Poor Prince Ier seemed very disappointed, but the one more shocked was the girl sitting next to him. The red-haired lady of the Scential house was trembling all over.

“We got tricked…”

I was a little hurt. It was not like I forced them to have fun at gunpoint or anything!

It seemed Prince Ier understood that bit, but I couldn’t say the same for the other person.

“That crafty professor! If only it was about economics, I would have crushed him. Did he use magic?”

Troubled, I turned to the saintess candidate and the lady of Danube sitting on the next bench over. Both of them sighed and shook their heads.

There was no helping her, huh? It seemed the Scential merchants were going to be in a tough spot down the line.

Unknowingly, a smile started filling my face.

Kids being kids.

A long time ago I had seen other sixteen-year-olds being forced into drills only to be mauled on the battlefield. The sight of those kids trembling in fear, kids in the same battalion as I was, overlapped with these four in my mind.

This was better.

They should be able to laugh like this and whine like this. That was the best.

With a smile, I joined in.

“It was pretty fun! I would have been lost in that mind game if not for Student Rosentea.”

The saintess candidate, kind as her title would suggest, understood my intentions and followed right along. “I agree, it was a great trick by the Business Club.”

“Football is hard too…” Elara joined in as well.

Prince Ier smiled at her words. “We won there!”

“You did well!” I jumped in to compliment Ier. “I had no idea backpassing was not allowed! We would just play however we wanted in my day.”

Ier nodded with a smile.

“Right…” Rosentea suddenly sat up straight. She crossed her arms and rushed to cover her smile with her folding fan. “I am pretty amazing myself. All of us are. The whole school knows our strengths. It is enough.”

And with that, the girl started laughing. Boy, was her merchant group in big trouble. Well, she was still excessively smart during the business club’s games. She may just have gotten comfortable with this group.

“Oh, professor. About the meals…” the saintess candidate called out.

“Liked them?”

“Quite a lot. You paid for all of us, I’ll repay you.”

I brought a finger to my lips and shushed her.

“Kids don’t ‘repay’ adults. Just say thank you.”

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The saintess candidate reeled back, then smiled and said a word of thanks. That was enough repayment for the food.

“You guys should have brought some more things since I was buying,” I said. “Look, the cartography club’s map. It is one of the best I’ve seen.”

Prince Ier and Rosentea seemed interested in the map that I pulled out from my bag.

World maps were rather expensive and tough to come by. But with the war over, their accessibility had increased. It seems that the cartography club was one of the first to get to use it.

“Is it that good?” Rosentea asked.

“It’s not military grade, but close enough. Very accurate and updated, like this crater in the Eastern end of the Empire? It was made 7 months ago, a bit before the last battle.”

“It might be good enough for merchants?” Prince Ier asked and Rosentea nodded.

“Pretty good.”

Even the saintess inched over to where we were sitting. Like a small snail, she put her head in between our arms and stared in awe as well.

“So!” A voice interrupted us as we were peeking at the map.

Elara crossed her legs and eyed each of us one after another.

“Have you all thought about what club to join… or advise?”

All of us slowly turned our gaze away from her. Ah, et tu, Saintess Candidate?

Ier and Rosentea might have been right, we ended up having way too much fun.

“In that case, I have an idea.” Elara continued right away. “How about we make our own club? A Black Rose club? We’ll reel in everyone in the classroom.”

Oh?

Was she planning to influence them all already? For Elara, this classroom was a bag of opportunities. She was already using it well.

“You can do whatever you want. The professor can also rest easy by becoming our advisor, you get to keep an eye on everyone. And if you want, you guys can always join two clubs.”

The other students contemplated it for a bit.

“I like it,” said the Saintess candidate. “I would rather stay here in class than join a club. This is convenient.”

Rosentea nodded too. “I am more interested in the student council, so a simple club is good.”

Ier too. “A low-profile club. That’s best.”

It was a good deal for everyone. Especially for me. If there was ever a problem from the top about putting all these kids in clubs, this would lower the impact.

And I could be the advisor for the kids that mattered.

“Very well. Then, professor. Please take my request to start a club,” said Elara, coolly letting her hair flutter in the wind.

“Give it to me in writing.”

***

The kids all went back. The evening sun had cast its red hue on the skies.

I thought it would be a good time to stroll out of the academy again, but I met a familiar face on my way out.

“Oh! Professor, it’s you!”

The green-haired girl was a grad student whom I had met at Jeremy's party. My eyes widened as soon as I saw her.

“If it isn’t Enna! Did you get home on time?”

The girl, Enna, nodded at my words. “Thanks to you.”

“How’s that friend of yours?” I asked.

“She injured her back recently,” the girl said with a laugh. “You won’t believe it. That girl, she drank the night we were out and fell off the bed so hard she can’t walk anymore.”

It wasn’t strange for me to hear such details from people about their friends. Sometimes, drinks brought people closer than time could. Enna thought of me as someone she could share things with.

“Her back? Well, she must have been scared.”

“She’s not anymore,” the girl waved her hands. “I told her that a veteran guaranteed there couldn’t be a demiurge, and she said I was right. She was so insistent about it earlier, but now she says she must have remembered wrong.”

My eyes narrowed at her words.

“Is that so…? Maybe she wanted to escape the party?” I asked.

Enna shrugged. “Possible. Anyway, professor. Have you heard of the Black Rose Club Hunters? I am looking for them before our club closes its exhibition. The others wanted to challenge them.”

Ah. The grad school clubs were open till late into the night.

I would have gone along, but I felt there was a need to do something more urgent today.

“I heard of them. They were hitting the Acapella club next. But they are not grad students, so don’t bother them ok?”

“Yup! I’ll take care of that!” Enna beamed and hopped away. “See you later, professor! Come say hi sometime!”

“Of course! All the best in defeating the Club Hunters!”

She won’t be finding them anytime soon.

I exhaled a sharp breath and adjusted my coat. My grip on the attache case tightened as I walked off faster than before.

Not to the gates, but to the administrative buildings.

I quickly made my way through the floors and knocked on the door to Richard’s office.

“Ethan? What brings you here?”

With as normal a smile as I could muster, I asked.

“I heard Professor Barnum from the Equestrian club didn’t make it to the academy today. Did something happen after we drank?”

“Ah…” Richard raised his brows. “Right… he hurt his back.”