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The day after completing the club observation.

In the morning, I made the Opal Black Class hike the nearby mountain repeatedly and headed to the dining hall just in time for lunch.

At first, I imagined the dining hall would be like a military mess, but it turned out to be a buffet where you could choose whatever food you wanted.

The quality of the meals couldn’t even compare to military food. Perhaps to satisfy the picky tastes of noble students, each meal had a spread that rivaled an ordinary banquet, which confirmed that this truly was the empire’s top academy, as they spared no expense on the students’ meals.

I piled my tray high with protein-rich food and sat down to eat. As I quietly enjoyed my meal alone, I heard an annoying voice coming from somewhere in the dining hall.

“Instructor Rilya. Are you seriously thinking of eating in the student cafeteria?”

“Ah, yes… Is there a problem?”

“Of course there’s a problem! Someone of your standing as a seasoned instructor of the illustrious Philion Academy shouldn’t be dining in the same space as the students, right? If you were a commoner of no background, that would be one thing, but you, Instructor Rilya, are not that.”

“Um, well… not really…”

“Don’t worry. I anticipated this and reserved a nice restaurant in District 4. Now, let’s go!”

“No! No! It’s really fine. Please, don’t mind me and go eat.”

“Oh come now. You shouldn’t feel pressured. A meal is mere pocket change for me. It’s not polite to refuse a noble’s dining invitation too many times.”

While it wasn’t loud enough for everyone in the crowded dining hall to hear, my ears were just more sensitive than most and I’d recently grown familiar with that voice, so it caught my attention all too easily.

I momentarily paused my meal and scanned the direction of the sound, quickly locking eyes with the flustered Instructor Rilya.

She spotted me seated in a corner of the dining hall and, as if she had found a savior, her face brightened.

“Ah, right! You see, I had promised to have a meal with someone. I’m so sorry! Let’s say we’ll go together next time, okay?”

“What? What do you—”

Without giving me a chance to respond further, Rilya hurriedly distanced herself from the Instructor Acheron and came towards me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting!”

Instructor Rilya asked with a warm smile.

Not knowing how to respond to her vague words, I merely nodded once.

Seeing that exchange, Instructor Acheron turned red as if in disbelief, yet he remained hesitant and eventually left his post.

Once Acheron left the dining hall, I calmly resumed my meal.

“Is it acceptable to dine with a background-less commoner?”

“Eh, I’m also a commoner, you know. Don’t mind what Instructor Acheron said.”

“I was just making a comment. Honestly, I don’t mind.”

After all, it wasn’t the first time encountering someone of that noble ilk.

Given all the more serious cases I’d dealt with, I already knew that ignoring them was the most effective response.

“Are you not tired?”

“To be honest, I am. But what can I do? Even if he doesn’t look it, he’s a master of alchemy. His skills are certainly top-notch, so I can’t just dismiss him because of his unpleasant personality.”

Rilya sighed heavily, pulled her tray over, and took a seat.

At the same time, her eyes widened in surprise.

“Is Instructor Graham really eating all of that by himself?”

“…? Yes.”

Rilya’s gaze finally shifted belatedly to my tray.

The tower of food piled high on my tray was already halfway demolished.

“You’re eating all of that by yourself?”

“Not enough yet.”

Given the limits of what could fit on a tray, I hadn’t been able to bring enough food to eat. Hearing that, Instructor Rilya couldn’t hide her shock and stared at me.

“It looks like even ten people would have enough to take home leftovers!”

“My motto is to eat as much as I can while I can.”

After spending twenty years on the battlefield and experiencing extreme situations, it’s only natural to be like this. I’ve always had a big appetite.

Though I had already cleared nearly half my tray, Rilya’s tray looked very minimal in comparison. Was it that her small form could only handle that little food, or had her habit of eating sparingly led to her smaller frame?

I decided to pretend not to notice the milk on her tray.

By the way, Acheron’s tone when addressing Rilya felt quite different from how he treated ordinary commoners.

As I observed this with that thought in mind, Rilya seemed to sense what I was thinking and smiled a bittersweet smile.

“Were you thinking I’m just a regular commoner?”

“Isn’t that the case?”

“I am a commoner. Legally speaking.”

So she’s gentry. I nodded.

Gentry typically refers to the class of nobility that doesn’t inherit titles.

Only one child among siblings can inherit a title, so non-inheriting children retain their noble status, but their descendants do not.

However, generally speaking, the gentry class is treated as part of a noble family, so it’s highly likely Rilya was raised like a noblewoman in an affluent family.

“The late Count Bennett was my grandfather. The current Count Bennett is my uncle. But I’m not a noble, so please treat me normally. I really dislike that kind of treatment.”

I calmly said while slicing my meat.

“That’s fair enough.”

“Wow… I feel weird saying this, but your response is incredibly quick. Well, I guess Instructor Graham doesn’t seem to care if the person is a noble or a commoner. Even with an Imperial Princess as a student, you don’t look burdened at all.”

