[You have been appointed Vice President of the Ancient Documents Club.]
[You have fulfilled all hidden conditions required to unlock the club!]
['Club' has been unlocked!]
[With the authority of the Vice President, you can manipulate the interior space of the clubroom!]
What?
For a moment, my thoughts came to a halt at the bluish notification window that had suddenly appeared before my eyes.
I could manipulate the clubroom with the authority of the vice president...?
"Are you all right? If you are being forced to accept it after all..."
"No, it is not that..."
Shaking my head at Isabella, who was looking at me worriedly, I turned back to the notification window before me.
I never thought this would be implemented too.
A system that let you decorate the clubroom however you wanted.
At Dawnstar Academia, joining a club gave you a system that allowed you to freely decorate its space.
A system where you could place furniture and interact with the club members inside.
I had vaguely assumed that, since this was reality, things like that had not been implemented. Who would have thought it simply needed certain conditions to appear?
And one of those conditions was becoming vice president.
Hmm.
There had been no such condition in the game.
Simply joining a club had unlocked the club UI.
You did not need to become vice president just to manipulate the interior space.
Was it because this had become reality? Or because I was not the heroine?
Perhaps it was the latter.
There had been no UI like this in the DLC where Dante was the protagonist.
Then again, maybe not.
The DLC had not been set at the academy.
Though it did have a similar UI for unit management.
Still, it was rather concerning.
Professor Luke had said that making me vice president was simply the flow of things.
Which meant...
Did that flow Professor Luke had just mentioned mean that he already knew this would happen?
Was that why he had tried to make me vice president, even putting forward the condition that he would teach me a skill?
Of course, I could be reading too much into it.
Being able to manipulate the club did not make me stronger.
There was no related hidden piece or anything; all it did was let me decorate the clubroom.
Still, it did not seem completely unrelated...
Well, there was no point dwelling on it. I would not get an answer.
It was not as though that man looked likely to tell me.
And what was done was done.
For now, I should just be satisfied with learning his technique.
I could look into it later.
Since no one else could see my status window, I must have looked like I was merely waving my hands around in empty air.
#
[You have entered the ??? Dungeon.]
Surprisingly, the dungeon beyond the gate consisted of a single chamber.
Still, perhaps because it housed the entire Liberation Army for no reason, it was quite spacious.
Rather than the cave-like dungeons I had encountered so far, this one had the distinct air of a temple. Despite having a ceiling, it was as bright as a lamp in itself, so it did not feel dark.
Unlike the entrance, which had been overrun by moss and vines from the corruption and reeked of damp rot, this place had no smell at all.
And at the far end, embedded in the wall, was something that appeared to be the dungeon core.
That was all.
There were naturally no monsters, nor were there any items or traps.
It was simply empty, with nothing inside.
Well, perhaps that was only natural.
They said it had already been investigated once, so if there had been anything here, the knights would have swept it all away.
Apparently, the president liked that better. She was wandering around the dungeon with her eyes sparkling.
"But do we need to move our things here already? Most of the documents are gone anyway."
Isabella tossed out that pointed remark toward President Eileen, who had been practically hopping about the dungeon, and at those words Eileen clutched her chest and collapsed.
"Right... Our documents... They are all gone..."
Then, leaning against the dungeon wall, she muttered as though her soul had left her body.
"Well, take it slowly. There is no need to rush, is there?"
Professor Luke nodded as he said that, gave the dungeon a quick once-over, and looked at me.
"Then come to my office after dinner, before curfew begins."
"You are moving rather quickly, aren't you?"
"Well, they say you should pull out a rib while it is still hot. You seem likely to learn quickly anyway."
Professor Luke met my eyes briefly, nodded, and then said,
"For now, I will inform the principal that student Ian will serve as vice president."
With a wave of his hand, he left the dungeon.
"Shall we leave too? I do not think decorating is going to happen with the president in that state."
Dolnesia, who had been staring at the gate Professor Luke had exited through, spoke as she pointed at President Eileen, still leaning against the wall and muttering as if her soul had departed.
"The documents..."
What should we do with her?
She did not look as though she would stop if we left her like that.
But we could not just leave her behind either.
At that moment—
"Screee?"
Something sprang out from inside my shadow.
"Niklas?"
It was Niklas, the screeching hippogriff.
Niklas looked at the seated Eileen, then screeched at me as though to say he would handle it.
Then he fluttered his wings and approached Eileen.
Looking at him, Eileen—
"So cuuuute—!!!!"
Life began to fill her previously dead, fish-like eyes, and she lunged forward to hug Niklas.
"What is this adorable little creature!"
