<819 – The Power of the Student Council (2)>
The Student Council President’s Office had become the noisiest it had ever been since the new president took office.
“Uwaah, Jezel you royal fool! Who threatens others by returning the work I handed off because I’m too lazy?!”
“Do you think I wanted to become Student Council President? I was forced into this position after receiving over 380,000 votes, which is practically 390,000 votes!”
“Sigh. How many power-hungry individuals do you think are climbing over each other to sit in that chair? Why not take it a bit more seriously?”
Irene glanced at Jezel and Oknodie with a face showing how utterly exasperated she was.
“So, will you take on the role of Vice President and handle all the work yourself?”
“That’s what I was hoping for. I need to gather all the students on leave and graduates from around the world and get them into the Demon Realm Expedition right away.”
“…So after the troublemaker, we have to deal with the Expedition’s bad luck? Organizing the Demon Realm Expedition, which has never seen success in human history, is something you must not be given!”
“Agreed! We can reschedule other events, but the Demon Realm Expedition is too soon. If we let Class 981 join before they become third years, 90% of them are going to be ruined!”
“…Little lady, that sounds like you’re suggesting we’ll be thrown into the depths of hell known as the Demon Realm Expedition by next year, doesn’t it?”
Irene, with an overly excited expression, grabbed Oknodie’s hand tightly.
“Indeed, the savior of the North and our greatest supporter. Oknodie, I believe in you. I’m well aware that your brilliant mind is constantly turning regarding the issues facing humanity at the forefront in the North.”
“Ugh?! Ch-chilly… My hand feels like it’s stuck in a block of ice! Let go of my hand!”
While Oknodie was screaming to be released, unable to muster the strength to break free, Irene’s hands met Oknodie’s cheek.
It was like cold water had been splashed all over Oknodie, who shrieked, Kyaaa! Kyaaa!
“Thanks to your assertion that there’s only one year left until the creation of the Demon Realm Expedition, we’ve gained a lot of courage. We will spare no preparations in the North for the establishment of the expedition. Just trust me and wait, Oknodie.”
“Can you not let go? The kid’s going to faint.”
“Oh dear.”
As Oknodie was freed from Irene’s hold, he fluttered around like someone who had just escaped from a winter sea, warming up with a Heat spell.
“Oh, little mouse, you’ve shrunk in scale from your usual self! We need to have a campfire at times like this!”
While Jezel was sweating bullets trying to stop Son Ohchun, who was about to start a campfire in the middle of the Student Council Room, Isabel looked at Irene’s pale hands.
Shuu…
The white smoke rising looked suspiciously like burning ice, resembling dry ice.
“Have you leveled up?”
“I’m still at a clumsy level. I haven’t fully settled into Stage 4, so the cold aura is always swirling around me.”
“So that’s why everyone you take classes with wears winter clothes on a hot day?”
Among the students who had grown stronger through various events, Irene was certainly among the top tier.
“Oops, fire.”
As Jezel turned away from Oknodie, who was supposed to be restrained, Oknodie pulled logs from his backpack and ignited the flames.
As the documents for the transition of power were on the verge of being burned up right after the inauguration, Jezel panicked, dousing the fire with the 13th magic tool and controlling the wind with the 8th magic tool to extinguish it urgently.
Irene, who felt bad for Jezel, pointed her finger with a triumphant expression.
“Oh, this is ominous…”
“Mini Mini Cold Beam.”
Isabel’s ominous premonition came true.
The burning logs and the floor tiles froze solid; the momentum was so great that even the floor, walls, and ceiling were transformed into sheets of ice.
Naturally, the temperature in the already chaotic Student Council President’s office dropped rapidly below zero degrees Celsius.
Clank
Clatter
Jiang, who had fallen from the ceiling, held up a frosted fox mask at an angle, giving a resentful look.
“Sorry.”
*
After a hectic cleaning, Jezel finally salvaged the documents while praising the magic that protected them, and Isabel, wanting to slowly escape this troublesome commotion, got straight to the point.
“So, what now? With the seniors threatening you like this, Jezel, your situation is very difficult.”
“Exactly! Now that Jezel is president, just as I expected, there’s a new event that I was unaware of popping up! Hehe, I’m so smart! Please look after me…”
“Stop deflecting and pushing the problem onto someone else! If this continues, Jezel might get ambushed by the seniors one day and perish suddenly along with Jiang. We need a strategy.”
Isabel, who had sat Oknodie back down in his chair, suddenly spun it with a bit of irritation and anger.
