Chapter 410: Peaceful Daily Life at Leilan Academy (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 410: Peaceful Daily Life at Leilan Academy (1)
With her hands and legs bound, Leilan Claudia fought back tears, realizing the only thing she could do was glare at the man before her.
If she was going to cry in front of her enemy, she would rather spend that energy glaring.
If either reaction only served to please him, then she would resist until the very end, even if it meant death.
[Your expression isn’t very good, Chairperson Leilan. Did something unpleasant happen?]
…Is there anything more unpleasant than being captured by the likes of you?
She wanted to snap back, but for some reason, she didn’t want to show any weakness to this man… to ‘Masked Man.’ She kept her mouth tightly shut.
[You’ve become quite tight-lipped. It’s a bit disappointing that you won’t even let me hear your voice.]
As if doing it on purpose, he approached her, the sound of his boots clicking against the floor.
The sound grew louder with every step, as if he wanted her to feel the exact distance between them, stimulating her unwanted imagination.
He slowly reached out. His hand touched the nape of her neck and slid down slowly, as if tickling her. When he finally, firmly squeezed her breast while she was off-guard, she couldn’t hold back her voice any longer.
“Ugh…!”
[Yes, I’d like you to stay rebellious like that.]
“…How far do you intend to mock me!”
[Until the very end, of course. Until your pride completely melts away, until you admit that the ‘justice’ heroes champion is futile, and until you degenerate into an existence that holds no value to me.]
“Don’t make me laugh. Even if I have to stake my pride as a hero—no, everything I’ve built throughout my life—that will never happen!”
She spoke with resolve, but as if to mock her, the hand gripping her breast loosened slightly. His touch shifted into a movement that felt as though he were handling something light and precious.
Like the gentle foreplay of a lover.
Even though he was only touching her through her clothes, the strange sensation made her waist quiver.
[You’ve got quite a mouth for someone who was defeated and captured. Don’t worry. I have many talents other than inflicting pain. Please, show me. Show me how much you can endure, and what you’ll look like when you finally fall after reaching your limit.]
I can’t.
No matter how she reacted, the man before her would only find it entertaining.
Now that the winner and loser had been decided, was all that remained for her to endure being his toy while resisting?
Humiliation and a fishy pleasure intertwined, threatening to turn her mind into a mess.
[Ah, I forgot to ask you one thing.]
“…What is it now?”
[It’s nothing major, Chairperson Leilan.]
He slowly brought his hand to his mask—the mask he had never once removed—and took it off…?
“Are you so pent up that you’re dreaming about doing things like this with your friend’s boyfriend?”
At the sight of the cadet’s incredibly familiar, playful eye-smile and his strangely humiliating words, the Chairperson snapped her eyes open. She tumbled out of her desk chair, screaming.
“Aaaaaaaagh!!!! No, it’s not…!!!!!!!!!!!!”
It took her exactly 0.7 seconds to grasp the situation.
Judging by the overturned chair and the documents she had been processing scattered everywhere, it seemed she had fallen asleep, unable to overcome her fatigue and stress.
It appeared she had a nightmare because she was too exhausted.
Hahaha. Of course. There’s no way we lost. There’s no way I was captured by Masked Man.
…And there’s no way things would turn out like that! Masked Man and Cadet Kang So-hyun are different people…!
Thinking that she must be under too much stress, the Chairperson brushed herself off and stood up. Sweat was pouring down her forehead like rain—something that hadn’t happened even when she faced the Evil Dragon.
* * *
By the time we returned to Leilan Academy after our brief trip, the weather had turned chilly enough to be called early winter.
Chairperson Leilan had returned ahead of us to explain the sudden change in the elves’ stance, the disappearance of the World Tree’s barrier, and the sudden transformation of some elves into Dark Elves, but she’s probably finished with her explanations by now, right?
Of course, finishing the explanation doesn’t mean her work is done; she’s likely still busy.
Since it feels like I’ve pushed off too much work on her, it might be a good idea to go help with the aftermath.
“Wow! I can see my breath already! It’s really cold…!”
“…Hm? It’s not that cold yet, is it?”
Ga-eul was delighted like a child, saying she could see her breath, but while it was chilly, it wasn’t quite at that level yet.
“…Huh? Then what’s this?”
When Ga-eul blew out a breath, a white mist indeed appeared, but it wasn’t because of the weather.
“Sorry, Ga-eul. That’s because of me.”
That was it.
Ga-eul’s visible breath wasn’t due to the weather, but because of the sword Ha-ni was currently struggling with. It seemed like a problem with the sense of ownership had cropped up, as if the sword were mocking Ha-ni, who had been happy with its attribute and form this time.
“Ah, seriously, just stay quiet for a bit…!”
As Ha-ni forcibly suppressed the sword’s cold energy, the mist stopped appearing, making Ga-eul look disappointed.
“But time really flies. It’s already early winter.”
At Lilac’s words—who had finally returned to being a man—most of the group laughed and denied it, telling him not to talk nonsense.
“Time flies? With how many incidents we’ve had, I feel like ten years have passed.”
“Hey, because there were so many incidents, it feels like time went by faster. We had a lot of hard times, but there were plenty of fun moments too.”
Fun moments.
Everyone seemed to agree with Lilac’s words to some extent, nodding their heads.
I feel this every time an incident ends, but things really have changed a lot.
However, even with a scene before me that would have felt like a dream in the past, I didn’t feel satisfied yet.
Was it because I had regained my childhood memories, which I had forgotten until an unexpected event triggered them?
Now that I have a justification, just a little more.
