Chapter 548
“......From now on, could you just call me Molly?”
Simon looked at her with an awkward expression.
“No matter what, you’re still royalty....”
“Before my status, I am a necromancer of Keyzen.”
She stepped forward, placing a hand on her chest, showing she could not back down.
“Treat me as a fellow Keyzen.”
“I-If you put it that way....”
Ahem.
Simon, feeling embarrassed, gave a fake cough and spoke in a slow voice.
“M-Molly. What brings you to our club?”
“Don’t use honorifics with me, either!”
“Ah, alright.”
Finally, a bright smile spread across Molly’s face.
“The truth is, I’d like to join the Student Council President senior’s club—uwup!”
Suddenly, an application form flew in from the side and slapped right onto her face.
“Quit being dramatic and just fill that out.”
It was Sasha, sitting at the next table, who had tossed it.
“......You!”
Molly grabbed the paper off her face and yelled furiously. But then, catching sight of Simon beside her, she flushed red and covered her face slightly with the application form.
“Then, I’ll go write it now.”
“Mm, take your time.”
She fled as if running away, sat at a nearby table, and picked up a quill to start filling in the application.
But there was already something scribbled in the name field.
[Applicant Name: Last Train Princess.]
“What the hell is this?!”
Molly jumped up with a beet-red face. Sasha just made a dismissive “heh” sound and turned her head away.
“What?”
“You! How long are you going to keep tormenting me......!”
“Quiet. First-years.”
Fitzgerald spoke in a hollow voice. The two girls immediately bowed their heads and muttered, “Sorry”, before sitting down again to continue writing.
Scribble, scribble.
Molly, still blushing furiously, struck through the “Last Train Princess” graffiti with two bold lines, and beneath it, wrote her true name in a stately, royal script.
‘Ugh, I always get nervous when I have to write something.’
Meanwhile, Sasha sighed deeply as she moved her quill.
Having grown up as an orphan in the Neutral Zone, she hadn’t fully mastered the continental language, so Pentamonium tutors had drilled her relentlessly in writing before she entered the school.
Her biggest fear had been that if she was discovered as illiterate at school, she’d be scorned by her peers. That was also why she had chosen to tack on the surname “Endrasil”.
At least her hard work had paid off. The mere thought of that so-called Last Train Princess sneering—‘Oh my, can you believe there are people who can’t even write?’—made her blood boil.
Sasha finished her form first and brought it up, feeling quietly proud.
“Should I just leave it here?”
Fitzgerald, still staring blankly ahead, gave a small nod.
There were already several applications on the table, slightly scattered from the wind.
She quickly straightened them when—
‘Ah.’
Sasha’s brow furrowed.
‘Why’s he here, of all people?’
[Applicant Name: Arthur Bleman.]
Sasha placed her application on top of his and went over to Simon to ask.
“Arthur, you mean?”
Simon chuckled and pointed to the side.
“He’s been standing there staring for twenty minutes, then said he wanted to join.”
Following Simon’s finger, she saw a Seiren Chimera juggling balls with six arms.
‘......Pathetic.’
That was Sasha’s thought.
‘Annoying.’
Molly, who submitted her form right after, thought the same.
Just then, as though reading their minds, Fitzgerald’s sharp eyes flicked their way, and both girls quickly averted their gaze.
—Aah.
At that moment, the broadcast rang out across the club booths.
—Attention. Club season will end in ten minutes. All first-years, please return to your dormitories. Club members, please clean your areas.
Finally, the club season had ended.
Simon clapped his hands.
“Alright, first-years, head back to your dorms. Based on your applications, we’ll hold short interviews the day after tomorrow to select new members.”
“Yes, senior!”
Sasha, Molly, and the other applicants chattered as they dispersed. Sasha waved.
“See you at the interview, Simon oppa!”
“Hey! Don’t call the Student Council President senior so rudely!”
Hahaha.
Simon laughed and waved back. Toto, still in disguise, dragged himself over looking utterly exhausted.
“Finally over. Just ten minutes, ten minutes more and I thought I’d collapse.”
“You did well, Toto.”
Fitzgerald, still in despair, pushed his glasses up.
“......Simon, as club president, I should have been the one to dismiss the first-years. You stole my lines.”
“Ahaha, sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Fitzgerald stood and began collecting the applications.
There were sixteen in total.
“Well, I’ll forgive you, since thanks to you and Dick we managed to recruit quite a lot. Now I can face Senior Benya.”
“Yeah. That’s a relief.”
Across the three days of club season, Fitzgerald and Toto had recruited zero. But on the final day, thanks to Simon’s participation and Dick’s consulting, they had gathered sixteen.
Fitzgerald skimmed through the applications.
“Three of them are special admissions.”
“Really? Awesome!”
Toto’s head snapped up.
“Does that mean our club’s going to be strong now?”
“Next year, certainly. And—”
Fitzgerald looked up at Simon with slight disapproval.
“A lot of girls.”
Simon could only give a sheepish laugh.
“No matter how much overwhelming support you get from the first-years, remember—the leader of this club is me.”
“Of course, I know. President.”
“......Hmph. Good.”
Fitzgerald placed the stack down.
“As soon as the season ends, let’s clean up as well.”
Step—
At that moment, someone was approaching the Mutant Club’s booth, now empty of first-years.
‘Another last-minute applicant?’
Toto hastily threw his wig back on, and Fitzgerald adjusted his glasses.
