“...The club’s creation has been approved.”

Inside the collapsing abandoned building, Iliya said as such while putting the official letter that was sent here back into the envelope.

“...”

“...”

Sadly, even though we had accomplished our goal, none of us were happy about it.

“...Yay.”

Iliya tried to celebrate the occasion by timidly raising her hands, but she immediately shut her mouth the moment she saw the horribly gloomy aura emanating from around her.

Actually, Riru and I were fine.

Ninety percent of the reason why the atmosphere became like this was because of Seras, who had been staring into space, as if her soul had escaped her body.

“...Miss Seras, i-it’ll all be fine, t-things just happened, you know…? A-Also, I heard she’s your younger sister, right? A-As a family she might under— Oww, oww! T-Teach…? W-Why…?”

She was about to continue rambling on, but I slapped her arm to make her shut up.

You see, the topic she was about to touch was one of Seras’ biggest reverse scales. Mentioning it was pretty much the equivalent of stepping on a landmine.

Looking back, I remembered that the System Windows that was related to her mentioned something about this.

 

 < Quest Info >
 < Special Quest: The Ultimate Dark Secret! >

[ A quest related to ‘Seras Evatrice’ is now available! ]

[ Upon completion, the target will submit to you! ]

[ Upon completion, you will receive significant benefits in the Main Scenario! ]

[ Upon completion, you will become the owner of the ‘Oath of the Crescent Moon’ ]

That was the window that popped up the first time I came into contact with this punk through Vizsla, the exorcist guy that I met back when I was fighting Valkasus.

I believed I said something to him back then…

‘I know the whereabouts of the object you’re looking for.’

…Yeah I said something like that, huh?

By the way, ‘the object you’re looking for’ that I mentioned was Victoria, the girl we just met.

She was Seras’ younger sibling who got separated from her ten years ago. Currently, she was her only family left.

Almost all the people that were close to Seras were aware how obsessive she’d get when it came to her effort to look for her sister.

It was to the point that when I merely gave a hint to Vizsla about Victoria’s whereabouts, he immediately cooperated with me.

[...The more you explain it, the more you sound like an evil bastard.]

“...”

[Because of you, she ended up showing such a sight to her most precious person…]

 

 

I couldn’t even say anything to refute that.

 

I cleared my throat awkwardly inwardly. Suddenly, Iliya clapped her hands and prompted us to turn our attention to her.

 

 

“A-Anyway, we can’t stay like this! Why don’t we meet again tomorrow at around this time? The club activities will start tomorrow anyway!”

 

 

It was obvious that she was trying to say something along the lines of ‘Let’s get out of here’, but honestly, that was a better option than just sitting here to wallow in sorrow together.

 

Everyone seemed to agree with me as they nodded their heads, albeit reluctantly.

 

As they walked out of the building, Riru stole a glance toward Seras, trying to read her mood. Meanwhile, Seras still looked as if her soul had left her body.

 

 

“...Alright, then...”

 

 

When I was about to leave the club building…

 

Iliya suddenly grabbed my arm hurriedly.

 

 

“U-Um, Teach! We need to talk! Just the two of us!”

 

“...”

 

 

I narrowed my eyes, glaring at her as I wondered if this was just her usual nonsense again. But, from her strange behavior, it seemed like this was actually an urgent matter.

 

The way she behaved right now was a world away compared to when she tried to seduce me, so I let out a sigh before sitting down again.

 

 

“...What is it?”

 

 

When I asked her that while scratching my head, she hesitated a bit before continuing.

 

 

“...Um, Teach, you know how important the clubs are in Elfante, right?”

 

“Of course. That’s why we had to go through all that fuss.”

 

 

I replied, showing her an incredulous look, as if asking, ‘Why are you stating the obvious?’.

 

Clubs were important, that was why the school regulations deemed it as mandatory. They wanted the students to have some good connections in the Academy before they graduated.

 

 

“...B-But…”

 

 

For some reason, she struggled to continue her words and I could see that her face was covered in sweat.

 

 

“T-This is something related to that… Y-You see, there’s a benefit that is supported by Elfante itself…”

 

“...”

