What were the chances of a coincidence like that?
“And they didn't come alone. They gathered northern nobles around their age and enrolled alongside them all at once. Building connections at the Ivory Tower is the fastest way to gain a foothold in the Empire's central circles.”
I was dumbfounded.
So the northern traitors who had stabbed House Draco in the back were now gathered at the Ivory Tower.
They had come to plant one foot in the Empire and build a power base of their own.
“So those northern nobles joined the Glory Society?”
“That's right.”
If they had come to the Ivory Tower to build connections, joining the Glory Society was the obvious course.
Though I had not expected them to gather their peers and enroll all at once.
The club president said,
“You have an idea what will happen now, don't you? Everyone in the Mystery Society does whatever they please, but we're close-knit at times like this.”
Shouldn't you ask what I want first……?
I had no lingering attachment to the past. I only wanted to avoid attention and quietly become the top student at the Ivory Tower.
But the Mystery Society was already crying out for revenge.
“Our Manager's enemies are in the Glory Society. Are we going to stand for that?”
“No, never!”
“Are we going to leave the scum who betrayed House Draco and devastated its territory through war alone?”
“Of course not!”
“Let's strike the Glory Society!”
“Let's strike them now!”
“Enemies of House Draco!”
The chants grew increasingly violent.
Excuse me, but it was the Empire that actually destroyed House Draco.
Doesn't it strike any of you as strange that you're shouting about avenging House Draco?
“Club President, shouldn't you stop them?”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
The Glory Society was the most powerful club in terms of size, influence, and backing.
“Armand, did you forget what you said when you joined? We don't care about things like that.”
“Will this be all right?”
“Look. Everyone seems to be having fun, don't they?”
Before I knew it, the sleepy-eyed senior had gathered the members and was making plans.
She always seemed unmotivated, yet her eyes shone with life when she was planning trouble.
“Everyone, the Glory Society is holding an event tomorrow. For some bizarre reason, those bastards hold their new-member welcoming ceremony in front of the Main Tower. As if they want everyone to see.”
“I've always hated that disgraceful spectacle. This works out nicely.”
“I don't like the Rose Order either, but the Glory Society shows off far too much. At least the Rose Order bastards know they're shady. The Glory Society bastards think they're noble.”
“Let's raid them then.”
“Good idea.”
“Let's hit them tomorrow!”
“Let's wreck everything!”
All I had done was tell a tearjerker to become Manager, yet things were spiraling out of control.
The club president put an arm around my shoulders.
“You're the first person to unite the Mystery Society this much immediately after joining. You were born to become the Mystery Society's Manager.”
“Yes…….”
At this point, why should I care?
“Yes, well. I hope it goes well.”
“It will.”
I'm going back to the dormitory to prepare for the quiz.
***
“I missed the Emperor of Letters. What a careless mistake.”
I checked my quiz results and sighed.
I had missed only one question and still received the highest score.
Even so, the mistake bothered me.
Karl looked at my test paper and laughed.
“Armand! You got everything else right but missed the Emperor of Letters? What a silly mistake. Even I got that one right!”
Everyone knew that the Emperor of Letters had unified the continent's language and writing system.
Thanks to his achievements, people could communicate anywhere on the continent unless they traveled as far as the distant East.
Karl whispered to me,
“The Emperor of Letters was a wise ruler, but when necessary, he displayed the qualities of a hegemon. And what we need now is that hegemonic spirit. Don't you agree?”
Yes, I suppose so.
After class today, the Glory Society would hold a large welcoming ceremony for its new members.
Apparently, it was an event meant to display the Glory Society's discipline and prestige.
The Mystery Society planned to ruin it.
“How does it feel to be on the verge of revenge?”
“I don't feel anything.”
Revenge against the northern nobles.
I don't know.
At the time, most of the houses in the North had turned their backs on House Draco.
Father had been an outstanding mage, but he had not been an archmage capable of overturning the course of the war. Nor had his Attribute been Extinction like mine.
