The Return of the Ir Chapter 232: Suspicion (1)

Chapter 232: Suspicion (1)

Student Council President Dolores L Quovadis.

She had a strange feeling when she heard that the Aristocratic and Noble factions, which had been the eyesores of the student council, had gotten into a lot of trouble due to the recent incident at the bazaar.

Unlike the student council, which is an official organization and wields power on the positive side of campus, the aristocrats and nobles mainly form their power on the negative side of campus.

Whereas the student council operated according to legitimate rules and procedures, the aristocrats and nobles were using connections, favors, and insider information to gain power.

So, student autonomy on campus was divided between the student council, the aristocracy, and the nobility, and Dolores didn't like them because they were always enjoying extrajudicial power, avoiding the responsibilities of official organizations and reaping the benefits of unofficial organizations.

However, since it was the student council that had to collect public opinion and establish policies accordingly, the aristocratic faction and noble faction that led the flow of public opinion were always annoying opponents that had to be watched closely.

...And that's when they drank the water. To one individual, a first-year student nad Vikir.

The aristocrats and nobility, who had been secretly growing in power to rival the student council, had lost a lot of face in this one incident, and it had caused a lot of defections.

The weakening of the enemy is the sa as the strengthening of the enemy.

Many of the people who were disappointed with the aristocrats and nobility turned around, and so of them even joined the student council.

So the executives in the student council were smiling all day.

"Vikir, why don't you recomnd him to our student council?"

"Sure. Who can resist the golden badge of student council?"

"Kya, he's a rising star. I can't believe he's a candidate for student council since freshman year."

"Maybe he could make a run for the youngest student council president?"

"Uh, that's a little too much. I an, not student council president, but still."

"Anyway. We'll have to move fast, because the aristocracy and the nobility will be trying to bully him and recruit him at the sa ti."

In the worst case scenario, Vikir would have been a candidate for an executive position as early as second year.

But Dolores didn't think Vikir would accept the invitation to join student council, let alone an executive position.

'A normal freshman would jump at the opportunity to be a student council mber, but... he's different.'

No, actually, it was more than different.

Not only did he go out and collect a huge amount of gnoll skins, but he also donated all the proceeds to a scholarship foundation for students in academy.

What's more, he has the nerve to offend the aristocracy and nobility in the process.

'Gnoll skins may not be incredibly valuable, but they're still quite valuable, and to burn them in front of your enemies and then haggle over the price? That's not the boldness of a first year, no matter how you look at it.'

Dolores was intrigued by Vikir's character.

A junior who had received an unusually high number of detentions since the beginning of the sester.

And because of the sincerity shown at orphanage and the kindness shown in resolving the disaster(?) that occurred during a drinking ga, I was paying a lot of attention to it now.

'And as it turns out, he was the top student in both written and practical exams.'

A student who is good at studying and has good skills, and moreover, a very conscientious student.

It was a pity that we would have beco closer friends if the newspaper club I belonged to had not written a harsh article criticizing The Night Hound.

And now. Dolores found herself feeling more than a little fond and curious at Vikir's behavior, which gave a blow to the aristocracy and the nobility.

Those feelings had only grown stronger after watching the conversation between Vikir and Professor Banshee last evening.

'Let's call the prize 'Nymphet'.'

Professor Banshee didn't understand the aning of Vikir's words, but Dolores recognized them imdiately.

Nymphet. The poor child who had been sacrificed in the fight against Dantalian.

Vikir still rembered Nymphet.

'Don't you think you were too hard on her? Did she get a kiss?'

'No.'

'It's not 'no', it's 'can't'! She wants to give you a kiss like that!'

'It's embarrassing.'

Dolores recalled a conversation she had with Vikir during her last volunteer assignnt at the orphanage.

Vikir had rejected Nymphet's kisses because he was embarrassed.

'Maybe it's because of the mories of that day that he can't forget the Nymphet even more?'

If so, Vikir must be hiding a warm heart beneath his blunt outer shell.

No, Dolores was sure of that.

...Jump up!

Dolores jumped to her feet.

For so reason, she felt a rush of urgency now that her thoughts had gone this far.

It seed like sothing needed to be said to Vikir right now.

It was probably out of a sense of responsibility and debt as the one who had watched Nymphet's last monts with the Night Hound in the fight against Dantalian, and so other unexplained emotion she didn't recognize.

"Uh, Ms. President, where are you going?"

"Is there anything urgent?"

"What's the agenda for today's eting...?"

The student council executives look over with puzzled expressions.

"Sorry, everyone! I will handle the agenda even if it ans staying up all night!"

Dolores ducked her head and apologized, then hurried out the door.

She left the lecture hall and headed for the dormitories.

Most students would be there by this ti.

... But Vikir was not so easy to find.

"Vikir? He's the last one to get into the dorms."

"Shouldn't he be in the library by now? He's a study bug."

"Not in the library? Hmm, then maybe he's in the gym. He looks like he's working out hard... if you look at his body."

"What? He's not in the library or in the gym? Then maybe...."

I asked Tudor, Sancho, Sinclair, and others who were familiar with Vikir, but I had no idea where he was.

The sign-in sheets at the front and back gates didn't say he'd left, so he must be sowhere at the Academy.

"...Where the hell are you?"

Dolores stood, catching her breath.

I've noticed this before at the orphanage, but Vikir is really good at getting around.

'Co to think of it, he was also missing when the mysterious black mage appeared at the festival.'

A student who is shrouded in mystery and doubt about everything.

Dolores felt her questions about Vikir grow more and more intense.

Even when I happened to be nearby and tried to sll the soul, I couldn't find anything.

There was no way to tell, as Vikir usually kept his heart far more closed than most people his age.

Suddenly, Dolores rembered Vikir's record of derits.

'I can't believe he's accumulated so many derits for taking a wrong turn. For such a smart kid.'

I didn't realize it at the ti, but it's strange to think about now.

I can't help but think that Vikir must have accumulated those derits with so sort of intent.

Dolores opened the chart recorded on the mana stone and took a closer look at Vikir's penalty points record.