The Royal Lichberg Magic Academy Student Council.
At our academy, only the Council President is chosen by election; the winner then scouts the other officers.
The mere fact of having served on the Lichberg Magic Academy Student Council attaches considerable prestige to your name.
Because of that, candidates pour in every year without end, and this is what they eventually landed on.
Last year, Reina Milfonti — apprentice of [Floné the Lightning Strike] — won brilliantly despite being a first-year, and built her organization centered around third-year students.
The students who’d supported her have since graduated, and the current Council is conspicuously short-staffed.
If I recall correctly, it’s just Karen and one second-year senior.
“Reina has already served as Council President, and Roida-san has been carrying over from last year. So even for first-years like yourselves, the environment is comfortable, I would think……”
In terms of the work itself, I have no resistance.
If I’m walked through it once, I’m confident I can handle most of the duties.
The reason I don’t want to join the Council is that I don’t want Milfonti surveilling me.
Unless they offer benefits that outweigh the downside of surveillance, this conversation will run in parallel lines forever.
So I decided to play my trump card early.
“Why are you nominating me in the first place? There’s no merit in putting me, who can’t use magic, onto the Council.”
Naturally, Council officers are expected to have standing.
And this term, the Council President is the [Child Loved by the Gods] — Reina Milfonti.
Would the general student body really accept me sitting in the right-hand-man seat — the Vice President’s chair — beside her?
Without question, a strong backlash would erupt.
You don’t need to be a fortune teller to predict that.
“To begin with, Senior Roida should just take the Vice President seat. Especially given the experience.”
“Hmm, that’s a difficult one. Roida-san has refused the Vice President role, too, you see.”
“If even an experienced person turns down a position, isn’t it a fair reason for me not to want it either?”
“I think your abilities make you suited for it without issue. Or do you mean to suggest that [Floné the Lightning Strike] could have misjudged?”
“Your generous evaluation overwhelms me.”
Honestly, the fact that the Headmistress is pushing this hard tells me she really thinks well of my abilities.
She must have had her eye on me since the duel with Crown Prince Arnia.
If she gauged my real strength from that brief exchange — that only ratchets up my own threat level for her.
“Joining the Council will, without question, add prestige to your future. It’s a title you couldn’t acquire even by paying.”
“I’m the eldest son of one of the four ducal houses. After graduation, I already have things I want to do. I don’t particularly enjoy being tied up in obligations.”
”…… So you absolutely will not accept, then.”
A sigh from the Headmistress echoed through the room.
A heavy air spread, and it seemed the negotiations were about to end.
…… But the eyes turning toward me hadn’t given up at all.
As if she had a card to flip an unfavorable situation……
“In that case — how about a deal like this.”
The Headmistress lifted her face, grabbed me by the shoulder, and said:
“If you accept the Vice President role, I’ll let you do whatever you please with Reina.”
”…… What?”
"""Whaaaaaat!?"""
The ones who jumped at this proposal were Mashiro and Karen, who had been watching the whole exchange holding their breaths.
They closed the distance to the Headmistress at once and launched into fierce protest.
“What are you saying, Headmistress! No more fiancées!”
“Isn’t the Council President your precious apprentice!? You can’t decide things like that without the person herself present!!”
“My, my. I’d think Mister Veret would be no problem at all? A heart capable of moving so much for the sake of a single individual — those don’t come around often.”
“But there’s the Council President’s own feelings……!”
“That child would surely be pleased.”
“——Why?”
I pulled Mashiro and Karen back and faced the Headmistress.
Eye-to-eye, to read whatever emotion I could.
“Why can you say that with such certainty?”
”…… Fufu, that’s an easy answer. That child resembles me deeply. I certainly wouldn’t pass up the chance to become family to one of the four ducal houses.”
”…… I see.”
The reason I’d pressed this far is that the Headmistress’s attitude had been bothering me.
I’d been watching her the whole time — this old woman’s emotional state hadn’t wavered in the slightest…… her expression had barely changed.
She’s a hero who’d torn through battlefields where her life was on the line — but where does this clearly-abnormal level of confidence come from?
I had an idea about the answer.
