For Whom the Club Room #1
The herald—Enrique, whose eyes had rolled back white, regained consciousness roughly ten seconds later.
“Nnghaaa, ugh…!”
Enrique, sliced by a wide horizontal cut, screamed. He had been cleaved by the sword. Under normal circumstances, it would have been perfectly natural for him to split in half, scattering his organs as he died.
“...Ugh, you bastards…”
Yet Enrique neither died nor lost consciousness; he simply spat curses. It wasn’t because his body was exceptionally sturdy or because I had missed my mark. The reason lay in the special nature of the sword Luke had handed me.
Clack.
I examined the blade in my grip. It was so impeccably maintained that my rigid face reflected clearly upon it. Yet on closer inspection, this weapon was far too blunt to be called an edged blade. At this point it resembled a club more than anything.
Throb.
That was when a fierce throbbing began in my forehead and the crown of my head. It wasn’t pain from the injuries sustained fighting Enrique, but from an older wound. Was my body remembering the time this blunt sword had struck my skull?
Shing. Clack.
I sheathed the blunt sword once more. The smooth glide as it slid into the scabbard felt remarkably satisfying. This could become addictive.
“Victor!”
Victorica, who had been watching the entire scene, came running toward me. At the same time, Enio released the restraints binding the twins and examined my complexion.
“Victor, are you all right? You’re bleeding from the mouth!”
“......”
I couldn’t possibly answer that I was fine. Even Victor, with his body of steel, would struggle to open his mouth while enduring this level of pain.
My stomach hurts too much.
The wound wasn’t from Enrique’s attack. His fists had packed a decent punch, but they hadn’t been strong enough to reach my organs through my solid muscle.
This was the recoil that came from drawing a sword without authorization and attacking an opponent. No—the one who had attacked, me, was in more pain than the one who had been attacked. What kind of nonsense was this?
“...I will rest a moment.”
I leaned my shoulder and back against a nearby pillar and sat down. As I steadied my breathing, murmurs rose noisily from the surroundings.
“Enio! Why were you people in a place like this? Why did you drag Victor into such a dangerous spot!?”
“It wasn’t me—Victor suggested we come here… Perhaps he already knew the herald would show up in this location.”
Misunderstandings were accumulating. But I was too busy taking deep breaths to have either the time or energy to clear them up.
“For now, let us secure this fellow properly.”
The blond, tanned man—Gawain—produced a rope from somewhere and snapped it taut between his hands. Even as Enrique was bound tightly, his mouth never stopped moving.
“You people will regret this. I… No, we were trying to save you. From a sorrowful tragedy! We were—mmph!”
“It would be best to lock him in the student council prison for now and hear his story later. What is your opinion, Miss Victorica?”
“Let us do that.”
Enrique’s custody was transferred to Gawain. Soon the student council’s disciplinary officers and sword club members who had gathered near the old school building’s warehouse escorted him away and vanished from sight.
Then someone approached me and spoke.
“Won’t you return my sword? It is a precious blade I received from my master.”
“......”
I handed the sword back to Luke as he extended his hand. After receiving it, he drew the blade slightly with a soft shing, checked the edge, then asked me.
“It was a concise and splendid sword strike. Why didn’t you use that technique when you faced me?”
“Who knows.”
I answered vaguely. How would I know the reason? As a veteran of D&A, my best guess was that if a boss used such an absurdly powerful technique from the tutorial stage, the new players wouldn’t survive.
At any rate.
With this, the battle against the Fimblevert herald—Enrique—had come to a close.
“Hey, did you hear? They say the new transfer student took down that herald.”
“Weren’t Miss Arclight and Gawain there too?”
“I heard that Enrique guy tried to attack Miss Blackstar…”
Corridors. Gardens. Shopping streets. Even without trying to listen, news of the incident reached me from every direction. Just as the student council and representatives had told me that morning, the event had been neatly wrapped up as the student council’s subjugation team—led by the transfer student Luke—defeating the enemy.
“...But I heard Victor delivered the final blow. It feels like my credit was stolen, so I’m a bit disappointed.”
Nike seemed deeply dissatisfied that my contribution had been concealed.
“The one who deserves praise is Victor. Yet no one is even talking about him? That Luke guy and the student council both annoy me!”
I could sense Nike’s favorability toward both Luke and the student council dropping sharply. Of course, I merely shook my head.
“On the contrary, I received consideration.”
Nike tilted her head.
“What do you mean?”
I decided to explain it simply.
“It would not paint a good picture if word spread that I, who lack a weapons permit, defeated Enrique. Problems would obviously arise.”
If everyone started carrying weapons and acting as vigilantes under the cry of “Luden is dangerous these days! We must protect our own bodies like Victor!”, order would completely collapse. No matter how much of a veteran of D&A I was, juggling studies while repaying two hundred million Rene amid that many variables would be rather troublesome.
