{11}“Future Plans”

  ***

  The central plaza was located in the middle of the academy grounds. Right next to this plaza stood the Academy Administration building.

  The first floor housed a branch of Isaiah Trading Company, the continent's premier banking institution, which typically bustled with students using its services. Today, however, it was strangely quiet. There were still many people, but everyone had paused what they were doing.

  Their gazes were fixed on six students walking in a row.

  Leo, known as the Engineering Department's most dangerous individual, and the Library Fairy, who had finally enrolled this year after earning tuition through perilous expedition activities.

  Two famous individuals with absolutely no connection walking together in the same group? And heading toward the reception desk, no less—what could they possibly be up to? Such questioning stares accumulated, piercing the back of the group's heads.

  "...I feel like I'm going to die from all these stares."

  Elrunt dismissed Ned's complaint.

  "Haa. Let's just register first."

  He held a single document in his hand.

  ***

  About an hour earlier. Gathered in the Engineering Department laboratory's conference room, they had to listen to Calia's unexpected proposal.

  "A new... club?"

  In response to Leo's question, Calia nodded.

  "Yes. Our plan is to create a new club."

  "That's fine, but why?"

  "Have you heard of the Lily of the Valley Knights?"

  A moment of silence fell over the room. Elrunt frowned and asked:

  "Good heavens! What kind of name is that?"

  Calia explained everything she knew about Rin and Haderian to help Elrunt, a new student, understand the situation.

  She told him about the 'Lily of the Valley Knights' who had been following them, their leader Haderian, and even the reason for his obsession with Rin.

  Elrunt found this new information fascinating and kept asking questions. As she answered each one, the explanation grew much longer than expected. Finding herself straying significantly from her original point, Calia occasionally glanced at Leo and Shulmaier, but they merely sipped their tea-like beverages without showing much reaction.

  "I looked into it and found they received approval for club activities recently."

  "..."

  "In my homeland of Sian, we have a saying: Strike down your enemy with their own weapon."

  Leo nodded as if he finally understood.

  "So we should create our own club to counter them? Is that what you're saying?"

  "Yes. That way we can help Rin more effectively."

  "And what's in it for me?"

  At that moment, Shulmaier cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses nervously. Leo quickly apologized.

  "Sorry. What's in it for Shulmaier and me?"

  "Fun."

  "Fun? Did you say fun?"

  Unexpectedly, Leo frowned.

  Why this sudden change? Calia was quite taken aback by his overtly irritated expression. She had heard from Rin and Ned that Leo was supposedly someone who couldn't resist anything fun, the very definition of a moody character. Well, his unpredictability certainly seemed to confirm that aspect of his personality.

  "What's the standard? Who decides what's fun?"

  Leo's expression had hardened as he spoke. To make matters worse, he was opening only his left eye extremely wide, giving him a frightening appearance.

  "I helped you earlier because you looked troubled, but Ned couldn't recruit me before you arrived. Why would it be any different with you?"

  "..."

  When Calia shot Ned an accusatory glance, he simply shrugged and shook his head. Leo stood up and flung open the conference room door.

  "If there's nothing else to discuss, I should get back to my experiment. Heheh."

  "Just a moment."

  Rin rose from her seat and walked to the chalkboard hanging on the wall.

  "May I write on this?"

  As soon as Leo nodded, Rin began writing on the board.

  [What will we do?]

  "This is what you're looking for, right, Senior Leo?"

  "Heheh!"

  Surprisingly, Leo sat down quietly in his chair. Rin took a deep breath, then branched out from the first sentence.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "We'll decide right here what we're going to do. So please share what each of you wants to do."

  While most couldn't grasp Rin's spontaneous action and intention, Leo subtly raised his hand.

  "Research."

  Rin quickly scrawled the word 'Research' on the chalkboard.

  "What kind of research exactly?"

  "Mechanical engineering, invention, prototype development, and testing them."

  Rin rapidly noted down Leo's confident answers. By now, the words on the board were connected by lines, forming a tree-like structure. She added the word 'Cooperation' as well.

  "Once we form a club, all members can cooperate on this. That's already a significant benefit, isn't it?"

  Leo looked at Shulmaier with one eye wide open.

  "I'm already feeling capricious."

  "..."

  Instead of answering, Shulmaier abruptly stood up, drew a new branch on the board, and wrote 'History' on it. When Rin opened her eyes wide, silently asking for an explanation, Leo answered for him.

  "That guy. History is his hobby."

  Then Ned casually raised his hand.

  "Travel!"

  Though unexpected, Rin responded without hesitation.

  "Both are possible."

  Rin wrote 'Travel' next to 'History,' connected them, and added the word 'Ruins.'

  "Ruins exist all over the world. Travel is necessary for data collection."

  Calia added her thoughts.

  "That's right! While we're traveling, why not help people in need?"

  It was a statement befitting the daughter of the Holy Knights' Commander, but the three who didn't know this tilted their heads in confusion. Yet Rin provided another solution. She created a new branch labeled 'Help,' connected it to 'Cooperation,' and then linked it to 'Inventions' as well.

  "We could use Senior Leo's inventions to help people in trouble!"

  Leo grinned at this.

  "Excellent! We can test the products at the same time!"

  "Yes! Test the products... at the same time."

  Rin thought she glimpsed a bit of Dr. Gernshvatz in Leo's smile. She hoped it was just an unfounded concern.

  "Any other opinions? Hmm... it seems Elrunt is the only one who hasn't shared his thoughts..."

  Elrunt responded in a quiet voice.

  "I need someone to play chess with."

  "I see! Chess..."

  After writing 'Chess' on the board, Rin seemed to be pondering how to connect it with the other items. Then Elrunt spoke again.

