There are too many abnormal people in this academy.

The Festival Research Club was the core club for the school festival that comes at the end of every first semester.

It was also a place boasting a long tradition maintained since the early days of the academy’s establishment, but ironically, it was abolished last year.

The person who became its head applied to bring in gunpowder for use in the festival, but the academy repeatedly rejected such requests.

Nevertheless, he smuggled gunpowder into the academy even using illegal routes…

In the end, he blew up one laboratory by accident, and the fire that occurred at that time almost burned down an entire school building if it hadn’t been extinguished.

Despite this, Ludger not only didn’t give up his obsession with gunpowder, but couldn’t hide his ecstasy when faced with the fire scene.

‘It was just a small mistake. If I just… if I just do a little more, I can complete it! Please, give me one more chance!’

What nonsense.

Even then, he was given leniency once with just disciplinary action due to his excellent grades, but that was ultimately just once.

If the same thing is repeated twice, it would be something that could never be forgiven.

“I’ll cut to the chase and ask. Where did you procure the gunpowder?”

“Procure? What do you mean?”

“I’m asking where you procured what you fired from that cannon.”

Maya’s gaze immediately turned to the cannon leaning next to Ludger.

The faint smoke rising from the narrow muzzle indicated that the two cannon shots from earlier had leaked out from that muzzle.

There must have been significant damage where those projectiles fell.

“Ah. You mean this?”

Yet, there was no sign of guilt on his face.

“I happened to come across a very good opportunity, so I made it myself.”

“Made, you say, what do you…”

“Huhuhu, are you curious what I mean?”

A smile slowly forming on his haggard face.

“Well, to put it simply, failure is the mother of success. Explosions caused by chemicals that occur occasionally in experiments such as alchemy… After carefully studying those failures, I was finally able to create gunpowder that can be stably utilized using only the materials provided by the academy.”

“You didn’t procure it, but made it yourself?”

“Yes, President! Do you understand what this means!?”

His body, which had been limp, stretched out.

His eyes looking at Maya began to shine with a strange light.

“It means we can finally achieve what we want in the academy! We’ve finally gathered the parts suitable for the finale that will decorate the perfect festival that everyone can enjoy equally!”

“Don’t talk nonsense. No one wanted such a thing!”

“No, I’m sure the President also wants this! Because you are more faithful to the ideology of Maris that pursues equality than anyone else!”

There was no sign of guilt at all in his bright smile.

Yes, even when the arson incident occurred at that time, witnesses reported such a reaction.

Not only was he in ecstasy watching the burning laboratory, but he was so absorbed in it that he even begged and pleaded with the Disciplinary Committee trying to restrain him.

A sight that anyone would see as crazy, unbecoming of his position as an academic high achiever.

Maya, having only heard about it in reports, didn’t think the person would be this mentally deranged.

‘No… thinking about it carefully, it’s not surprising. There are many abnormal people in this academy.’

She knows the reason.

From the start, this academy recruits students from the entire continent.

While that means diverse students gather, among those commonly called geniuses, a not insignificant proportion are often called eccentrics.

The female student who used the same dormitory as Maya when she first entered middle school was like that.

‘What? You’re taking a cabbage for a walk?’

‘Is there a problem?’

‘No, but it’s a cabbage…’

Every morning, a cabbage…

That is, a female student who engaged in the eccentric behavior of putting a leash on a vegetable growing in the field and taking it for walks.

She gave serious reasons like being a vegetarian, or that this was a culture in her hometown, or that it’s better for the environment than keeping pets, but to others, it just looked like crazy behavior.

Of course, she didn’t cause any other problems, but that was only because her eccentricity was carried out in a non-violent way.

Misdirected eccentricity is impossible to control because it’s impossible to persuade within common sense.

‘Waden, have you been dealing with such people all along and still reported so calmly?’

He hadn’t done anything wrong, but she started to feel resentful towards him for no reason.

Like a man stiffer than a woodpecker.

“…I thought you had come to your senses during your suspension, but I was careless.”

“Hehehe, I tried to suppress my desires somehow until I left this academy. But coincidentally, as I’m facing graduation this year… I ended up doing it because I didn’t want to throw away the last chance of my lifetime.”

Even after graduation, no one would care what he did outside the academy.

It seemed that what this guy was aiming for was not just utilizing gunpowder, but trying to achieve something within this academy.

“What exactly are you aiming for?”

“For everyone in this academy to witness the same fireworks I saw at that time!”

Soon Ludger spread both arms and shouted proudly.

“The moment everyone sees the fire filling the sky visible to all those on the ground, they will realize. That the equality Maris pursues is achieved by explosion… and even bigger explosions!! Oh yes, this is the path Maris should take!”

“I’m tired of listening to the nonsense of an eccentric!!”

The words of a madman are less valuable than the cries of beasts.

The moment the school supplies she immediately pulled out were thrown, Ludger gathered mana in his body and deployed a shield in front.

School supplies bouncing off the physical barrier.

The fact that he easily deflected them despite the aura imbued in them means that his ability is also excellent, comparable to her own.

It’s natural.

The opponent is the (former) valedictorian of the third year of high school. If he hadn’t become a pyromaniac, he would have been the person to graduate from this academy with the most excellent grades.

“Huhuhu, you probably won’t understand even if I explain. But don’t worry, preparations are complete, so soon when the time comes, everyone will know what ideal I’m pursuing!”

“Stop right there!!”

Ludger jumped off the clock tower while hugging the cannon.

Maya also jumped after him and began to target Ludger’s back as he sprinted across the playground.

The pens sharpened by mana should exert powerful penetration within range.

-Clang!

But immediately after, the thrown projectiles were blocked by someone who intruded between the two, and they all bounced off and fell to the ground.