When the gates of Winter Castle opened, northern nobles followed the Empire's army inside.
They laughed as though they were great victors.
House Puar, which now occupied Winter Castle, was an ancient knightly house that had guarded the wall alongside House Draco.
I had never seen its heir, who was my age. Who could they be?
Lumin came running over after hearing the news from Karl.
“A-Armand. Are you going to take revenge?”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“I told them I didn't want to.”
“Then why?”
“They got excited and pushed ahead with it themselves.”
I was merely their excuse anyway.
At first, the eccentrics of the Mystery Society had been moved by my tearjerker and cried out for revenge against the Glory Society.
But it gradually became a game.
They simply disliked the Glory Society and wanted to interfere with it.
Lumin's mouth fell open.
“W-why did you join a club like that?”
“Good question.”
“Hmm, I-I can understand Karl, but…….”
He seemed genuinely worried about me, but that was subtly irritating.
“Lumin, did you join a club?”
“Yeah.”
“Which one?”
“M-mine's a secret.”
“Why?”
“Because it's a secret society.”
What was that supposed to mean?
“I-I'll tell you someday. I think it wouldn't be fun if I told you now. Hehe…….”
“It isn't the Glory Society, is it? You haven't already told them our attack plan?”
“O-of course not! What do you take me for? I'm not a traitor!”
“Understood.”
“I'll go watch later.”
Lumin watched my expression and said, “I-if you end up fighting those traitors, tell me. I'll help you.”
“You will?”
“I-I'm a mage too!”
“Thank you.”
Even hearing him say it made me feel a little better.
After homeroom ended, Karl and I went to the Mystery Society's clubroom.
The sleepy-eyed senior, whose name I still did not know, welcomed me.
“Our Manager. Welcome.”
“You're here?”
A black-haired boy stood beside the sleepy-eyed senior.
It was a face I had never seen before, but his build and voice were familiar.
I immediately realized who he was.
“Hello, Club President.”
“Oh, you recognized me?”
“Black hair isn't common.”
“That's true.”
Just as I had heard, the club president was remarkably handsome without his mask.
The term beautiful boy suited him.
Vivid purple eyes shone beneath his black hair.
There was a strange aura to them.
“Good. You're ready, right?”
“No.”
“You aren't ready?”
“I opposed this from the beginning.”
“That's the Mystery Society. We have diversity, don't we? If everyone had agreed, I would have refused to allow this instead.”
What was that supposed to mean?
“The leader of the students from the North is Leshang Puar. Do you know her?”
“No.”
“You've never seen her?”
“Winter Castle held no social events. The wall was right beside it, so no one wanted to bring their children somewhere so dangerous.”
“I see.”
The club president stroked my head as though petting a puppy.
I wished he would take it easy. He was messing up my hair.
“Your hair feels nice. What soap do you use?”
“The kind the Ivory Tower provides.”
“Really?”
The club president smiled.
“Don't worry about the Glory Society. It'll be fun.”
At that moment, Draco's Eye detected something in the club president's purple eyes.
But no Information Window appeared.
Either it could not analyze them, or it was still analyzing them.
There was definitely something about those eyes…….
Meanwhile, loud noise began coming from the direction of the Ivory Tower.
“The members will make the preparations. Shall we go see how the Glory Society is enjoying itself?”
“Just the two of us?”
“We're the Club President and Manager. We can do that much.”
“Understood.”
The other members had to wait until the Glory Society's welcoming ceremony reached its climax.
As we left the clubroom, the club president asked,
“By the way, do you know my name?”
Oh.
“What? You didn't even know the Club President's name?”
“I'm sorry.”
“That's nothing to apologize for. I'm Yurik Clover. Remember it.”
I walked toward the Ivory Tower with Senior Yurik.
The closer we drew, the louder the noise became.
When we reached the front of the Ivory Tower, first-year students were lined up like soldiers, shouting something like a chant.
“She must be the first-year representative.”
Jelly stood at the very front, shouting until her face turned red.
Since she was an imperial princess, it was not strange for her to serve as the first-year representative.
