Side Character Who Became the Pseudo-Protagonist

Chapter 21: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

A day had passed after I encountered the Triad and asked them for help.

All three of them agreed, though we decided to move on our own accord, using our personal resources instead of anything granted by our Houses.

Well, being the middle child, I didn’t have that many resources except my own body, sadly. And that was why I was currently on the floor, holding onto my classmate’s leg for dear life.

"Lohan! Please, teach me [Material Sight]...! I’ll buy you whatever you want!"

My pride was not a problem at all. If I could acquire one of the best Spells in the game, a little groveling here or there wasn’t an issue.

Besides, if I were to storm into White Noise’s lair, I’d better be prepared for any potential happenings, and [Material Sight] was the best way to do that.

Lohan tapped his sunglasses, looking at me with pity...or annoyance, I couldn’t really tell.

"My family calls the organ that lets us see Logos, the Wanderer’s Eyes. Without it, you can stare until your eyes bleed and still see nothing."

"So...I can’t learn it?"

"Maybe, but I’m glossing over a certain fact."

"What?"

"You’re a Midgard."

I frowned. "So?"

"Midgards have [World Frame], right? A perception-type Innate Spell. Your Logos Cortex is also built to process visual information differently from normal Operators like ours."

I slowly let go of his leg. "Are you saying I might still have that part?"

"Yeah," Lohan nodded slowly. "Although you can’t learn [Material Sight] directly, you’ll probably be able to learn [Principle Sight], a lesser version."

"Ahh, that’s still better than nothing! How does it work?"

"Here’s a hint," Lohan said, popping open a soda and taking a sip. "If you think about it, everything in the world has some kind of set instructions."

"Why is your hair blue? Why are you tall?" he shrugged casually. "Things like that apply to phenomena as well like combustion for flames and conductivity for electricity."

"When your brain realizes that everything is just a bunch of zeroes and ones, and Logos is the thing that brings it into the real world, you’ll be able to use [Principle Sight]."

...

Brother...what the hell does that mean? Is this guy intentionally gatekeeping? Or maybe he’s just vagueposting for the sake of sounding cool?

I stared at Lohan for a long moment, hoping he would eventually explain it in a way that made more sense.

But no, he kept drink his soda.

I decided to give up.

Wasting any more time here, running into a wall over again and expecting a different answer was foolish.

The seminar was tomorrow, so I had to get a move on if I wanted to come in more prepared.

And what better way to do that than to question the Public Relations club themselves, and see what the hell is going on...

***

Campus was less crowded than I thought, mostly because no events were going on at the time.

After asking around for a while, I finally found the Public Relations room in the Compassion Tower, one of the three main buildings on campus.

And yes, they all had weird names. This one was called Compassion while the other two were Wisdom and Bravery.

Don’t ask me, I just study here.

Knock, knock!

The door inched open, revealing a pair of eyes staring at me from the narrow gap. A second later, the door opened properly.

"Hey? Are you here to enroll in our Public Relations Club?" a girl in a white blazer and blonde hair asked.

’Blonde, huh? Seems like a transfer student from Astaron as well...’

"Well, not exactly," I explained myself calmly. "I’m just here to ask a few things on behalf of the Student Council President."

’Sorry, I’m gonna borrow your name...But you did bully me, so we’re even!’

"Do you have authorization?"

"Authorization?"

I had expected some suspicion, but definitely not to this degree.

The girl held out her hand with a polite smile. "If this is official student government business, please present your authorization."

"..."

I pulled out my terminal, half-expecting to be exposed immediately. But the moment I opened my student profile, a new line had already appeared.

[Student Council — Strategic Division]

Claire worked fast, a little too fast, honestly.

The girl inspected my terminal for a second before nodding.

"Alright, please come in."

But as she said it, I couldn’t help but notice the slight expression of what seemed to be disgust...No, maybe envy, on her face as she turned.

Thankfully, before coming here, I managed to check in with Claire and found out that Tina Valentine was an upperclassman that joined the academy last year following the establishment of the Astaron-Ygg Academy Program.

She was actually the best of her class, the clear valedictorian. But when she tried to join the student council, Claire had denied her for some reason.

’Is that why she’s cautious of us...? I really have my work cut out for me, don’t I?’

For a club that’s supposed to be about "Public Relations", the space they got was quite massive, akin to something like a workshop instead.

Although, despite the size, the place was mostly empty except for the girl in front of me, who had already sat down and was pouring some tea.

"Ahh, sorry, I’m not sure what kind of tea you like..."

"Don’t sweat it, anything’s fine."

I took the seat opposite from her, looking around for anything off.

In my initial suspicion, even if the seminar was being held, there’s no way a lot, if any, Astaron students would attend.

I mean, after all, they were being cornered without being able to properly fight back. And still, they chose to come and speak about their ideals?

The world is not that simple and whimsical.

There was only one explanation.

Sheep walking into a slaughterhouse because another sheep told them it was just a barn. Quite literally, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, herding them all inside.

And from the looks of it...

"Alright, I have some questions," I leaned forward from my chair. "First off, are you the leader of this club?"

"Yeah, that would be me," the girl answered plainly and without any flourishes that I had expected.

’So she knows about it too...’

"The Public Relations Club is helping with the seminar?" I asked, reaching for the cup of tea on the table but stopping upon realizing it might not be so great of an idea.

"Not officially," she said, shaking her head. "We’re only helping with student outreach."

"Student outreach..."

"Yes. Since the seminar involves exchange students, it makes sense for us to help."

"Then...who contacted the Astaron students?"

"Several members helped share the information. But it was only forwarded to students who might be interested."

I tapped my finger against the teacup instead of drinking it. "Even though the Astaron students are already in a difficult position?"

"That’s exactly why they should attend," she explained. "If they don’t speak for themselves, Ygg civilians would only misunderstand them more!"

"Even the princess?"

"Colette agreed because she understands that better than anyone."

’Huh...I didn’t even mention that she agreed to attend? That’s strike one.’

"Hmmm," I placed the cup back down on the small, decorated coaster. "It sounds like a great plan. Actually, President Vanaris was considering helping with the seminar."

"She wanted to move it to a better venue with more reach, most notably—Asgard Stadium."

For just a second, the girl’s polite smile stiffened, looking a lot less like a smile and more like gritted teeth.

"You can’t."

"What?"

"Ah—I mean, the venue is already prepared and the seminar is tomorrow. It would be a logistical hassle to change locations now."

I nodded slowly, pretending to accept her answer.

"Right. That makes sense."

"Then..." I said, standing up from my chair. "I won’t take up too much of your time. I hope the event goes well."

"Thank you."

But before leaving, I decided to throw a little bait to see if she would take the hook. And indeed, that was exactly what happened.

"Though, I guess it’s a shame."

"...Shame?"

"Yeah, I heard Colette won’t be attending anymore. Apparently, she’s needed at the Ygg-Astaron summit."

"What? But why would she go all the way to Helgarm—?"

Reaching into my jacket pocket, I felt the handle of the Gun-type Spell Driver that Claire had lent to me and aimed it at her in one go.

Click!

[Spell Sequence Initializing...]

"Strike three."

"Who the hell are you?"