At the student council office of the Royal Academy.

The student council officers seated at the round  table were all sighing deeply.

Chartia, the student council president, taking deep breaths.
Michail, serving as a witness.
Ruin and even the crown prince looking irritated.

It was because of the incident that occurred during the final evaluations that they were all gathered here.

Chartia was in a bad mood; there were now many tasks that needed attending to. Plans had to be created to address the interrupted examination, and it was her duty, as a princess, to conduct an investigation to verify the facts. It was obvious why her expression was so distressed.

– Bang!

“This damned academy, nothing seems to run properly.”

Chartia was furious at the thought that she would have to  write letters to the parents after the meeting, telling them not to worry.

She calmed her angry heart with shaky breaths. Rational thought was necessary for a proper meeting.

Chartia took a deep breath and looked at Michail before her. Michail’s face was full of scars. It seemed the shock from the heathen attack still lingered.

A week had passed since the incident, and he was still quite shaken.

Seeing the usually confident and self-assured Michail looking so troubled made Chartia feel uneasy.

“Michail. Can you tell us what happened that day? To proceed with the meeting, we need you to talk.”

Michail nodded slightly.

Rising from his seat, Michail began to recount the day’s events in front of the officers.

“It all started with the groaning of some man.”

He elaborated in detail.

How they ended up descending deeper into the dungeon, why they attempted to save the man, Michail was not omitting any detail and spoke honestly.

But as his story reached its climax, Michail’s lips did not move.

“We nearly died, and then…”

Michail couldn’t continue.

Chartia sighed deeply.
She knew why Michail couldn’t speak. His pride was intertwined with the fact that he had received help from someone he disliked.

Listening to Michail’s account, which completely matched the  report, Chartia gestured for him to sit back down without saying a word.

“Alright, you’ve had it tough. Let’s continue based on the  report.”

Chartia pointed to a section of the documents on the desk. It was the report about the recent incident.

Michail’s testimony and Yuria’s testimony.
The testimonies of the knights who were attacked by the heathens were summarized at the end of the report, which Chartia viewed with a significant gaze.

Michail hung his head when he saw the part Chartia was pointing to. It was a section he didn’t want to acknowledge verbally.

He could barely speak about the facts of their encounter with the heathens and Yuria’s endangerment with his eyes shut tight, but that particular part was too difficult to utter.

Was it out of shame?
Or perhaps embarrassment?

Michail simply kept his head bowed.

Chartia then addressed him.

“Ricardo saved you guys, right?”
“Yes.”
*Sigh*

Chartia swept her face with her hand, filled with frustration.

Ricardo…

Does this guy only show up in times like this?

It seemed unlikely that Ricardo was involved with the heathens given the circumstances. If Ricardo had been on the heathens’ side, it would have been more logical to kill Michail.

And Chartia knew that the Ricardo she knew was not the kind to bother mixing with heathens.

– Is this student council room your own living room? Ah, what brings you here this time?
– I was involved in a fight between classmates!
– …Why not learn to control your temper?
– Keeping anger inside makes you sick. I have dreams of healthy longevity…

Despite always being linked to suspicious incidents, Ricardo was someone whose involvement always prevented the worst outcome.

When there was a fire at the Academy.
When he caught a heathen in disguise as a student.
Even when Yuria was being bullied, Ricardo was involved, but the outcomes were ultimately positive.

It reached the point that Chartia felt relieved whenever Ricardo’s name appeared in the reports. While she was glad to see Ricardo’s name after such a long time, Chartia nevertheless sighed deeply.

“Are you certain it was Ricardo?”
“Yes.”

Michail shook his head. Chartia, too, massaged her throbbing forehead and sighed deeply.

“We’ll send someone to talk about Ricardo. Just be aware of that.”

Chartia thought he’d surely say, ‘I survived out of sheer luck,’ but even that was fortunate in her mind.

One dead. Thirty injured.

All were achievements by Ricardo.

Had Ricardo not appeared, the fatalities would not end with just one heathen but would have likely resulted in dozens of deaths.

Chartia flipped through the report without uttering a word, her gaze fixed on Michail, who kept his head down.

‘Michail… you’re no longer interesting.’

Michail used to entertain her with his righteous deeds. A presence that brought vitality to a mundane school life.

But it seemed that after meeting Ricardo, Chartia’s feelings towards Michail had diminished.

Him being stubborn and narrow-minded no longer appealed to her.

Once, she had a slight fondness for Michail, who was not intimidated by nobility. But now, after frequently witnessing the madman who threw his gloves at nobles, Chartia couldn’t find any redeeming quality in Michail.

Reading the report written in his genuinely honest handwriting, she almost felt a surge of irritation at Michail’s actions.

