A woman with sharp elf ears, shimmering purple hair, and piercing violet eyes looked startled. She immediately stood up, bowed slightly toward the young man beside her, and whispered to him quickly with a worried expression.
The young man had maroon-red hair and green eyes. His appearance was fairly ordinary, but the hatred hidden in his gaze toward me was obvious.
"Don't worry. I'll explain later," he said briefly to the woman beside him before turning his eyes back to me.
"Sorry," he continued with a thin, mocking smile. "The external relations department deals with business and sponsors. A commoner with no connections—and who often causes trouble—like you isn't suitable to join us."
He shrugged lightly."You can leave now. Don't waste other people's time."
I watched him closely. His reasoning sounded reasonable on the surface, but his expression was too obvious. He was targeting me. His tone, his smile—everything felt deliberately designed to provoke me.
I stepped forward until I was standing directly in front of the red-haired man.
"Please calm down," a gentle voice interrupted. "I'm Clara, Minister of the External Relations Department. We can talk this through calmly if there's any misunderstanding."
The elf girl looked worried as she tried to stop me.
"I am very calm," I replied, not taking my eyes off the man in front of me. "I just want to talk to him for a moment."
Those green eyes stared back at me with hostility, the source of which even I didn't understand.
"There's nothing to talk about," he said coldly. "We don't need commoners like you."
"Let's set aside the commoner issue," I said calmly but firmly. "At its core, the external relations department exists to build connections with the surrounding community and gather sponsors, right? And I'm confident I can do that better than you."
"Even so," he shot back, "we still don't need troublemakers like you."
I turned to Clara."Do you know who I am?"
She thought for a moment before answering. "Lucian Valcaryn. The one who dueled the prince of the Kingdom of Celestra yesterday."
From her reaction, I could tell my reputation hadn't completely collapsed yet. That made sense. Lucian always chose his targets carefully, and only a month had passed. There was no way the news had spread everywhere already.
I took a deep breath, then raised my voice.
"Just because I had a conflict with your prince doesn't make me a troublemaker! Or is your brain so broken that you think Orion Academy belongs to you, so you can do whatever you want?!"
"You—!" The man looked like he was about to explode, but Clara quickly held him back.
Bang.
The door burst open loudly, startling me. I turned instantly.
"That's enough," said a man in an academy uniform with an official badge on his chest. "This is a recruitment interview, not a place to cause trouble. New student, if you do this again, I'll call the security department."
A young man walked closer to me. His blue hair was neatly combed to the side. He wore glasses, and his blue eyes gleamed sharply behind the lenses.
"What's going on here?"
"He started it," someone replied. "Even though he was rejected, he shouted and caused a scene."
Behind them, other students began peeking through the open door, whispering among themselves with curious expressions.
I smiled faintly. My suspicion was right. There should have been soundproof magic in this room. The fact that the noise carried outside meant someone had deliberately set me up.
"Who are you?" I asked flatly, glancing at the bespectacled man with no interest.
"I'm Austin, Vice President of the Student Council," he replied. "Do you have anything to say?"
"No," I answered shortly. "But you can leave now."
Austin looked stunned. "What do you mean, leave?"
"Didn't you say earlier that you'd call the security department?"
His face hardened.
"Hey, isn't that the guy from yesterday's duel?""Yeah… his name's Lucian, right?""Is there going to be another duel? I remember yesterday's one was over something ridiculous."
Excited murmurs spread through the crowd.
"Someone who doesn't know how to show respect to their superiors like you doesn't belong here," Austin said threateningly. "I suggest you leave."
"I respect my superiors," I replied, raising my voice. "But I don't respect people who abuse their authority. Do you really think it's fair to block someone from joining the council just because I had a dispute with the prince of the Kingdom of Celestra?"
The crowd began discussing among themselves. One student stepped forward.
"I heard something like that earlier. Is it true it's because of the prince?"
Austin froze for a brief moment. I immediately cut in.
"Orion Academy doesn't belong to the Kingdom of Celestra. Just because you hold certain positions doesn't mean you get to decide who's allowed to sit on this council."
Austin's expression tightened further, while voices of support from behind grew louder.
I turned toward the red-haired man."I'm sure you obtained that position unfairly. I think you should step down and hand it over to someone more qualified—like me."
"Are you insane?!" he shouted. "You want me to resign and let a new student like you become vice minister?!"
"What's wrong with that?" I replied calmly. "Who says a new student can't?"
"Anyone capable should have the right.""Maybe his position really wasn't fair to begin with.""This academy doesn't belong to a single kingdom!"
The whispers turned into open support.
Austin stepped forward. "The Vice Minister of External Relations is responsible for securing sponsors for the student council. Can you guarantee sponsorship for every event?"
I pointed at the red-haired man."Can he guarantee sponsors every week?"
"Of course," the man replied quickly.
"Then so can I," I said confidently.
Austin's smile widened. "Good. Next month there will be a freshman welcome party and club introduction event. It's a large event and will require many sponsors."
"This isn't fair!" someone shouted. "He's been in that department for a year already!"
Austin raised a hand. "Are you brave enough, or not?"
"If I succeed," I asked, "what do I get?"
"You become the Vice Minister."
"Good," I said, staring straight at him. "With this many witnesses, I hope you won't take back your words like a coward."
A brief silence fell over the room before exploding into excited noise.
"A sponsorship match?""This is interesting!""It's rare for anyone to challenge that department!"
Austin walked closer to me and spoke in a low voice."I should say this is expected from a Valcaryn, but let me teach you that the world isn't as simple as what you learn from books."
Austin turned toward the door."We're changing locations."
He walked out first. The red-haired man followed with a sour expression, while Clara looked at me briefly—caught between worry and curiosity—before following them.
I stepped after them.
The academy hallways quickly filled with footsteps. Curious students followed behind, their numbers growing by the second. Whispers turned into loud chatter, as if an unexpected event was unfolding.
We finally arrived at the city center, and the competition began. The red-haired man went first, entering a clothing shop. When he came out, he looked smug, holding a bag of money.
"I got five thousand Orialis and fifty discount coupons," he said happily, holding up the bag.
"Now it's your turn. You need to go to that blacksmith shop," Austin said, pointing to the shop across the street.
"I've been there before. The owner is very unfriendly and a drunk. I think it'll be hard to get sponsorship from him," one spectator commented.
I glanced at Austin, who was smiling. It was obvious he did this on purpose—giving his subordinate the easy task and the difficult one to me.
"How about we make this just one round? I have important business to take care of," I said to Austin.
"Fine. I also have things to do and don't want to waste my time."
"The shop owner is a dwarf," Clara said beside me. "Since you're new, I'll give you a little help."
Clara walked into the shop, and I followed right behind her.