episode_0090
by fnovelpia
The good thing about joining the student council is that you get to know every nook and cranny of the academy.
All roads lead to the Student Council.
The student union building is located in a small corner of the academy, but from that corner, you can intervene in all the academy’s events, gossip, and courses.
When something happens, the first place the faculty looks is the student council.
Likewise, students knock on the door of the student union whenever they have a problem or something to discuss.
Every time that happens, Vice President Scarlett smiles and offers tea to the students who have come from far away. Seeing the talented people of the continent who fall for that smile and tell stories that are not true, I can’t help but shake my head.
The bundle of stories they bring here never leaks out.
Yes, that’s right.
Although it does not flow out to the ‘outside’, inside the student union building, you can chew, tear, taste, and enjoy all kinds of gossip and secret stories.
So, if there is anyone who enjoys Guanyin, this student council is the perfect fit. The power of this vast amount of information given to a mere student is truly astonishing.
The only good thing is that Chairman David is a decent person, and Scarlett, although she may seem like a loose-lipped woman at first glance, is actually a woman who knows how to keep her word?
“Oh, you’re here?”
Those two people welcomed me as I entered the student union building. It was a sunny noon.
“You’re late.”
“Is that so? I think it’s about right… .”
“No~ I was just about to start. Come on, sit down, pretty junior.”
“……”
The contrasting reactions of David, who only glances at me with his eyes, and Scarlett, who welcomes me with open arms, are familiar.
However, when you first see two people who are as polar opposites as water and fire, some people are bound to feel unfamiliar.
Like that student sitting there looking dumb.
He didn’t even look at me because he was just sitting there blankly. He just thought, “One more student council member has arrived.”
“Uh, Uh… Are you all here?”
“Yeah.”
He fidgets and twitches his hands, which are neatly folded together.
He sits on a chair in the middle of the reception room, his feet tapping. The gold epaulettes on his shoulders prove his status. First class.
In the academy, or at least within this system, class is status. If you are a first-class student, even in the commercial district, you are looked upon with amazement.
And I know that guy’s name.
“Henri Le Bellois?”
He is the second son of the Marquis of our Kingdom of Primira.
Well, I didn’t know them, but they were on the list I found out after joining the student council. There’s no one in the first class that I don’t know. They’ll all be useful someday-
“Beatrice!?”
Whether he was happy to see a student from the same class as Primera, he abruptly stood up from his seat with a creaking sound of his chair being dragged.
“hak, was it the student council? I couldn’t see it very well… .”
“… ?”
Judging by his reaction, he seemed to know me.
Actually, I don’t know him.
The person he knows is probably the real Beatrice, the heroine before I possessed her.
I never thought I’d meet someone who knew the old Beatrice at the Academy. I thought I wouldn’t have to pretend to be Beatrice anymore…
Suddenly I start having a headache.
After thinking about how I would have treated her if it had been the real Beatrice and not me, I answered.
Maybe it was something like this…?
“Hello… huh?”
“?”
“… Nice to meet you!”
I imitated the image of a model noble girl, recalling Beatrice from the novel.
But when I saw Henri staring blankly at me, it didn’t seem to be that. So I quickly changed my attitude.
It was a moment when an awkward silence was about to flow.
It was David who saved me when I was in trouble.
“Beatrice.”
Thanks to the chairman who always seemed cautious, I found a loophole.
He answered his call quickly.
“Yeah.”
“Let’s sit down first. We don’t have much time. Henri, you seem relaxed since you haven’t seen your hometown friend in a long time. How about we share the joy of our reunion later?”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Henri sat down again.
Then, like before, he started fidgeting and shaking his legs. The three of us in the student council sat facing him and watched him.
Once I got out of the awkward situation of having nothing to talk about with a guy who knew the old Beatrice, I became curious about the reason Henri had come to the student union hall.
We sometimes do things like counseling students about their concerns… .
“Hey, would you like some tea first? You can relax and talk slowly. We never, ever, reveal secrets. Right?”
“……”
Scarlett, who smiled incredulously, elbowed David. It was a request for his cooperation. But even I, when I see this woman’s seductive smile, can’t believe it, so how can I agree?
“Copyright, I am being threatened… .”
“?!”
What came out of Henri’s mouth after a long pause was something unexpected. I thought it would be at most some kind of relationship advice.
“Threatening the Belua family of Primera, and on top of that, the Imperial Academy First Class?”
“That’s right! Henri, what kind of guy are you… .”
It seemed that I wasn’t the only one who was surprised. David and Scarlett each asked back in their own way. They couldn’t believe it.
“Did you say that to the Academy or the family…?”
I trailed off because I still didn’t know how to deal with it.
Henri looked at my face blankly.
“You know your father’s personality, Beatrice. He might come all the way to the Academy and drag me away. He told me to stay home and not get in the way of my brother’s future… .”
“That’s right.”
Nodding- I pretended to know. I don’t even know the face of the Marquis de Bellois. No, to be honest, I don’t know anything about Henri Le Bellois other than the fact that he is a first-class student in the Imperial College.
Then David intervened. In his characteristically indifferent tone.
“What kind of threat is this?”
