After finishing the conversation with Alkiné and stepping out the door, I immediately ran into a man standing in front of me.
Given that the only men here are me and Diggerus, I didn’t even need to think about who it was.
“Shall we have a little chat?”
Diggerus said that with a calm expression, acting like it was no big deal.
I had a feeling this would happen before I even came out, so I wasn’t particularly flustered.
In the game, when the protagonist raises their reputation with the Student Council enough, there’s an event where you have a private meeting with Alkiné, and she reacts exactly like this.
It’s like, who wouldn’t expect a guy to cling to the president? He’s trying so hard to fend off any guy who gets close to her.
‘Such dedication, really.’
Honestly, I didn’t care much about his obsession with Alkiné. After all, I knew his love would never come to fruition.
In the end, when the president doesn’t return his feelings, he goes off the deep end and does all sorts of crazy things, but the president overcomes (or rather, physically defeats) all of it.
He’s the kind of character who, in his desperation to get her attention, ends up committing crimes and gets expelled from both the Student Council and the academy.
At the final act, he comes to his senses and appears as a helper, but it’s just a brief cameo, so you don’t even know what he did.
Still… if you exclude that part, he’s objectively a talented individual.
That’s why Alkiné keeps him as the vice president, even though she knows all about his dark side.
The problem is, I think I’ve caught the attention of this “talented” individual now.
Diggerus dragged me to the back of the Student Council building and immediately fired off a question.
“So, are you going to be the secretary?”
“Well, yeah. How can I refuse when you’re pressuring me like this?”
I answered like that, but honestly… if I had really decided not to do it, I could’ve found a way to avoid it.
Thinking back, Alkiné’s comment about leaving the Student Council was probably just a joke.
But an officer route that wasn’t even in the original? I can’t resist that.
I’m too curious about what kind of development will happen, so I have to take the bait.
Of course, that’s a reason I came up with later.
I have a habit of always choosing one option when given a choice, so earlier, I was genuinely debating whether to leave the Student Council or become the secretary.
At this point, it’s important that I don’t regret it.
I was practically pushed into joining the Student Council in the first place, so what’s the difference if I take on an officer position now?
I’ve already come too far to worry about the consequences. It’s about time I let go of worrying about the aftermath.
“…Why does the president even…?”
Meanwhile, he’s muttering something to himself.
Look at that murderous glare. Just because he’s smiling doesn’t mean his face looks friendly.
Diggerus grumbled to himself for a while, then let out a deep sigh and approached me.
“I don’t know what happened today, but don’t get too cocky. You’re still a freshman, and you’re the youngest here.”
Ah. Got it?”
Even though the tone was friendly, knowing the full story, it couldn’t help but feel a bit off to me.
Did he forget that he was the reason I got dragged into this mess today?
If you hadn’t said stuff like “I need to drag you into the Rift” or “I’ll show you some real spice,” things wouldn’t have blown up like this, you jerk.
I had a lot I wanted to say, but I just held it in and said, “Got it.”
Losing my cool here would be amateur hour. A true pro waits for the right opportunity.
‘Let’s see… was this Phase 1?’
The goal was to act as gentle and kind as possible, creating distance from the Student Council president.
That was the content of Phase 1 of the Diggerus Event.
This event, consisting of three phases, involves getting thoroughly mocked in Phase 2 and beaten up in Phase 3.
There’s also a scenario where you delay Phase 3 as much as possible, beat up the vice president instead, and take their position…
But I’m not planning to follow the game’s script, so I won’t worry about that.
Besides, things have already strayed too far from the game’s storyline.
A Student Council executive? That wasn’t in the game.
I hope some non-existent Phase 4 doesn’t pop up out of nowhere.
I’ll just stick close to Alkiné and annoy her, no matter what she says.
I might not win, but I’m confident I won’t get beaten up.
Unaware of my evil thoughts, Diggerus said he’d head back first and told me to return after a time gap.
Hmm… but isn’t it weirder to come back separately after leaving together?
I didn’t get it, but I followed his instructions and returned after a delay, only for Grain to grab me.
“My turn now? The president said it’s fine for me to go back with you. Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“Hmm… how about the Student Cafeteria? You probably haven’t eaten yet, right?”
He was right. My training with Lilith ended close to lunchtime, and I rushed straight to the Student Council.
Checking the time now, it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner.
But for someone who hadn’t eaten anything, it was the perfect meal time.
“Sure. You’re treating, right?”
“Hmm, maybe? I’m just a second-year who got robbed by a freshman, so playing the senior role feels a bit embarrassing.”
I expected him to still be holding onto that, but I didn’t think he’d bring it up so openly.
Still, he didn’t seem genuinely upset, just teasing, so I could brush it off lightly.
“I apologize for not recognizing a senior like you back then…”
“What are you even saying? Weirdo. Do girls even like you when you talk like that?”
Why are you rubbing salt in my wounds?
