It wasn’t long before Professor Reina arrived.
Seeing that she had flown here almost instantly, carried on Alkine’s back, it was impressive that she appeared entirely composed, without the slightest trace of disarray.
As soon as she arrived, Reina began using her ability to heal the injured. The grotesque forms of their arms and legs began returning to their original state.
Crunch.
Of course, there were bizarre sounds during the process, but since no one screamed, it didn’t seem painful.
‘So it’s possible, huh? Well, if she can regenerate severed limbs, straightening out crushed ones must be child’s play.’
Still, seeing it in person was fascinating. In the game, no matter how effective an ability was, it was just a textual description. Its in-game performance only manifested in refilling a health bar or curing a status effect.
Her ability in reality, however… it was close to a miracle. It wasn’t just empty talk that even royalty wouldn’t dare to offend her.
What had been a dire situation was resolved in mere minutes, as if it had never happened.
After healing everyone, she glanced around the area, her gaze locking with mine.
“Rudion? What are you doing here?”
“It just sort of happened.”
“…Well, it doesn’t look like you’re hurt. Take care of yourself.”
What was that about? A person who usually values experiences—even through injury—was now telling me to be cautious?
I couldn’t understand it, but I nodded in agreement for now.
“No one else is hurt now, right? Then I’ll be going. If anyone has lingering symptoms, come find me again. Student council president, make sure to write a proper report and submit it.”
And with that, she left, as if this incident were nothing worth her concern. It was awe-inspiring, as if she were unfazed by such situations.
‘What kind of life have you lived…?’
From there, things progressed quickly.
Among those treated, those who had fainted began regaining consciousness one by one, and joy filled the air once more. Afterward, we returned to the student council building for final health checks and eventually disbanded.
During the process, Alkine declared that she would suspend student council activities for a while to focus on recovery. Given that the rift had already been dealt with, there wasn’t much to do, so everyone accepted it without much resistance.
As people gradually left, only familiar faces remained: Me, Alkine, Diggers, and Grain.
It made sense for Alkine and me to stay behind since we had things to discuss, but why were Diggers and Grain still here?
Alkine resolved my curiosity herself.
“Vice President. Didn’t I tell you to go back and rest?”
“I can’t leave the president to handle everything alone. I’m truly fine, so please don’t worry about me.”
“…Fine. If you insist, I won’t stop you. Grain, why are you still here?”
“I’ve got business with that junior over there, so don’t mind me.”
Why me all of a sudden?
Though surprised at being singled out, I could guess why. There was that time I wrote a mocking letter and ran away, and when we exited the rift, Grain was the first person I locked eyes with.
Whatever the reason, it seemed she had something to address with me.
‘Guess I won’t have time to talk with the president after all.’
I hadn’t decided how to explain myself yet, so this might actually work in my favor. I should just slip away for now and leave it for another time.
“Then I’ll head back with Senior Grain.”
“What are you talking about? Rudion, you’re coming with me to help write the report.”
“…Why should I? The vice president is here.”
“Starting today, you’re the secretary.”
“…What?”
Everyone knows the student council only has a president and vice president. Where’s this secretary position coming from all of a sudden?
Look at this. The vice president is glaring daggers at me now.
Even if it’s not just the vice president, people wouldn’t take kindly to a new student suddenly being assigned an officer position. There’s no way I could accept that.
So, I expressed my refusal.
“I don’t really want to.”
“Then you can leave the student council. Is that what you want?”
“…Why are you being so extreme?”
Her threat was unexpected.
But thinking from her perspective, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable. After all, I had single-handedly handled a demon that even she couldn’t manage.
The student council operates on strength above all else. If word got out about what happened today, I could potentially outrank even the president.
In her mind, I was already a top predator.
That explained her insistence on making me an officer.
The problem was that, aside from Alkine, the rest of the council had no idea what had happened today.
Introducing a new officer out of nowhere? There might not be overt objections due to the president’s authority, but dissatisfaction would inevitably arise.
She must be aware of this, so why was she being so adamant?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out.
In the game, my interactions with her were limited to those between the president and a council member. The official materials only provided surface-level information, so there was no insight into deeper emotional changes like this.
Well, it didn’t matter for now. I’d deal with that later.
The idea of becoming an officer itself was exhausting.
The secretary typically records meeting details, but from what Alkine was saying, it seemed I’d also be tasked with compiling exploration records and writing reports.
Given my knowledge of most rift environments, structures, and the behaviors, traits, and weaknesses of the monsters within them, drafting reports wouldn’t be too challenging.
