A club.
It referred to club activities organized by the academy, where people with similar interests gathered to engage in group activities.
True to the academy’s emphasis on freedom, joining a club wasn’t mandatory. However, being consistently active in one could earn you support for operating expenses or help build your career, making it a pretty useful activity in many ways.
Of course, for someone like me, who would rather be in bed even a second sooner than socialize, it wasn’t something I had planned to do. But since I had taken on the role of love consultant for the heroines, joining a club had become a necessity.
[Savior: The sense of distance is very different when you’re in the same club as someone compared to being total strangers. Even if you don’t know each other well, being united by a common interest naturally leads to conversations, which raises a sense of internal closeness.]
[Noble Lady: That definitely sounds good.]
[Princess: Indeed. Even without actual conversation, just being in the same club room makes a man more conscious of a woman.]
[Saintess: Then what kind of club should we make?]
[Savior: First, there are a few conditions. One. It must be a brand-new club. There’s an academy rule that existing clubs can’t be restructured. Two. It must be related to a field that aligns with Pollo’s interests. And finally, three. It has to be a club where it wouldn’t seem odd if we were the only members.]
[Princess: Hmm… that’s quite complicated.]
[Noble Lady: Just so you know, the academy has all sorts of clubs. I heard that although the examination is strict, once it’s approved, it brings significant advantages. That’s why dozens of club applications are submitted every year.]
[Saintess: Out of all those clubs, to create one that doesn’t overlap with any existing field, aligns with Brother Pollo’s interests, and still doesn’t seem strange with just us as members… those are pretty tough conditions.]
[Savior: I thought about it in many different ways, but there’s only one idea that came to mind.]
[Noble Lady: What is it?]
[Savior: Volunteering.]
***
Volunteering.
It meant putting in effort using one’s own strength for the country or others, often used in words like “volunteer work”.
[Noble Lady: A volunteer club, huh… But did it really have to be volunteering?]
[Savior: It might feel like a hassle, but it’s actually a subtly good setup. Under the pretense of volunteering, you can engage in various activities, strike up conversations, create “accidental” moments, and even initiate some physical contact. Besides, Pollo likes helping others. If not for this club, he’d probably join something like the Swordsmanship Research Club, but none of you are particularly interested in that area, right?]
[Princess: It’s not a bad idea, but is there any merit in it for us?]
[Savior: Of course there is. I’m not thinking of this volunteer club as being limited to just outside activities. I also intend for it to handle concerns faced by academy students.]
[Saintess: Isn’t that more of a fixer than a volunteer?]
[Savior: Well, in a broader sense, fixing problems still falls under volunteering, doesn’t it?]
[Saintess: Hmm…]
[Savior: Of course, we wouldn’t be solving every single problem.]
[Savior: Anyway, whether the activities are inside or outside the academy, doing volunteer work together will naturally build a sense of closeness. Pollo has a heroic side to him, so he tends to feel favorably toward people who step up to help others. And while doing volunteer work and having various conversations, wouldn’t you naturally start to take an interest in that person?]
[Noble Lady: That does make sense.]
[Savior: On top of that, from your positions, if you take the lead in helping others, it’ll boost your reputation. And if we disguise your love consultations as requests, we can also create opportunities to learn more about Pollo’s ideal type and his views on relationships.]
[Princess: That’s definitely intriguing. But there isn’t much time left before the club application deadline, is there?]
[Savior: Right. This is where we’ll need your help, Princess.]
[Princess: ?]
***
“He actually asked the princess to falsify documents… Is he out of his mind, or just incredibly bold…?”
Selene let out a sigh as she recalled the conversation she just had with Mars and her two romantic rivals in her room.
Mars had asked her to approve his club application using her authority as student council president, saying he would submit the paperwork right after the recruitment deadline.
Though newly formed clubs did have their applications reviewed by the student council president first, Mars’s shameless request to falsify the documents was so bold that even the princess had let out a hollow laugh.
Though it pricked at her conscience, the princess ultimately accepted, as it was something that could help with her own romantic endeavors. She ended the conversation by saying she’d personally deliver Pollo’s application as well and asked him to take care of the rest.
“Volunteering, huh… I don’t hate it, but I don’t exactly like it either. Still, that was a surprisingly decent idea.”
Then, as she suddenly thought of Mars, the memory of her own disgraceful behavior from a few days ago came rushing back, and her face flushed with heat.
“Ugh, you crazy woman! No matter how worried you were, how could you do something like that?!”
Caught in the ongoing rivalry between the Saintess and the Princess, Selene had been secretly consumed with anxiety.
Up until now, she had always been the envy of others, whether for her looks or her talents … but for the first time, she felt the emotion of insecurity, the fear that her place might be taken from her, and it left her mentally shaken.
