Chapter 122

Chapter 122

Charlotte left the club room after making a somewhat forceful demand that they should immediately collect back all copies of the publication that contained the article about Reinhart and correct them. She seemed to lose all further desire to continue dealing with the club and its members after that.

At present, Charlotte and I were in the first-year Class B dormitory, drinking tea together.

“I just can’t believe it...” Charlotte muttered, shaking her head in disbelief as she sipped her tea.

She felt nothing but incredulity towards Monthly Royal Class, the tabloid notorious for gobbling up any rumor and turning it into an article.

“It doesn’t seem like they even have a supervisor either. There’s no way a teacher would approve of such articles being published,” she continued.

“That’s true.”

Charlotte seemed convinced that a responsible teacher-in-charge would never allow such absurd publications to be circulated.

It was, indeed, unbelievable to see the extent to which they had turned all sorts of baseless rumors into serious articles.

“We have to do something about it, whether it means shutting them down or whatever.”

Charlotte seemed determined to disband those lunatics. However, my thoughts went in a different direction.

“Um... is that really necessary?”

A rumor that they publicized remained just a rumor, but each one of them also turned into a new event. And just verifying whether the rumor was true or not allowed me to earn achievement points.

Hence, I saw no downside to having those guys around, since it was up to me to decide what to do with the rumors they collected. The fact that I was the target this time made things slightly awkward, but in the long run, their presence was not detrimental to me.

Charlotte seemed puzzled by my suggestion to leave things as they were.

“... Reinhart, you’re the one who’s been affected.”

“No one reads this newsletter anyway. Fortunately, it’s an internal publication meant for the Royal Class only, so its readership remains small. Maybe all we need to do is warn them to think a little more carefully about sensitive issues and be careful about what they write about from now on?”

Honestly, they were only raising suspicions without knowing much about the truth, and now that they’d been thoroughly scolded by Charlotte, they would probably start putting some thought into their articles from this point forward. Their expressions earlier on showed that they had never really thought things through, at least up to this point.

“Hmm.”

“Think about it. If those three lunatics remain together in that club, the worst thing they can do is write more stupid articles. But if we shut them down and scatter the three of them, we might just be creating more trouble,” I said.

It might be better to keep the crazies together. And since they’d been thoroughly warned, they would probably refrain from baseless slander or wild conspiracy theories about massive organizations in the future. They had been properly chastised by Charlotte this time.

Charlotte seemed to ponder this for a while before sighing deeply, her brows furrowing.

“Alright, if this is your suggestion as the victim in this matter, it’d be ridiculous for me to insist otherwise.”

“No, I’m grateful you stepped in. Without you, things probably wouldn’t have ended well for me.”

It was a relief that Charlotte had intervened. If I had gone in alone, I might have begun arguing with the seniors, and things could have grown messy.

“Well, we can make a decision after reading the next issue. It’s not like anyone reads that newspaper anyway,” Charlotte said.

Charlotte seemed ready to bring them to an end once and for all, if the situation remained unchanged the next month.

Ultimately, I had accumulated four new events, and all of them were based on rumors.

The Demon God Cult, revolutionary forces, ghosts, and a magical society...

All of these could be real, or they might all be just rumors. And if they were rumors, that was perfectly fine as well.

Achievement points were more valuable than money. Hence, the more, the better.

Discovering a consistent source for them was already a great gain for me.

Charlotte hummed as she sipped her tea, and rested her chin on her hand.

“Still, some of them might be worth looking into.”

“Looking into?”

“Don’t take this as me saying we should be swayed by those absurd, speculative articles. Remember that,” Charlotte said, looking directly at me. “But it might be worth looking into the Demon God Cult or revolutionary forces.”

The rumors about the cult weren’t exclusive to the Monthly Royal Class; the Grace Club had also come across information regarding the matter. According to the student council president, though, it had been confirmed to be a non-issue.

“There have been consistent rumors regarding this Demon God Cult appearing here and there after the last incident. The Temple attracts people from all across the empire, so it’s totally possible that the cult is gathering here.”

Despite some uncertainty, Charlotte seemed to think it quite likely that the Demon God Cult could have some sort of presence within the Temple.

“And as for the revolutionary forces... It’s natural for people to start having strange thoughts once their heads grow bigger, and this place is literally meant for people to expand their horizons, isn’t it?” she continued.

Looking back, Charlotte had initially been very cold towards me. Now, though, she didn’t hesitate to use coarse language such as “heads growing bigger” around me.

It seemed like both she and Vertus dropped their masks around me. Both of them showed their true selves in front of me, and I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

Anyway, the Temple was a place of learning, and ultimately, it was meant for people to further their thinking.

And when that happened, they would begin to have deviant thoughts.

“It would be strange if there weren’t some of these so-called Republicans in the Temple.”

The presence of the Demon God Cult within the Temple was uncertain, but the presence of revolutionary forces was practically a given.

