Magical Explorer Chapter 107

"That's great."

Personally, I think that it is great for Ludi to join the three committees. Of course, considering her position as an imperial princess, I think the Shikibukai wouldn't suit her. However, there won't be a problem if she joins either the student council or the public moral committee instead. She will even get a good evaluation after she graduated.

"Yukine-san invited me personally but it seems like she hasn't consulted with Saint Scaglione yet though."

"It's okay, you will be fine Ludi. The saint herself wouldn't oppose this either."

"What are you a.s.suring me for."

The saint probably doesn't care about this anyway. Of course, I won't tell her that though.

"Subjectively speaking, you would be a fool not to join and objectively speaking, I can only say that you definitely have to join them."

She has very good grades, the same goes for her popularity and her capability in combat. She is the best candidate, subjectively or objectively.

"I know you Ludi. I would oppose it if you are going to join the Shikibukai but I think you would be a great addition to the student council or the public moral committee. If you want to grow stronger then especially so. If you are going to join I will definitely cheer you on. We can do our best together there.”

"Yes, about that."

Ludi gives the bowl to the waiter after she finished her ramen.

"What do the three committees do exactly?"

She probably doesn't mean the official duty here.

I look around and take a small breath.

"…..Let's talk about this somewhere else."

———

"Welcome, please take your time."

Said the woman wearing clothes with Asanoha pattern. She gave us a bow and leave the room. We are currently alone in a j.a.panese style room that she led us to.

I started eating the matcha cheesecake and ask Ludi.

"I asked you before but how much does Ludi know about the three committees?"

"The student council manages the academy's event like the Tsukuyomi tournament right? The public moral committee is pretty much self-explanatory?"

I nod.

"And the duty of the Shikibukai is auditing them. The rest is behind the scene works."

Well, you can find out about this just by looking at the Academy's rule on Tsukuyomi Traveller. Only until this part that is.

"Now then, Ludi might already know about this but do you know that there is more to the duty of the three committees?"

"I have an idea, yes. Seeing Kousuke joining the Shikibukai confirmed my guess. The people who know Kousuke are probably noticing something as well.” 

Like Iori-kun or Rinchan, Ludi added.

Certainly, if it's those two then they might have an idea about this. In the first place, Iori seems to be seen as a promising student in the subordinate organization of the student council so he should know about it soon enough.

"That's right. They actually have more hidden roles to play."

"So it's true……"

"So, their roles……..Hmmm, guess I will have to start from the beginning. There are words to describe each of their hidden roles. The public moral committee is the [Justice] and [Model], the student council is [Model] and [Goal], and the Shikibukai is [Goal] and [Rivalry].

"Their's roles are overlapping?"

"That's right. Each of them has different roles to play, but they actually have one goal in common. All of those roles are there to achieve a certain purpose."

"A purpose?"

"Yes, it is to improve the ability of the academy's student."

"……That sounds normal isn't it?"

"Of course, it is normal. But isn't that why the academy exists in the first place?"

After they graduated, they would become researchers or join the Knight Order. There are even those who become adventurers and set out to explore the New World or those that become dungeon specialists. What each and every one of them wants most is to improve their abilities. That was why the magic academy was created.

"Right."

"Now, I will explain each of their roles one by one."

"First, I will start with the public moral committee. ……Well, Sempai will explain it to you later anyway so I will keep it short. The [Model] part is just as it sounds. Its meaning is to be an example for the student to follow. And [Justice], well, I think I don't have to explain much about that. They are there to protect the public moral of the academy. However, they still have another duty…….I will let Sempai explain that to you in detail later."

"From Yukine-san? ……I understand.”

I take a breath and put the matcha parfait to my mouth.

"Okay, next is the student council's role……. It is to become an ideal"

"Ideal?"

"Yeah, to make it easier to understand………. Well, what do you think is the best way to improve the students' abilities?"

"It's vague so it's hard to answer. Umm…..how about studying, training and challenging the dungeon?"

"That's right, but there's something else."

I nod while taking a bite at my parfait. Then I pull the spoon out as I did with my sword and sheath it back into the ice cream. 

"Training and studying have its own type."

"Type?"

"Yeah, there are good training and bad training, it will determine how much you can improve yourself."

"I kind of understand what you wanted to say."

Ludi said that and put her fork back on the plate.

"In short, you want to say that training in a good environment with a good teacher is better than a normal training right?"

"Yeah, that's right. The student council and the Shikibukai share their roles to create that environment."

"What do you mean?"

