024 - For Whom is the Club Room #1

TL/ED: Lolz

About 10 seconds after Enrique rolled his eyes back in white and regained his consciousness.

"Ow, uh...!"

Enrique, stretched out horizontally, let out a scream.

The sword had split him in half.

Originally, it wouldn't be unusual for it to cleave him in half and scatter his organs.

"...Ugh, you b*stards...."

But Enrique didn't die or lose consciousness; he continued to curse.

It wasn't because of his unusually robust body or that I didn't hit him hard enough.

It was because of the uniqueness of the sword Luke had given me.

Clank.

I gazed at the sword in my hand.

It was a well-maintained blade, shining brightly enough to illuminate my gruff face. But upon closer inspection, the sword was too blunt to be called a blade.

It was more like a club.

Throbbing.

And then it happened.

My forehead and temple area began to throb intensely. It wasn't from the fight with Enrique; it was the lingering pain from a previous injury.

Did my body remember getting hit in the head with this blunt sword?

Slurp, thud.

I slid the blunt sword back into its scabbard.

The sensation of it smoothly sliding into the scabbard was oddly satisfying.

I might get addicted to this.

"Victor!"

Victoria, who had been watching the situation, rushed towards me. Simultaneously, Enio released the siblings from their restraints and examined my condition.

"Victor, are you okay? There's blood at your mouth!"

"..."

I couldn't bring myself to say that I was okay.

Even Victor, with his steel body, found it difficult to speak through the pain.

My stomach hurt.

It wasn't a wound inflicted by Enrique; his fists were strong, but they hadn't damaged my internal organs.

It was the backlash of wielding a sword without the proper qualifications and attacking someone.

Surprisingly, attacking Enrique hurt me more than being attacked by him. How absurd.

"...I need to rest for a bit."

I leaned against a nearby pillar, resting my shoulders and back against it.

As I caught my breath, the surrounding noise of people murmuring and gossiping was getting louder.

"Enio! Why were you all in this place!? Why did you bring Victor to such a dangerous place!?"

"It was Victor who insisted on coming here... Maybe he knew that the Forsaken would come to this place in advance."

Misunderstandings were piling up, but I didn't have time to clarify as I was busy catching my breath.

"For now, let's secure this guy."

Gawain, the blond, tan-skinned man, pulled out a rope from somewhere and fastened it tightly to Enrique.

He continued to talk, even while bound tightly.

"You'll regret this. I... I mean, we were trying to save you from a tragic fate. We were trying to rescue you, Ugh!"

"First, let's lock him up in the Student Council's prison. We can hear the story later. What do you think, Miss Victoria?"

"For now, let's do that."

Enrique's recruits were handed over to Gawain.

The Student Council members and members of the Swordsmanship Club gathered around him, escorting him out of the old school building's warehouse.

Then someone came up to me.

“Won’t you give me back my sword? It's a precious gift from mu master."

"...."

I handed the sword back to Luke.

After receiving it, he pulled out the blade slightly to check its condition and asked me.

"It was a simple and splendid sword technique. Why didn't you use such a technique when fighting me?"

"Well..."

I simply gave an ambiguous answer.

How would I know the reason?

If I had to guess a bit as a member of D&A, wouldn't it be because if there was a boss that used such such techniques from the tutorial, there wouldn't be any newbies left?

In any case, the battle with Enrique, the Forsaken of "Fimblevet", was over for now.

* * *

"Hey, did you hear? The new transfer student defeated that Forsaken."

"Didn't they say Miss Arkwright and Gawain were there too?"

I heard this Enrique guy tried to attack Miss Blackstar."

In the hallways, in the park, and on the shopping streets, news about the incident was spreading everywhere, even if you didn't listen carefully.

The Student Council and the Delegates informed me this morning that the incident has been resolved as per their report, with the Student Council's disciplinary force, including newcomer Luke, taking care of it.

"...The final blow was dealt by Victor. It feels like you lost something when you were about to score a goal."

Nike seemed to have a lot of complaints about my involvement being hidden.

"People should be praising Victor. But why is nobody talking about Victor? I don’t like that Luke guy and the Student Council!"

I could sense Nike's favorability towards Luke and the Student Council declining.

I just nodded.

"In fact, I gained some benefits."

Nike tilted her head.

"What do you mean?"

I decided to explain briefly.

"It's not a good thing for people to hear that I defeated Enrique without permission to carry weapons. It could lead to problems."

Why don't they all start saying, "Ludens is acting suspicious lately! Let's protect ourselves like Victor!" and carry weapons, engaging in self-defense activities?

Then the order would completely break down.

No matter how much of a D&A veteran I am, managing my studies and paying off a 200 million debt in this kind of variable situation can be a bit of a hassle.

So, the current situation was actually beneficial for me.

“Uh… Maybe..."