I felt like I could afford to be a little more greedy from now on.
* * *
“Cadet Kang So-hyun. I’ve received petitions demanding your expulsion. And not just one or two, but a whole lot of them.”
…Uh-oh. Am I being punished for being greedy?
I had visited the Chairperson’s office intending to help her organize documents, but she greeted me with quite shocking information.
“Did I do something to upset people…? If I crush some more villains and find a way to replenish the Academy’s activity funds…”
“Don’t say such horrifying things. Naturally, I have no intention of entertaining such unreasonable petitions. Most of them were either deceived by flyers distributed by the Association while you and I were away, or it’s simply jealousy toward someone talented.”
“…Then why did you tell me?”
For a moment, the Chairperson’s eyes narrowed as if she wanted to say something to me, but she soon shook her head and returned to her usual self.
“It’s just that some of the arguments in the petitions actually make sense, so I think some measures are necessary.”
“Hmm?”
“You are too strong. You’re stronger than the professors, and you’re stronger than me. You might even be stronger than the hero Seo Ye-hwa, the strongest of humanity. And while not quite at your level, frankly, the cadets around you have long surpassed the level of mere students.”
“Well, that’s true, I suppose.”
“And the Academy has a competitive system. There’s a school ranking, and it’s structured so that students grow through healthy competition.”
“Ah.”
“…Yes, I’m glad you caught on. Ordinary—no, even quite extraordinary cadets—can’t compete with you at all. While many aim for someone unreachable, many others will break under a competition they can never win.”
“There certainly could be that kind of problem.”
Even without getting to my level, most would lose their will to compete just by facing someone at the level of Lilac or Cheon Yu-hak.
“Of course, if this were a complete society, it would be unavoidable for those with less power than will to be weeded out, but the Academy is also an educational institution.”
“We can’t filter out kids who haven’t even gone down a bad path yet.”
“…Yes, exactly.”
“…Uh, well. I understand the intent and the circumstances, but if you’re not going to expel us, do you have another way?”
“Yes. It’s an idea that occurred to me while I was organizing papers early this morning, so it still needs some refining.”
“Yes.”
“I’m planning to overhaul the Academy’s Student Council system this time.”
…Why is the Student Council suddenly coming up here?
“…Cadet Kang So-hyun.”
“Honestly, I’m not really interested.”
“I haven’t even said anything yet?”
“I think I know what you’re going to say.”
“I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me.”
“Uh, well. Yes.”
“I’m planning to somehow handle this massive workload while also being buried under Academy business.”
“I understand. I’ll try to be as accommodating as possible, so please speak.”
“Would you be interested in joining the Student Council?”
“…You mean the Student Council where everyone except Baek Seol is inactive and just has their names on the roster?”
“Not anymore. The newly reorganized Student Council will hold a lot of responsibility and, at the same time, a lot of power.”
“…Tell me more for now.”
“I’m planning to exclude all Student Council members from the ranking system. Of course, they’ll be selected based on being the top academic performers of their time, and they’ll require rigorous personality and ideology screenings.”
“…Is that a good thing?”
“Naturally, I’ll have to prepare corresponding rewards. Also, the obligation to attend classes will disappear, and I’m thinking of giving them the authority to intervene in incidents at their own discretion without needing a professor’s permission.”
“That’s definitely a bit tempting.”
“In addition, they’ll have the authority to involve themselves to some extent in the school event schedule—which is currently decided almost entirely by professors—and if they wish, they can directly intervene in the Academy’s internal metrics.”
“You’re not just doing this to reduce your own workload, are you, Chairperson?”
“…Now then, I’d like to hear Cadet Kang So-hyun’s opinion. Please feel free to tell me if there’s anything you’d like to modify or add.”
…Oh, she’s dodging the question? Is this for real? She must have been incredibly tired.
No, well. Fine, it’s all good.
Honestly, at this point, our group isn’t at a level where we’d crave the rewards for being rank number one, and while I can’t decide alone, everyone will probably like it since we’re essentially being recognized as being on ‘another level.’
I think making us not even targets for competition might be a bit risky, but considering how sensitive kids are at this age, it seems like the right move.
…Wait, this is that, isn’t it?
The ‘suspiciously powerful Student Council’ that often appears in novels.
Something that didn’t even exist in the original work is being created like this?
“Um, it’s not just me being pulled out, but the others too, right?”
“Correct. Cadet Lilac, Cadet Cheon Yu-hak, and Cadet Kang Ha-ni should be included, and since the growth of Cadet Kim Ga-eul and Cadet Aisha has been extraordinary lately, they should be considered as well.”
“Then I’ll have to talk to them. I can’t decide something like this on my own.”
“Though they’d all follow whatever you say anyway.”
“Still, deciding it alone is different from deciding after consulting them.”
“…You’ve certainly changed a bit from before.”
“Pardon?”
“In the past, you would have just decided and notified them on your own.”
“I’m human too, so I have to grow.”
“Yes, I think it’s a positive change. Talk to the others and organize what you want; I’ll consider accepting it as much as possible.”
“And if there’s only authority, problems might arise after we graduate, so we’ll need some safety measures too.”
“Hmm, I see. I was only thinking about you, but you’re right; if it’s to be an organization that persists in the future, it would be dangerous to only concentrate rights.”
Even as I bowed to the nodding Chairperson…
I never imagined that what I lightly considered a ‘suspiciously powerful Student Council’ would bring about such a massive incident…
I couldn’t have even dreamed of it.
Seriously.
I’m telling you, I had no idea.