"It is the student council and the Shikibukai's duty to encourage the student to improve themselves. Yes, it is their duty to manage the important factor that affects their improvement, their [Motivation]."

There are children that keep improving themselves from receiving praises and children that turn their anger into power. If there are children who are easy to motivate by their friends and goal, then there are children that need to set an enemy as their goal to be motivated as well.

"For example, You are studying in the library, if you see a Sempai you love and admire you would want to try harder right? There are also those that study with all your might because you don't want to lose to a guy they hate because he is always lazing around all day and still get top grades."

"I see…..I get it."

"Yeah, [Model] and [Goal], that's the role of the student council. The one who becomes the target of the students' admiration and acts as the ideal for them to aim for, that's the student council. Also, at times they stand on the students' side, praise them and give a pat on their back."

"I see, if the student council acts as [their goal and their target of admiration] then the Shichibukai act as the [enemy] for them to overcome……right?"

"Yes, it is as you say. The roles of the Shikibukai are [Goal] and [Rivalry]. This is the reason that they intentionally act as the villain and gather the hatred from the students, [becoming their enemy as well as their goal]." 

"Since Kousuke joined the Shikibukai, I thought that they are not actually evil but all of the stunt you pulled to appear as a bad guy up to now was intentional for this purpose right?"

Well, it was the setting of the game after all. It won't work in a normal school, and normally you can't even put it into practice in the first place. 

"Additionally, besides becoming the enemy of the student, the Shikibukai also has a different role to play. That role might be what is actually important to the public moral committee and the academy as well."

"Another role?"

"Yeah, it is to unite the students together and protect the academy's public order."

"Unite and protect?"

"You can unite them by having them share a common goal but it is still better to unite them by creating their common enemy. It is easy to unite people using grudge and jealousy after all. Moreover……."

"Moreover……..?"

"An enemy of an enemy is a friend right? That's why the Shikibukai gathered hate toward themselves so much that the students don't have any left toward each other."

Well, sometimes this also backfires toward them so they have to rely on the other committees though.

Ludi's eyes slightly narrowed.

"Then, isn't the Shikibukai a dangerous place to be……?"

"That's exactly why there's a condition to join them. You have to possess overwhelmingly unrivaled power or some kind of authority outside of the academy to join them."

Ludi nod and use her fork to cut her cheesecake.

"Being a part of Hanamura family and powerful enough to soloed the 40th floor…..surely, there's nothing you can't handle. But that still doesn't mean that it is completely safe right? Like if someone were to challenge you to a duel."

"That will happen eventually, yeah."

There's a high chance that someone will start something with me when they announce that I will join the Shikibukai. I will have to lay some groundwork with my cla.s.smates beforehand.

"However, the uppercla.s.smen are now allowed to challenge the first year to a duel for now. There's no need to worry, there's no one who's gonna challenge me anyw—-Ah."

"…..I think I just heard some disturbing sound."

"N, No. it's nothing. Besides, I will probably win anyway."

I forgot about that domineering drill-haired Ojou-sama. That girl…….I kinda feel anxious about facing her. W, well, the future me will do something about her anyway.

"Wait a minute, why is your face getting paler…….?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine. Yup, totally fine. Alright, let's get back to the topic. Umm, I was talking about the Shikibukai right?"

"You are not okay at all…..if something is bothering you then just tell me."

"Thanks, I will rely on you when the time comes."

But if it comes to that girl then I might not be able to rely on you though.

"Well, the Shikibukai has a bit of a special role to play. They are hated and there are some hidden sides too. That's why there's a faction who has to secretly protect us from behind the scene."

"I know, the public moral committee right?"

"Well, yes. On the surface, we may have to look like an enemy but in actuality, they are tight together. To gather all the hate from the students, they have to include the student council into their act as well. Then they can celebrate a job well done after that."

"Don't tell me, the scene when we first saw them was also……"

Does she mean when I explained the matter about the three committees to Iori? Of course.

"Yes, that was an act."

Ludi let out a small sigh.

"Just hearing that, it made me think the public moral committee's [Justice] isn't that just after all."

That's a good point.

"Well, about that. There's actually more to it than that but let's leave it at this for now.

She should roughly understand the outline already. Well, I didn't mention the fact that they are competing under the surface or [The True Role] of the three committees though. I will leave explaining that [True Role] to the president after we captured the 60th floor.

"Alright, now I can focus on my parfait."

I dig into the matcha ice cream and put it in my mouth.

Then a little later, Ludi finished her matcha cheesecake and mutter.

"Eating sweets like this make me want to eat more ramen…….Wai-, I'm already full so I won't okay? Stop looking at me like that."