Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Badge on the Floor
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“Oh my, oh my, I never imagined the noble lady of House Page would be interested in such a lowly job as festival committee work.”
“Hmph! That fox demon can’t even go to the bathroom by herself, can she? That’s why she’s making you apply for this!”
“What did you just say?! Fox demon?”
The cadets heading to the meeting room buzzed with excitement over the fiery exchange between Lady Fenton and Lady Page.
“Why?! Are you saying I’m wrong?!”
“You’re wrong! Completely~ wrong?!”
“If I’m right, I’m right!”
“You’re wrong! Apologize!”
“What?! Are you ordering me around right now?!”
It was shocking enough that prestigious nobles had volunteered for committee roles, but seeing them lace every word with venom like mortal enemies was downright bizarre.
“Wow, so that’s the Page girl who transferred into first year.”
“She really is as pretty as the rumors say.”
“Rumors? Didn’t you see her at finals?”
The student council committee meeting was held in the student council room.
It had the fewest members of any club, yet the facilities—room size, desks, chairs—were the most luxurious.
With one entire wall made of glass, the room basked in brilliant summer sunlight, truly living up to its reputation as the cadets’ dream spot.
“The student council hogs a place like this?”
“I’m jealous for real.”
The rowdy student council room fell silent the next instant as the door swung open.
In the eerie stillness, the current No. 1 cadet at Delaiten—a delicate young man—entered, leading his junior officers.
Everyone stared at them in dazed awe, as if entranced by a silently passing twilight. They carried an air of elegance beyond ordinary cadets.
“?”
Trailing behind with arms full of document stacks, junior officer Rain Ludwig and Christa Warden flinched in surprise.
They had spotted Kasena and Gertrude.
Rain and Christa exchanged glances, shrugged simultaneously in mutual confusion—and that only provoked the two girls endlessly.
“I’m student council president Valensidis. Let’s begin the seasonal festival executive committee meeting now.”
At his words, Rain and Christa promptly distributed minutes to the attendees.
The minutes listed the duties the committee members would divide for the festival, along with tasks for each role.
As a festival run by cadets, it covered everything from complex accounting to simple scheduling and club placements.
“Elody, Rana, Sabellio. You three have handled customer service plenty growing up as merchants’ kids, right?”
“Yes? Oh, yes.”
“Excluding those in clubs prepping major events, you three are perfect for ushering.”
Valensidis deftly and efficiently handled personnel assignments, steering what could have devolved into chaos.
His selections seemed simple but relied on core logic, so more nodded in agreement than objected.
Experience, maybe... Or does he see through everyone’s strengths and weaknesses that sharply? As Rain shot Valensidis a glance, it happened.
“I just don’t get why we need so many inefficient assignments, President Valensidis.”
Her voice was low, but the barbs in it hushed the room.
An inexplicable tension swept through instantly.
The source sat at the center of the third-year seats on the right.
“Maya...”
Vice president Felix sighed, as if dreading this very moment.
Her hair parted by a silver family pin revealed a pristine forehead, while her ideal features hid behind glasses as sharp as a blade.
Kasena tilted her head, poking Gertrude’s side for an explanation. Overwhelmed by the status gap, Gertrude replied.
“Maya Snark. One of the Ten Great Magical Houses, holds the third-year third seat.”
Just as sixteen mid-tier academies sat below the Eight Great ones, ten noble magical houses stood beneath the Five Great.
For reference, Gertrude’s Fenton barony, Felix’s Drake barony, and Special Tasks instructor Doran’s Slade barony all belonged there too.
Valensidis fixed her with a “go on” look, and Maya rose with impeccable noble poise.
“Isn’t the headcount for promotion, ushering, and prep abnormal? Planning to pit every cadet in a contest or something?”
Felix interjected like a mediator.
“The numbers follow tradition.”
“Why stick to tradition?”
“What are you even trying to say?”
“Our Delaiten cadets’ magic isn’t for worthless rabble. It cheapens the empire’s top academy’s dignity.”
Worthless rabble? Dignity?
At that, faint smirks—anger or scorn?—flickered then vanished on two faces almost simultaneously.
Valensidis and Rain Ludwig.
Of course, neither noticed.
“We could minimize these pointless assignments by inviting only VIPs—like mage tower lords or magic alliance heads.”
“...?!”
“That’d benefit cadets who couldn’t network at finals even more.”
Some cadets mulled it over, eyeing each other with tempted glints.
“Delaiten’s seasonal festival is open to all entering the city, by rule.”
Student council treasurer Triwis spoke in his usual emotionless monotone.
“Even those VIPs are strictly selected from formal partners.”
Then, a boy lounging sloppily beside Maya—who’d been filing his nails since the meeting began—spoke up.
“Hey, cut ‘all those people’ in half, and we could invite four or five times more VIPs, right?”
Rowinbelt Kanwer.
Heir to another of the Ten Great Magical Houses, like the Snarks.
“I don’t get the VIP obsession...”
“As third-years now, it’s to set Delaiten right.”
Maya continued.
