Chapter 186
Chapter Title: The First-Year President
-----------------------------------------------------------------
186
After the sparring evaluation ended, Leo approached the stands where the first-years were waiting.
Everyone watched him, holding their breath.
It was astonishing that a first-year had managed to fight on equal footing, even for a moment, against the strongest student in the academy.
On top of that, Leo was the contractor of a phoenix.
Soon, he would possess the strength befitting a student council president.
And so, everyone realized.
Despite being a first-year, Leo was undoubtedly qualified to be the student council president.
The first-years also stared at Leo with tense expressions.
‘Is Leo really going to be the student council president?’
‘For real?’
‘Won’t we have to walk on eggshells around the upperclassmen?’
‘Anyway, does this mean he’s the most powerful student at Lumerne, starting from his first year?’
The first-years had mixed feelings.
The upperclassmen felt much the same.
‘Damn it! At this rate, that first-year is really going to become the president!’
‘But there’s no reason to stop him. Elena recommended Leo Flove for the position in the first place.’
‘Since it’s come to this, should we really try to recruit Leo Flove? Given the way things are going, Leo Flove seems more approachable than Elena Jer-on.’
The second-years screamed internally.
The third-years still watched Elena cautiously.
And the fourth-years thought it might be better for a first-year to become president at this point.
Amidst the various complex gazes being exchanged.
Chirp-
“You’re hungry?”
Leo, on his way to Class 5’s section, furrowed his brow and took a piece of chocolate from his pocket, placing it on his palm.
Flutter— Piora flew to Leo’s hand and pecked at the chocolate.
After devouring it in an instant, Piora looked up at Leo, spread her wings, and hopped up and down.
Peep! Peep! Peep!
“What? You want more? There’s none left.”
Cheeeep—
“You keep that up and you'll turn into a real pig.”
At those words, Piora flew onto Leo’s head and pulled at his white hair with her beak.
‘S-so cute!’
‘I want one! A phoenix!’
Watching Piora, the students forgot their complicated thoughts from moments before and cried out.
When Leo took his seat, the Class 5 students swarmed around him.
“What’s this! Hey! When did you make a contract with a phoenix?”
“This is insane!”
“Leo! Let me see, too!”
Piora looked flustered as the students gathered around.
It was the first time in her life she had received such fervent attention.
But her bewilderment was fleeting.
She elegantly lifted her head high atop Leo’s.
“Aaaaaah!”
“So cute!”
As the female students of Class 5 screamed in delight, Piora struck various poses.
With each new reaction, Piora grew even more smug.
“Yikes! Hey! Professor Halind is glaring at us!”
“Gasp!”
But when Karl shouted urgently, they came to their senses and quickly returned to their seats.
Piora, who had been preening, looked around in confusion as the crowd dispersed.
Amidst the commotion.
Kalian, who had been observing the situation from the highest seat, was watching Leo.
“In the end, he proved for himself that he is worthy of being the student council president.”
At Liven’s murmur beside him, Kalian nodded and rose from his seat.
“What are you planning to do?”
“If it’s been proven, isn’t it time to make it official?”
To that, Liven replied.
“Surprising. I knew you were fond of Leo Flove, but I didn’t expect you to support him so actively.”
“Is he not a deserving student?”
Kalian grinned at Liven’s words and descended to the dueling grounds.
All the students looked surprised as the principal, Kalian, suddenly walked to the center of the grounds.
Looking around at the students, Kalian spoke.
“Well done, all you first-years. I imagine you’ve all learned a great deal during these spars.”
Kalian looked at the first-years with a serious expression.
“Some of you may have discovered how much you’ve grown in the last six months, while others may have directly witnessed the growth of a student you once considered your inferior.”
At his words, some students looked proud, while others looked chagrined.
“This is the path you must walk. You must compete endlessly and grow endlessly. That is how you become more and more like a hero. It is the path your seniors walked. And it is the path I, too, have walked.”
Grinning benevolently, Kalian continued.
