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Chapter 51
“I told you. The place that has any connection to the culprit is the student council.”
“But so many people come and go in the student council room—can we even narrow down the culprit?”
“It’s difficult, but if there’s a chance, we have to cling to it.”
Watching over the student council constantly, I noticed all kinds of students coming and going. Some came with permits to prepare for the festival, others for various unrelated tasks, knocking on the student council door at all hours.
Seeing my sister and the rest of the student council handle all of them, it was impressive.
“Honestly, wasn’t it just that you needed someone to do menial tasks in the student council?”
Finally, Lucas spoke up with his opinion.
Good job, Lucas!
“There’s always that reason, right? Did I get caught?”
My sister winked lightly at Lucas.
Lucas’s face instantly turned red.
“I… I can help with the menial tasks.”
As usual, Lucas quickly gave in when it came to my sister.
Hey, if you’re going to protest, at least do it properly.
But I wasn’t against helping my overworked sister, so I didn’t push Lucas from behind.
After calming our complaints, my sister immediately returned to her work.
The task seemed troublesome—she furrowed her brow with her pen as she went through documents, lost in thought.
I wanted to help, but I didn’t know much about the student council’s work, so I wasn’t sure if I could be of any real assistance.
“Everyone, good work!”
At that moment, Aiden appeared with a loud greeting, holding a box full of items in his arms.
“Aiden-senpai!”
A complaint immediately escaped my sister’s lips. Without a word, it was clear she was scolding him for being out and about at such a busy time.
“Sorry, sorry. I was consulting with the principal about the magic lamp installation range, so I’m late.”
Aiden carefully took bottles out of his arms and placed them in front of us.
“These are special energy potions. If you drink them, you won’t feel sleepy and can keep working.”
Drink this and work like a machine, huh.
I glared at the red liquid in the slightly suspicious bottles, seriously considering whether to drink it.
“Olivia, Lucas, you’re working hard too.”
Watching Aiden’s characteristic smiling eyes, I finally asked the question I had been holding back.
“When do you get all your work done, moving around like this?”
Being in the student council room, it was obvious how rarely Aiden stayed there. I had never seen him spend a long time in the room actually working.
“I’m just so busy with construction and whatnot. Being popular is a tiring fate, you know.”
Aiden hugged himself and listed reasons why he couldn’t stay in the student council room.
“Yeah, yeah. I see.”
Watching his overflowing self-love, I sipped my herbal tea and looked over the pile of documents in front of me.
It was tedious sorting the mixed documents by type, but I focused on it.
Seeing me work, Aiden pointed with his finger.
“These documents have numbers. If you sort them in tens, it’ll be faster to organize.”
“Oh, you’re right.”
I hadn’t even thought about the meaning of the document numbers tucked in the corners.
Lucas and I looked up at Aiden in amazement.
“If this is the moment you start admiring your senpai, let that respect grow.”
“My admiration has already faded.”
I said that, but it was true—being a student council president really meant something.
I secretly admired Aiden.
Appearing occasionally like this, he mysteriously worked far faster than others, helped out where needed, and then vanished again.
He had talents not just for fighting but for many things. A natural leader who could guide others well.
Probably, no matter what he did after graduating from the academy, he’d succeed.
“Aiden loses points with his words.”
Suddenly, Lucas expressed his dissatisfaction.
“Lucas, were you also grading him?”
“You too?”
“No, nothing.”
For a moment, Aiden and I exchanged glances and looked away.
It reminded me of the bitter past when I had tried to match Lucas with my sister and failed.
I had secretly been grading him in my notebook, and Aiden had caught me.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it grading, but I can at least tell you that your score isn’t high.”
“That’s disappointing.”
“If you’re disappointed, work on it.”
Still, since he had become close through my sister’s confession, Lucas, usually shy, spoke firmly to Aiden.
Perhaps Aiden’s friendly nature made him comfortable speaking casually.
I admired this new side of Lucas.
“We should get to work too.”
Ah, now the arrow was aimed at me as well.
“Yes, we should.”
Pouting slightly, I focused on the mountain of documents in front of me.
“One more potion for the diligent students!”
“No need.”
“We’ll pass.”
We handed the bottles back to Aiden and concentrated on work.
Preparing for the festival while doing student council work was exhausting.
During a festival-related meeting in Class A, Siana saw me dozing off and lightly tapped my shoulder with a concerned expression.
“Wake up. At least you should know what we’re doing.”
I rubbed my eyes and tried to wake myself.
“Hmm, what is it?”
“A dessert shop.”
“A dessert?”
Of course, I love sweets, so I was all for it—but suddenly hearing about desserts was odd.
“We’re not as skilled as the upperclassmen, so it’s hard to show proper magic.”
“That makes sense.”
Except for a few talented students, most of our class was average.
“So the idea is to change the approach: put small, simple magic into snacks and sell them.”
“Our magic?”
“Yeah, recently you practiced putting your magic into objects, right, Noah-senpai?”
“That’s right.”
Thanks to that, I had even made a quill that emitted light when waved, like a little flashlight.
“We’ll use that ability. It’s a small, simple magic, but it gives a moment of surprise when someone eats the snack.”
“Simple, small magic. Good idea. What magic should we put in?”
“That’s what we’re discussing in the meeting, friend.”
“I see. I almost missed it while dozing off.”
For our first festival, the students eagerly raised hands and shared opinions.
Suggestions ranged from magic that gave tiny everyday benefits to playful, mischievous magic.
“Why are they all so enthusiastic?”
“If it’s not for studying, what else would they be enthusiastic about? That’s our class.”
“That’s true.”
Since few of our classmates are natural studiers, we seem to unite well on these projects.
“But the reason you’re tired is this, right? Student council work. Why did you start helping recently?”
“Oh, well… my sister said she was short on hands.”
That wasn’t a lie.
Actually, being buried in student council work had long since pushed ‘Deulsamo’ matters aside.
“Your sister works really hard. Don’t you do anything in your club?”
“Ah, right. I should ask what we’re doing in the club.”
Lately, we had been too busy for club activities.
Since I now knew the truth about ‘Deulsamo,’ we no longer had to hide our activities entirely.
Still, we couldn’t skip festival participation entirely, so we had to take part somehow.
“I’m curious what your club will do.”
“Me too.”
What could a club that collects wildflowers showcase publicly?
Maybe we should display the guidebooks we always study?
“Siana, what does your club do?”
Her club was the Magic Spell Research Society.
It focused on researching and creating new magic.
While I struggled with basic magic theory, she went beyond academics to research.
Siana was clearly the top talent Noah should recruit.
“Hmm hmm hmm, look forward to it. We’re preparing to make the festival unique.”
Somehow, I imagined a dark aura rising behind her, like purple-robed dark mages circling a crystal ball and chuckling lowly.
It wasn’t excitement—it was more like fear.
“Yeah, Siana. Do your best.”
“You too. Ah, your people are here.”
When the class meeting ended and it was time to go home, five people naturally stood at the back door of our class.
Even though I said it was fine, they continued their strange group arrivals and departures.
Everyone was busy, yet they made the effort to meet at our class—it was awkward.
“Can’t we meet somewhere else?”
“No. Don’t forget why we gather.”
Yes, your kidnapping incident is the reason.
Resigned, I lowered my head and stepped into the students’ sharp gazes.