That was Charlotte’s thinking.

She looked at me and grinned broadly. “How about it, Reinhart? Want to look into it with me?”

Airi, the Succubus Queen, harbored ambitions of amassing wealth in the southern island nations, and from there, seizing control over the empire’s finances. From what I’d last heard, she had started her business endeavors.

“Saying that things are going smoothly would be an understatement; her business has grown into an almost unstoppable force now.”

“... How could it be an unstoppable force already?”

I had been preoccupied by various matters, but even so, it had only been a few months.

Eleris scratched her cheek and flashed an ambiguous smile.

“Um... Well... it seems she’s focusing more on people, rather than money.”

“... What do you mean?”

Eleris cleared her throat. “She’s... she’s focused on gaining the support of influential individuals.”

Gaining support?

‘She was running a bar. How is she gaining support? Is that just a synonym for “seduction”? Are we just softening the expression?’

“For example, gaining support from the captains of trade ships, loan sharks, and key officials... She makes them regularly embark on various... business ventures with her.”

Airi had settled into Rajak, the capital of the Edina Archipelago and its largest trading port. From what Eleris was saying, she had made regulars out of the ship captains, loan sharks, and key officials there.

Clearly, Airi had judged that gaining the cooperation of such wealthy people would be more beneficial to rapid growth, rather than making a few pennies from a business.

‘Wait...’

I had initially sent her off with the intention that she would start something casual, but it felt like the scale of her operations was constantly growing.

‘Isn’t there a saying, “All roads lead to Rome?”’

No matter how bizarre the methods, she was becoming quite formidable.

“... So, she’s basically pulling in all these influential people by borrowing money from loan sharks at low rates, getting various permits from key officials, and, though I’m not sure what she’s doing with the ship captains... Anyhow, she’s hooking in all these big shots, right?”

“Yes... It seems so.”

A leopard truly never changes its spots.

Even a group of succubi who had lost all their powers would still excel in seduction. “Who needs magic when we can just seduce people?” they seemed to say.

Anyway, things seemed to be going smoothly for Airi.

“Still, tell them to be careful. Things can turn sour in the blink of an eye.”

“Yes, I’ll make sure to pass that on.”

The idea that a pink-haired Succubus Queen was diligently nurturing her dream to become a businesswoman was quite something. The ways of the world were truly unpredictable, and in this world, even more so.

I opened Charlotte’s letter. Charlotte seemed rather calm in her letter. There had been words of longing and lengthy apologies in the first letter, but none in this second one.

Overall, the letter seemed rather generic. She inquired about how ‘I’ was doing, offered updates on what had been happening in her own life, as well as her own thoughts on several current affairs.

—Reinhart, a friend of mine, will be delivering this letter. He might be a bit unusual, but he’s a gentleman, so he probably wouldn’t open this letter in secret before delivering it. At least I hope so... I think I’m worrying over nothing. He’s not that kind of person.

... Reading that made me feel so guilty, and it drove me crazy. However, if I didn’t read the letter, there couldn’t be any reply, so it was unavoidable.

—The Temple sent us on something called a “group mission”. All the members of the class came together to do various tasks. It would have been nice if you’d been there too. It was a tough but interesting experience. There were moments when I was surprised by someone else’s capabilities, and others who I thought would do well ended up crumbling under the pressure of the situation. It was tough, but I could see why we are being sent on these missions. Honestly, I thought I’d handle it well since I’d been through such things before, but that wasn’t always the case.

.

.

—I really regret relying on that power in the end. I never wanted to depend on that power. In the face of such a false crisis, I’d ended up relying on it, and felt a bit disappointed in myself.

The letter concluded with a small mention of her supernatural power. Charlotte seemed to dislike relying on her own powers.

—I hope you’re doing well. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to see you again, but I hope that day comes soon.

Once again, I wrote a reply laden with lies in response to Charlotte’s letter. I was curious if she’d tell me about her supernatural power if I asked about it, but I refrained from digging. I didn’t want to force Charlotte to reveal something that she might want to keep hidden. Given the way I would act when knowing something I wasn’t supposed to know, it seemed better not to know.

I gave my own opinion on what was going on with Charlotte’s daily life, as well as information on the fabricated everyday life that I was living.

One lie bred another.

One mistake led to another.

I didn’t believe I could keep up with these lies forever.

‘How long must I continue with this deceit?’

It wasn’t just about Charlotte either.

I knew that the moment my secret was revealed, everything would fall apart. All the relationships I’d built at the Temple will crumble the moment my secret was exposed. It was all inevitable.

I let out a deep sigh.

After writing for a while, I put down the pen and massaged the corners of my eyes. Eleris hugged my shoulder quietly.

“Your Highness...”

She quietly held me in her embrace as if she understood the torment I was going through.

It was wrong of me to do this to both Charlotte and myself.