Club (4): The Hero Research Club
⚔ HERO RESEARCH CLUB ⚔
The first time I decided I needed to join this club was not long after enrolling at the Academy.
More precisely, right after I obtained the Hero's Blood.
Ever since the day I saw the First Hero's phantom.
The First Hero who appeared as a vision had spoken to me with absolute clarity. Find my traces, he said.
Which meant that a man who had lived a thousand years ago had already known, a thousand years in advance, that I would fall into this world.
That was when I realized it. My possession of this body was no mere accident or coincidence.
I couldn't grasp the reason yet, but the fact that I had landed here, the Sword Saint trait, even the World's Trial itself—every last piece of it led me to a reasonable suspicion that it all connected back to the First Hero.
And that suspicion hardened into certainty the day the Fragment of the Holy Sword Kruse had brought with her reacted to me.
Because from within the radiance that fragment poured out, I had clearly heard the First Hero's voice, as if he were soothing the Holy Sword itself.
"This one's… something else."
"So… just wait."
At first I thought I might have been summoned as a Hero…
But it seemed there was some other purpose entirely—not that of a "Hero" at all.
Of course, I had no way of uncovering that purpose right this second.
So the best I could do was chase the First Hero's traces…
The problem was that whatever traces of him remained inside the Academy had already been burned to ash by Principal Rustiel, and anything that had somehow survived was locked down under her thorough supervision and surveillance.
Which is exactly why no club could possibly be more perfect than this one.
No matter how much Rustiel wanted otherwise, as long as she was operating as the Academy's principal, she couldn't just shut down a student-run club on a whim. She was bound by that contract. Naturally she wouldn't like it, so there was no hope of funding or anything of the sort—but still.
And besides…
That person should be here, too.
A secretive smile touched the corner of my mouth as I focused my senses past the tightly shut old wooden door.
Mind's Eye
Through my expanded senses, the presence beyond the door came through with perfect clarity.
I'd been fretting over what to do if the room was empty, but thankfully, someone was home!
And then—
Rattle, rattle!
"Dia, this door's locked. Is this even the right place?"
The young lady standing beside me asked, roughly jiggling the handle with an irritated hand.
She clearly wanted this over with so she could head back.
Well, for her personality, she'd already shown remarkable patience just getting this far.
Behind her, Kruse poked her head out and tilted it with a puzzled look of her own.
"Huh? It really won't open. The catalog said this was definitely the spot… Did the location change?"
Heh. These young ladies don't know a thing.
The Hero Research Club wasn't somewhere you could enter by ordinary means.
"No, we've found the right place."
I lifted a finger to my lips and gestured for both of them to be quiet.
"Shh."
At my signal the young lady clicked her tongue in displeasure but obediently shut her mouth, while the presence of Kruse that came through my Mind's Eye showed her clamping both hands over her mouth and nodding furiously, as if she wouldn't so much as breathe.
…Though every time Kruse moves, the air itself seems to tremble.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Stella Delivery Service! We've got a one-eighth scale Hero figure for you!"
Bang!
"Waaah! Finally!!!!"
With a scream of pure joy, the old wooden door flew open hard enough to nearly tear itself apart.
But the delight of whoever had burst out from inside did not last long.
"…Huh?"
Our senior, who had opened the door expecting a package, spotted the three of us standing outside and went rigid on the spot.
She looked from me to the young lady to Kruse in rapid succession, then tried to slam the door shut again.
Not a chance.
Thud.
"Hic…!"
I slipped my cane into the gap of the door without a second's delay.
While our flustered senior grunted and strained, trying desperately to force it closed, I leaned my head just far enough into the crack and offered a perfect maid's smile.
"A pleasure to meet you, Senior. We've come to apply for membership in the Hero Research Club."
The one who stepped out from behind the door was a short girl, our senior.
She had tried to close the door at first, but the moment she realized they were prospective members, her attitude flipped one hundred and eighty degrees.
She ushered Aiolet, Gladia, and Kruse into the clubroom and shut the door behind them.
Click, click, creak, thud!
An absurd number of locks sealed the door tight.
Aiolet and Kruse eyed the spectacle with open suspicion, but Gladia only smiled as if nothing were amiss.
"I-I never expected applicants to actually show up. Heehee…"
The senior girl spoke with a faintly unnerving smile.
"Our club isn't exactly popular, so I figured it'd just be me again this year… Fuhuhuhu."
When she finished speaking, she yanked open the heavy curtains covering the windows, and a flood of brilliant light poured into the room, revealing the clubroom in full for the first time.
The sight of it was shocking.
What hit Aiolet's eyes first was the sheer mountain of Hero merchandise.
Posters depicting the Hero in every imaginable pose covered the walls from floor to ceiling, and the bookshelves along either side were lined with Hero figures of every size.
