Phantasos's Shocking Proposal
Simon could only stare, dumbfounded, at Phantasos's shocking declaration.
"You will be Kizen's next Student Council President!"
Student Council President of Kizen?
Me?
I'm not even a third-year yet. I've only just started my second year!
"W-Wait just a moment!"
Simon spread his palms out in a hurry. A nagging suspicion was growing on him that some kind of mistake had been made.
"This is all rather sudden. When I first met you at Pentamonium, you said—"
"I remember it well!"
Phantasos cut in abruptly, his broad, bold face leaning in close.
"I asked you back then whether you had any thoughts on the next Student Council seat, and you told me you couldn't say for certain yet. You deferred your answer."
"That's right! So why all of a sudden—"
"The situation has changed, if only slightly."
Phantasos pointed downward with the tip of his finger.
"Why don't you take a seat and hear me out first. Hm!"
"...Very well."
Simon calmed himself down somewhat, sat, and listened attentively to Phantasos's story.
Generally speaking, the Kizen Student Council President was a third-year. There was no rule that the President had to be the strongest student in the academy, but it was the common understanding all the same.
And the next President had been all but decided. The school, Kizen headquarters, and the third-years themselves were all backing one man for the position.
"Third-year top seat, Eizel Bringer."
Phantasos crossed his arms.
"Top of the class for all of second year, and now, in third year, he is without question the strongest student in Kizen. Hm!"
Simon tilted his head as he listened.
"Then shouldn't he be the one becoming President?"
"Hahaha! Didn't I just tell you the situation has changed!"
Eizel was currently crossing back and forth between the Holy Federation and the Neutral Zone, carrying out a critical mission.
However, Phantasos explained, the situation had gotten a little—no, seriously—entangled, and by even the most optimistic estimate, Eizel wouldn't return until the middle or latter half of the first semester.
"What kind of mission could possibly—"
"Undercover work, and the assassination of a key figure."
At that answer, Simon's expression hardened instantly.
"Forgive me—the details are classified, and I cannot speak of them. Hm!"
"Oh, of course. That's fine."
Phantasos smacked his lips.
"It was a mission he never needed to take on at all. Whether out of some need to prove himself against me, Eizel insisted on taking the very same mission I completed in my own past! Hm. I imagine he wanted to smash through his current situation—the one where he can't help being compared to me—in one decisive stroke."
Clatter.
Just then, Anna came in carrying a dish of sugared fruit for dessert.
"Now, now—important talk is all well and good, but have some of this first."
Phantasos's eyes spun.
"Such kindness! Thank you, Mother!"
Chomp! Chomp!
Without so much as reaching for utensils, Phantasos devoured the food with both hands in a frenzy.
He claimed to have graduated and become an adventurer, but apparently a life of full meals had eluded him.
"You're not having any?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
The conversation resumed.
"And so, with Eizel's return delayed, Kizen has no choice but to select a new Student Council President! The beginning of the semester is the busiest time of all—we cannot leave such a weighty post vacant. Hm!"
"I suppose not."
"But I had already made my position perfectly clear to Lady Nephthys and the school!"
Point!
Phantasos's thick finger jabbed toward Simon's forehead.
"My recommended successor: Simon Polentia! And if Simon Polentia cannot, then Eizel, the most promising of the third-years!"
"Y-Yes?"
"And now that Eizel's return is delayed and an interim President is needed—"
Phantasos's eyes blazed like fire.
"I have no intention of putting any third-year other than you in that seat!!"
Simon was bewildered.
"Even if it's not Senior Eizel, aren't there plenty of third-years more impressive than me?"
"Nonsense! Every last one of them is hopeless!"
SLAM!
When Phantasos brought his fist down on the table, the sugared fruit leapt into the air before settling meekly back into its bowl.
"Two years as your senior—I know them well! To be sure, the third-years' skill is beyond question. But they are hopelessly calculating! Strong against the weak and weak against the strong! Living not their own lives, but the lives others expect of them! And above all—as men, they have no dreams and no vision!"