“And over there is the Glory Society's club president.”
On the stairs leading up to the Ivory Tower, a woman with long platinum-blond hair looked down at the new members alongside the other upperclassmen.
I was somewhat startled.
Rather than a student, she looked like a supernatural being who had suddenly appeared.
I had never met the Headmaster, but I imagined an elf would evoke a similar impression.
Seeing someone like her enjoying an event that was merely loud created a strange sense of dissonance.
“That is the Glory Society's club president, Seraphina Grand.”
“So she's that imperial princess.”
I had not known about Jelly, but I had heard plenty about Seraphina Grand.
“And she's your opposite.”
“What do you mean?”
“Seraphina's Attribute is Triple Creation.”
I was surprised twice.
First, because she had been born to the Arcane Path of Genesis, and second, because Senior Yurik knew about my Arcane Path.
“You look like you're wondering how I know.”
“Yes.”
“There are ways. I can feel it.”
As the Glory Society's welcoming ceremony continued, the second-year with short brown hair and a blue epaulette stood at the bottom of the stairs.
“And that is the Glory Society's current Manager, Leshang Puar.”
Her face had become familiar lately.
She was the senior I had met when I fought Obern and when the Glory Society came to advertise itself to Frog Class.
To think she happened to be from the North as well. What a strange connection.
“We will now begin the Glory Society's welcoming ceremony for new members. Glory!”
At her shout, the lined-up first-years split into two groups and chanted one syllable each.
“Glo!”
“Ry!”
“Glo!”
“Ry!”
I looked at Senior Yurik.
“Why are they doing that?”
“Childish, isn't it? Apparently, it's tradition.”
The Glory Society's new members continued shouting the chant.
“Glo!”
“Ry!”
“Glo!”
“Ry!”
The Glory Society's event was extremely loud and ostentatious.
Students passing in and out of the Ivory Tower frowned at the noise.
“First-year representative, step forward!”
Jelly, who had been standing at the front, walked forward and raised a green flag bearing the words “Glory Society.”
Blue, red, and white Glory Society flags had already been gathered at the foot of the stairs.
“Will you devote yourselves wholeheartedly to the Empire's Age of Glory?”
“Yes!”
Jelly raised her voice as best she could, but it was not very loud, so she merely sounded cute.
“Will you fulfill the duties entrusted to you within the Glory Society?”
“Yes!”
The initiation-like questions continued, and Jelly answered loudly each time.
Leshang now addressed all the new members, including Jelly.
“Do you all agree?!”
All the Glory Society's first-years answered at once.
They were louder than ever.
“Yes!”
Like soldiers brainwashed by a dictator, they repeatedly shouted the Glory Society's slogans.
“The Glory Society is the best club in the Ivory Tower. Is that right?”
“Yes!”
“The Ivory Tower's strongest! The Glory Society!”
Other students watched the Glory Society's new-member welcoming ceremony from nearby.
Some showed interest, while others snorted in disdain.
Judging by the admiration and envy it received, the Glory Society truly was a large organization.
Unfortunately for them, however, those were not the only two kinds of people in the world.
Somewhere in the world, there was another kind as well.
And perhaps that was what made the world interesting.
“Glory Society!”
While the Glory Society shouted its slogans, the Mystery Society appeared in the distance.
“Now it begins.”
Senior Yurik placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Watch closely.”
Jelly approached the three Glory Society flags and was about to add the green flag symbolizing the first-years.
An explosion boomed.
The Glory Society's members saw fireworks bursting above their heads.
Some of the new members cheered, thinking they were part of the welcoming ceremony.
But the Mystery Society's interference was not as cute as fireworks.
All the colors produced by the fireworks transformed into paint and poured down.
The Glory Society's members were drenched in paint in an instant.
The same happened to the four flags bearing the Glory Society's emblem.
“P-paint!”
“Get out of the way!”
“Aaaah!”
Jelly clutched her head and screamed, her platinum-blond hair now a riot of colors.
“What is this?!”