[No title provided]
Thud, thud—
Lillia headed silently toward the Heaven God Cult’s main headquarters with the man in front of her, not exchanging a single word.
Ugh… this is so awkward. Why are all the guys in our cult total weirdos, anyway?!
She never once considered that she herself was one of those weirdos, but unlike Lillia—who at least had some social graces—the rest of the crew really did have personality issues. Take the guy leading the way, for instance: his excessive silence was freezing the atmosphere solid, and it was getting hard to bear.
Well, whatever. A guy like Mist should be fine. He’s quiet, loyal only to the sub-cult leader, and won’t poke his nose into my business.
Mist, the enigmatic figure who served as the sub-cult leader’s direct aide—man or woman, no one could say for sure—was infamous in the cult for his faint presence. He’d materialize out of nowhere to deliver a message, then vanish just as suddenly, sticking strictly to his duties. He could scatter strange mists that disoriented anyone caught in them, even teleporting large groups in an instant. All in all, a man shrouded in mystery.
“We’ve arrived.”
After an awkwardly silent trek, they reached the Heaven God Cult’s headquarters.
“I’ll fetch someone to escort them, so wait here a moment… Ah, Sub-Cult Leader.”
“Huh?! The sub-cult leader?”
Just as they were about to hand off the captives destined for the chimera mass-production labs, their boss himself—the sub-cult leader—emerged to greet Lillia personally.
“Well done, Lillia. In such a short time, you’ve brought some high-quality humans.”
“Why’d you come out yourself for this, Sub-Cult Leader? A report should’ve sufficed.”
“Recent events forced me to dispatch our executives. Given the circumstances, I prefer to oversee progress directly.”
“I-I see…”
He rarely showed his face unless assigning special missions to all the executives or relaying the cult leader’s words. For him to come greet her like this sparked a sudden fear: had he uncovered her collusion with the humans?
“How were things outside? Was the mission manageable?”
“Y-You know how it is, Sub-Cult Leader. The Empire’s out for our blood these days. I stuck to grabbing nobodies from the outskirts to avoid drawing heat, but it took time, and the quality’s kinda meh.”
It was half-true. She’d holed up playing village queen partly to blow off steam, since finding decent human settlements for test subjects had been such a pain.
“Hmm… You didn’t brainwash the women separately?”
“You know my powers don’t work great on women~ If I pushed harder, I could charm them, but I didn’t wanna waste the energy. I just buried them in with the rest, so cut me some slack~”
Lillia channeled her usual self as best she could, but her pounding heart was harder to hide. The sub-cult leader knew her ability’s weaknesses well, so there was no reason for suspicion—but his doll-like gaze, more inhuman than human, filled her with instinctive dread, leaving her on edge.
“…I see. Good work.”
Phew… he bought it.
“Thanks~ I really busted my ass! I’m heading to my room to crash, so don’t bug me.”
“Very well. I won’t summon you for a while—stand by.”
Relieved by his oblivious demeanor, Lillia handed the emperor’s death row inmates to the handlers and retreated to her quarters. The sub-cult leader watched her retreating figure for a moment before turning away toward his own sanctum.
* * *
The sudden announcement of the Martial Union Festival had thrown Amor Academy into even greater chaos.
The biggest change? Swarms of workers we’d never seen before, swarming every corner of the campus with renovations underway. For a massive event drawing reps from academies across the land, the chairman and professors were flexing hard—transforming our once-elegant, understated academy into a glittering spectacle.
“They’ve even booked famous theater troupes and bards for non-stop performances throughout the festival. The student council’s dying just handling the bookings…”
“Oof… tough break.”
The biggest victims? The student council, naturally. Princess Astraia von Kailum, currently acting president, had dark circles under her eyes after just a week—like she’d aged a decade.
“We were busy enough before, but this is next-level… I’m drowning in paperwork every day.”
“That bad?”
“Even installing one structure requires stacks of approvals. Then there’s inviting dignitaries, massive construction, decorations, chef hires, security management—you name it. Dozens of agendas piling up…”
What should’ve been a year-long process was now crammed into a month, forcing the faculty to dump work on the council. No wonder they were dying.
“Sigh… And as president, I’ve got to emcee the whole thing in front of everyone, schmooze the VIPs… I’d need ten bodies.”