 

 

Seeing the way she acted, I could roughly guess what she was about to say.

 

 

“Let me guess.”

 

 

I interrupted her with a sigh.

 

 

“People are offering their sponsors?”

 

 

Judging by how her eyes instantly widened, as if asking me, ‘How did you know?’ I seemed to have hit the bullseye.

 

 

…Well, if anything, it’d be strange if people didn’t offer anything…

 

 

Just like what it clearly suggested, sponsoring a club meant appointing oneself as the club’s sponsor. Basically they were saying something like, ‘We will provide the resources you guys need, so please share the ‘results’ with us later’.

 

It wasn’t a strange system considering Elfante’s level. There were actually many cases where various equipment that could be used in real battles and talented people were discovered through the clubs.

 

And if they were aiming for that kind of thing, the Exorcism Club was a juicy target to say the least.

 

No matter how much we tried not to stand out, the Hero herself was a member of the club. Also, even though I wasn’t as popular as her, they couldn’t ignore my presence here either.

 

People with good ears and eyes were everywhere; There was a high chance that those people had been aiming for our club ever since we started expressing our intent to create it.

 

 

“Can’t we just dismiss those guys for now? Decline their offer politely and send them away—”

 

“...U-Um, t-that…”

 

For some reason, Iliya was sweating hard as she handed out something to me.

 

“T-This was sent along with the official notice about the approval of our club’s creation… C-Could you read it first…?”

 

“...?”

 

 

I took the document she gave me and skimmed through it.

 

It was the list of people who wished to sponsor us.

 

As soon as I took the document from her, a window suddenly popped up before my eyes.

 

 

 < System Message >

[ ‘Club’ creation confirmed! ]

[ A special level of interest in the Target Group confirmed! ]

[ How the upcoming Main Quest - Chapter 5, ‘The Empire’s Great Turmoil’ will progress depends on how you run the Student Club! ]

 

“...”

 

 

What the fuck is this?

**

I hadn’t even read what was written on the document yet, but the window was filled with ominous messages…

**

Special level of interest in us? Chapter 5’s progress would depend on how I run the club…?

 

 

“...”

 

 

I don’t know, I can’t tell anything by just thinking about it.

 

Let’s just read through this thing first.

 

I thought as such before reading through the document Iliya gave me.

 

 

“...She just pops up everywhere now, huh?”

 

 

I let out a mutter as I removed the document on the very top; The one that had the Imperial Stamp on it.

 

Well, there wasn’t anything strange about this. The Empress was there to watch our club’s presentation.

 

Fortunately, I could take care of this by just trying to persuade her somehow. She was quite cooperative with me anyway.

 

Next…

 

 

“...What are these people doing here?”

 

 

Duke Tristan… Margrave Kendride…

 

It was a little too much, but I could understand.

 

I knew these people personally, so I could persuade them with my words too.

 

However, the next group of people…

 

 

“The War Chiefs of the Tribal Alliance…?”

 

“...Yes.”

 

 

No, this wasn’t Kasa—on the contrary, she was staying quiet—but rather the War Chiefs whom I didn’t even know.

 

Did they want to acquaintance themselves with us or something?

 

That aside, the level of the offers they were making…

 

 

“...What? They’re gonna share all their research results from the last two years with us?”

 

“...Yes.”

 

 

Iliya replied, looking slightly dazed.

 

 

“When the Empire offered them a whole territory for this in the past, they just ignored that offer, right…?”

 

“...”

 

“Now they said they’re just going to give it to a club as a sponsorship deal…”

 

 

By the time she finished her words, her voice sounded as if she was crying and I could completely empathize with her in this situation.

 

I mean, it wasn’t just us! Anyone would find it strange!

 

Yeah sure, I achieved monstrous things here and there, and Iliya was here, but that shouldn’t be enough of a reason for these important figures to rush towards us so passionately like this!

 

Hell, we hadn’t even announced the club’s name yet, let alone its vision and goals! There was literally no reason for them to do all this!

 

When I flipped into the next page, things just escalated even more.

 

 

“...”

