“We should allocate the budget for this graduation party in advance now… Martian?”

Treasurer Aaron called out to Martian while walking down the hallway explaining the accounting information.

Martian suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around to stare at Chad, who was yawning.

“Chad, was the task of managing student concerns your responsibility?”

“I wonder what your intention is in asking something you already know?”

A small wrinkle formed between Chad’s eyebrows.

“These two are at it again.”

Anticipating a battle of nerves, Aaron pulled on the ear of Bolton, who was standing like a dazed bear between Martian and Chad.

Bolton shouted, “Why me all of a sudden?” as he was dragged away by Aaron.

As Chad and Martian began to silently face each other, passing cadets naturally made way, leaving only the two of them in the hallway.

Martian smiled brightly and put his hands in his pockets.

“Sometimes I get confused about whether you have too much work or too little, Chad.”

“It’s not that I have little work, but that you have too much. Work hard as befits the highest position.”

Chad narrowed his eyes and playfully patted Martian’s shoulder.

Martian’s azure eyes lingered on that shoulder for a moment before rolling towards Chad.

“Looking at the graduation party budget, I think Aaron will have a hard time alone. I was planning to ask you to handle the preparation process.”

“Ah, that? I’m not sure if there’s enough time.”

“There will be plenty of time. As long as you don’t use your outstanding abilities to play around with girls at night.”

This time, Martian patted Chad’s shoulder and turned around.

Chad shouted at Martian’s back as he retraced his steps.

“Where are you going, dumping work on me, Mr. President? The meeting will start as soon as the bell rings.”

“I forgot something. Go to the student council room first.”

“I wonder what the great Martian Wiegrätz could have forgotten. Or is there something you need to do in secret?”

“I didn’t know you were so interested in me, Chad.”

Martian pressed his eyes gently while recalling Lucna’s voice that he had faintly heard.

‘Did he ask to be taken out?’

The faint voice he had heard as soon as he turned the corner of the hallway.

It seemed Hans’s gang had played a nasty prank, and while he wouldn’t normally pay much attention to such things, today it grated on his nerves.

It must be because of the nightmare he had dreamt after a long time this dawn.

〈You have to get me out, Wiegrätz.〉

Damn it. Of all things, the situation had to be similar. Martian pressed his temples firmly with his fingers. Seeing his back looking troubled, Chad’s eyes sparkled.

“What on earth is going on, Martian?”

“Such interest would make the girls happy if you directed it at them instead of me, Chad.”

Martian turned back to Chad who was standing behind him, gave him a bright smile, and then retraced his steps.

“…Trying his best to be an unlikable bastard.”

Chad muttered, “Growing up watching ill-tempered elves, no wonder he turned out like that,” as he headed towards the student council room.

Chad arrived at the student council room just as the bell signaling the start of classes rang.

Bolton and Aaron, who had arrived earlier, were sitting at the round table waiting for the meeting to start.

“Why are you alone, Chad? Weren’t you with Martian just now?”

“Our Mr. President, who usually recites rules like a parrot, apparently forgot some business and will be late.”

Chad slumped forward as soon as he sat down at the round table, looking tired.

Did he go to the bathroom? Bolton giggled while fiddling with the black eye patch covering one eye.

“So even Martian, who doesn’t look like he would need to use the bathroom, was actually human after all.”

“Yawn, if he’s not here in 5 more minutes, let’s lock the student council room according to the rules. It would be so fun if Martian couldn’t get in.”

Just as Chad, still slumped over, was about to laugh along with Bolton, the door of the student council room burst open and Martian returned.

“That guy doesn’t even have constipation, huh.”

Bolton marveled at Martian’s early return.

On the other hand, Chad lifted his upper body with an openly disappointed expression.

“You’re already done with your business? Must have been quite trivial.”

“It wasn’t particularly important. Shall we start the meeting now?”

Martian began to conduct the meeting steadily as if nothing had happened.

Hmm. Chad narrowed his eyes and observed Martian.

Although he couldn’t know what business Martian had attended to since he kept his mouth shut, there was a part he could roughly guess.

‘Sigh, why is my luck so bad today?’

Lucna hunched his shoulders and bowed his head deeply with a sigh.

He had encountered Hans’s gang while eating snacks he had bought with the pocket money Giselle had given him in a quiet open space.

Rabbit bread rolling on the dirt ground, a large footprint stamped like a seal on his uniform top.

All of it was Hans’s doing.

