episode_0030

30. I made it.

“I support Duke Philip. If you want to vote for me, please pick Duke Philip.”

I bit my lip at Lucien’s surprise announcement.

‘Oh my… I got hit.’

It was like that.

Duke Philip had done the unification that I had tried to do.

And it wasn’t just the elf princess.

“I, Konstantin Berno, will also leave. Please vote for Duke Philip instead of me.”

Surprisingly, the Archmage also supported him.

As far as I know, roughly 4th and 5th place were Lucien and Constantine. And those two declared their support for Duke Philip.

I don’t know what they did.

However, Duke Philip immediately gained a significant number of votes.

In an instant, the expressions of the hero and I hardened. The warrior also realized the seriousness of the matter.

‘It’s ruined…?’

Perhaps, the predicted number one spot would have immediately changed to Duke Philip. This had that much of an impact.

Duke Philip didn’t smile confidently for no reason.

‘If this happens, Duke Philip will definitely win.’

At that time, I heard Duke Philip’s boasting voice next to me. He was in such a good mood that, unlike usual, he even boasted to his subordinates.

“Haha! It’s no big deal. It’s much better for both of us if I get elected than if the hero and the mercenary king just get elected. You dug into this point well.”

‘Ha, did you? Just like you did to me…!’

In the special department, there are five candidates who are very strong candidates for the final chief position.

Me, a warrior, a saint, an archmage, an elf princess. There were five people like this. These five people inevitably had no choice but to keep each other in check.

That’s why I couldn’t unify with the Archmage and the Elf Princess. From my point of view, it was better for those two to become dukes rather than overrepresentatives.

And Duke Philip took advantage of this point.

Of course, those two wouldn’t have just voted.

Perhaps, a separate secret agreement was made?

‘Tsk, I guess he promised to provide convenience to both of them through his authority as head of the department.’

Anyway, it was a very bad situation.

It could be said that it would be very difficult to overturn this.

And Duke Philip knew that well.

He turned his head and looked at me. He seemed well aware that I was listening to his story.

“So why did you refuse an alliance with me?”

He gave me a snake-like smile. There was no Imoogi as I thought.

And in that situation, it was my turn to speak.

I slowly got up from my seat.

Then he looked at Duke Philip.

Clearly, the current situation was very bleak. It was almost impossible to overturn this. This was because time was very tight.

But I instead smiled at the duke.

Grinning.

“Hmm?”

It wasn’t a forced smile. It was a very natural yet confident smile.

After that, he started to slowly climb up onto the platform.

‘Phew, I can’t help it. I really didn’t want to bring it up…’

Even I couldn’t decide if it was a good move to bring this up here. Still, I couldn’t give up after coming this far.

I went up to the podium with an expression that said there was nothing I could do.

Waaa-!!

Anyway, many people were cheering me on.

Mainly, there were many students from the average department. I hadn’t forgotten that I had given true education to the Iljin members last time.

Of course, regular students did not have the right to vote. So it just felt good.

Still, this atmosphere itself did not have any influence on voters. The special department students looked slightly surprised by the enthusiastic cheering.

I thought my popularity was amazing.

Of course, that was only for a moment.

Soon they looked at me with pitiful faces.

I also developed a lot of affection for the special department students. It was thanks to the magic paper bribe.

So everyone had sympathy for me. This was because they also knew the situation well.

Already, many people were confident of the Duke’s victory. In fact, it could be seen that there was no way to overturn this.

But for me there was only one way. It was a method that no one here had thought of.

And I wanted to avoid using this as much as possible.

But I couldn’t help it.

‘I wanted to hide it as much as possible, but…’

I opened my mouth with a stern expression.

I saw a lot of people looking at me. Everyone looked like they weren’t expecting much.

But soon their faces became filled with astonishment.

It had to be that way.

Because I dropped a huge bomb right from the start.

“I made magic paper.”

“……!!!”

***

The noisy gymnasium became quiet due to my words.

I thought it was because it was so unexpected.

Of course, it was only for a moment.

Murmur.

Noisy.

Soon the surroundings were in chaos.

This was something that had no choice but to happen.

“Ma, that’s ridiculous! A mercenary created that great magic paper?!”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No! Even if you are a mercenary king, pranks like that are not good…!”

“How can a magic swordsman create magic like that?!”

Naturally, no one believed me.