Nike seemed not to fully understand the situation.

But in truth, when you look at it closely, it's not a lie that Luke and the Student Council's disciplinary force defeated Enrique.

Enrique, who I met in the warehouse, was severely exhausted.

The Student Council's disciplinary force had cornered him and attacked him.

I just delivered the final blow.

In terms of contributions, the Student Council had a 60% share, and I had around 40%.

Nevertheless, I needed to be careful going forward.

The recoil from wielding a weapon illegally had caused me stomach discomfort in the past few days. He really was a strict guy.

Despite my lingering abdominal pain, I tried to steer the conversation towards a positive note.

"But remember, it's not just a loss for us. We were able to acquire this place from the Student Council."

“That’s right!”

Nike had clenched her fists tightly, looking very pleased.

"We finally have our club room! There is still a lot to clean up, and we need to fix things like the old windows."

It had been the warehouse that Enio had tried to sell to the Student Council.

As planned, the Student Council purchased the warehouse for 5 million Rene and handed over the rights to the ‘Victory's Cook Club’.

Accountant Milone had explained it this way.

"Um... Senior Victor, there was actually a bounty on Enrique. It was probably difficult to officially announce it, but if you thought about the amount of the bounty..."

In other words, the bounty on Enrique, who had been captured, had been entirely transferred to me.

Thanks to that, we had obtained the club room.

A club room.

It had stirred a feeling in my chest that had been dormant.

I used to think it was something for insiders and had nothing to do with me.

Nike had also seemed thrilled.

"Victor, from now on, we can even sleep here! We don't have to build a cabin!"

As Nike suggested, if we placed beds and furniture, we could use this club room instead of the dormitory or an inn.

However, I had to deliver some sad news to Nike.

"Nike, you have to go to the dormitory."

“Me, the dormitory? Why?"

"Because there is a rule that men and women can’t live together in the club room."

"Such a rule exists? Really?"

When Nike had asked me this question, someone had entered the room.

“It’s true, Miss Mokemoke.”

It was Victoria.

"Men and women can’t live together in a club room."

"Why? Why is there such a rule?"

"Why?"

Victoria paused as if she hadn't expected such a question.

"Why? Well, that's because... uh, there were various problems associated with it!"

"Problems? What kind of problems? Please be specific!"

"That’s… The problem is…”

As Nike's questions continued, Victoria's porcelain-like face blushed with a healthy glow, and it seemed like she couldn't hold back any longer. Eventually, she cried out.

"If you want to know what the problem is, you'll have to take the after-school elective course 'Love God's Healthy Married Life’!"

A course titled 'Love God's Healthy Married Life’.

It seemed like it genuinely existed.

I vaguely remembered it as an optional quest.

Anyway, Victoria, having gathered her composure, continued to speak.

"Regardless, Miss Nike, you were targeted by Fimblevet. Given that we don't know who at the Academy was involved with whom, the women's dormitory is safer."

"But I don't have the prepayment for the deposit..."

Nike didn't want to stay in the dormitory because of the deposit issue.

It was reasonable not to want to be placed there without money.

Of course, there was a solution.

"As for the deposit, Victor made the payment."

"Victor?"

"There was some reward money left from capturing Enrique. That's what I used."

In the end, Nike needed a place to stay.

However, it seemed like my actions had deeply touched her, as she gazed at me with shining eyes.

"Victor...!"

"What?"

"I'll work hard! I'll gather herbs diligently! I'll catch rabbits with determination! This is Nike Mokemoke's self-regulation!"

Her self-regulation?

It appeared that the attack in the forest had left quite an impression.

When it seemed like she was about to shrug, Victoria spoke.

“More than that, Miss Mokemoke. First period starts soon, is that okay? Class A is canceled today due to the damage from yesterday, but not Class C."

"Ah!"

With her bag in hand, Nike quickly left the warehouse.

Leaving just Victoria and me behind.

"..."

"..."

It was incredibly awkward, as neither of us spoke.

Was this warehouse always so spacious and quiet?

Or was it because there was no furniture?

While I was lost in thought, Victoria was the one to break the silence.

"How are your injuries? You took quite a beating while saving Enio."

"I'm fine. You know my body's tough."

"..."

Instead of responding, Victoria just closed her mouth. I couldn't help but ask, feeling that my back was tingling.

"There must be a reason for you to send Nike away and leave only the two of us. Victoria, if you have something to say, say it now."

For example, ‘Why did you break off the engagement to me by lying’?

I didn't know when that conversation might come up, so I felt nervous.

It might be better to get it over with.

Victoria exhaled loudly.

"Yeah. This isn't really like me.", she muttered as if to reassure herself before speaking.

“I have something to discuss about our broken engagement.”

Finally, the moment had arrived.

Access 10 Chapters ahead of the Novelupdates release on our Patreon. <3