Organizing and writing things down was something I actually enjoyed.
So, I had compiled all kinds of strategies on the internet, including finishing detailed dodge-timing spreadsheets and posting them online.
But those were things I did on a whim.
Being assigned a role like “secretary” and having to work as if it were an obligation was a whole different level of annoyance.
Should I leave the student council, then?
That would be problematic, too—I needed to unlock the inventory.
‘You’re so extreme with your choices!’
A melody I had heard somewhere before started playing in my head.
At the same time, I recalled a message I had noticed earlier but overlooked because of the tense situation.
[Congratulations! You have successfully cleared the Rift!]
[Calculating contribution…]
[Your contribution is 79%.]
[This feature is currently locked.]
[Unlock condition: Clear five Rifts with a contribution of 40% or more. (1/5)]
Thanks to single-handedly dealing with the demon, my contribution was overwhelmingly high.
That meant I had already fulfilled one condition.
And I would need to do this four more times in the future… but if I left the student council, I’d have no choice but to solve it outside the academy.
To be honest, staying at the academy wasn’t particularly meaningful at this point, given my growth stats were stagnating.
But leaving the academy wasn’t a great option either, considering most major events happened here. There was no reason to leave unnecessarily.
I wasn’t sure why they were suddenly creating a secretary position out of nowhere, but staying and taking the parachute officer position would be better than leaving.
Having made my decision, I nodded reluctantly.
“Alright, fine. I’ll give it a shot.”
“Good choice. Now, follow me for a moment; we need to discuss the report.”
Wait. You didn’t just create this situation to pull me into your work, did you?
No way. Alkine wasn’t that reckless.
Probably not.
Following her, I entered a small room that served as the student council president’s office.
The room was sparse, containing only stacks of paper, pens, and ink, presumably for writing reports.
Alkine sat down immediately and began writing. The scratching sound of the pen was unexpectedly pleasant to hear.
After a while, she put the pen down and spoke.
“There aren’t enough chairs, so you’ll have to stand. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all.”
“Good. Then let’s start with something important. If there’s anything you want regarding this incident, let me know now.”
To summarize our conversation:
I vaguely deflected questions about my abilities, saying I couldn’t reveal them.
Alkine didn’t press further and accepted my answer.
We decided to present the incident as if Alkine had single-handedly managed to resolve everything.
The official story was that I had wandered into the rift, gotten lost after losing track of Alkine, and ended up escaping along with clearing the rift.
Meanwhile, Alkine would take on the role of the hero who found and destroyed the Rift Stone after narrowly surviving a battle with the demon.
This version of events seemed the most plausible.
Alkine seemed to agree, offering no objections.
Although it meant the demon would be reported as having escaped, it wasn’t a problem, since that particular demon, Crumple, had little significance in the game and didn’t appear again.
As our discussion concluded, Alkine lifted the paper she had been writing on and showed it to me.
The contents of our conversation were neatly summarized.
“This should do for the report, right?”
“Perfect. I don’t think I even need to take on the secretary role at this point.”
“What are you talking about? I showed this to you so you can learn from it for future reports.”
“Ugh. Fine, but my handwriting is terrible. Keep that in mind.”
“Sure. In the end, it’s the higher-ups who read these, not me.”
Her slight smirk showed she was pleased with my reaction.
Come to think of it, she was right—reports would be read by professors or the dean.
If I accidentally included too much unnecessary information, I might get swarmed with offers from professors. That sent shivers down my spine.
I’d need to be careful.
At that moment, Alkine began writing something new and casually remarked,
“By the way, you didn’t seem to be hiding your abilities, so why insist on saying you didn’t do anything? That’s unexpected.”
‘I’m not hiding my power; I don’t have any to hide in the first place.’
Explaining that would only lead to more misunderstandings, though.
“With great power comes great responsibility, right? I’m not interested in taking on any responsibilities.”
“You say that, but you seem pretty responsible to me.”
What was she basing that on? She had a sharp eye for talent but was terrible at reading people.
Still, since it was a compliment, I didn’t mind.
“Alright, I’ll head back for today.”
“Sure. I’ll handle this report, but make sure to do your best as our secretary from now on.”
With that, I left the room.
And…
“Can we talk for a moment?”
I was immediately stopped by the vice president.
Looking behind her, I noticed Grain watching me, as if waiting for her turn.
‘Am I popular or something? Not the kind of popularity I want, though…’
Well, considering I needed to fulfill the inventory unlock conditions by clearing rifts, it was inevitable I’d stand out.
Since I’d become an officer anyway, I might as well shake up the student council a bit.