He snorted out his rage like some roaring beast.
"So long as there is breath in this Phantasos's body, I will never recommend such men to the presidency!"
Simon scratched at the hair by his ear.
"But I..."
"You are different!"
Phantasos turned both palms toward Simon.
"BMATs, promotion exams—during the very busiest stretch of your first year, you gladly took part in the Pentamonium Academic Conference!"
"Well, that was..."
Their mouths moved at the same time.
"To make money—"
"To make money, I know!"
HAHAHAHAHA!
Phantasos laughed heartily, slapping his knee again and again.
"Truly an outrageous junior of mine! And the reports of your exploits that reached me afterward were one astonishment after another! You wrote a superb paper for the conference—and then didn't submit it for your Summoning practical evaluation! It would have been a guaranteed perfect score if you'd simply turned it in as it was! Instead, you took the money from selling that paper and went and built a Lich to submit instead!"
Phantasos leaned forward, chin thrust out.
"Why go to all that trouble?"
Simon answered, his face flushing with embarrassment.
"B-Because it was just... something I really wanted to do."
Tears of emotion welled up in Phantasos's eyes all at once.
"PERFECT!!!"
A tremendous roar echoed across the towering mountain ranges of Leshill.
In the middle of it all, Richard was covering Anna's ears from behind.
"This is why I like you! Meeting you in person has only solidified my conviction! You are the only one fit to be Student Council President!"
Simon didn't know where to put himself, but he still couldn't understand Phantasos's absurdly high opinion of him.
"But people around me called that whole affair strange, you know."
"Pay those voices no mind! Hm!"
Phantasos thumped his own chest with both fists.
"And how did building that Lich turn out in the end? You took down Chatel, the giant-hybrid who'd been ranked a cut above you—and you even repelled the Blood Sky Cult! All thanks to the very thing everyone else laughed at as unnecessary!"
...Looking at the results alone, it did sound remarkably convincing.
Simon forcibly suppressed the feeling of being swept off his feet, regaining his composure before speaking.
"I understand why you think so highly of me, but I believe it's time I considered some slightly more practical problems."
Phantasos reined in his excitement and crossed his arms.
"Right! Practical problems! Of course. You'll be facing the fierce opposition and resistance of the entire third year!"
"Yes, that's the part that worries me most."
Heh heh heh.
Phantasos suddenly let out a chuckle.
"Naturally! I've solved that problem as well!"
"What?"
"Did you think I came all this way to see you on sheer recklessness and no preparation whatsoever! Hm!"
Phantasos revealed that he had already negotiated with Eizel—currently on mission—and the other third-years.
"First!"
One of his massive fingers shot up.
"Simon Polentia serves as Student Council President for the duration of Eizel's absence!"
That much was obvious.
"Second! The third-years will respect the interim President's authority, and the President will not interfere unduly in the third-years' affairs!"
Now that was a fairly shrewd bit of negotiating.
Simon was only a second-year anyway, and the Student Council had little reason to control third-years who were frequently out on external assignments. In practice, the clause shielded him from third-year interference.
"Third! Should Eizel return while Simon has safely maintained the presidency—and should Simon show the will to continue in the office—the two of them shall settle it through a Duel Evaluation, and the winner takes the presidency!"
Simon was startled.
So Phantasos—the man he'd assumed was a typical musclehead—could actually think this sharply?
It was a genuinely clever proposal.
To the third-years, 'Eizel,' who had held the top seat unshakably, was an absolute authority.
So Phantasos had framed it as 'the presidency was always Eizel's to begin with.' The third-years would feel reluctant to break the agreement between Phantasos and Eizel, and by the same measure, Simon would be left free.
Then the last finger extended.
"Fourth!"
"There's more?!"
"In the event that, per the third condition, Eizel takes the presidency from Simon—"
The corners of Phantasos's mouth curled upward.
