Chapter 187

187

The unprecedented news of the birth of a first-year Student Council President spread rapidly across the world in no time.

Leo had always stood out from the crowd. The fact that he was in an unparalleled class and his actions were far from ordinary for a first-year student certainly played a part. Add to that his position as the representative of the current first-year class, known as the Golden Generation of Lumeran, and it was clear he was an extraordinary young hero-in-training.

With his new role as Student Council President, Leo was no longer just a rookie. The fact that he was the Contractor of the Phoenix garnered even more attention. Additionally, he was considered on par with the current strongest student, Ris.

As a result, this year’s first-year martial arts evaluation was garnering worldwide attention. People were flocking to Rumelia City, the center of the world, to hear news from Lumeran. The emergence of a new hero always gets people excited. Especially stories of youthful bravery like Leo’s were enough to excite the crowd. In these turbulent times, Leo’s appearance was truly like a ray of sunshine.

The people’s response was already fervent, as if a new hero had already been born. Together with the Golden Generation, the entire first-year class gained even more attention.

The expectations for this year’s first-years in Lumeran had already reached their peak due to the Gigantes extermination during the first semester alone. Now that a student from the same grade had even become the Student Council President, the very gaze upon the same grade was different.

While the outside world kept its eye on Leo and all the first-years of Lumeran…

Inside Lumeran…

“Ha… He completely burned everything out…”

Kal, slumped over the desk in class, said in a trembling voice, almost like he was pleading.

“What kind of exam has no multiple-choice questions at all and is purely subjective?”

Ilerna was tearing her hair out.

“What kind of exam is this hard…”

Even Chelsea, one of the best students in the entire first-year class, was groaning.

Regardless of how the world reacted, teenagers had enough on their plate just trying to handle the exams in front of them. The difficulty of the written test was incomparable to the midterms and finals from the first semester. No matter what kind of gaze the outside world had on them, they were utterly overwhelmed with their test schedules. It was the last day of exams, and usually, the students would be jumping with joy, but the entire first-year class was utterly spent.

Just when everyone was lying down, exhausted, the door creaked open and Halind and Sena entered the classroom.

The students instinctively shot up in their seats and straightened their postures.

Thud… Thud…

Halind approached the teacher’s desk calmly and set down the attendance book, a faint smirk appearing on his face.

“It seems everyone enjoyed the exams, didn’t they?”

“Of course not!”

“Really too hard!”

The students screamed silently in protest, but no one dared to say it out loud.

Halind spoke without even looking at the students.

“Good job with the exams, everyone. I hope you all survived again.”

The students’ faces lit up with a grateful expression at his words.

“If anyone receives a drop-out recommendation, I’ll show them hell before they leave the school. Better hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Immediately, their mood plunged again by Halind’s words.

As the classroom atmosphere sank, Halind continued.

“Anyway, the exams are over, so I have an announcement.”

“An, announcement?”

“Another thing?”

The entire Class 5 grew tense.

Of course. The first-years who were already well-acclimated to Lumeran knew well that the school wouldn’t let its students relax once the exams were over.

“New, new practice?”

“Or is it something like a super hard assignment?”

Everyone waited breathlessly as Halind began to speak.

“One month from now, there’ll be the Ruse Tournament.”

“…”

“…”

The moment the words were spoken, everyone’s eyes widened like rabbits.

A moment later…

“OOOOOH!”

“The Ruse Tournament!”

“Finally, the Ruse Tournament!”

Not only Class 5 but other classes burst out with cheers.

Of course! The Ruse Tournament was without a doubt the largest event of the year.

It wasn’t just an occasion to measure academic achievements and skill levels—it was a place where students showcased everything they had built through their school life.

Students in various clubs even had presentations and demonstrations during the Ruse Tournament. Plus, the school opened widely, welcoming numerous external guests.

It was truly a festival of the school.

Seeing the excited reactions from the students, Halind smirked.

“Well, it’s only an event you can enjoy if you’re not receiving a recommendation to drop out.”

Once again, Halind’s words sent the class mood plummeting.

“This year’s Ruse Tournament will take place not in Lumeran but in Seirun.”

The Ruse Tournament alternates annually between Lumeran and Seirun. This year, Seirun was hosting the tournament.

“You all know, but for several years now, we’ve been losing in the Ruse Tournament to Seirun.”

At this, the students made frustrated faces.

“For the school, it’s a regrettable situation.”

The normally expressionless Halind showed a slight hint of irritation.

“Rest well this weekend; next week, the preliminaries to select representatives for each event will begin. Prepare well.”

The Ruse Tournament is an event attended by all students at the school, but among these, there are events where representatives are chosen.

To be selected as a representative for the Ruse Tournament is an extremely prestigious honor. And in some events, representatives are chosen without regard to academic performance.

“That’s all.”

Upon finishing the announcement, Halind left the classroom.

As soon as he left, the students of Class 5 gathered in small groups and began chatting.

“Chelsea, weren’t you in the music club? Are you representing your club?”

“Yup. I’m handling soprano.”

“First-years beating out club seniors?”

“That’s impressive.”

“Haven’t you heard her sing? It’s no joke.”

Chelsea mentioned she was also the ace within the music club. Even though she was a first-year, her voice was beautiful enough to be chosen as the club’s representative.

“Kal, what’s your club doing?”

At Teid’s question, Kal grinned and made a circular motion with his fingers.

“The seniors said the Ruse Tournament brings in a ton of profit. Right now, we’re brainstorming several business ideas.”

“Still, any kind of presentation or event, especially budget-wise, costs money, right?”

“Yeah. Even the music club has higher-than-usual budgets due to stage setups and concert preparations.”

“Commercial clubs need their business reports approved to participate in the Ruse Tournament.”