Ricardo would have written, ‘I hit him because it was absolutely irritating.’

Chartia turned the page with a smile within.

-Flip.

This page contained the report about the heathen who died in the dungeon.

[Vigny]
[Age: 32]
[Affiliation: Heathen]
[Prior Record: Yes]
[Details]
– Murdered three adventurers in Selena village.
– Killed two civilians in Rubiny village.
– Suspected of murdering 11 adventurers in Selena Dungeon.
·
·
·

Chartia murmured to herself.

“Mad bastard.”

Robbery, abduction, homicide. There wasn’t a crime he hadn’t committed. As if aiming for a criminal record certificate, his extensive list of offenses left Chartia unable to utter a single pleasant word.

The realization that such a man had been sharing the same space with the students made her heart sink, yet she also felt relief that they had been able to root him out.

Chartia read the perpetrator’s criminal record aloud, ensuring everyone at the table could hear it.

As she began reading the details of the perpetrator’s crimes, the officers seated at the table displayed a variety of expressions.

Some wore faces registering horror,
Some furrowed their brows in disgust,
And some, like Chartia, sighed deeply.

Out of all, Michail appeared to take it most seriously.

His face grew pale.

It was as if he couldn’t believe the facts he was hearing. Chartia casually offered him words of consolation, thinking he must have been shocked to fight such a criminal. But Michail, the central figure, was lost in complex thoughts.

Michail thought to himself.

‘A murderer?’

He had heard rumors that the heathens were evil, but he’d always considered those stories to be exaggerated or distorted.

He tried to deceive himself, thinking that due to some unfortunate misunderstanding or a somber background they ended up this way. Yet Michail’s face turned a ghastly pale as he imagined the problems that would have ensued if Ricardo hadn’t appeared and he himself had saved that person.

Michail pondered again.

‘Was I wrong?’

***

After all the stories had been shared, the student council officers, looking exhausted, were openly discussing the incident and sighing.

“That was really close. You said he was a murderer… wow.”
“It’s a relief. If it weren’t for senior Michail, we could have been dead, you know?”
“Right, right!”

While the chattering students were laughing about Michail,

-Bang!

Hanna slammed the papers down onto the desk and stood up.

She fiercely whipped the meeting minutes she had prepared on the desk, glaring at each of the students who had been blathering about Michail.

The girls flinched in surprise.

Hanna murmured as she looked at them.

“Are your ears clogged?”

Hanna was displeased.

The final agenda had been written primarily highlighting Michail’s heroics.

Michail had saved a student in danger.
Although there had been minor help from someone else, Michail, along with Yuria and their assistant, had triumphed in the battle, but in the process, committed an unavoidable homicide.

This was the conclusion.

Let’s give Michail an award.
Michail is a hero.

Nonsense.

Hanna, as secretary, responsible for recording everything, was irritated.

Though she was a third party and didn’t know the exact details of that day, she was certain that the butler had helped Michail.

Hanna had the intuition that the butler, who seemed like easy prey, had been fully taken advantage of before being discarded.

Hanna started getting angry.

It was so unfair.
There was a real hero who had resolved the matter, yet an innocent person was being considered for the award, and it infuriated her.

Hanna raised her hand and looked at the student council president.

“May I make a suggestion?”

When the weary Chartia turned her gaze to Hanna, she sternly glared at Michail and bravely spoke the words she had thought of during the meeting.

“I think that Senior Ricardo deserves significant credit for this incident.”

Bang…!

“Hey. Shut up and sit down.”

Ruin glared at Hanna as he spoke.

Ruin, swearing and saying her suggestion was nonsense.

Hanna didn’t flinch. His threats were worthless without the power to back them up.

After losing to Hanna in the last ranking contest, Ruin’s intimidation was less frightening than a passing cockroach.

While Hanna coldly ignored Ruin, he became increasingly angry at being disregarded by a junior and looked at Hanna with piercing eyes.

“Senior is telling you. Shut it.”
“Why don’t you keep your mouth shut. It’s so embarrassing I could die.”
“…Ah, this fucking bitch!”

Ruin, about to jump up from his seat.

Hanna gathered aura in her hand but then released her clenched fist due to the piercing stare and the bang of Chartia’s authoritative gaze.

“How dare you brawl in this sacred council room…”

With a start, Ruin, despite having much to say, was cut off by Chartia’s fierce look, kicked the chair, and stormed out of the meeting room.

Chartia looked at Hanna.

“What do you want to say?”

Hanna declared confidently.

“Please permit the reenrollment of Senior Ricardo and Senior Olivia.”

Chartia let out a deep sigh and said.

“Dismissed.”