"Eizel shall, without exception, recommend Simon Polentia as the next Student Council President!"
Leaving aside whether Simon could keep the presidency through second year at all, the pact even guaranteed him the office outright once he reached third year.
"Senior Eizel actually agreed to these terms?"
"Precisely so! He granted his approval by letter while on mission. Hm!"
Simon couldn't help but be astonished.
Without his knowledge, the groundwork had already advanced this far.
"Of course, your life belongs to you, so this choice too is yours to make!"
Phantasos spread his arms wide.
"But think on it! As you well know, the Kizen Student Council Presidency is not a seat just anyone can occupy! Power and command and credentials aside, this is an experience you can only have at Kizen! It will become a great asset and nourishment for you—not just as a necromancer, but as a human being. This Phantasos guarantees it!"
"..."
Just as Simon was closing his eyes and weighing it all—
"It seems the conversation is winding down, so might I cut in?"
Richard, who had not uttered a single word until now, stepped forward.
"Of course, Father!"
Phantasos retreated a step, and Richard took his seat.
"Phantasos Hugh Ikel. When a man of your standing recommends it so insistently, it's no wonder my boy is tempted."
"No, Father! I speak purely for your son's sake—"
"That is not for you to judge."
Having dispatched Phantasos with effortless ease, Richard crossed his legs with a stately air.
It was the very pose that set noblewomen's hearts aflutter.
"Simon. I am opposed."
Simon was startled.
He'd expected Richard to go wild with joy at the thought of his son becoming Kizen's Student Council President—instead, he'd come out against it.
"To be precise, I oppose his becoming President in his second year. The second-year curriculum at Kizen is entirely different from the first. Adapting to departmental life takes time. What's more, second year is when a student learns the most of any year at Kizen. The Student Council—responsible for external events on top of a period that demands one hundred percent devotion to study? Premature."
Richard laced his fingers together and continued.
"The presidency can wait until third year, Simon. Third-years are frequently dispatched on missions and assignments. Student Council duties can cover for much of that, which is precisely where the office carries real merit."
Phantasos shot to his feet.
"Father! You misunderstand! On that very point, there is something I absolutely must say—"
"You there."
Richard asked in an icy voice:
"Why did you single out my son as your successor?"
Phantasos pounded his own chest with a thud, thud.
"Because he is the one man this Phantasos has acknowledged—truly, with all his heart!"
"I see. You acknowledged Simon. And yet, while spiriting my son away—"
His eyes flashed.
"Why did you never think to seek the approval of his parents—of Anna and myself?"
"!!!"
Phantasos's jaw dropped wide open.
What kind of nonsense is that, Father?!
Simon's jaw had dropped too—though for an entirely different reason than Phantasos's.
"Of course!"
Phantasos wore the expression of a man who'd just taken a hammer square to the skull. Before long, tears of gratitude and reverence welled in his eyes.
THUD!
He dropped to one knee.
"I, Phantasos Hugh Ikel, beg your forgiveness for my rudeness! Blinded by desire, I very nearly violated the proper order of things!"
Richard curled a haughty smile and crossed his other leg.
"Better late than never, I suppose."
What on earth is happening right now?
Simon looked to Anna, but she was shaking her head with an expression that said, There goes your father again.
"I said what I said earlier, but there were a few parts of your argument I could sympathize with."
At Richard's words, Phantasos's head snapped up.
"You mean it?!"
"On one condition. There must be merit worth my son's while in shouldering a grueling, cumbersome presidency in his second year, mustn't there?"
"Absolutely right, Father! And this condition would be...?"
"Teach my son your 'Sleep' curse."
Phantasos tilted his head.
"The Sleep curse is part of the second-year curriculum."
"Not that garbage."
Richard's true colors showed through as his eyes gleamed.
"Your original. I'm telling you to teach him that one!"
And so Richard—despite his son practically being handed the presidency on a silver platter—managed to wring one more thing out of the deal after all.