Chapter 117


    There’s a saying that you should strike while the iron is hot.


    “Let’s go get that club approval.”


    If I stayed here alone with Lina any longer, something was bound to happen. Ian led Lina toward the Student Council Hall of the Academy.


    “…Ian? Why is he here?”


    “Is he turning himself in?”


    Ignoring a few startled student council members, he walked inside.


    For a standalone building, the student council hall was quite luxurious.


    Given that Lichten Academy guarantees a certain level of student autonomy, the Student Council also holds considerable power.


    Suddenly, his eyes fell on the announcements posted on the bulletin board.—【 Announcements 】—<ul><li>Recruitment for Swordsmanship Instructor (Aether ss)</li><li>Ongoing Recruitment for Student Council</li><li>For general administrative processing, please go to the Student Affairs Office in the academy’s main building!</li></ul>


    ——


    Recruitment for a swordsmanship instructor, huh.


    Come to think of it, they should be contacting him soon.


    He tore his gaze away from the bulletin board and walked forward.


    【 Reception 】


    The Student Council’sint window wasrger than expected. It was almost the size of argemunity center.


    “Wow, there are so many documents.”


    Lina’s reactions were always exaggerated, even over small things.


    Doesn’t she ever get tired of it? The world of social butterflies is hard to understand.


    “The club application forms should be somewhere around here.”


    “Here they are!”


    Filling them out wasn’t too difficult.


    Creating a club wasn’t hard because of the paperwork. The challengey in the founding fees and the approval process.


    ‘Considering the personality of the vice-president who handles the reviews, it’s better to fill out the forms properly.’


    While jotting down the nature and activity ns of the club, Lina asked.


    “Hey Ian, we need at least three people to start a club, right? Who else is joining?”


    He simply added Danya’s name.


    ‘She owes me for the tomato.’


    The world can be a harsh ce.


    “Hmm. As expected, it’s Danya, huh? By the way, what are we naming the club?”


    Hmm. He hadn’t given it much thought.


    <em>Tap. Tap. Tap.</em>


    While he was flicking his pen, Lina seemed to get lost in thought as well.


    As a spirit summoner, she might have a knack foring up with names inspired by spirits.


    After tapping her lips for a while, she spoke.


    “Ian and Lina’s…”


    “I’ll just write ‘Dessert Research Club’.”


    “Hehe, I was just joking. But I like it. Dessert Research Club. It sounds sweet.”


    Everything proceeded smoothly from there.


    He had plenty of experience filling out forms in the modern world.


    “Wow, that was fast.”


    He handed thepleted forms to the awestruck Lina.


    “?”


    He nudged her towards the reception window and took a step back. Seeing her confused look, he exined briefly.


    “From here on, you take the lead, Lina.”


    “Huh?”


    “The Student Council doesn’t have a good opinion of me.”


    There was no need to search his memory too deeply.


    It wasn’t too long ago that Pongpong was flirting with and confessing to all sorts of girls.


    The Student Council was partly responsible for managing students.


    So how manyints about Pongpong would have poured into the student council?


    If he were a new recruit in the Student Council, he would have gritted his teeth at Pongpong too.


    “Oh, right! I forgot about that.”


    Lina quickly understood, making Ian feel even more apologetic.


    Lina, with the documents in hand, approached the queue.


    Of the five reception windows, four were crowded.


    At the remaining window, a girl with light blue hair was dozing off.


    After a moment’s hesitation, Lina headed towards the dozing girl.


    The young girl with sleepy eyes had very light sky-blue hair, topped with arge ck ribbon that was quite striking.


    Her name was Suya.


    She was somewhat of a mascot for the Student Council, frequently encountered in the game.


    Smiling brightly, Lina approached, and Suya yawned widely


    “<em>Yawn</em>. Student Lina Rosewell? What brings you here?”


    “Hello! We’re here to start a club…”


    “Yawn. Sorry, but you can’t right now.”


    “What?”


    “The president said there are too many club approvals, <em>yawn</em>, and asked why there were so many simr clubs. So it’s a no.”


    Even though Rina is in trouble, she clings to Suya here and there.


    Despite Lina’s attempts to persuade her, Suya remained firm.


    “No means no. I don’t want to get scolded by the vice president… <em>yawn</em>.”


    With that, she started dozing off again.


    “Uh, excuse me.”


    Lina was visibly flustered.


    Well, no matter how sociable she was, talking to someone who was practically asleep would be difficult.


    With a sigh, Ian stepped forward.


    The reaction was dramatic.


    “<em>Yawn</em>, wee… Eek! I-I-Ian ckangers!”


    Suya, now fully awake, iled her hands in rm.


    This fierce rejection pattern reminded Ian of someone.


    After a moment’s thought, he realized it was someone unexpected: the librarian.


    Though their gestures werepletely opposite, the underlying sentiment was the same—disgust at Pongpong’s habit of constantly confessing.


    She would probably say, “No confessions allowed!”


    But his prediction was way off.


    “I’m not tasty!”


    Suya eximed.


    … What on earth did she think of him?


    ◆


    ‘Suya of Civil Comint Rejection’ who always rejects civilints with sleepy eyes.


    However, contrary to her infamous nickname, she is an ‘Easter Egg’ of the Student Council.


    Despite her infamous reputation, if you knew how to handle her, she could help with any paperwork easily.


    Ian spoke calmly.


    “What you just said sounded a bit insulting.”


    “B-But the senior members of the Student Council told me to be careful around Ian, so I don’t get eaten!”