“And now, I will speak about the student council president.”
Everyone held their breath.
Looking at the tense faces of the entire student body, Kalian said.
“Lumerne’s motto is ‘Surpass your limits.’ In other words, it means that anything can happen.”
Kalian looked toward the stands where the upperclassmen were seated.
“In your eyes, does Student Leo lack the qualifications for president?”
No student could say a word to that.
Leo himself had fought on equal terms with the strongest student in the academy.
On top of that, he was the contractor of a phoenix.
What Leo had shown so far was more than enough to qualify him for the presidency.
Of course, the current Leo was not the ‘strongest student.’
But Leo was a first-year.
He held limitless potential.
He had demonstrated the latent ability to surpass the current powerhouses in the blink of an eye.
“Not many students have the qualifications for the presidency. Even fewer possess the aptitude.”
Halind smiled.
“I accepted Lis Jerdinger's recommendation because I judged that Leo Flove possesses both the qualifications and the aptitude for the position.”
No one could respond.
“Therefore, I intend to appoint Leo Flove as the student council president right here and now. Are there any objections?”
Not just the students, but the professors were surprised as well, yet no one raised an objection.
Kalian observed the scene for a moment before speaking.
“Lis Jerdinger, Leo Flove, please come forward.”
At his words, Leo and Lis once again stepped into the center of the dueling grounds.
“The official appointment will be at the end of the second semester, but the handover must begin now, so I thought it best to announce it before the student body. What are your thoughts?”
“I have no objections.”
“Me neither.”
Kalian smiled and nodded.
“Excellent. Then, from this moment on, I declare Leo Flove the next student council president.”
At the declaration, the entire student body glanced at one another.
But when Lis began to clap, they slowly started to follow suit, looking around cautiously.
Clap— Clap— Clap— Clap—
Various gazes crossed as they witnessed the emergence of an unprecedented first-year student council president.
Elena propped her chin on her hand and smiled faintly.
‘Now I must help Leo flourish in his role as president.’
As she thought this, her eyes narrowed as she scanned the third-years.
‘What should I do about those with complaints.’
Among the third-years, there were those who would obey her every word.
But there were also many who thought and acted on their own whims.
‘I’ll have to manage them before they do something stupid using my name, won’t I?’
Elena smiled the smile of a tyrant.
Meanwhile, the fourth-year section of the stands was calm.
“Not bad, Leo Flove.”
A competitive fire lit up in Hark’s eyes.
“It would be fun to fight that kid.”
His classmates sighed deeply, looking at Hark, who thought of nothing but testing his skills against someone, except when he was sleeping.
“Leo. Would you like to share your thoughts on becoming student council president with the students?”
At Lis’s words, Leo was handed a microphone enchanted with voice amplification magic.
As Leo took the mic, everyone tensed up.
Leo scanned them all and then spoke.
“I will do my best to ensure the fact that a first-year has become president does not bring shame to the school.”
The professors nodded at his textbook answer.
“And if, after giving me a try, you don’t like me or have a complaint, come find me. If you can beat me in a fight, I’ll hand over the president’s seat to you.”
“……!”
“……!”
Everyone stared at Leo, their mouths agape.
His words were nothing short of a provocation to the second, third, and fourth-years.
Even Lis looked at Leo with an expression of disbelief.
“Pfft! Pffhahaha! Hahahahahaha!”
Hark, sitting in the fourth-year stands, clutched his stomach and burst out laughing.
“I like it! Yes! If you’re going to be the student council president, a position known as the strongest student, shouldn’t you have at least that much spirit?”
“You think this is funny? If this goes wrong, we could have a battle royale for the president’s seat starting next year!”
A fourth-year chided Hark.
The student council president is granted immense power.
If misused, it could throw the entire school into chaos.
It wasn’t as if there was no precedent for such an event in Lumerne’s history.
Yet here was Leo, at his own appointment, declaring that anyone could become president ‘if they just beat him.’
For the upperclassmen, the position was bound to be tempting.
