Chapter 90. The Duty of a First-Year Representative

If there's someone not studying, the fixer appears and takes them away.

This was a ghost story circulating in the Black Falcon Dormitory.

A rumor that the Black Falcon Dormitory's fixer would appear before a first-year student who hated studying and solve their problem.

“Solve their problem?”

“Yes, they say not wanting to study is the problem.”

Since a student's duty is to study, it was a valid point in its own way.

Just as it becomes a problem when a working adult doesn't work, it was also a problem when a student played without studying.

A problem of getting poor grades and receiving pitiful glances from professors, and furthermore, a problem of losing face in front of one's parents.

The senior listening to his junior's story soon agreed.

“That's true.”

“Just listen a bit more.”

The junior continued as if he found it amusing.

It was said that if you got caught by him, the laziness of a student who hated studying would be completely cured.

The rumor that started in the Black Falcon Dormitory was slowly spreading among other grades as well.

The junior who brought up the story had also run to his senior after hearing that rumor.

The senior, who was listening with interest, asked.

“How does he solve the problem?”

“Well, you see……”

There were no current students at the academy who didn't know about the existence of the library.

A place not well-known to outsiders, where academy students secretly visited during exam periods.

Unspeakable things happened when you went there.

“Unspeakable? Isn't that just because of the restriction?”

“Shh!”

The junior signaled for his senior to be quiet.

Current academy students already knew about it, but to the freshmen who still knew nothing, the library was an unknown world.

Thinking about what the freshmen would encounter when they first went to the library, the seniors were bound to get excited.

“Anyway, it's a fact that you can't talk about what's in the library. It's the same thing.”

“That's also true.”

The third-year student who was listening to the ghost story nodded.

It was because he also had the experience of being shocked when he first went to the library after enrolling in the academy.

However, even if he wanted to talk about it somewhere, his lips wouldn't part.

It was then that he realized just how powerful the restriction placed on the academy students was.

“So, if there's a Black Falcon Dormitory student who isn't studying……”

“If there is?”

“He kidnaps them.”

The kidnapped student would then supposedly return suddenly smarter.

It was said to be an incomprehensible event for the freshmen who hadn't been to the library yet.

Thanks to this, the news was that the first-years were now burning with academic passion.

“Hahaha!”

The Grade Representative Office echoed with Pasion's laughter.

Anesha, who had told him the rumor, was also sparkling her eyes.

“How about it? Isn't it fun?”

“It's more than fun. Our direct junior is quite something, isn't he?”

Pasion recalled the interesting junior he had gotten to know at the Grade Representative Meeting.

He had been curious about who would become the first-year representative, and a junior who became more and more interesting the more he knew him had come along.

A junior with the nickname of the Black Falcon Dormitory's fixer.

Radel Silvert Credian.

He was a figure who had been providing great amusement to the second-year representative, Anesha, and the third-year representative, Pasion, recently.

“I never would have thought of that method.”

“I thought about it, but I couldn't put it into action. To think he pulled it off.”

No matter how much one was a grade representative, there was a limit to what one could do for friends.

How many grade representatives would force their friends to study?

“Senior, shall we go and have a look? I'm curious if the rumor is true.”

“Just like you, Anesha. I was planning to do the same.”

The two couldn't wait until the next Grade Representative Meeting.

It seemed they wouldn't be satisfied until they confirmed this interesting story for themselves.

Just then, someone's voice cut in.

“Where do you think you're going now?”

At the appearance of a completely unexpected person, Anesha and Pasion looked at each other.

* * *

“They're coming.”

Anesha and Pasion were hiding in a place with a clear view of the library's main entrance.

Luckily, Radel appeared not long after.

Anesha was puzzled, seeing Radel appear alone.

“Huh? He came alone?”

“No, look closely.”

Pasion pointed to Radel's shoulder.

Radel was carrying something.

At first, she thought it was a large sack, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't.

What looked like a sack was the hem of a robe.

To be precise, it was a person wearing a robe…….

“No way…… it's not, right, senior?”

“Haha, I think what you're thinking is right. This is already getting fun.”

Pasion even took out a telescope.

Anesha put on a pair of glasses enchanted with magic that allowed her to see far away.

……And Shartea, who had followed the two, also took out her opera glasses.

After hearing Pasion and Anesha's story, she had come along, saying she wanted to see for herself.

“Senior, when did you prepare the magical tool?”

“I figured it out when I saw you two getting yours.”

Shartea answered in a calm voice as she brought the opera glasses to her eyes.

It was to observe Radel's actions from afar.

Pasion and Anesha, seeing Shartea like this for the first time, felt bewildered.

They had thought that with her personality, she wouldn't participate in something like this.

Certainly, they couldn't miss out on such an interesting spectacle.

The three finished their preparations and began to watch the situation with great interest.

“We're here.”

Upon arriving at the library's main entrance, a freshman with a resigned expression slid down from Radel's shoulder.

After stumbling for a moment, he squeezed his eyes shut as he looked at the library in front of him.

It felt like what was bound to come had come.

A bizarre situation unfolded where Radel, who had dragged him here, patted his shoulder.

“Everything will be fine once you go in here.”