Step—
Through the blowing wind, a boy with unnaturally bleached-white hair approached.
All three pairs of eyes widened at once.
Step—
The white-haired boy entered the booth.
And then—
Rustle.
He pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and laid it on top of the stack of applications.
“Join.”
That was all he said before his eyes shifted to Simon.
Simon froze.
‘Why...... him?’
Fwoooosh—!
With a sudden gust of wind, the boy’s body vanished in an instant. The members of the Mutant Club stared blankly at the application form left behind.
[Applicant Name: White.]
—As of this moment, the club season has officially ended. All first-years must return to the dormitories immediately. Once again, as of this moment.......
“W-Wait! Is this even allowed?”
Toto yanked off his wig and spoke.
“White’s a second-year!”
“......Strictly speaking, it’s not a problem.”
Fitzgerald stroked his chin with a hard expression.
“It’s rare, but there are cases where second-years without a club join during the club season.”
He was right. The season wasn’t exclusively for first-years.
Even so, Simon’s heart felt unsettled.
From the very first time they met in Moyran.
—Put me in the same department as him.
Entering the Department of Summonology.
And now, he was trying to join the very Mutant Club that Simon belonged to.
‘.......’
Simon’s emotions were tangled and complex.
* * *
The next morning, Magical Combat class.
“Huh?”
Dick, who was stretching across from Simon, widened his eyes.
“White applied to the Mutant Club?”
“Yeah.”
“See! I told you he was hiding something! Something’s off about that guy!”
Maelyn, stretching together with Kamibarez, spoke up. As she bent forward with her arms crossed behind her back, the lightweight Kamibarez was lifted straight into the air.
“I don’t think it’s that strange, though?”
As her feet touched the ground again, Kamibarez added.
“White may be a second-year, but he’s a transfer student, so he doesn’t have a club. Applying is only natural.”
“But.”
Maelyn uncrossed her arms and swept back her sky-blue hair.
“In Moyran, White was in the Department of Katarology, but he deliberately pointed to Simon and said he’d go to the same department. Now he’s deliberately joined the very club Simon is in. Isn’t that a little suspicious?”
“Hmmmm.”
Dick put on a serious expression, thinking. Then he snapped his fingers.
“Oh, yeah. It’s coming together now. I get it!”
“You stupid commoner. If you say something idiotic again, I’ll kill—”
“White’s actually a girl.”
“You moron!!”
Maelyn hurled a stone at him. Dick dodged it by leaning his head back, as if used to it, and said:
“No, calm down and think about it. Why else would White keep following Simon? He’s got kind of a delicate face, a bit androgynous, right? If you stuck a uniform skirt on him, honestly, it’d look better than it does on Maelyn—”
“Drop dead!!”
“Ah! But seriously, doesn’t it make sense? If White’s actually a girl, everything lines up! Embarrassed but saying, ‘P-Please put me in the same department as him’, then shyly choosing Summonology! And now, bravely joining the same club as the one she likes!”
“Shut up and start digging your grave!”
While the two of them fought, Simon fell into deep thought.
Could it be someone he had known in the past?
No. He had always lived in his hometown, Leshill. If White had been from Leshill, there was no way Simon wouldn’t recognize him.
“Wait! Simon, let me give you the final word!”
Dick rolled across the grass, dodging Maelyn’s thrown stones, and came closer. Lying on the ground, he jabbed his finger at Simon.
“Whether White’s a girl or not, it’s obvious he has some ulterior motive for approaching you.”
“Stop with that nonsense!”
Maelyn shouted angrily from behind, but Dick ignored her and continued.
“If you don’t know the other person’s intent, at the very least, don’t let them get what they want.”
“......”
“Reject White at the Mutant Club interview, Simon.”
Dick looked at him seriously.
“With the adults keeping a close eye on him, it’s clear he’s dangerous.”
* * *
Once the day’s classes had ended, Simon, Toto, and Fitzgerald gathered in the Mutant Club room for a strategy meeting.
“As club president, I already spoke with Senior Benya.”
Fitzgerald sat and pushed up his glasses. Simon smiled faintly, while Toto looked tense.
“She said the club room is too cramped. Seventeen people is too many.”
Both Simon and Toto nodded in agreement.
Having a large number of members and thus a larger budget was good, but in the future, member retention and satisfaction would be just as important for performance reports.
Simon asked:
“So what was Senior Benya’s suggestion?”
“Six.”
Fitzgerald spread out his fingers.
“She said six members would be appropriate.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Of course, the orders of the third-years are absolute, but the final decision rests with the ‘club president’—me.”
With a serious face, he raised one more finger.
“As club president, I’ve decided we’ll select seven members.”
‘......Six or seven, what’s the difference?’
Simon gave a wry smile inwardly but soon nodded.
“If that’s your decision as president, I’ll follow it.”
“Thank you, Simon.”
Seemingly encouraged by that, Fitzgerald took a strong sip of tea and opened his eyes.
“And about White.”
Finally, the real issue. Fitzgerald turned his gaze to Simon.
“Even I feel uneasy about him. He deliberately followed you into Summonology, and now he’s deliberately following you into the club.”
“......”
“Whether White is accepted or rejected, I’ll leave that decision up to you, Simon.”
So even Fitzgerald also sensed something strange about him.
Simon closed his eyes, deliberating, then finally spoke.
“Alright, then let’s do it this way.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters