Ch.233233. Judgment

“…The club establishment has been approved.”

Inside a dilapidated building on the verge of collapse, Elia put the official document back into its envelope.

“…”

“…”

Unfortunately, despite achieving our goal, not a single person seemed happy about it.

“…Yay.”

Elia timidly raised her hand to celebrate, but quickly closed her mouth when confronted with the terribly depressing aura emanating from around her.

Actually, Riru and I are fine.

Nine-tenths of this atmosphere is coming from Serath, who’s staring into space as if his soul has left his body.

“…W-well, it happens, Serath. She’s your sister, right? Since she’s family, she might understand—ow, ow! T-teacher? Why?”

I slap Elia’s arm repeatedly to shut her up as she tries to continue.

What she’s trying to touch on is one of Serath’s most sensitive issues. Mentioning it at all is like stepping on a landmine.

If I search my memories, I recall seeing a system window related to Serath:

< Quest Info >

< Special Quest: The Ultimate Mastermind! >

[ ‘Serath Evatrice’ related quest is now available! ]

[ Upon completion, the target will obey you! ]

[ Upon completion, you will receive massive benefits for the main scenario! ]

[ Upon completion, you will become the master of ‘Crescent Moon’s Oath’! ]

This window appeared when I first contacted him through Bizla, the exorcist I met while fighting Valkarsus.

If I recall what I said back then…

-I know the whereabouts of the item you’re looking for.

…I remember saying something like that.

The “item” I was referring to is Victoria, whom I met before.

His sister whom he was separated from ten years ago. Serath’s only remaining blood relative.

Just by casually mentioning to Bizla that I roughly knew her whereabouts, I immediately gained his cooperation.

That means pretty much everyone close to him knows how obsessed he is with this.

[…You realize the more you explain, the worse you sound, right?]

“…”

[You showed that side of yourself in front of someone so important to you.]

I can’t argue with that.

While I’m awkwardly clearing my throat internally, Elia suddenly claps her hands to divert attention.

“L-let’s not be like this! How about we meet again at this time tomorrow? We’ll officially start club activities tomorrow anyway!”

Her intention was clearly to end the meeting quickly, but it was definitely a better option than sitting here wallowing in gloom together.

Eventually, everyone reluctantly nodded.

Riru kept glancing nervously at Serath, while Serath continued to look like his soul had departed as they both headed outside the building.

“…Well then.”

I was about to leave the clubroom too when Elia urgently grabbed my arm.

“Hey, I need to talk to you alone, teacher!”

“…”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, thinking she might be up to something strange again, but she looked unusually desperate.

Seeing how different this was from her usual clingy behavior, I finally sighed and sat back down.

“…What is it?”

After scratching her head, Elia chewed on her words before speaking with difficulty.

“…Y-you know how important clubs are at Elphante, right?”

“That’s why we went through all that trouble.”

I answered as if stating the obvious.

That’s why it’s mandatory in the school rules. To build connections within the academy before graduating.

“…B-but…”

Elia continued with uncharacteristic nervousness, sweating profusely.

“Th-there’s a support system within Elphante for clubs…”

“…”

Seeing her like this, I can roughly guess what she’s about to say.

“Let me guess.”

I interrupt her with a sigh.

“There are people who want to sponsor us?”

Elia’s eyes widened in surprise, so I must have guessed correctly.

‘…It would be stranger if they didn’t come.’

Sponsoring a club means becoming its patron. They provide resources for our activities, and in return, we share the “results” of our activities with them.

At a place like Elphante, it’s not uncommon for clubs to develop equipment or talent that’s useful in real-world situations, so it’s not an unreasonable system.

And this Exorcism Club would be quite attractive in that regard.

No matter how much I try to stay under the radar, Elia, a hero, is a member. And while my presence might not be at that level of recognition, it’s certainly not negligible either.

People with sharp ears and keen eyes are everywhere. They probably had their eyes on us from the moment Elia and I started bustling about creating this club.

“But so far, these should be people we can fend off, right? Let’s just politely decline—”

“…The thing is…”

Elia handed me something while sweating profusely.

“This came with the club approval document. W-would you like to read it?”

“…?”

I take the document she’s offering and scan through it.

It’s a list of people hoping to sponsor us.

And suddenly, a window appears before my eyes.

< System Message >

[ Confirming the establishment of the ‘Club’! ]

[ Confirming a special level of interest in this group! ]

[ How you operate the club will determine the progression of the upcoming Main Quest – Chapter 5, ‘The Great Imperial Turmoil’! ]

“…”

What the hell.

I haven’t even checked what’s written yet, but these ominous messages are everywhere.