“There’s no instructor burdened by their students.”

“If it were that easy, I wouldn’t be struggling right now…”

Instructor Rilya let out a deep sigh and suddenly seemed to recall something, turning to me with a sudden question.

“Oh, right. I meant to ask you this from the start. Did you have a good time at yesterday’s club observation? Have you decided which club you’ll be advising?”

Ah, that…

I felt my expression stiffen and shook my head.

“I think I need to think a bit more about it.”

“Eh? Why? Didn’t the students welcome you?”

They did, but it was a bit over the top.

Both the swimming club and other clubs I visited later were generally similar.

Be it one club handing me a provocative romance script asking for a counterpart role under the pretense of needing acting guidance, or another bombarding me with persistently leading questions under the guise of an interview practice, or even touching me under the excuse of correcting my posture—it was all quite overwhelming.

Before long, I was so mentally exhausted that I found myself reluctant to visit other clubs, ultimately returning to the Opal Black Dormitory earlier than planned.

“I don’t think a club with too many people suits me. I’ll look for something smaller.”

“Hmm, that’s understandable. There’s still time, so take your time thinking about it. By the way, I heard that Instructor Acheron was turned down by every club he visited and ended up advising the Occult Club.”

“Is that so?”

The Occult Club… just hearing the name gives a sense of ominousness.

I wasn’t particularly interested in what that club did.

*

The students of Opal Black Class were gradually making their club decisions too.

Schurz quickly decided on joining the chess club, while surprisingly, Batar revealed that he had considerable talent in sculpture and joined the art club upon the department head’s invitation.

Saladin, however, showed no interest in joining any club from the start.

Gwen was being courted by all sorts of sports clubs, but she had yet to decide on anything definitively. As for Titania, she showed interest in the horticulture club, likely due to her elfin traits.

The three other female students would probably decide on their clubs soon.

That very day, late in the evening, Marian came to my room.

In her hand, she held a paper titled “New Club Establishment Application.”

“The Opal Black Class Student Council?”

“Yes. The other four major classes each have their own student council, but Opal Black is a newly established class, so we don’t have one. Can you believe there’s a class without a student council, Instructor?”

“So you’re saying you want to create one.”

“Well, if it doesn’t exist, we need to make it. It’s only natural, right?”

A council with a total membership of just 8.

It almost made me chuckle, but Marian was correct. Even with just 8 members, a class is a class. It wouldn’t hurt to establish the student council in case the number of members increased later.

I checked the names listed on the application.

President Marian von Kalstein, Vice President Elizabeth von Galatea, Treasurer Osnia Hebring, Secretary Titania El Ilendrin…

“So, you’re the president?”

“…I get what you’re thinking, but Elizabeth refused to take the president position. So, I had no choice but to take it up myself.”

“I was just asking.”

Well, if Elizabeth turned down the presidency, Marian was the only one left.

I figured that neither Osnia nor Titania seemed fit to be student council president either. Titania had shown interest in the horticulture club, so it seems they successfully piqued her interest.

“Since Schurz and Batar have already decided on their clubs, it’s understandable that Gwen is left out.”

“Considering we’re a new student council, I thought it would be best for the initial members to be all female. Don’t you think it would be awkward for Gwen to be the only boy among girls?”

What does that even mean?

For a moment, I thought it was a joke, but Marian’s expression looked very serious.

Ah, I guess she doesn’t know. It’s only been a few days since the semester started, so she hasn’t picked up on it yet.

I thought she might not have realized since she hadn’t mentioned it herself.

Gwen always wore pants instead of skirts for comfort and always used a private shower room when bathing, so those who didn’t know her well might be misled. Plus, she used a rather boyish tone, which would add to the confusion.

I decided to let Marian in on the truth.

“Marian. Gwen is a girl.”

“…What? Gwen is a girl?”

“Yeah. Did you really not know?”

Marian’s face turned to shock. At first, she denied it as though she had heard a mean-spirited joke but soon realized from my serious face that it was no prank and was left dumbfounded.

“I had no idea… Wait, are you serious? This isn’t a joke?”

“I guess she just didn’t mention it. Gwen Tris is indeed a girl.”

“Oh my goodness…”

Marian covered her mouth with both hands, shocked.

Upon realizing this shocking truth, Marian clutched her head, feeling dizzy and moaning as she slowly regained her composure to say,

“Well, now I know. I suppose I’ll consider bringing Gwen into the council slowly… But that’s not the important thing right now.”

Marian pointed at the empty space on the paper titled “Club Advisor” and smiled broadly.

“You’ll take it on, right? Instructor Ion.”

“……”

Given that I had become an instructor, I had to take on at least one club advisor role.

The newly formed student council needed a faculty advisor. And there was exactly one instructor for the Opal Black Class.

There was no reason or justification to refuse.

“Alright. I’ll take it.”

What Marian brought up was an irresistible offer.

As a result, I became the faculty advisor for the student council of the all-female Opal Black Class.

 

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