It seemed the lecture that Fulsig was grumbling about all this time was the president’s idea. She was apparently trying to fortify Fulsig’s position as the one responsible for the suppression of the monster flood to weaken Alfina’s position in the Academy. In a sense, her great efforts could delude me into thinking she was my ally.
“That’s not what I’m here for. Could I just have you verify the results of a little experiment of mine?”
“Verify the results of an experiment...? What is it...?” Leonardo asked in confusion.
“I’m actually developing a new measurement device to more accurately predict the possibility of a monster flood, you see. So I used the festival this time around to run a little test of my prototype.”
Fulsig held up his antenna, which looked like a ramen bowl with a lotus flower as a lid.
“How wonderful. It was thanks to your measurements that the previous disaster was well and truly prevented. I would be honored to be of any use. What should we do?” Hilda asked with a nod.
“It’s simple. Those boxes there are filled with coins that have mana running through them, right? I’ll take measurements of the coins within and predict how many there are, then I’d like you to tell me the actual number.”
“M-My... I see. If that is all, we already have the totals. Vice President?”
“Understood.”
The two student council members showed no signs of unrest. Leonardo obediently handed the documents with the numbers written on them over to Fulsig.
“Hang on, I need to measure these first. Let’s see... I guess for the conditions I’m looking for, I’ll use the strongboxes from the shops that were in the classrooms...”
Fulsig pointed his antenna at a strongbox and began recording the results. He then went on to compare his results with the student council’s records with his wrinkled eyes. The student council room had fallen into complete silence at the sudden sideshow.
After finishing, Fulsig shook his head.
“How strange... Several of the strongboxes don’t conform to my measurements. There isn’t enough mana for the number of coins in there,” he said as he cocked his head to the side.
“Which strongboxes are showing strange readings?” I asked Fulsig to prod him.
“Mhm. Specifically, numbers three and five. Also... number eight. These three have less mana in them than the number of recorded coins. All the other ones are a complete match, though... The one with the biggest gap is number eight here.”
“The Great Sage’s results coincide with the stores I brought up earlier. Number eight is the Boulbernie Company.”
Jean repeated his earlier complaint with this as additional evidence. Those three boxes coincided exactly with our three podium members. The Carlest siblings had completely stiffened up, and the three students lined up next to them looked at their bosses with pleading eyes.
“Th-This must be some sort of mistake. You did say that this was but a prototype,” Zeldia exclaimed as she sent emergency signals over to Hilda.
“Sh-She’s right. I do not want to believe that someone would try to do such a thing. We are using specially made coins, so such fraud cannot be accomplished in the first place. Oh, yes! All we need do, then, is open the strongboxes and count the coins.”
The president was more long-winded than she was until now. But it was clear she was still confident.
“I see. I’d be grateful if you could. This is still a prototype, after all. It’s only normal that measurement errors could occur.”
“Understood. Then allow us to count them up here.”
Leonardo opened the strongboxes together with his subordinate. They began with three of the strongboxes where the results were a match. Fulsig’s predicted numbers fell within just a few coins of the actual count.
As for the Carlests’ top three companies...
“The number of coins does coincide with what was reported...” Leonardo said to Fulsig in a restrained tone.
“Hmmm. I suppose this still requires adjustments... No, hang on, maybe this actually is a match.”
Fulsig clapped his hands, then pulled out a coin from his pocket. It was the same one he showed me before, the one he didn’t give back last year.
“This is a coin that was cast aside after it was filled with mana last year. Lend me one of the coins from the strongbox where the numbers matched.”
Leonardo handed a coin over to Fulsig.
“And this is a coin that was filled with mana this year. There’s about a 30 percent difference in the strength of the mana between these two coins. Using some simple numerology, if a third of the coins are actually old, there would be about a 10 percent difference in the mana measured from the whole strongbox. Next... Could you hand me 20 or so coins from that strongbox where the results don’t match?”
Fulsig pointed at the top-ranking strongbox. He then began measuring the twenty coins one at a time. I took a look around at the complexion of our two student council members and the two Carlest siblings. I needed to guess who took part in this, and how, now that I could.
Leonardo looked like he’d had enough of this. However, Hilda was clearly behaving suspiciously. The two Carlests were also exchanging glances anxiously. The top ranker of the Carlests looked about as white as a ghost. There was one more too... One of the clerks looked a little pale.
“So I’m right. About a third of the coins in this strongbox didn’t have their mana refilled.”