  "More importantly... what will we name the club?"

  "..."

  Everyone fell silent at this unexpected question. Though breaking into a cold sweat, Rin tried to slowly synthesize everything written on the board.

  "Hmm... traveling to ruins around the world... testing inventions along the way and using them to help people... and chess..."

  Rin appeared to be searching for a comprehensive name. She circled several words, drew arrows to combine them, and started experimenting with different combinations.

  "Hmm... The Club for Archeological Research Using Engineering Inventions and Community Service..."

  Elrunt raised an objection.

  "What about chess?"

  "...and Chess."

  Even Rin seemed to think this wasn't quite right as she hung her head. That's when Leo raised his hand with a confident expression.

  "How about the Justice Enforcement Club?"

  While it felt rather imperious, it was somewhat comprehensive. But Elrunt interrupted again.

  "What about chess?"

  Leo scratched his head as he looked at Elrunt.

  "Justice Enforcement... Chess Club?"

  ***

  "Hey, student. Are you going to register or not?"

  At the receptionist's question, Elrunt handed over the document he was holding. The staff member scanned the document and briefly looked over the group.

  "Minimum of six members required for establishment. Is everyone here present?"

  They each showed their student IDs one by one. Elrunt gave a wry smile as he realized the main reason he was included was simply to "make up the numbers." The staff member spent some time copying the contents of the document and stamped it several times for approval.

  Then she handed them a new document.

  "Let's see, the name is... 'Free Research Club,' correct? Now get your faculty advisor's signature on this form, and it should be approved within a few days."

  Just as when they entered, the group commanded everyone's attention as they left the administration building. Now that they had submitted their club application, the next step was to find a faculty advisor. They agreed to start by approaching professors who were acquainted with Rin from the "recommended faculty advisors" list provided by the staff.

  The History Department building was closest to the main administration building, and it housed Professor Antoine, Professor Temel, and Professor Svetrinaha, all of whom were on friendly terms with Rin.

  However, according to the list, Professor Antoine and Professor Sven already advised other clubs, leaving only Professor Temel as an option.

  "It would be amazing if Professor Temel agreed to take us on."

  Calia said excitedly.

  "In the Northern Mixed Continent Travelogue, Professor Temel had major roles in every chapter! How wonderful would it be to have someone like that leading us?"

  "Oh my! I was thinking the same thing!"

  No one reacted except Rin, who agreed enthusiastically. The "Northern Mixed Continent Travelogue" was a book chronicling the adventures of younger Professor Antoine and Professor Temel as they traveled throughout the Mixed Continent.

  It began as actual journal entries written by Professor Temel in his youth, which Professor Antoine had stumbled upon and reworked with his exceptional writing skills into a novel format. It later became a bestseller among novels based on true stories. However, among this group, only Calia and Rin had read the book.

  Finally reaching Professor Temel's office, Rin looked around without thinking to knock.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Professor Temel always keeps his door open."

  Saying this, Rin finally knocked on the door.

  "Professor Temel. It's Rin."

  "..."

  There was no answer. As Rin's face showed slight disappointment, Leo gently patted her shoulder.

  "He's not here. Let's move on to the next one."

  "But..."

  Their next destination was back at the Engineering Department building, heading toward Dr. Gernshvatz's office. Leo spoke to Rin, who still looked dejected.

  "Dr. Gernshvatz is actually quite nice once you get to know him. When it's just us, he often praises you, the Library Fairy."

  Calia interjected:

  "But if Professor Temel could take us on, that would be perfect... Can't we go back and wait a little longer?"

  "No!"

  It was Shulmaier who shouted. His extremely solemn expression prevented both Calia and Rin from mentioning Professor Temel again.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  "Professor! It's me, Leo!"

  True to his role as Dr. Gernshvatz's assistant, his knock was unapologetically forceful, as if he might break down the door.

  "Professor! Professor!"

  When there was still no response, Rin asked:

  "Is the Doctor not here either?"

  "No, he should be. Wait."

  Leo waved his hand dismissively and pulled a screwdriver-like tool from his pocket. Ned showed interest.

  "Senior, what's that?"

  "This?"

  Even while conversing, Leo didn't stop working, inserting the tool into the keyhole and turning it. With a 'click,' the door unlocked.

  "A master key."

  "Brother! Can you make one for me too?"

  "Later."

  Leo put his finger to his lips, gesturing for them to be quiet. Then he opened the door. When Rin quietly asked, "Is it okay to just enter like this?" he dismissed her with "Then you stay out," and crept in.

  The remaining five couldn't bring themselves to follow and waited outside. Shortly after, they heard a loud 'BANG!' followed by smoke coming from the room, which made them rush in with alarm.

  "Senior Leo! Are you okay?"

  Rin's concerned voice was buried in the darkness and thick smoke filling the room.

  "Cough! Cough!"

  Leo emerged from the smoke.

  "This guy left the heating equipment on again! That's the second time this month!"

  As the smoke cleared, various experimental tools covered in some unknown foam were revealed. The group tried to ask questions, but Leo's continuous cursing made proper conversation impossible until they left the building.

  With Dr. Gernshvatz also absent, it was now time to seek out professors whom Rin didn't know personally.

  "Should we come back later?"

  Rin asked hopefully, but it was already evening. Leo, who had finally calmed down, spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

  "Since there's no deadline, how about we come back tomorrow?"

  Ned said, "I don't mind approaching professors I don't know," but Leo shook his head. His opinion was that it's better in many ways to have a professor they were at least somewhat familiar with. Though their enthusiasm had dampened a bit, the group agreed to meet again the next day, and so they parted ways.

  -To be continued-