It was around that time she overheard a conversation between some female students who admired her.
“Hey, did you know? If you take a strand of your crush’s hair and tie it together with your own, then carry it with you, it binds your fates together, and your love will come true!”
“Oh, come on… Isn’t that just an old superstition? It sounds more like black magic…kinda scary…”
“Hey, nothing to lose, right? Might as well try it with a ‘what have I got to lose’ attitude! If it works, great. If not, oh well!”
Normally, Selene would have never given any attention to such a superstition, but overwhelmed by anxiety about her weakening position, she found herself unable to think clearly. Almost as if under a spell, she began searching for a strand of Pollo’s hair without even realizing it.
She had already looked into Pollo’s schedule in advance, so she decided to use the lunch break right after his class to search for any hair that might have stuck to his locker.
Using the excuse that she wasn’t feeling well and needed to rest in the infirmary, she slipped away from her friends, silenced her presence with magic, and secretly snuck into the boys’ locker room.
She soon found Pollo’s locker as she had hoped, and began to rifle through it, eagerly wondering if there might be a single strand of hair left behind… only to be caught red-handed by Mars. That was how everything happened.
“But how did I get caught? I had the mana detection spell running the whole time.”
Mana dwelled within all living beings. Even in inanimate objects, it existed in small amounts. As the primary ingredient for magic, mana was an essential substance in daily life.
Because the outcome of magic depends on collecting and converting mana, mages tend to be highly sensitive to its presence.
She had activated mana detection, which scatters fine waves of mana to detect anyone approaching the locker room. Yet Mars had managed to come right up to her without being detected, which was enough to make her heart stop.
For something like that to be possible, a person would have to either have no mana in their body at all or possess mana so perfectly pure that it couldn’t be picked up by detection.
That can’t be. I must’ve just made a mistake because I was too nervous.
Only an Aura Master or a personal mage of the Emperor could pull off such a feat. There was no way someone like him could.
She had even seen Mars sparring once, after staying behind following one of Pollo’s training sessions, and she had witnessed with her own eyes just how thoroughly average his skills were.
There was no way a man like that could have bypassed her senses and come that close.
Selene decided not to dwell on it any further.
“Well, anyway, he was stronger than I expected… Are all men like that?”
When she had been pulled into the cabinet and found herself in Mars’s arms, she had been slightly surprised by how firm his chest felt. It was firmer than she had expected.
Smack—
“Ugh! Why would I even think about a guy like that! Bad thoughts, be gone.”
Selene scolded herself as she slapped her own cheek, then quickly turned off the lights and got ready to drift off to dreamland.
Because the young lady’s confidence and grace are incredibly charming.
Although Selene had hoped to dream about becoming lovers with Pollo, the last thing that crossed her mind before falling into a deep sleep had been Mars’s sincere words of comfort…which was something she didn’t even realize.
***
“Volunteer club? That sounds fun! I want to join too!”
Fortunately, Pollo’s reaction had been very positive.
He was someone who liked helping others, and it seemed the keyword volunteer had appealed to him. He’d responded favorably to the club I had created.
“But I didn’t expect Mars to start a volunteer club. What made you suddenly decide to start something like this?”
“Oh? Well, I just thought… it might be nice to do something like this for a change… haha.”
I couldn’t very well say, “We created this club to trap the girls who are trying to flirt with you,” so I made up an excuse about starting it out of casual interest.
Thankfully, Pollo didn’t seem to care at all. If anything, he seemed happy about the change in me.
“If you’ve finished filling out the application, give it to me. I’ll turn it in for us.”
“No, let’s go together.”
“It’s fine. There’s not much time before the deadline anyway, so it’s better if someone quick on their feet handles it.”
Having tricked Pollo with a clumsy excuse, I grabbed my club creation application and Pollo’s club membership form, then ran to the designated meeting spot.
There, a sharp-eyed beauty with a short bob haircut was waiting for me. As soon as she noticed me approaching, she straightened her posture and greeted me politely.
“I’ve been waiting, Mars Noctus.”
“Oh, you must be the one Her Highness mentioned—”
“I’m Leto, the crown princess’s headmaid. We’re short on time, so please just hand over the documents quickly.”
“Ah, yes. Here—”
Snatch—
In the blink of an eye, the maid named Leto snatched the papers from my hand and immediately turned her back to me.
Then, after shooting me a sharp glare, she disappeared from sight with brisk steps.
“…What was that about?”
Now I was even being hated by women I’d never even met.
That night, I received word from the princess that the club’s creation had been approved without issue. But I still had no idea why that maid seemed to hate me so much.
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