I was definitely a magic swordsman. It was said that he knew how to use both magic and swordsmanship.

However, I had a prejudice that it was awkward. Additionally, there was a prejudice that only attack magic was used.

And that became toxic. No one wanted to believe me.

It was preyed upon by the magic swordsman’s prejudice.

‘Ha, I’m different.’

Because of my teacher, I learned a lot of different magic. And thanks to that, I was able to make magic paper.

But they didn’t know that. So they didn’t believe me.

Soon the atmosphere became increasingly hostile.

In particular, the warrior even openly slandered in a loud voice.

“Ha! You made magic paper? That’s ridiculous! How can something so amazing be made with magic that has no basis?!”

And many people sympathized with the warrior’s voice.

The hero was in the same party as me. Perhaps that’s why there were quite a few people who believed what he said.

“Disappointed? Is it because the situation is so urgent that you have taken unreasonable measures?”

The Duke also voiced his disappointment.

Of course, it was all audible to my sensitive ears.

but…

Sigh.

Instead, I smiled.

I couldn’t have expected this kind of reaction and brought up the story about magic paper.

I slowly put my hand into my arms.

It looked somewhat relaxed.

And when people saw that, they stopped making a fuss. It was because he looked so relaxed that they couldn’t understand it.

Soon I took out a thick object from my arms.

It was a square wad of white paper.

To be exact, it was something that looked like a wad of paper. There seemed to be about hundreds of pages.

I held it out in front of me.

And then he spoke confidently.

“All the paper here is magic paper.”

Murmur.

People looked slightly surprised at the large amount.

But that was all.

Everyone looked like they were saying ‘What is that?’

This was because it was an amount that anyone could raise if they just poured money into it.

But I had to listen to everything people said.

I opened my mouth once again.

“Everyone isn’t really surprised. All of this is study gallery paper…”

“……!!!”

And people looked genuinely surprised at those words.

Study galleries are very rare. It was correct to see it as a rare item(?). It wasn’t for nothing that only students in special departments could use it.

But I had hundreds of them. This was something that couldn’t be obtained with money.

“That’s a lie! Where are you telling such ridiculous lies…!!”

At that time, the warrior shouted loudly. Even though he said he was good at lying, he thought others were lying too.

I actually laughed at him.

And soon he showed everyone a special performance.

“Oh, of course you can’t see it from far away. So I have a special gift for everyone. Let’s check it out for yourself.”

Soon my hands glowed.

Then, a surprising phenomenon occurred.

Strangely enough.

Srrr.

In an instant, the magic paper began flying in all directions.

It felt like snowflakes made of white paper were fluttering.

The entire gym was filled with white paper.

Aside from being amazing, it was a very beautiful sight.

Everyone looked at the pure white paper as if fascinated.

And it didn’t end there.

Incredibly.

Flap-!!

“Oh! It’s coming to me!”

“Me, me too!”

“It landed in my hand by itself!”

Each and every piece of paper went into the hands of each person present in the gym.

Even in the hands of the warrior who was shouting loudly, in the hands of Duke Philip with his face frozen, and in the hands of the saint who was looking at the ceiling as if it was beautiful.

Everyone held a piece of magic paper in their hands.

It was as if a piece of paper was automatically placed in each person’s hand.

It was a skill that could truly be called a miracle.

‘He can do this because he is the magic swordsman you all laughed at.’

I put on a confident expression.

Now it’s time for a response.

And immediately the response I had been waiting for came.

omg-!

crazy-!!

Was it real?!!

A startled sound began to echo throughout the gym. This was because people came to their senses and checked the magic paper.

“ji, it’s really study gallery paper!!”

“This large amount is all a study gallery?!”

“Wait, this is definitely an amount you can’t get no matter how much money you have.”

“And the amazing skill you just showed. I guess the mercenary king really made magic paper!”

“I can’t believe it… I never thought a real mercenary would make magic paper…!”

Everyone sounded surprised. This was such an unbelievable situation.

Murmur.

I watched people’s surprise for a moment. Everyone seemed to need some time to calm down.

Meanwhile, I just looked at the warrior’s face with his mouth wide open. Otherwise, Duke Philip’s completely crumpled face was also worth seeing.

So I gave people some time to calm down.

After that, he began to give a short speech with a sincere expression.

“I wanted to create a world where everyone could talk freely.”

Everyone focused on my story.

The pitiful look on his face from earlier had all disappeared.