“I-Impossible. Every single coin exchanged to our visitors was definitely topped off completely. And all the excess coins that weren’t are under the jurisdiction of the student—”
Leonardo came to a complete stop. The image of Hilda, who was averting her gaze, and one of his subordinates, was reflected in his glasses.
Hilda had threatened one of the clerks or something, and they illegally diverted the coins out of the stockpile. I guess that’s more or less how it went down. It’s quite the crude move, but considering the timing with which the Carlests identified us as a threat, they had no choice but to be somewhat unreasonable.
Silence hung over the student council room. The number 30 percent lined up with Jean’s accusation earlier. Just from that, it was clear to everyone in the room that something happened.
Everything is fine up until here. The problem now is who to hound, and how far to push them. My first target is the Carlests. Hilda ended up entangling her goal of having the Carlests win with her goal of showing contempt for Alfina, and she failed for it. As the weaker party, I won’t make the same mistake. My target is, at most, the Carlests.
“There are still the closing festivities to attend to, so the investigation of these results should be left for—” Hilda tried to forcefully pull down the curtain, but I rose to my feet and cut her off.
“That can’t be! That’s far too cruel! I excluded myself from the rankings just to adhere to the rules so that a fair ranking could be determined!” I exclaimed towards Leonardo.
“...That’s certainly true.”
The show I made of personally excluding myself presented its value right here. Leonardo now found it difficult to deny my righteous indignation at having to tearfully part ways with the precious honor the rankings would have provided.
This was, in fact, simply the standard for a judge’s sentence. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I was excluded from the rankings so that the fairness of the rules could be preserved. So, what should be done in the event of fraud?
“The three shops who placed at the top will be excluded from the official... No, they’ll be disqualified entirely,” Leonardo concluded.
Zeldia looked to Hilda for help, but she was ignored. Leonardo didn’t even look at Theodore.
However, I still wasn’t done.
“Just who could have committed such fraud...? Oh, I know. Great Sage?”
“Y-Yes? What is it?”
Fulsig apparently got the jitters from my realistic acting, and replied in a flustered tone.
“I am but a simple commoner, so I don’t know the first thing about mana. However, with your abilities, would it be possible to tell who brought the coins out of the stockpile using the traces of mana left within them?” I asked, knowing full well he couldn’t. Both Hilda and one of the clerks trembled.
“...Uhh, let’s see... Mhm, it may be possible if my research goes further.” Fulsig somehow managed to keep up the show.
“Once filled, the coins retained a certain level of mana for a long time, didn’t they? This should also apply to those traces, right? If we are to properly store the coins from this case, then would the evidence remain until your research progresses further?” I continued with the charade, and Fulsig nodded ambiguously.
“I-I feel sorry for requesting such trifling work of an authority on wizardry renowned throughout the Kingdom.” Hilda desperately tried to change the course of the conversation.
“Nothing of the sort. This will be of great use to my research. I can’t guarantee it will go well anyways. You don’t need to mind me.” Fulsig replied to her with the very face of a good-natured old man.
“So the Great Sage says himself. How about making this an official request of the student council? Also, we could have the three companies guilty of fraud cover the research costs as punishment using the sum of the fraudulent coins.” That was as far as I took this.
“No way... There’s still no clear evidence...” Zeldia remained in opposition to my idea.
Good grief. I’m actually being quite kind here. This is all a profit for me, so I settled on the punishment only affecting your honor, and you still have the gall to complain?
“What do you think of my proposal, Miss President?”
I ignored Zeldia and pointed my gaze at the Archduke’s pale daughter. Hilda’s lips were already trembling, preventing her from speaking. Don’t worry, you’re not my target. I softened my expression, and smiled at Hilda.
“How about the student council takes responsibility for storing those coins until the Great Sage’s research completes?”
A noble, just, impartial, and fair role, befitting of the student council president. She definitely wasn’t going to try to cover anything up, so this wasn’t hush money. The archduke’s daughter seemed to understand what I was getting at. She steadily raised her head, and somehow let the tension out of her cheeks.
“That’s... Right... I see... Yes, a wonderful suggestion. Please, by all means, could we ask this of you, Great Sage? Oh yes, seeing that this is a request of the student council, my family shall also offer funds for your research.”
Hilda shot a look at the two Carlests. I see, so the ones actually paying will be them. “Money has no color,” so they say. Not that it matters to me.
“Haha, well, that’s appreciated.”
Fulsig laughed in great humor. We managed to secure research funds from investors who hoped that we would fail in a sense. It really was quite comical.
I managed to sell the ranking I didn’t even want for quite the sum, didn’t I?