Special level of interest? The progression of Chapter 5 depends on how we operate?

“…”

I won’t know just by thinking about it.

Let’s check it out.

With that thought, I read through the document Elia handed me.

“…This person doesn’t miss anything.”

I mutter as I set aside the top document stamped with the imperial family’s seal.

Nothing strange about that. The Emperor was sitting in the front row during our club presentation.

Fortunately, this is something I can handle with some persuasion. He tends to cooperate well with me.

And next…

“…What are these people doing here.”

Duke Tristan. Margrave Kendrid.

Even this far… is a bit excessive, but not completely incomprehensible.

These are all people I have personal connections with. This level can still be handled through conversation.

But what comes next…

“Tribal Union chiefs…?”

“…Yes.”

If it were from Kasa, I might understand, but she’s quiet while chiefs I barely know are sending this.

As if they personally want to get acquainted with us.

And the level of what they’re offering…

“…They’ll share all their research findings from the past two years?”

“…Yes.”

Elia answered with a somewhat dazed expression.

“Even when the Empire offered an entire territory before, they were ignored.”

“…”

“And now they’re offering to give it to sponsor a club…”

By the end of her sentence, her voice had changed to an almost tearful tone, and I could fully sympathize with the situation.

At this point, it’s clearly abnormal to anyone looking.

No matter how monstrous my achievements have been and even with Elia in the club, there’s absolutely no reason for such powerful figures to be this enthusiastically interested.

To be frank, we haven’t even announced the club’s name, purpose, or what results we’ll achieve. There’s no logical reason for this.

And that suspicion turned into certainty when I reached the next page.

“…”

When I looked at Elia with an expression asking if this was real, she nodded with a still tearful face.

“…The Pontiff?”

“…Yes.”

“…The Pontiff of the Holy Empire?”

“…Yes.”

“…”

What the hell are you doing here?

Why would you sponsor me?

My head starts to throb. My temples feel compressed.

And it doesn’t end there. As soon as I see the name of the group written on the next page, my face begins to contort horribly.

“…Elia.”

I barely open my mouth with a trembling voice.

“Am I seeing this correctly?”

“…Yes.”

“…”

I feel dizzy.

“When was the last time the Demonic Spire contacted an outside group?”

I mutter, almost groaning, looking at the Demonic Spire’s seal stamped on the document.

The single strongest, worst, and most formidable group in this world.

The technological center of this world, which even the Tribal Union can’t compete with.

While other countries are stuck in medieval to early modern periods, these guys are practically living in a sci-fi world.

‘…Information must have leaked outside.’

Otherwise, there’s no reason for these insane, closed-off fanatics to send something like this to us.

The “authority” to freely handle powers related to “demons” is, as Headmaster Walter said, an ability that would make every group on the continent drool.

I don’t know if information has flowed that precisely, but if even a hint of our connection to that power leaked, it could attract this kind of attention.

“…Tell them we’ll put it on hold. Let’s buy some time.”

I say that while clutching my throbbing head.

For now, this is honestly the only solution. At this level, they won’t give up just because we verbally decline, and we don’t have enough information to make a definitive choice.

A window has even appeared linking this to the main quest. I can’t make a hasty decision.

“About that, we can definitely put the sponsorship requests on hold, but…”

“…What else is there?”

I respond with a bewildered voice to Elia, who is now trembling from head to toe.

“…W-well, all clubs must recruit members. The club president and secretary have an obligation to review students who wish to join…”

Elia recited the contents of the school rules with her eyes tightly shut.

“…That’s obvious. But why—”

I start to speak but suddenly close my mouth, feeling a chill run down my spine.

If my memory serves me correctly.

The president of this club is me, and the secretary is Elia.

That means we have to review those who want to join our club.

“…”

Let me make a simple deduction.

Just now, these incredibly powerful figures were desperately rushing in just for “sponsorship.”

But.

For “members” who can directly interact with us internally, how far would they have gone?

“…This came in.”

Elia handed me something with trembling hands.

“…”

I take a deep breath, looking at the stack of papers that’s visibly thick enough to make my head spin.

No, can I even call it a stack of papers?

I can clearly see it’s been compressed through magical formulas multiple times. If actually laid out, it would probably fill this entire space.

“…How many?”

“…”

“It should be written on the first page. How many people applied to join? How many are there?”

With a pale face, Elia covered her face with both hands and muttered like a groan.

“…A little over 10,000…”

“…”

“W-we have to, r-review all those people…”

“…”

The number alone is 10,000.

How many “big shots” whose presence here makes no sense would be among them? I don’t even want to imagine.

“…”

Ah.

Fuck.