The crowning glory, though, was the life-sized golden statue of the Hero standing smack in the middle of the room…!
For the first time in her life, Aiolet was staring at the "real thing," and the cultural shock nearly knocked her flat.
But then she noticed something odd.
Is this room's size even right…?
At first she had simply thought the interior was larger than it looked from outside, but once she took in the endless sprawl of Hero goods filling every surface, her assessment shifted.
Spatial expansion magic…!
Aiolet's eyes narrowed.
Looking closer, spatial expansion magic had been laid over the entire room, stretching the space within.
Spatial expansion is something only a handful of 5-Circle mages can even use…?
And yet that kind of magic was hanging over a clubroom like this…
Aiolet's gaze swung toward Gladia.
Whenever something felt off, asking Gladia usually produced an answer.
Gladia must have felt the stare, because her face turned slightly toward Aiolet.
She gave her a mischievous little smile, then silently mouthed the words.
La. Ter.
A private exchange of looks passed between the two of them. (One of them had her eyes closed, of course.)
And right then—
"Waaah…! This room is so cool!"
Kruse, who had been turning in a slow circle to take everything in, clasped her hands together and burst out with pure admiration.
"R-really…?"
Their senior, who had never once dreamed of receiving a compliment about her clubroom, startled and asked again.
In the past, a few would-be members had taken one look at the state of the place and fled on the spot. That was why she had locked the door after ushering them in… and yet instead of running, they were praising it.
…This kid. She's a good one!
The senior's favorability toward Kruse skyrocketed past a thousand.
Kruse, for her part, nodded vigorously with eyes so clear they held not a shred of falsehood.
"Of course! The cathedral I used to live in felt just like this!"
Absolutely not.
The cathedral Kruse had lived in was no ordinary cathedral. It was only natural, given that a Saintess resided there. It was the grand cathedral regarded as the very heart of the Church—home not only to the Saintess but to the Pope himself.
As a result, its halls were packed wall to wall with colossal statues modeled after the Goddess of Light, along with every manner of religious artwork and ornament… and this Saintess was looking at a room full of Hero merch and deciding it was exactly the same!
If a Church cleric had overheard that, even a Saintess might have caught a slap for such a brazen remark…!
Still, it had bought them their senior's goodwill, so for once it counted as a fine play.
And then—
"…!"
As if she had sensed something, the senior's shoulders jerked hard, and she started moving in a frantic rush.
She flicked a hand through the empty air, and the heavy curtains slid shut again, plunging the room back into deep darkness.
"Wait, what are you—"
Aiolet hadn't even finished speaking when it happened.
From that tiny frame came a strength no one would have expected: the senior scooped up Aiolet, Gladia, and Kruse all at once like so much luggage, shoved them under a massive desk in the corner of the room, and scrambled in after them.
"Shh, shh…!"
In the cramped dark beneath the desk, the senior pressed a finger to her lips with a deathly pale face, gesturing furiously for silence.
Spooked by her urgency, the three of them held their breath without knowing why—and in that exact moment.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
A thunderous pounding shook the entire clubroom, as if the door were about to be smashed clean off its hinges.
The raw fury radiating from the other side felt like someone had come to collect on their parents' murderer.
"Hey! Hero Club! I know you're in there! Open this damn door!"
A rough, high-strung voice tore through the layers of locked doors with vicious force.
"Hey! You said you'd pay back everything by today! I know you're in there, so open up and hand over the money!"
In the dark, under that cramped desk, Aiolet's icy gaze drilled into the crown of their senior's head.
A debt collector?
Looking at the state of the clubroom, she had already decided this person was not normal—but debt on top of it?
Aiolet turned a dubious look on Gladia, who was still smiling as if nothing were wrong.
Aiolet usually trusted Gladia's word and let things slide, but this time she genuinely wondered whether this was the right call.
Dia… are you sure joining this place is a good idea?
But what choice did she have?
Coming in had been free. Leaving was another matter entirely.
Gladia was still smiling.
Just accept it, Young Lady.
Their senior, blissfully unaware of the silent exchange, seemed delighted simply to have company in a situation like this. She grinned sheepishly and opened her mouth.
"Ah, r-right, I, um… I never even introduced myself…"
Aiolet thought, You're doing self-introductions at a time like this?—but.
What choice did she have? She had to accept it.
Don't think about it, Young Lady! Just accept it!
Gladia had somehow slid up beside her, and her whisper tickled Aiolet's ear.
As for Kruse, the whole situation just felt like getting into trouble with friends, and she was having fun.
With the debt collector's bellowing outside serving as background music, their senior continued in a small, tightly wound voice.
"I-I'm… the, the president of the H-Hero Research Club… third-year Dorothea…. N-nice to meet you, j-juniors…"