    “What do they think I am? Is it okay for the Student Council to make such discriminatory remarks?”


    “T-That’s…!”


    Suya was notably weak against reasonable-sounding reproach.


    The girl at the Student Council reception was adept at practicing “cute toughness”.


    “S-sorry.”


    “Then, could you take a look at our club establishment documents?”


    “N-no! I’ll get in trouble with the vice president! Besides, you missed a lot of sses… Yourint is low priority.”


    “That’s because I was away in the North…”


    “Eek!”


    He suddenly wondered why she was like that, and it seemed like she knew about news from the North.


    “R-right! You devoured the Grand Duke of the North… Suya had forgotten about that.”


    “Could you stop using ‘devoured’? It’s unsettling.”


    Besides, he was the one who almost got devoured.


    Suya, trembling on her own ord, didn’t seem to hear him.


    “If you mention the Grand Duke of the North as a threat, Suya has nowhere to go… You might be scarier than the vice president… Danger rank up.”


    “?”


    Suya, shaking, pulled out a stamp and stamped the documents.


    <em>Thud!</em>


    “T-take them!”


    Well, everything turned out fine.


    Ian bowed his head to Suya.


    “Thanks for approving it.”


    “This isn’t a club certification, it’s just an approval to be reviewed…! Don’t get me wrong. Suya doesn’t have that kind of power.”


    “Oh, about that, there’s one more thing.”


    “Y-you’re not going to threaten to devour me unless I give you more, are you? Eek!”


    “No, that’s not it.”


    “You’re asking for the club support package too, aren’t you?! Just as I’ve heard, you’re too much! If the special support funds hadn’t been released, our Student Council would have gone bankrupt because of you!”


    <em>Thud!</em>


    Suya, unexpectedly, started providing more than he’d asked for.


    Despite appearing sleepy, she had a thorough grasp of the Student Council’s affairs, making this possible.


    The documents were approved one after another.


    Even though he’d only submitted one document, Suya handed over about five.


    “As requested, I’ve processed the club establishment request, special support package, club room usage authorization, etc. There’s nothing more I can do for you!”


    “Thanks.”


    “Eek!”


    Suya recoiled when Ian reached out to take the documents.


    “Please… don’t eat me…”


    .. Seriously?


    “N-now you just need to proceed with the review session. Have you scheduled a meeting with the three reviewers, including a Student Council officer?”


    “No. That’s what I wanted to ask about earlier.”


    “To say ‘no’ so confidently…”


    Suya, teary-eyed, stood up.


    “You even intend for Suya to handle that? Suya is miserable.”


    Muttering, she walked to the door at the back.


    After a moment, she returned.


    “We will proceed with the review session. Come in, Ian ckangers.”


    A cold voice called from inside.


    ◆


    Inside, Ian and Lina found three members of the Student Council waiting for them.


    The Student Council Vice President, a representative who also served as the Head of ounting, and likely a freshman.


    Ian was unfamiliar with them personally, except for the freshman, but he had seen their faces on screen before.


    They probably knew of him too, given theints they likely received about him.


    ‘This won’t be easy.’


    As soon as he sat down, the atmosphere turned tense. The members of the Student Council wouldn’t think highly of Pongpong, known for causing trouble.


    Sure enough.


    “Bold of you to walk into the Student Council on your own.”


    The vice president spoke sharply.


    She was quite haughty, reminiscent of Silvia if you stripped away her cuteness and added more arrogance. This was Vice President Iris.


    “It’s an honor to meet you in person, Vice President.”


    “Don’t think that smile will get you anywhere. The Student Council has suffered for weeks because of you.”


    <em>Hmm.</em>


    As expected, they were quite hostile.


    They might reject him just based on his reputation.


    “Of course, your disciplinary actions have been postponed by the Disciplinary Committee, so we won’t consider that in this case.”


    As expected of the vice president, she was quite adept at psychological tactics.


    “But.”


    She added coldly.


    “We can certainly consider your past actions in the evaluation of this club. We can’t have a club, sanctioned by the Student Council, stalking people or making shady concoctions. We’ll thoroughly evaluate the club’s purpose, nature, and expected oues.”


    She extended a pale hand toward the freshman.


    “?”


    “Hand me the documents.”


    “Oh.”


    Clearly intimidated, the freshman hurriedly handed the documents to Vice President Iris.


    <em>Swish.</em>


    With a confident expression, Iris crossed her legs.


    “Well, it’s probably just another so-called academic club disguising something unsavory. Don’t think you can fool me.”


    <em>Flutter.</em>


    Flipping through the documents one by one, her eyes, initially brimming with confidence, gradually widened in surprise.


    “… Student Lina Rosewell, are you also a member of this club?”


    “Yes, I’m one of the founding members.”


    Lina nods her head proudly.


    “I thought you were here for something else…”


    Iris hastily searched through the documents.


    “… D-Dessert Research Club?”


    Her voice was filled with disbelief.


    “Ian ckangers, you want to create a club for dessert research?”


    “Yes. The n, goals, and expected oues are all perfectly detailed.”


    Her eyes scanned the documents quickly.


    “This can’t be… The documents are indeed wless… <em>Ahem</em>!”


    Gone was her initial confidence, reced by confusion and surprise.


    Seizing the moment, Ian ced the icebox on the table.


    <em>— Thunk</em>


    White mist poured out as he opened it.


    Ian presented snowke fruits to the wide-eyed Student Council members.


    “Please, have a taste.”