“Thousands flock to Delaiten for the festival... How many truly grasp magic’s value?”
“Magic’s value?”
“Magic is a power and art for the elite. Only those with our Delaiten education can appreciate the value, talent, effort.”
Gertrude’s eyes gleamed with interest—not at the words, but the committee.
‘All the Ten Houses reps from second- and third-years are here... Even talented minor nobles.’
That meant they’d united under one banner for this. Hmm...
“Wasting time dazzling the masses who only gawk ‘shiny’ or ‘grand’ or ‘cool’ is pointless.”
Maya glanced lightly at the great house heirs for agreement.
Secretary Sandra Kepel yawned boredly as always (she tunes out anything not amusing her), while Christa looked puzzled.
Rain’s face was unreadable, but time to drive it home.
“If the council can’t handle promotion, let us. We’ll invite over a hundred magic bigwigs.”
“...!”
“It’s a golden chance for cadets without connections yet.”
Her words had swayed some; reactions split the engrossed cadets.
“Good idea, right?”
“No, even so...”
“Next finals, they’ll get noticed—sounds amazing?”
Nobles and wealthy commoners nodded approval, while commoners scowled in fierce opposition.
‘This is bad...’
Felix rubbed his forehead.
The committee was fracturing from the start.
Valensidis, silent till now, finally spoke.
“What is magic to you, Maya Snark? A tool to lord over others? Power to dominate?”
“A mark of dignity, I’d say.”
“Hah.”
“What’s funny?”
“Your one-dimensional noble mindset—lording as ‘nobles’—is why the world stagnates. No progress.”
A nearby third-year bristled to his feet, but Maya lightly raised a hand to calm him.
“Let’s hear it. What’s magic to our esteemed president?”
“Magic is opportunity.”
“Opportunity?”
“It gives chances to the nothing. Not bread handouts to the starving—but the chance to buy bread. The chance for the weak, listless, hungry, sick to live humanely at least. Magic’s other name is opportunity.”
Rain’s eyes widened briefly.
Valensidis’s conviction matched the deep-rooted belief of his mentor’s heart perfectly.
- Come with me, child.
If Chancellor Emissa Page thought like Maya, Great Mage Lin would never have graced history books.
Lin might’ve starved young in the slums. Never met Rista, Fride, or Kies.
A world of freedom letting even orphans become great mages—that was magic. Lin loved Emissa’s words.
「The truth shall set you free.」
How could a black mage who sold his soul to the abyss match that brilliance...?
Tricky.
Valensidis was an untrustworthy black mage, an enemy to wary—no desire to defend him...
“And the festival spreads that dream to those who don’t know magic yet. No plans for VIP-only invites.”
His speech was so compelling that even the Ten Houses nobles hesitated by the end.
“If you cling to such naive ideals, we’ve no choice.”
Maya Snark irritably adjusted her glasses, dismissing the mood.
“Only clubs can participate individually in the festival, right?”
“?”
“From now, we’ll disband every club opposing our view. Via magic tournaments—fair and square.”
Even Valensidis faltered, his eyebrows twitching.
A blackmail exploiting Delaiten’s club rules cleverly.
Kasena whispered if that was possible; Gertrude sighed.
“Totally. Delaiten’s merit-based, so they can steal spots by strength.”
“What the hell kind of rule is that?!”
“Meant for healthy self-cleansing originally, but yeah, it can be abused like this. Learned something good from Maya sis.”
Gertrude muttered with faint contempt, but the tactic’s viciousness didn’t end there.
“You know student council can’t force the festival, per rules. Right, Felix?”
“Maya, you don’t mean...!”
“And during festival, no intervening in club disputes.”
Maya smirked victoriously, leaning over the president’s desk, hands planted, toward seated Valensidis.
“You decide. Deny your precious commoner cadets festival entry entirely—or give them a shot at elite circles.”
A silence like the world frozen descended.
No one spoke.
All held breath, watching the nerve war’s path—nine-tenths sealed...
“...”
“...”
“...”
That bone-chilling quiet shattered with pure curiosity.
“By rules, only council officers can’t meddle in club disputes? Non-officers can?”
The tension broke; murmurs erupted.
Rain. Rain Ludwig.
Thinking it support to end things, Maya nodded politely.
“Yes, Young Lord Ludwig.”
Her answer barely landed when ting, ting, ting... a metallic clatter rolled across the floor, slicing the murmurs with timeless hush.
Only the wall clock groaned awareness of time in the stunned silence.
All gawked blankly at the rolling metal piece—and Rain, who’d tossed it casually.
“Then I just quit.”
The thing that bounced like trash across the student council floor, spun to hit Maya’s foot, then flopped lifelessly—was his badge.
Coveted by all Delaiten cadets and even non-admits: proof of excellence.
The embodiment of cadets’ dreams and ideals, earned through cutthroat survival and endless rivalry.
“Quitting the student council.”
The Delaiten student council badge.
At first, no one grasped it. It transcended common sense.
Not until Rain stood facing Maya Snark, declaring war outright.
“You guys use magic that well? Let’s see that great skill of yours.”