She began petting Niklas wildly, and Niklas screeched as he docilely accepted her caresses.
Thanks to that, she seemed to have completely forgotten that two-thirds of their documents had been lost.
"Its upper body looks like an eagle's, but its lower body is a horse? Is it a griffin? But griffins have the lower body of a lion, do they not? Is it a mutant? No, wait a moment."
As though she had remembered something, Eileen carefully lifted Niklas as if he were a doll.
"But why is a legendary creature like a griffin here?"
Eileen tilted her head as she looked at Niklas.
"He hatched from an egg we found in a dungeon."
"In a dungeon?"
At my words, Eileen's eyes narrowed as she looked at Niklas.
"That is why its lower body differs from a griffin's."
"Yes. That is why its species is called a hippogriff."
"Hippogriff? I feel like I have heard that word somewhere..."
She looked at Niklas for a moment as though thinking, then hugged him to her chest again.
"Then what is this little one's name?"
"Niklas."
"Niklas... We should make this little guy the mascot of our Ancient Documents Club!"
Perhaps because she suddenly squeezed him too tightly, a startled Niklas fluttered frantically and escaped from the president's arms.
Niklas flew over in a flutter and landed on my shoulder.
Eileen watched his retreating rear with a regretful expression, but soon her face turned astonished.
"You are his owner."
"I am looking after him for the time being."
Then Eileen gave a small laugh.
How should I put it? She seemed to have completely recovered her spirits.
"Are you feeling better now?"
Isabella cautiously asked after her mood.
"I am fine. I made quite a pathetic spectacle of myself."
Clearing her throat, President Eileen gave an embarrassed smile.
Her face was full of relief.
"I was wondering where I had heard of hippogriffs before. I saw them in a document a senior gave me."
She slowly approached Niklas and, as if apologetic, gently petted him this time.
"They are said to be creatures born between a griffin that eats horses and a horse—beings so extraordinary that calling them miracles would not be enough."
President Eileen continued staring at Niklas before eventually looking at me.
"Would it be all right if we observed this little one for a while? Since he is a creature mentioned in ancient documents, I think he would suit our club's purpose as well... Though if he dislikes it, there is nothing we can do."
"Well, I think it should be fine. Niklas likes people, as long as you do not hit him or anything."
"I would never do that. We will only observe him."
Then she stopped petting Niklas and pulled her hand away.
There was something complicated in her eyes.
Eyes where many emotions were mixed together.
It seemed Niklas had not completely soothed her feelings after all.
"Could this little guy fill the void left by all the documents the Ancient Documents Club has gathered until now?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
But Eileen must have heard them, because she opened her eyes wide and looked at me.
"What? Were you worried about me?"
She gave a small laugh.
"I do not know either."
"Is that so?"
Then she nodded and continued.
"Those documents we gathered and built up together with our seniors. The memories contained within them were real. This little one alone would probably find it difficult to fill that void."
She smiled bitterly, but soon shook her head and smiled again.
"But I have all of you, do I not? There will be documents we build up with you from now on. I think those can gradually fill the void left by the documents we lost... Yes. That is what I think."
Then Eileen lightly pressed her fist against my chest and laughed brightly.
"So you will keep helping me from now on, right? Vice President?"
'It is gone now... The documents I made with my seniors. The club too.'
At that moment—
The image of Eileen I had encountered on the Dawnstar Academia screen began to overlap with the Eileen standing before me now.
Her golden hair, which now swayed so brightly, had been unkempt back then.
Her golden eyes, now shining so vividly, had lost their color then as well.
Unlike the Eileen before me, who openly displayed all kinds of emotions and smiled so brightly, the Eileen in the game had been gloomy and expressionless, as I recalled.
Come to think of it, she had practically been an extra in the game.
The Ancient Documents Club had been disbanded. She had gone around looking gloomy, the complete opposite of how lively she was now.
She never appeared in any story, merely standing in the background like scenery.
Even though she was the First Imperial Princess.
And no matter which route I took or what choices I made, that never changed.
I could not raise her affection or give her gifts.
Even upon reaching the ending, she remained exactly the same.
No route allowed me to join the Ancient Documents Club.
No route kept the Ancient Documents Club from being disbanded.
No route allowed me to help Eileen.
On every route, Eileen was an extra.
And on every route, Eileen's lines were fixed.
That must have been how precious the memories she had built with the Ancient Documents Club were to her.
Seeing her smile so brightly, unlike the dull Eileen from the game—
"Well, why not? Let us give it a try."
I felt fortunate that, when I had been looking for a club back then, I had noticed the club flyer tucked away in a corner.
And I felt that becoming this club's vice president had been the right choice.
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