You know, I don’t want to die without ever having been in a relationship.
“How beautiful is the back of someone who knows exactly when to leave… falling petals…”
“What are you even saying… Fine, I’ll buy you food, so stop with the weird talk.”
“Thank you, senior.”
“My heart is already shattered into pieces, but I’ll forgive you since you’re buying me food. People who buy food are good people.”
After successfully securing a free meal and heading towards the Student Cafeteria, Grain brought up the incident from earlier.
“I heard the story. You got separated and wandered around alone, huh?”
“Yeah. I just hid and tried to hold on somehow…”
“Don’t bother thinking too hard. I already heard that was a lie.”
Huh? Wait, wasn’t that supposed to be a secret between us? Is it okay to just spread it around like that?
“I know what you’re thinking. The Student Council President tried to hide it too. It just became impossible to keep it a secret.”
“What exactly did you do…?”
As I questioned her, she pointed at me and answered.
“First, deal with that aura clinging to your body. If it’s this obvious, it’s hard to fool anyone.”
According to Grain, the dark aura flowing from the Demon Race was clinging to my body so much it gave me goosebumps.
If Alkiné looked like she had rolled around in muddy water, I looked like I was buried in a pile of mud.
Knowing that this wasn’t something that just came from a few injuries, she saw through Alkiné’s lie in an instant.
‘So that’s what they were seeing.’
It wasn’t a coincidence that our eyes met right after the Rift was cleared. From Grain’s perspective, something dark was wandering around, so it naturally caught his eye.
Thinking about it, I understood why Alkiné seemed oddly calm even while creating a new executive position out of thin air.
“Still, you’ve got some guts. Other people don’t even know what you did, but you just accepted it like it was nothing?”
“It’s not like I accepted it because I wanted to.”
“You don’t seem particularly unhappy about it. In fact, it seems like you’re starting to like it now.”
“…Is that also an ability?”
“No. Why would I use my abilities just to look at you? What’s there to miss?”
Well, even if it’s not an ability, it’s still surprising. Maybe there was some influence? Otherwise, this overly sharp perception doesn’t make sense.
After that conversation, nothing particularly special came up. We just exchanged a few words about future Academy life and Student Council activities.
In a way, it was a relief. I thought there would be some distance if they found out I caught a Demon, but contrary to my expectations, we could have a normal senior-junior conversation.
I’m not actually that strong, but if things got awkward because of a misunderstanding that I was, it would have been quite bitter.
Both Alkiné and Grain treated me more casually than I expected. Maybe getting caught using my powers isn’t that shocking after all.
Of course, I don’t have any powers to get caught with… but anyway, I’d rather not find out more here.
Before I knew it, I had arrived in front of the Student Cafeteria.
The Academy is quite peculiar. They divide everyone into lower, middle, and upper classes and treat them differently, yet they’ve combined the Student Cafeteria into one place.
Maybe they thought it’s not right to discriminate based on food?
I don’t know the exact reason, but thanks to that, it’s a great spot to meet all sorts of people.
You could say the Student Cafeteria here plays the role of a fantasy world’s guild or tavern, serving as a meeting place.
With that in mind, I entered the cafeteria with a slightly excited heart… but for some reason, the atmosphere inside was chaotic.
It wasn’t even peak hours, so I wondered what was going on. When I looked around, most people seemed to be fixated on one spot.
Following their gazes, I spotted two familiar faces.
Seria and Lilith.
Once I saw them, the chaotic atmosphere made perfect sense.
The two of them are currently famous figures in the Academy.
With titles like Princess and Saintess, it’d be more surprising if they weren’t famous.
That alone is enough to draw attention, but on top of that, they’re both stunningly beautiful.
Not just pretty, but the kind of beauty that could enchant a crowd… so it’s no wonder the atmosphere was a mess.
But why are they here eating dinner so early?
Seria usually comes during less crowded times, so that’s understandable, but Lilith? Isn’t she the type to eat late?
Still, it’s nice to see them like this.
With that thought, I decided to go over and say hi…
“So? You didn’t come here to brag about getting help from Rudion, did you? What exactly do you want to talk about?”
“It’s not bragging, I just…”
“If it’s not urgent, I’d rather focus on my meal.”
There she goes again.
Or maybe not. This might be the first time she’s acting like this here.
I thought she’d gotten better since she doesn’t act like that around me… but I guess it’s just because I handle her well. Her true personality hasn’t changed.
“Senior, I’ll be right back. Can you order for me in the meantime?”
“Uh… it looks pretty intense over there. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“No problem. Oh, I’m fine with just the basic set meal.”
Lilith seemed really awkward, so I left the ordering to Grain and decided to intervene between the two.
And then, moments later, the cafeteria’s ceiling exploded and flew off.
I’m not exaggerating—it literally flew off.
“Rudion… this wasn’t what I intended… Ugh…”
The culprit was Seria.