Oknodie, placed in a spinning chair, started to feel dizzy as his spatial awareness was lost.
“Uwaah, I’ll help, so stop spinning it!”
Isabel inhaled sharply and halted the chair with her hands.
“If the fourth years lose their experimental Homunculi, they lose the chance to use their luck to ace their grades! But the seniors whose graduation hinges on their grades usually belong to the ‘Lower Class for Fourth Year.’ The powerful seniors we know are definitely not ordinary!”
“Is Burte Glass not among those powerful seniors you’re talking about?”
“That senior is definitely a strong fourth-year, but he’s in a bad mood and causing trouble because he couldn’t become the Student Council President!”
With the discussion narrowing down from Burte Glass to the lower class of fourth-years, Isabel felt a bit more at ease.
Honestly, if any senior were to be removed from the Year Four Kings, the overall power would drop.
It has become common knowledge that the top 0.1% is as powerful as the remaining 99.9% combined at the Gift Academy.
“So let’s increase the seniors’ grades ridiculously, or, conversely, let grades drop enough to scare them away until they lose all reason to support Burte Glass.”
“Instead of targeting Burte Glass directly, we want to inflict practical damage on the lower class seniors supporting him. I get the direction of the operation. But is that even possible?”
From Isabel’s perspective, who didn’t know the fourth-years’ curriculum, it sounded overly vague.
“Compared to first years just building basic stamina, second years are serious about mana training. Third years take it a step further and can fly in the sky while engaging in aerial combat. Fourth years are rumored to be time travelers; do we have any way to confront those monsters?”
“If we were to fight them physically, defeat is assured. So we need to use power!”
“For example?”
“Actually, fourth-year seniors are procuring various potions and magical items through the Student Council around the world. We’ll stop those sales!”
The moment Isabel heard Oknodie’s suggestion, an incredibly ominous feeling washed over her.
“That sounds like a perfect setup for angry fourth-years to wreak havoc on campus.”
“At first, that might be the case, but as time passes, they won’t have the luxury to continue their rampage. They’ll have to travel around gathering potions or preparatory items needed for their graduation projects themselves!”
“What if they fail to gather items or it takes too long, and they end up having to repeat a year…?”
Oknodie silently averted his eyes with a smile.
Isabel’s cooking-trained arm squeezed Oknodie’s soft cheek tightly.
“Uwaah, save me!”
“If genuinely angry seniors come to attack, students might actually die! Don’t irresponsibly come up with strategies just because you’re strong, think this through!”
“Okay, okay. I didn’t want to use a boring method like that, but it’s not like there aren’t options.”
Isabel was relieved that Oknodie’s dull method involved safe and reasonable tactics that she had become familiar with through experience.
“We can group all graduation projects under a common goal and force all fourth-years to attempt to graduate together. That way, they can work together and graduate much more easily.”
“That sounds good. For instance, what kind of graduation project would we aim for?”
“How about participation in the Demon Realm Expedition?”
Irene’s eyes lit up.
“Going a year early? Leaving in winter? Is that what you’re saying?”
“But generally, people set other goals because they don’t want to go to the Demon Realm. The ‘Limit Break Operation’ is the usual option.”
“Limit Break Operation…? Just hearing about it sounds like I’d have to train hard.”
“It’s different from regular exercise. It’s about expanding humanity’s limits and widening their activities!”
“Expanding humanity’s limits?!”
Humanity’s limits.
Clearly, there are lands for humanity to venture to, but there exists a limit beyond which they cannot extend further.
It’s an issue that affects every region and every domain—land, sea, and sky.
Because a mana contagion beyond humanity’s capacity is rampant.
Because danger zones spawn monsters as a natural occurrence.
Because the concentration of Dark Mana is excessively high.
There are several reasons, but people lump it into one term.
“Overcoming the mana disaster?”
The mana disaster began with power players clashing.
To rectify this and reconstruct a stable environment is indeed a problem worthy of being listed among graduation projects.
“Do the seniors really want to undertake such a monumental task? Just hearing about it makes me feel overwhelmed and sigh deeply.”
Seniors are people, too.
They wouldn’t be inclined to take on a difficult and laborious project when they could opt for an easy graduation assignment.
“Well, that’s simple! Graduation projects usually can’t overlap unless it’s a cooperative graduation project. So all we need to do is clear the graduation projects first!”
“Who’s doing that?”
“We are?”
“…”
Oknodie found himself caught in the rapid spinning of Isabel’s chair for the tenth time.