“Woman”
“Woman? What, did you make an illegitimate child? Or did you touch a noblewoman?”
“Oh my… .”
This time, Scarlett sighed. As if in regret.
“That’s not it.”
“Then?”
Henri, noticing Scarlett’s gaze, quickly corrected himself. It wasn’t a problem with ‘that’ woman.
“……”
“I told you I’d keep it a secret~?”
“You can trust it.”
David intervened.
He must have found Scarlett unattractive, too. Only after David assured him did Henri continue speaking.
“I wandered through the back alleys… .”
“Back alley?”
“Sorry, Beatrice. Are you disappointed? I know that’s not the proper behavior for a prima nobility… .”
“Oh, that’s not it-”
“Keep talking.”
When the story took a different turn, David stepped forward.
I unconsciously reacted to the word ‘back alley’.
I had forgotten, but this is clearly where Carl went on his mission in the original.
There, I ran into Beatrice, who was incongruously enjoying gambling… Ah, the Beatrice here is not me, but the original Beatrice.
“I heard that in the island, there are places where you can see unique scenery and amazing things to see, other than the commercial district… .”
“So you stepped into the back alley.”
“… Yes.”
As I said that, I felt annoyed because Henri kept looking at me.
How much do you know about me that you feel so uncomfortable? Are you embarrassed that it became known to a fellow prima noble?
“It would be difficult to be threatened just by going into the back alleys, right? There are a lot of unwholesome things there, though.”
“You weren’t making a ridiculous bet, were you?”
It’s not impossible since it’s a gambling board.
Even the original Beatrice once got drunk and jumped into a ruinous bet.
Considering my identity, our identity, I wouldn’t have had much to worry about even if I lost, but it’s true that I caught Karl’s eye because of that dangerous bet. Did Karl get involved and raise a flag?
Well, that doesn’t matter anymore. That kind of thing never happened here.
“I participated in the betting board out of curiosity, but I didn’t make a bet big enough to not even tell my family. However… .”
“Just?”
“The woman I met there was the problem.”
“What kind of woman?”
Scarlett asked, her eyes widening.
“I don’t know her name or where she’s from. She’s a completely different woman from the noble ladies I’ve seen in my life, so I felt different and hung out with her… Then, not long ago, she brought up the topic of mercenaries.”
“What was it about?”
“It was a story about mercenary groups that settled in the shadows of the system. Power struggles and changes in the ghetto.”
The empire had a regular army, making it difficult for mercenaries to gain influence, but mercenaries were secretly active for unofficial acts of force, power struggles among nobles, and dirty work that was difficult to bring to the surface.
Even in the Empire, the presence of mercenaries was even greater in other countries on the continent. In particular, in regions like the Lugo Union that faced monsters, the level of need was different.
Listening to Henri’s story, it seems that competition among mercenaries has intensified and they are looking for sponsors. A foreign noble like Henri is a perfect contract target. So if he has ambition, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to build friendships with mercenaries.
Knowing a few rough mercenary groups might help his standing after graduating from the academy.
But the problem is… .
“Since I got to know the shadow world through the back alleys, I thought it would be good for the mercenaries to know about it for the future. So we were planning to meet soon.”
“Mercenary Captain?”
“Yes.”
“Huh? That’s strange. Among the numerous graduates of the Imperial College, there were few who had no ties to the mercenaries, and yet they threatened him to that extent?”
Scarlett said as if she didn’t understand. As she said, it was a risky action, but the student who stepped into the shadow world and learned the darkness of the system was strong and fierce.
She also had a keener political sense than meets the eye, and saw through it that the world was not all bright.
“I, I’m a rebel.”
“What?”
“Hoo… The mercenary group I was supposed to meet has joined the rebels, and since they’ve fallen under the Unknown’s command, you can’t escape either… .”
Come to think of it, we are bringing in a lot of people. Of course, only volunteers!
“If you don’t join us, I’ll tell the academy and the family… He told me to come quietly to the back alley next time.”
“……”
“I, I really didn’t know it would turn out like this, a rebel! Why am I like that-”
“Calm down.”
Henri sat up and clutched his head. He was on the verge of panic.
David, who was looking at him indifferently, said.
Surely, as expected from a chairman, he will come up with an excellent solution or tell you how to deal with it. Or at least tell you that it is okay.
By the way, we wouldn’t save people so recklessly, right?
What on earth are you trying to attract Academy students with such fraudulent methods?
At that moment, David opened his mouth with a heavy expression.
“The Unknown’s very existence is a threat to the Empire.”
“!?”
“He is a dangerous person who is especially being watched by the religious community.”
Henri’s face turned pale as he listened to him.
“As you’re worried, you might be taken in for questioning just for trying to contact them.”
“Black… .”
“da, David, no matter what, that’s too much-”
“I don’t want to comfort you with lies.”
As Henri became more and more thoughtful, Scarlett intervened, but David did not stop.
“Henri Le Bellois.”
“……”
“You are in a very serious situation.”
With those words, Henri’s legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.
I felt a little sorry for him for trembling with fear in an unmanly way.
If you think about it, it happened because I was expanding my power.
0 Comments