“Isn’t stuff like that handled by the Student Council?”

Every student in the class who was chatting about club activities turned their gaze towards one side of the room.

Leaning back, reading a book as though he didn’t care, Leo, who had been listening silently, lifted his head.

“What’s everyone looking at?”

Of course, he was the student with the highest authority in the school. Though he had delegated most of the practical work to Vice President Hark and would officially begin his duties as Student Council President next year, the power was still with him.

“President! President! Hey, hey!”

Ilerna knelt down in front of Leo, looking up at him with sparkling eyes.

“If the budget for the swordmage club could stretch just a little, we might showcase a really cool magical sword!”

The swordmage club’s highlight at the Ruse Tournament was the creation of magical swords. Swordmages skilled in both sword and magic were known for their expertise in forging such weapons. Some even rivaled alchemists in their craftsmanship.

Ilerna started it, but soon, students from Class 5 gathered around Leo.

“Leo! A wyvern tooth arrived in Rumelia City recently, and I’d love to experiment with summoning techniques, but we’re short on budget!”

“President! You know me, right?”

One after another, Leo’s classmates surrounded him.

Leo nodded, pulling out a notebook from his pocket.

“Speak up.”

“OOOooh!”

“Talk big! President!”

“Still, it’s great to have the Student Council President in our class!”

Some cheered.

Watching this scene, Chelsea and Kal exchanged a glance and clicked their tongues.

The calm smile never leaving her face, Nella asked them.

“You guys aren’t asking Leo for a favor?”

“Hmm.”

“Do you guys still not know his character after being in the same class with Leo for half a year?”

After jotting down all the students’ requests, Leo stood and muttered as he headed toward the classroom door.

“As the Student Council President, my first task being the punishment of inappropriate lobbying from my classmates—makes me feel bad. Should I investigate these clubs internally?”

“Hey! Stop him!”

“Catch him!”

“Aaaah, President!”

“We’re sorry!”

The students from Class 5 scrambled to grab his legs.

*

After the exams were over, Leo headed toward the Student Council Room located within the Hero’s Tower.

Even though Hark was in charge of the handover, Leo, as the Student Council President, needed to show his face at the student council.

As Leo entered the room, the Student Council members were busy moving about.

“Leo’s here.”

“Come on, Leo!”

The 5th-year students looked at Leo and smiled warmly.

To the seniors on the verge of graduation, Leo was an incredibly charming younger student.

“Looks like you’re busy.”

“Yeah, busy because of the Ruse Tournament.”

“Take it slow. Here, have some snacks.”

“Gasp? Are these for us?”

“Since it’s the next Student Council President, even the Student Council members are taking care of him!”

“Got lucky with the low bl**d sugar thing.”

“Are you guys already at the age where bl**d sugar drops? I mean, you’ve aged over five years.”

“d*e?”

The 5th years scowled and bickered with each other.

In truth, these were expensive snacks that Class 5 had dumped on Leo to keep him quiet, which he didn’t prefer to eat anyway. As a result, the snacks all went to the Student Council executives.

With that, Leo entered the Student Council Room, leaving behind the 5th-year seniors.

Inside, Hark had been receiving the duties of the Student Council President from Lis with a soul-deep exhaustion.

“You’re definitely worthy as Riguard’s heir. There’s not much I need to teach you.”

Lis chuckled, lightly tapping Hark’s shoulder.

“Shouldn’t I receive duties from Toluah-senpai and he takes over from Lis-senpai?”

Hark groaned, rubbing his sleep-deprived eyes as he pointed to Elena standing off to the side, receiving duties from Toluah.

Elena smiled faintly.

“How could I, a third-year, take the role of Vice President ahead of Hark-senpai?”

“Hey, weren’t you the one causing a fuss about becoming Student Council President during the first semester?”

“Sorry, but Elena doesn’t remember those things~ Hark-oppa~”

“Don’t call me by the name you used when we were younger. It’s creepy.”

Hark’s expression soured.

The two are famously on bad terms normally, but right now, Hark was hysterically losing to Elena.

Truthfully, Elena found it extremely satisfying to watch Hark struggle.

Just then, Lis noticed Leo had arrived.

“You’re here?”

“Yes.”

Nodding, Leo moved to the window in the Student Council Room, gazing outside.

“It’s an honor to have the successors of Lumeran’s three great families, the Zeruon and Riguard lines, volunteering to help with student council affairs despite my inadequacies.”

“I’ll challenge you to a duel once you’re a second-year and dump all this work on you!”

“Yeah, sure.”

At Leo’s calm response, Hark grabbed his own neck while Elena chuckled.

“Since you know we’re busy with Ruse Tournament preparations, is there anything you can help with?”

At Leo’s query, Lis replied.

“Could you do a club inspection?”

“Club inspection?”

“Yeah. Around this period, everyone’s busy preparing for the Ruse Tournament, applying for budgets and such. Can you handle that? That’s part of your Student Council duties.”

“Understood.”

Leo nodded.

“You might need help, so I’ll assign you an assistant.”

At that, a familiar dark-haired first-year girl entered the room.

“I’m counting on you, Lord Leo.”

None other than Chen Sia.

Leo tilted his head, looking at her smiling face.

“Come to think of it, you were part of the Student Council.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, take care.”

Lis sent the two first-years to conduct the inspections.

As she saw their backs, Toluah tilted her head.

“Should we send two first-year students?”

At this, Lis rested her chin in her hand and pointed to Hark.

“Isn’t this guy proof enough that it’s fine?”

Thinking of Leo, who became Student Council President right after becoming notorious for his laziness, it was evident that he wasn’t an ordinary person.

Toluah nodded in agreement with Lis’s words.

“Agreed.”