 

 

I looked at Iliya, as if asking her, ‘Is this real?’. She nodded at my gaze, still looking as if she was about to cry.

 

 

“...The Pope?”

 

“...Yes.”

 

“...The Pope of the Holy Land?”

 

“...Yes.”

 

“...”

 

 

You bastard, what the fuck are you even doing here?

 

Why the hell would you even think to sponsor me?

 

My head began to ache. It felt as if my temples were being compressed from all sides.

 

By the way, it didn’t even end there. When I saw the list of people written on the next page, my face couldn’t help but distort terribly.

 

 

“...Iliya...”

 

 

I could barely call out to her, my voice was trembling.

 

 

“Is this real?”

 

“...Yes.”

 

“...”

 

 

A wave of dizziness struck me.

 

 

“When was the last time the Magic Tower got in touch with an outside group again?”

 

 

I muttered with a groan as I looked at the Magic Tower’s stamp on the document.

 

With their force only, they could easily be considered as the strongest, the worst, and the most awful group in this world.

 

They were the hub of technology in this world; Not even the Tribal Alliance could beat them.

 

Let’s say that if other countries in this continent were in the middle ages to modern times, then the Magic Tower was living in a world of sci-fi.

 

 

…It seems like the information about the club has been leaked out.

 

 

There was no way those crazy claustrophilic fuckers would send us something like this if that wasn’t the case.

 

As Dean Walter said, the ‘authority’ to handle ‘Devils’-related powers as you wanted was an ability that would make every group on the continent drool.

 

I didn’t know if the information was leaked to that extent, but I could see if they got interested in this since this matter was related to the Devils.

 

 

“...Tell them we’ll put everything on hold. Let's buy some time.”

 

 

I told Iliya while holding my throbbing head.

 

Honestly, this was the only solution I had for now. Even if I were to reject them, I doubt they’d give up that easily. As for choosing one of them instead… Well, I didn’t have enough information to assess which one among them was the best suited for us at this moment.

 

Since even a window had popped up, telling me that this decision would affect the Main Quest, I couldn’t just make a rash decision.

 

 

“U-Um, we can put the matters with sponsorship aside, but…”

 

“...What? Is there anything else?”

 

 

I asked Iliya—whose body was still shaking—in a bewildered voice.

 

 

“...U-Um… S-So, member recruitments are mandatory for all the clubs… A-And, the Club President and Secretary are obligated to evaluate all the students who wish to join the club…”

 

 

She closed her eyes tightly before reading out that particular school regulation.

 

 

“...Yeah, of course that’s the case. Why are you—”

 

 

Suddenly, I could feel an eerie sensation creeping down my spine, prompting me to shut my mouth.

 

If I remembered correctly…

 

The Club President was me and the Secretary was Iliya…

 

Which meant, both of us had to evaluate the punks who wished to join our club…

 

 

“...”

 

 

Alright, deduction time.

 

Just a moment ago, we knew that these terrifyingly important figures threw themselves at us, basically risking their everything just to ‘sponsor’ us.

 

That left us with a question…

 

What of the people who had contacts with those sponsors beforehand? How much preparation had they taken to become ‘members’ of the club?

 

 

“...S-Something like this came.”

 

 

Iliya handed out something to me with trembling hands.

 

 

“...”

 

 

Seeing a bundle of paper that looked so thick that it made me dizzy, I took a deep breath.

 

Actually, could I even call it a bundle of paper…?

 

It was obvious that this thing had been compressed several times with a spell. If we were to actually release that spell, this whole place would probably be filled with those paper bundles…

 

 

“...How many…?”

 

“...”

 

“They should’ve written the total number of people who had registered on the first page, right? How many?”

 

 

Iliya muttered her reply, letting out something that sounded like a groan as she covered her face that had gone pale with both hands.

 

 

“...A little over ten thousand people…”

 

“...”

 

“W-We have to evaluate all of these people…”

 

“...”

 

 

Ten thousand people…

 

I didn’t even want to imagine how many ‘important figures’ were among them. Those people who’d make me wonder, why the fuck were they even there…?

 

 

“...”

 

 

Shit…

Fuck…