The moment someone stepped in front to protect Ludger.

“Who on earth…!”

“Oh my, who do we have here~ I see a very welcome face right after getting out of the punishment building.”

A man boldly presenting himself in front of the bewildered Maya.

What Maya felt when she faced him was intense anger.

Blonde hair with darkly tanned skin, sunglasses covering his eyes, and a slovenly appearance created by adjusting the fit of his uniform as he pleased.

“Sean Goldroff…”

“Ahaha~ It’s been a long time since we met like this, but you remember well. Have you been well, President?”

There’s no way she could forget.

The opponent was one of the worst troublemakers recognized by the entire school, who had caused the most problems currently in school.

‘Sean Goldroff. Unlike Ludger, he didn’t cause incidents severe enough to warrant expulsion, but that’s why he’s even worse…’

Yes, the opponent is someone who doesn’t cause problems himself, but only creates the opportunity for them.

He generally approaches students who are likely to cause problems secretly, persuades them, and induces them to break school rules.

Yet he cleanly erases traces of his involvement to avoid punishment, or receives only minimal punishment.

Unlike Ludger who received heavy disciplinary action, he has been causing accidents just barely within the line of not receiving severe punishment, making him Maris’s headache that was even cautious about convening a disciplinary committee according to school rules.

I heard Waden had arrested him and put him in the punishment building recently, but has his release date already come?

“…I see. So you were involved.”

No, whatever the case, what’s important now is that he protected Ludger.

“What do you mean?”

Sean Goldroff raised his sunglasses and expressed doubt at her words.

Maya, thinking he was feigning ignorance as usual, glared at him fiercely and shouted.

“The Ludger student I’m currently pursuing said this. That he committed this incident after obtaining a ‘good opportunity’ necessary for manufacturing gunpowder in this academy.”

Who could have provided that good opportunity?

That can be understood just by the fact that the guy in front of her blocked the pursuit target.

“Yes, you were the culprit who stimulated Ludger and made him commit this incident.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about~ I just joined in because it looked fun, that’s all.”

Sean Goldroff shrugged his shoulders while laughing at her words.

Anyway, he’s playing dumb as usual. Thinking this, Maya raised her guard, and his gaze moved slightly towards where Ludger had fled.

“But now I understand the situation roughly. In short, President, you want to punish our senior Ludger for manufacturing gunpowder in this academy… Is that it?”

“Of course. From the start, possession of gunpowder is strictly regulated in this academy. If he wasn’t an academic high achiever, it would have been a situation where he could have been expelled immediately without any room for argument!”

“Eh, that’s not right~ Even if you’re a high-ranking person, President, isn’t your thinking too extreme?”

“What…”

“As far as I know, what’s strictly prohibited by school rules is ‘bringing in and possessing gunpowder’… If that’s the case, isn’t our senior Ludger innocent?”

The answer that came back to the bewildered Maya.

Then Sean shrugged his shoulders and explained his thoughts to Maya.

“I mean, senior clearly ‘made’ it, right? He didn’t bring and use gunpowder from the beginning, he just combined things that were in this academy to make it… Even if it has explosive power, it’s just similar to an explosion, and if you name it something other than gunpowder, can’t it be said that it’s not gunpowder?”

“…Are you saying he’s innocent because there are no school rules specified for ‘handmade items’?”

Yes, this guy was always like this.

The act of interpreting only what’s written in the law book in a distorted way.

It’s a rhetoric commonly used by lawyers defending villains.

“Researching this and that with failed products can also be counted as part of experiments. If you think that way, the punishment our senior would receive seems like it would end with a light punishment for misuse of experimental items…”

“There’s a clause in Maris’s school rules that a disciplinary committee can be convened at the discretion of the student council president, regardless of the school rules.”

But coincidentally, the situation is too bad now.

While things like cigarettes and alcohol he had brought in so far are in the realm of preference items, gunpowder is clearly in the realm of weapons.

There’s a danger that the very thing Waden so hated and tried to exclude from this academy even at the risk of his life could be mass-produced in this academy.

As the president, how could she just sit still?

“If that student is judged innocent, I will take responsibility too, so I can’t abuse it, but if the subject is dealing with gunpowder, anyone would understand.”

“…Wow, now that the rules don’t work, you’re going to crush with power?”

“Yes. This time, I intend to steel my resolve. All the more so as I’m starting to guess why you’ve been causing problems so far…”

Yes, the opponent is a person belonging to a high noble family of the Empire.

Of course, school rules would be applied equally regardless of family, but causing problems in Maris itself could be a stain on the family.

Nevertheless, if he still causes problems, there are two possible reasons to consider.

Either he’s in a state of despair because he’s losing in the succession fight in the family or being treated as an outcast child anyway.

Or it’s a case where he can endure even abandoning his family himself for the sake of his own goals.

“Don’t tell me, are you aiming for the collapse of this Maris?”

Maybe.

Maybe the troublemaker in front of her is just pretending to be a troublemaker and is cooperating with external criminal organizations?

Could it be that even the small problems he’s caused so far were just tricks to make their maneuvers easier?

In front of Maya, who was swayed by such anxiety, Sean soon burst into laughter and said.

“Well, that’s not entirely wrong.”

-Swish!

As soon as she heard the answer, multiple school supplies were pulled out from her bosom.

All of them began to be sharpened in mid-air, responding to Maya’s will.

“Maya Karis, current student council president of Maris. I will now engage in combat with a problem student.”

As if to show her determination to dirty her hands if it’s for protecting this Maris.

Even if it means not hesitating to make such a resolve.

---

And Waden as well.

‘…This is the transaction site.’

The cold metal sensation still felt in his bosom.

While fidgeting with it due to anxiety, Waden’s gaze began to turn towards the building that those he had been tailing entered.