….”
Carnel looked visibly deflated.
Did she want me in that badly?
‘Too bad.’
Sadly, the student council join achievement only boosted intelligence and mana by 1 each.
There was not much merit for me.
“Of course… you need my approval too.”
[I see.]
“Have you… decided on a club theme yet?”
Theme, huh.
I had a few ideas. Investments? Exploration club? Food tour…?
‘…….’
Weird, nothing useful came to mind?
[How about a food tour club, President?]
“Oh… that sounds good, nya.”
“…Get the application from the dean first.”
[Can’t you give it to me?]
“…No.”
Eek…
***
“Making a club, nya?”
[Yeah.]
And so… I wrapped up at the student council.
“Oh… I wanna join too, nya.”
[Don’t we need to make the club first?]
“Oh….”
[More importantly, Neru.]
“What, nya?”
[I overheard something on the way.]
“Heard something?”
[Someone said they saw a slime being raised in the library.]
“Th-that’s right, nya.”
[Was that you?]
“N-no, nya.”
Neru’s ears and tail twitched anxiously up and down.
[Really?]
“Y-yeah, nya.”
[You know what, Neru?]
“…What, nya.”
[Slimes die in a day outside their habitat.]
“Wh-what…!!”
…Called it—you.
Neru’s ears and tail shot straight up like she’d been struck by lightning.
“M-my Puring…!!”
[You even named it?]
“Nooo, Pu-riiiing…!!”
Neru bolted to the library in a panic.
When she came back… she held Puring’s cold, lifeless body.
***
“We’re all here?”
“Seems so, Dean.”
Veronica and Kaus climbed the podium.
“Good. Let’s head in.”
*Zzzzt.*
Space tore at Veronica’s hand, revealing a dense forest beyond.
This midterm would be held in a real existing forest, not a sub-space.
Of course, the beasts had already been shredded by Veronica.
“We’re going in?”
“Looks like it.”
“Oh….”
The entire first-year class gathered in the grand hall.
The midterm evaluation was about to begin.
Amid it all, I quietly gripped my mask.
‘Kidnapping students….’
The spatial mage kidnaps students at random into his space during the evaluation.
Those unexpected twists push Klaus toward the edge.
In *Aka Calamity*, Klaus quickly knocked out most students to lighten his load.
‘But the current Klaus is too weak.’
He lacked the power to push forward, or the confidence.
‘Sigh….’
So eliminating students fell to me.
To lighten Klaus’s burden so he could stop the calamity.
‘It’s fine.’
This midterm was the perfect stage to use my abilities.
“Damn… random teleport and what if we run into Mask Guy?”
“The top seat? He’s all hype, they say.”
“What nonsense… didn’t you see the welcome duel?”
“Nope?”
“Good grief….”
“Strong or not, how strong can he be? He’ll just flail around in that mask.”
“Flail…? Sounds plausible.”
Flail… flail, huh.
‘In a way, it was spot on.’
Would I flail or cause chaos.
I planned to cause chaos in this midterm.
‘Moderately… nah… a bit annoyingly?’
There was a reason.
Veronica’s mission: hold the top seat through this semester.
Reward: one of her artifacts.
Killing two birds with one stone while helping Klaus.
“But how many points for catching Mask Guy?”
“Dunno, but grabbing the top seat alone probably locks in a top 10 spot.”
“For real?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey… wanna gang up on Mask Guy?”
“Gang up?”
“Yeah, honestly, we can’t take him solo, right?”
“True….”
“Cool, meet up when locations drop?”
They conspired without a care, even with me right behind them… Did they not know, or did they know and not care?
“Let’s not forget our essence—we E Class trash gotta stick together.”
Essence.
What was E Class’s essence that made them want to gang up on me?
‘Fine then. Time to bring out Mask Guy’s essence.’
Mask Guy’s essence.
Chaos.
‘No?’
It didn’t matter.
Today, I defined it that way.
“Adel… what’s a midterm evaluation, nya?”
[Midterm’s an evaluation in the middle of the semester.]
“Oh….”
Neru put a finger to her lips and pondered deeply.
“Heh, no helping it, nya! I’ll do the evaluating!”
[Sure, looking forward to it.]
……This cat was misunderstanding something.
Midterms were evaluations you *received*, but she thought she’d be *giving* them.
“I’ll smash them all, nya!”
A cat’s essence.
Chaos, as expected.