“Yeah, everyone’s swamped. Polo’s off training for his public duel, and Lady Celine and Saintess Hertia are grinding rehearsals too.”
The academy had made one request of us: could we show off our talents in front of the crowds? Our club members were all top-tier in their fields, so the bigwigs wanted to parade us like prized trophies. Human nature—why hoard a shiny treasure when you can flaunt it?
With the festival’s motto of growth through inter-academy duels, everyone was itching to shine brighter, practicing nonstop.
Me? Banned from competing due to “balance issues.” Can’t have a world-champion boxer crashing a kids’ talent show, right? So while everyone hustled, I had nothing but time. I’d been leisurely strolling when I ran into the half-dead princess taking a breather, and we got to chatting.
“Well, if it’s that rough, want some help?”
She was killing herself for the academy, and we’d gotten plenty of favors from her before. This time, I offered purely out of goodwill.
“R-Really?!”
At my words, her eyes sparkled as she grabbed my hands with both of hers. Her tone snapped back to casual, her grip ironclad—like she’d never let go of her prize. Even I, an Aura Lord, struggled to shake it off; her desperation packed real force.
“Uh… yeah. I can’t do anything super specialized, but sorting papers or ghostwriting—ow!”
“Let’s go!!”
She didn’t even let me finish, yanking me toward the student council room. Overpowered by her sheer willpower, I dangled from her arm like a ragdoll.
* * *
“…Uuuoooh…”
“Kweeeh…”
If you just heard the groans, you’d think this was a zombie apocalypse. Nope—just the student council room at Amor Academy. Piles of documents towered everywhere from the entrance, evoking Mount Everest.
“Uuuuh…”
“Good work… Just leave it there.”
“Uuu…”
Another zombie-like exec shuffled in, dumped a stack on the desk, and staggered off to finish more.
“Sigh… The president should be back soon…”
Cassandra Airot, student council vice president. Scion of a storied marquis family with deep ties to imperial administration, she’d followed tradition by joining the council and now served as VP. A staunch Second Princess loyalist and longtime friend of Astraia’s, she’d convinced her boss to take a quick walk for a breather amid the festival prep hell.
Bang—
“Ah, you’re ba…ck?”
“Kara! I brou—er, I brought help!”
Did she just say ‘slave’…?
The princess burst in, dragging a muttering guy by the hand, beaming ear to ear.
Cassandra recognized the man instantly—no shock there. Mars Noctus, history’s youngest Aura Lord. Surprising that he’d volunteer for council drudgery, but what really floored her? Astraia clutching his hand—not Polo Helios of Helios Count, whom she’d mooned over forever. She’d sensed Astraia’s shifting feelings lately, crediting Mars heavily, so she watched their closeness with quiet delight.
“President, glad you found help, but maybe let go of his hand?”
“Huh? Oh, s-sorry! Ahem… apologies.”
She was cuter a second ago, Cassandra thought, stifling a chuckle as she greeted Mars.
“Pleased to meet you. Your reputation precedes you. Cassandra Airot of Marquis Airot’s house—currently student council vice president.”
“Ah, the esteemed lady of House Airot, imperial secretaries for generations. I’ve heard tales of your sharp mind. A pleasure.”
Well, aren’t we polite? Cassandra mentally upped her first impression score at his warm smile.
“For starters, sort these documents by category. Bring them to me when done.”
“Got it.”
She knew he was a skilled swordsman, but expected little from his admin skills. Sword users were muscle-brained grunts, or so her biases held—their worlds were worlds apart.
While he sorts, I’ll tackle the rest—
Whoosh—!!!
“?”
Turning at the rustle, she gaped: Mars sorting stacks at blinding speed. Person-high piles vanished in seconds.
“Um, Mars Noctus? Even if you’ve never done this, half-assing it won’t…”
“Pardon? I sorted them all properly.”
“What…?”
Skeptical, she checked—and froze. Every sheet was perfectly grouped by content.
“Channeling aura to my eyes boosts dynamic vision dramatically. Eyes get tired later, but for speed…”
The perfect recruit had arrived. Even knowing he and Astraia had something brewing, Cassandra felt like planting a kiss on his cheek in sheer joy.