I wanted to confirm it — which is why I was taking on the risk of confronting her this directly.
Let me, too, throw down a bet.
I’ll provoke her and pull this old hag’s true nature out into view.
”……Can you really offer up a precious beloved apprentice for the sake of this — for the Council?”
“Yes, of course. You have that much value.”
“I’ll say it as many times as needed — I don’t think so.”
“Values vary by person. More important than that, right now, is your feeling, Mister Veret…… isn’t it? How about it? Reina is a promising prospect who attracts marriage proposals from many influential noble houses, but for you — I’d be willing to give her up.”
“——My apologies.”
“Kya.”
“Wah.”
I slipped my arms around Mashiro’s and Karen’s waists and pulled them close.
The two of them let out cute voices mixed of embarrassment and delight, and pressed against me as if accepting it.
That Council President can never produce a gesture this tickling to a man’s heart.
A girl who, whenever you see her, only wears the same crafted Noh-mask smile — never.
If even I, who’ve known her about a month, feel something off, there’s no way Floné — who’s been with her as her own apprentice — hasn’t.
So with that irony layered in, I said:
“I’m not interested in dolls.”
In an instant, the sensation of a chill running down my spine.
The previously gentle air transformed at once into something tremendously heavy.
To reassure the two in my arms, I tightened my grip.
I bore the pressure pressing in on me, refusing to look away from the source.
“My…… how unfortunate.”
A thick, viscous tone of voice.
It was no longer the same friendly Headmistress — it was something else…… if I had to put it bluntly, an expression on the [evil (our)] side was peeking through.
”…… Heh.”
S-scaaaaary!!
If I’d been alone, I might have retreated right then. There was that level of bottomless force.
So she got angry at her beloved apprentice being mocked? …… No, that’s not it.
But this told me what I’d wanted to know.
And the provocation strategy has another effect.
It lowers her opinion of me.
If I’d let things continue, the conversation wouldn’t have ended. So I had to make her not want to invite me anymore.
That reaction definitely tanked her opinion of me.
She won’t be choosing me again after this.
Heh heh heh…… genius after all.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
“Yes, after being told that, I suppose there’s no helping it. Until next time.”
Holding the two of them close, I left the Headmistress’s office. Once Alice had closed the door, I started walking toward the classroom.
Mashiro and Karen, who’d been stunned by the air, were gradually returning to their own pace as they got away from it.
“Wh-what came over you, Ouga? It’s so unusual — you, badmouthing someone.”
”…… Mashiro, do you think I’d say something like that for no reason?”
“Eh!? You mean that exchange had a deeper meaning too……?”
“Exactly.”
I nodded meaningfully.
The truth was I just didn’t want to be on the Council, but there’s no need to explain the real reason.
Sorry, Mashiro — I’ll be making use of this misunderstanding.
“E-even so, did you have to go that far……?”
“No, that is incorrect, Lady Lebetsenka. ……I felt it. Lord Ouga’s intent — clearly.”
I’d thought it was possible, given that Alice is unusually sensitive to evil.
Yes, no question.
That anger earlier wasn’t about her beloved apprentice (Reina) being insulted.
It felt more like…… a darkness I can’t quite articulate yet was being harbored within her.
She gave me a glimpse of that fascinating part for only an instant, though.
“There was no emotion of anger in her eyes.”
And what filled them before the emotion changed was — confidence.
Why did she think a sudden marriage proposal would work?
That Headmistress thinks Reina can be treated however she likes.
Because at the root of her thinking is an apprentice must absolutely obey her master.
She sees her beloved apprentice (Reina) as nothing more than her tool.
I was sure of it — because she had the same eyes as my supervisor in my past life.
”…… I think I’ll change how I interact with her, a little.”
A sprouting sympathy.
…… Come to think of it, I’ve heard rumored that the Council President is good at brewing tea.
Maybe I’ll stop by and meet her after school today.
I thought such carefree thoughts as I walked slowly down the corridor where the pre-bell was ringing.
But, at this point, I didn’t yet know.
That I was about to be made to understand, beyond all doubt, that she was a legendary individual.
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