Why Did I Have to Enroll

"But something's still missing."

—You mean the connection.

"Right. Even if that person last night was actually Mira, that information isn't particularly meaningful."

So he contacted Yumina, the most trustworthy adult at the Academy, through Mirror.

Were there any students who returned to the Academy by spaceship last night?

What do you know about Mira from the student council?

Do you know anything about the potion circulating inside the Academy right now?

The reply came quickly: 'If you're in Ronica right now, let's talk about it over dinner^^'

—This woman's definitely flirting with you, right?

Yumina has no romantic feelings for Ban Yu-won.

Hadn't she openly shown from the start that she wanted something from him?

That's why Ban Yu-won wasn't particularly uncomfortable receiving her favor.

In contrast, with Luciel's case, he felt slightly uncomfortable about whether to take her kindness at face value, given that their relationship was fundamentally based on the unsettling concept of 'subjugation.'

—She's obviously flirting with you. She's a beast-person too.

"Well... honestly speaking, I'm not exactly hard on the eyes, am I?"

—That's true, but you're really annoying.

"Listen. But Luciel is beyond that. In terms of looks, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she's top of the Academy... She's also gentle, and emotionally the most stable among the members. When she's not in combat, Luciel actually gets the best response from fans."

—In other words, you're worried about whether she would act the same way towards you without the subjugation. ...Isn't that a pointless worry?

"......"

Ban Yu-won hesitated for a moment, thinking he might look like a loser if he admitted it, but then realized he already looked like one just by considering it, and stopped thinking altogether.

"...That's not what's important right now."

—You're running away quite shamelessly.

"No, I'm not! I just decided not to think about it because there's no point in thinking about it now."

—Sure, sure, I look forward to seeing how you handle this~

How nice it would be if Celon had a physical form.

Then he could have had the pleasure of beating him up.

After messaging Yumina that he would wait, Ban Yu-won decided to take care of something he had been meaning to do since he was spending time in the city anyway.

That was visiting the weapons shop.

"Welcome! Ah, you're Rebellion, aren't you!"

"Yes, I am. Nice to meet you."

Previously, when he was on a date with Luciel, she had been surprised when some of Ronica's residents recognized them.

But that was old news now.

Now most of Ronica's residents knew about Rebellion.

"I never thought you'd visit our shop! Someone who makes artifacts himself!"

"I need some good weapons."

"Could it be... you're planning to make an artifact with our shop's weapons?"

"Something like that."

"Oh my...!"

While Dokgo Yeon blamed herself for their exploration ending too early in Room 23, considering the first-year class as a whole, it was quite fast progress — especially considering last week's retirement —

Moreover, as Yumina predicted, this trick room video garnered significant attention, finally surpassing 100 million subscribers.

And particularly with Ban Yu-won's overwhelming performance this time, his recognition increased, completely breaking free from the perception that he was riding on the coattails of stronger players.

"I've heard that artifacts require complex design from the production stage, would our shop's items really be suitable?"

This was probably why the owner of Ronica's largest weapons shop was treating him so warmly.

Since Ban Yu-won naturally enjoyed being in the spotlight, he felt quite good about it.

"Please show me several high-quality longswords. Preferably similar to this one. It would be better if they contain a lot of magical power."

As Ban Yu-won half-drew the Executioner's longsword from its scabbard and held it out, the owner received it, examined it, and nodded.

"While its power as an artifact seems considerable... purely in terms of sword quality, we have many good items in our shop. With a 20-centimeter handle and 90-centimeter blade length, how many would you like to see?"

"Hmm..."

Ban Yu-won recalled what he had heard from Dokgo Yeon about Lucein Ortima's artifact Astraia consisting of 24 metal spheres, then smiled and said,

"Twenty-five."

*

That evening, Ban Yu-won had dinner with Yumina at Ronica's finest restaurant.

While there was no growth in internal concepts, he was able to enjoy high-end dishes that rivaled even the Academy's restaurant in taste while getting answers to the questions he had sent through Mirror earlier.

"There were no official spacecraft or dimension ship landings last night. Actually, the procedure for this is quite strict. That's why permission to land and take off without reporting is given to... full professors, some associate professors, student council officers, and the top ten teams in special activities."

"Mmm... the student council."

"The Student Council PR Director, a third-year fairy tribe student in the Artifact Creation Department, Mira. She's an exceptional student. Professor Thalia... Campanella's favorite student too. There's no official record of her going out. Unofficially... student council officers actually go out quite frequently. They have a lot of work, and sometimes they go out alone to support other teams' special activities."

"Hmm, munch munch"

Ban Yu-won pushed the last piece of his main dish steak into his mouth while listening to Yumina's kind explanation.

In this world called Union, the meat commonly eaten was similar to Earth's beef, pork, lamb, chicken, duck, or goose, but peculiarly, the higher-end menus often featured edible monster meat.

This restaurant was the same, but since the taste was excellent and he didn't particularly want to know which monster it came from, he ate silently.

"My, Yu-won really eats well. Should we order another plate of steak?"

Before he knew it, Yumina was staring at him intently.

A satisfied smile hung on her lips.

The sight of him heartily cutting and eating large pieces of steak had tickled her heartstrings.

"It's okay. We still have dessert left. More importantly, about the explanation..."

"Ah, right, right. Actually, I got hold of one of those potions."