‘What a waste.’

Lucna recalled the unscientific saying that it’s okay to eat fallen food if you pick it up within 3 seconds, then glanced at Hans.

If he really picked it up and ate it, wouldn’t that guy tease him terribly?

Then his eyes met Hans’s, who had been watching him for a while, and Hans started to get flustered.

“Wh-what? You dare to raise your eyes like that?”

Raised my eyes? I just looked up. But why is that potato head’s face suddenly turning red?

“Y-you male brat with an annoyingly pretty face! Want me to stamp another footprint on your uniform? Huh?”

The boiled potato threatened Lucna, raising his foot as if he was about to kick.

You think I’ll just keep taking it? I decided just the other day that I wouldn’t take it twice.

Lucna immediately searched for the holy sword.

‘Hey Bisby, the time for revenge has finally come.’

The holy sword had never ignored his responses except for the time he met Martian.

“Yes, how may I assist you, master?”

See that. It responds well when there are easy targets around.

‘I want to deal with those guys secretly.’

“Classified as a beginner monster suitable for the water fist master. Please purify their distorted hearts with holy power!”

‘What’s a beginner monster and how do I use holy power?’

While Lucna was distracted by the holy sword, the boiled potato snorted angrily.

“Wow, look at this guy. I’m talking and he dares to think about something else?”

The boiled potato threw his chubby fist towards Lucna.

Lucna reflexively tried to squeeze his eyes shut.

But through his narrowly opened view, the fist strangely passed by in slow motion.

‘Huh, I can see all the movements?’

I thought cadets at the military academy would be super strong, was that a misunderstanding? Or is this body actually secretly strong?

Lucna tilted his head to the left, avoiding the boiled potato’s fist.

At the same time, he stretched out his right hand and struck the potato’s lower jaw.

Of course, it wasn’t an intentional movement. His body had reacted before his thoughts.

“Ugh?”

Boiled Potato #1 fell to the ground.

Lucna looked down at his right hand. His hand was faintly emitting white holy power.

‘How did I do that?’

“The great holy sword has enhanced the master’s pathetic fist and dynamic vision to purify the evil energy. Purification 1/3”

‘Enhancement, you say? No wonder…’

Lucna nodded.

He was now used to the holy sword’s subtly insulting tone, so it didn’t bother him much anymore.

“You dare to hit Hans? A pretty boy like you dares!”

The big-bodied Potato #2 came stomping towards Lucna right away.

Lucna easily deflected his attack and, just like before, planted his fist under the fleshy chin.

Thud! It felt like mashing a fluffy potato.

‘This is amazing? My fist doesn’t hurt at all.’

Lucna clenched and unclenched his fist, grinning.

Potato #3, who had been standing with his mouth open in surprise, suddenly swung the practice sword he was carrying at his waist, but the situation was the same.

“I never thought you’d become this strong… Ugh.”

Thud. Potato #3 also fell to the ground, uttering a cliché line.

“3/3 purification completed.”

‘But isn’t this more like violence than purification?’

“Mental reformation using holy power is also purification, inflexible master.”

‘You’re the one who’s stubbornly insisting…’

“Terminating function.”

At that moment, the holy sword urgently disappeared, and the white light swirling around his fist also vanished.

Lucna, who had swung his fists and fought someone for the first time, looked down at his still trembling hands.

Just as he was having trouble believing that he had really knocked people down, a voice came from behind him.

“You’ve changed, Lucna.”

“…!”

As he turned around, he saw Martian’s face smiling kindly.

‘How long has he been watching?’

The most surprising thing about adapting to the military academy was Martian’s public image.

As befitting a student council president, he was exemplary and kind.

He never got angry at anything, and there was always a gentle smile on his lips, so some people praised this as the “smile of a saint.”

‘No, what kind of saint smiles with such cold eyes?’

Are the cadets so busy taking care of themselves due to the tough classes at the military academy that they don’t pay much attention to others?

It seems not many cadets have noticed that his smile is subtly off.

Feeling uncomfortable with the awkward situation, Lucna fiddled with his nose.

‘Huh? This perfume scent…’

Is it my imagination that it smells similar to what I smelled in front of the cleaning cabinet last time?

‘Nah. The guy who suspected me of stealing the holy sword wouldn’t have helped.’

And along with it, the fishy smell that flowed in piqued Lucna’s curiosity.

Lucna lowered his gaze to check his gloves.

The stains on the black leather gloves were probably blood.