“Let him be. It’s not like the kid is thoughtless. He must be confident to make such a bold provocation, right?”
Hark crossed his arms, his eyes, unlike usual, blazing as he looked at Leo.
“Looks like the fifth year will be interesting, too.”
Amidst this, Leo added.
“Ah. And I’ve already thought of a vice president. It’s Senior Hark Liguard from the fourth year.”
“Huh?”
“Senior Hark will also be handling all of the student council’s practical duties.”
Everyone stared in shock as Leo calmly continued his announcement.
The power of the student council president comes from the practical duties.
He was entrusting the very source of that power to Hark?
‘Wait, there’s no way that guy would do something so troublesome, right?’
All the students focused on Hark.
And, just as they expected, Hark shot up from his seat.
“Why do I have to do something so annoying?”
Leo looked at Hark, who was scowling in protest, as if he’d heard something strange.
“Senior Hark. I’m the student council president starting next year, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And the president has the authority to make appointments, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s why I’m ordering you.”
Hark’s face twisted violently.
Though his personality wasn’t well known because he was always sleeping, Hark didn’t have a particularly pleasant temperament.
As Hark’s expression turned menacing, everyone grew tense.
A rare spectacle of the new student council president and vice president clashing from the very start.
And the content of their argument was strange, too.
‘Wait, he’s refusing because he doesn’t want to do the work?’
“Like hell I will. I refuse.”
“I refuse your refusal.”
“And who are you to do that?”
“I’m the student council president.”
Leo smiled.
“Just do as you’re told.”
“Gah? Th-that brat…!”
Hark clutched the back of his neck as he looked at the insolent junior president.
He felt his chronic low blood pressure, a result of sleeping all the time, being cured.
“Hey! You guys, say something! This punk is already getting cocky with his senior just because he became president!”
Hark shouted at his classmates, his eyes wide.
But the fourth-years looked intrigued.
“If Hark holds the real power, isn’t that good for us?”
“Yeah. The council’s power comes from the practical work, after all.”
“Considering how he usually acts, he deserves to be talked to like that by a first-year.”
Hark, who did nothing but sleep no matter what happened, had no allies.
“You guys, really…”
Hark’s body trembled.
Watching him, Leo grinned.
“Power sure is nice.”
At those words, Hark had to clutch the back of his neck once more.
***
Seirun.
“Student council president? A first-year?”
“Leo Flove… isn’t that the kid who cleared the Progenitor’s Hero Dungeon this time?”
Even the elven students reacted with surprise.
Seirun students generally paid little attention to the affairs of other hero academies.
They were filled with the confidence that they themselves were the top hero candidates.
But the news of a first-year student council president was enough to create a massive stir even at Seirun.
“I heard he made a contract with a phoenix.”
“...We might have to be on our toes for the Se-Lu competition this time.”
The upperclassmen at Seirun were generally wary of Leo.
Meanwhile, in her classroom, Lunia stared at the newspaper and clenched her fists.
‘Leo became the student council president?’
Just when she thought she was finally catching up, he had taken another step ahead.
‘Alright! I’ll make a contract with a phoenix quickly and chase after him!’
Lunia’s eyes blazed with determination.
Meanwhile, Eiran, sitting next to her, was cutting out Leo’s picture from the newspaper for her scrapbook, smiling brightly.
‘Lord Leo looks so cool in this newspaper photo.’
Eiran, whose hobby was collecting hero-related items, had recently been busy documenting Leo’s exploits.
***
“...He’s doing well for himself. A first-year becoming president.”
“I heard he contracted a phoenix.”
“I’d like to fight him sometime.”
Voices filled with competitive spirit could be heard from all over.
In the middle of it all, a beastkin girl sitting at her desk in a classroom swished her white cat tail back and forth as she looked down at the newspaper.
‘Black Rabbit!’
Ar’s ears perked up at the news of the boy she had declared her rival.
With the world watching.
Lumerne was heading in a new direction.