At Ban Yu-won's urging, Yumina pulled out a small bottle from her chest.

It was an angular crystal bottle, and Ban Yu-won involuntarily held his breath as he watched the purple mist slowly swirling inside.

"This looks dangerous just by looking at it. People drink this?"

"It's a matter of graduating from Union Academy. Students who are really desperate would even risk their lives."

"Where did you get this?"

"Yu-won, do you think the principal is letting this situation continue because he's incompetent?"

"Ah- okay, I get it."

That explained everything.

Not just the Tower, but everything at the Academy was a trial leading to divine work.

All Academy students are competitors, and their conflicts are absolutely fair.

That's why the principal turns a blind eye to everything unless it reaches the worst possible scenario.

And the standard for 'worst' would probably be vastly different from Ban Yu-won's standards.

"...When I think that this might be why the principal didn't actively stop Ortima either, it really makes me want to punch him."

"I think differently though? While Lucein Ortima is unforgivable, you definitely grew a lot from your clash with that bastard."

It seemed like the kind teacher just said something that should never be uttered.

"The principal certainly doesn't bat an eye at student deaths... but Yu-won, you're already receiving special treatment. So don't worry."

"Why?"

"Hmm... that's still a secret."

Since she'd said this much, she might as well have told him everything, but Yumina pressed her index finger to her lips with obvious aegyo.

The truly scary thing about this aegyo was that even though you knew she was deliberately acting cute, she was so cute that you couldn't say anything about it.

"Sorry, but I don't think it would help you to know right now."

"That's okay, sis."

Though he answered that way, Ban Yu-won had a rough idea of why the principal might be giving him special treatment.

'While they might not know that my ancestor built the Babel Tower... it wouldn't be strange if they'd figured out that I'm somehow connected to the Tower. After all, chaos breaks out every time I enter it.'

While it was unclear how the principal would treat Ban Yu-won in the future, it would be fine as long as he kept in mind that the principal was definitely not a complete ally.

"But wait a minute. Isn't it against the rules for you to get this for me too?"

"We're collaborating, aren't we? It takes student skill to form an equal collaborative relationship with a full professor."

Her spirited laugh was almost enough to make him fall for her.

Unlike the principal, he could be certain that this person was completely on his side.

Ban Yu-won smiled along with her and took the potion bottle she handed him... then his expression froze the next moment.

When checking items with Ban Yu-won's power, he could usually identify the creator's name.

—Of course, the potion's name was 'Mira's Hypnotic Potion.'

"Did you figure it out?"

"Yes. Senior Mira is indeed the culprit. As expected, she tried to create an opportunity to meet me today to find out if I had seen her yesterday."

But a fairy with just a pretty face couldn't beat a child of civilization raised in the harsh modern media society.

While it might be different in unprepared situations, Ban Yu-won could put on any expression he wanted in front of an 'enemy.'

"Phew, I had some suspicions too while gathering information after hearing your questions..."

"Being too competent can be a problem too."

Usually in cases like this, you're supposed to spend at least a week fumbling around, searching for clues and testing hypotheses, wasting time until you miss the timing and the situation escalates, then somehow catch the real culprit when everything seems lost, only to realize the culprit had their own circumstances, leaving a bitter aftertaste until the very end.

But to identify the culprit on the very day of encountering the case!

Now all that was left was to investigate the culprit's circumstances to resolve everything.

...Though that probably didn't need investigating.

"No wonder the student council has their eye on you."

Yumina narrowed her eyes while propping her chin with one arm.

"Since you're already at odds with the Special Class, joining the student council wouldn't be a bad choice."

"I'll think about it."

In truth, the problem wasn't completely solved.

While from Ban Yu-won's perspective both physical and circumstantial evidence were perfect, to others who didn't benefit from his power, this potion was still just a buff potion from an unknown creator.

Of course, now that they knew the culprit, they might be able to settle this easily by backtracking her movements... but Ban Yu-won hesitated there.

The only ones he could ask to cooperate in resolving this situation, aside from Yumina, were the student council... but it seemed unlikely they would readily accept the allegations against Mira, one of their officers.

'Depending on the situation, we might have to end this by just dealing with the potion's side effects without being able to touch Mira herself.'

While his personality made him want to push forward, considering they were already at odds with the Special Class, they needed to maintain the most moderate relationship possible with the student council.

If they didn't approach carefully while considering the student council's tendencies...

He really shouldn't have gotten involved in this kind of thing from the start.

The fact that this would feel extremely unsatisfying no matter how it ended certainly fit the aesthetics of a 'case.'

"sigh"

"chuckle"

Seeing Ban Yu-won's expression become complicated, Yumina smiled contentedly again and reached out to caress his cheek.

The way she pinched and stroked it seemed both comforting and teasing.

"ahem"

"Hmm?"

He wanted to make her realize her actions were a bit excessive with a fake cough, but she apparently didn't catch that signal.

...Or perhaps she was pretending not to notice.

After being fondled a bit more, Ban Yu-won finally conveyed his thoughts directly.

"Sis, the skinship is a bit..."

"Yes, payment for the potion. If that's not enough, it'll cover dinner too."

How could she counter so boldly?

Ban Yu-won was dumbfounded, but since he didn't actually mind, he decided to let her have her way a bit longer.

The next morning, he was thoroughly interrogated by Luciel about what had happened with Yumina.

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