What's more, a sense of sincerity could be felt in his encouraging words.

As if he felt Radel's genuine wish for his friend's well-being, the freshman asked in a trembling voice.

“R-really? Will it be okay if I go in here?”

“Of course. Everyone came out better. That's why it would have been good if you had come along with the other friends last time. Why did you have to run away then……”

The freshman even felt sorry upon hearing Radel's sigh-filled words.

Why did I run away then?

If I was going to come anyway, it would have been better to just follow on my own.

He recalled the faces of his friends who had been mercilessly kidnapped by Radel a while ago for being at risk of failing and had gone to the library.

Everyone was miserable before going, but they had changed after coming back.

There was even a friend who suggested that it would be better to go to the library quickly.

“It's a good thing you came now. Let's go in.”

“O-okay.”

In any case, Radel was in a good mood because he had succeeded in catching his friend who had been running away from him.

If he sent this friend in here, it was as good as having brought almost all the first-years on the list to the library.

It meant that the mission Professor Marianne had given him was about to end.

The Marcellent outing permit he would receive in return was absolutely necessary for Radel.

“Will I be able to do well?”

“Of course. You don't distrust the Black Falcon Dormitory's fixer, do you?”

It was a friend who was needlessly asking a question about something that would end just by opening the door and going in, but Radel wasn't angry at all.

He only wished for this friend to meet the spirit of the library quickly as well.

Radel said to his friend in a gentle voice.

“There are no failures in our dormitory. You know that.”

Upon hearing those words, the freshman's expression became resolute.

Recalling Professor Marianne, who had turned a pebble into dust, a courage he didn't have welled up.

The friend, who had a change of heart, pushed open the library door on his own.

He took a step toward being reborn under Radel's warm gaze.

Three people were watching that moving moment from afar.

“Wow, I almost clapped just now.”

“You too, senior? Wow…… did you see our junior's gaze?”

As Pasion spoke, Anesha also agreed in admiration.

Radel's intense gaze as he looked at his friend entering the library was unusual.

“I felt the spirit of a swordsman ready to subdue him immediately if he ran away. As expected of a grade representative.”

Shartea also nodded with a proud face.

The three were thus able to confirm the truth of the rumor that had started in the Black Falcon Dormitory.

Everyone's perspective was different, but what they felt was the same.

As expected, that junior was no ordinary person.

* * *

The midterms were over.

Radel, after taking the Transmutation Magic practical as his last exam, stopped by the Black Falcon Dormitory's common room.

“Ugh……”

“……I don't even have the strength to lift a finger.”

“My head's not working……”

Many first-years were already collapsed here and there.

It was the aftereffect of the midterms.

However, a smile never left Radel's lips as he looked at his friends collapsed on the sofa in agony.

It was because everyone in the Black Falcon Dormitory had avoided failing.

Inette had also escaped the risk-of-failing group.

Although she was forcibly taken to the library to study, thanks to that, she was able to somehow pass the midterm written exam she had been worried about.

As soon as the midterms were over, Inette, drained of energy, was sprawled out on a sofa in the common room.

Radel, who had discovered Inette who had become one with the sofa, approached her.

“How was the exam?”

When Radel asked, Inette barely opened her mouth.

“……Why are you asking when you already know.”

“Still, you studied, so your grade must have gone up.”

At Radel's words, Inette flared up.

“There's no one who didn't study, so would my grade have gone up alone? Everyone's went up!”

Inette seemed to find it unfair, but that was Radel's goal in the first place.

“Isn't it better than failing because you were the only one who didn't study.”

“That's right, it's a positive result.”

Inette's stomach churned even more as Tunia and Gusto, who were sitting next to her, each added a word.

It was true, but there was a nagging feeling that she had been tricked. But then again, the result was good, so she had nothing to say.

“Anyway, that's great, Inette. It's rewarding to have studied.”

Seeing Radel's nonchalant expression, Inette felt a surge of anger as she recalled the memory of being kidnapped to the library.

“How can such words come out of your mouth? Because of you, I……!”

That damn library spirit!

How many times did she have to try to move on to the next volume!

However, even if she wanted to bring up the story about the library, her lips wouldn't part anymore because of the restriction.

Inette was frustrated in many ways.

* * *

Radel headed to Professor Marianne's office with a light heart.

He had been able to send all his friends at risk of failing to the library, and everyone's grades had gone up in this midterm, so he had more than achieved his goal.

“Welcome.”

As it happened, Professor Marianne seemed to be in a good mood.

“I was right to entrust it to you. you did better than I thought.”

“It was my duty as a grade representative.”

Professor Marianne smiled slightly as she looked at the humbly speaking Radel.

He was a rare student even in the long, yet short, life of an elf.

A student who took care of things on his own like this.

Professor Marianne, with a satisfied heart, handed Radel an envelope.

It was the Marcellent outing permit that Radel had wanted.

“Thank you, Professor.”

Radel politely accepted the outing permit.

With this, he would be able to go out to Marcellent this weekend.

Professor Marianne, who saw Radel rejoicing, asked.

“By the way, what do you plan to do in Marcellent?”

Radel said with a smile.

“There's something I need to buy.”

This time, he planned to go shopping.