Therefore the current situation was actually favorable for me.
“I… I see.”
Nike still seemed to have trouble fully understanding. But strictly speaking, it was not a lie to say that the student council’s subjugation team—including Luke—had defeated Enrique. The Enrique I had encountered in the warehouse had already been utterly exhausted. The ones who had driven him into a corner were the student council team. I had merely landed the final hit. In terms of contribution, it was roughly sixty percent student council, forty percent me.
Still, I would need to be more careful going forward. The recoil from illegally wielding a blade had left my stomach aching since yesterday. What a strict fellow.
I pushed aside the lingering abdominal pain and brought up a positive topic.
“Above all, it is not as if we gained nothing from this. We were able to receive this location from the student council.”
“That’s true!”
Nike clenched her fists, looking tremendously happy.
“We finally have a club room! There’s still a lot of cleaning to do and old windows that need fixing, but still!”
The old school building’s warehouse that Enio had tried to sell to the student council. As planned, the student council had taken ownership of the warehouse for five million Rene and transferred the rights to the club Victory Cooking Club.
The treasurer, Milone, had said this:
“Um… Senior Victor. There was a bounty placed on Enrique. Publicly announcing the truth would be difficult, but regarding the transfer of the bounty amount…”
In other words, the bounty earned from capturing Enrique had been transferred to me in full. Thanks to that, we had obtained a club room.
A club room. A strangely tickling sensation stirred in the youthful heart that had lain dormant in my chest. I had always thought it was the exclusive territory of social butterflies and had nothing to do with me.
Nike was also extremely pleased.
“Victor, from now on we can sleep here too! We won’t need to build a hut!”
Just as Nike said. If we brought in a bed and some furniture, we could use this room in place of a dormitory or inn. However, I had to deliver some sad news to her.
“Nike, you must enter the dormitory.”
“Me, in the dormitory? Why?”
“There is a regulation prohibiting men and women from sharing lodging in a club room.”
“There was a rule like that? Really?”
When Nike asked me that question, the warehouse door opened and someone entered.
“It is true, Miss Mokemoke.”
It was Victorica.
“Men and women cannot share lodging in a club room.”
“Why? Why on earth is there a rule like that?”
“Why?”
Victorica froze as if she had received an utterly unexpected question.
“Why, well… because there were many problems of various kinds!”
“Problems? What kind of problems? Be specific!”
“That is… what the problems were…”
The more Nike pressed, the more Victorica’s pure white face flushed with a healthy blush. Finally, unable to endure any longer, she shouted.
“If you want to know what the problems are, take the after-school elective course Healthy Married Life with the God of Love!”
Healthy Married Life with the God of Love. So that course really exists. I remember clearing it as a sub-quest.
At any rate—Victorica, having collected herself, continued.
“At any rate, Miss Nike was targeted by those Fimblevert fellows. Until we know who is colluding with whom inside the academy, the female dormitory is safer and better.”
“But… I don’t have the deposit to pay in advance…”
So the reason Nike didn’t want to enter the dormitory was the deposit. Of course she would get angry if someone arbitrarily shoved her into a dormitory when she had no money. Naturally, there was no problem.
“As for the deposit, Victor has paid it for you.”
“Victor did?”
“A little of the bounty from Enrique remained. We simply used that.”
After all, Nike needed a place to stay. However, she seemed deeply moved by my action; her eyes sparkled.
“Victor…!”
“What is it.”
“I’ll work really hard! I’ll gather herbs diligently! I’ll catch rabbits diligently! This is my self-regulation as Nike Mokemoke!”
Self-regulation, huh. It seemed my words from back then had left quite an impression on her. Just as my shoulders were about to rise with pride, Victorica spoke.
“More importantly, Miss Mokemoke. First period will begin soon. Will you be all right? Class A is on break until today due to yesterday’s incident, but Class C is not, correct?”
“Ah!”
Nike grabbed her bag and dashed out of the warehouse. Now only Victorica and I remained.
“......”
“......”
The silence between us made the atmosphere incredibly awkward. Had this warehouse always been this spacious and quiet? Perhaps it was because there was no furniture. While I was thinking that, Victorica spoke first.
“How are your injuries? I heard you were beaten quite badly while saving Enio.”
“I am fine. You already know well how sturdy my body is.”
“......”
Instead of answering, Victorica closed her mouth. The itchy feeling on my back grew unbearable, so I asked.
“There must be a reason you sent Nike away so we could be alone. Victorica, if you have something to say to me, say it now.”
For example, something like “Why did you break off our engagement with a lie?”. I honestly felt nervous not knowing when that topic would surface. It would be better to get hit early than to keep waiting.
Victorica let out a long sigh.
“Yes. This sort of thing doesn’t suit me.”
She muttered as if comforting herself, then spoke.
“I have something to say about our broken engagement.”
Finally, what was coming has come.