Even after all the innovations in the academy grounds and buildings throughout the years, the student council meeting room had been intentionally kept unchanged since the "Golden Year" of the Imperial Rune Arts Academy.
The Golden Year, specifically Runalond Calendar year 512, was exactly 25 years from the current day. That year, the five figures from the Student Council transpired as pioneers leading Runalond's modern history after their graduation, including the first seat of the Rune Arts Federation and the king himself.
Both marked as a memorial to emphasize their significance in the academy's success and a symbolic attempt to recreate their prior glory, the Student Council room stood as a slight yet delicate contrast to the rest of the academy, which constantly sought modernized development and appearance.
Though serene and comfortable design-wise, the current atmosphere within the room was tense and filled with conflicting coldness.
"Jonathan Schwarz, who do you think you are?" Amy Blanc, direct heir of the Schwarz clan's main family, slammed the table while shooting up furiously. Her face, usually almost as pale as her hair, seemed as if flames were burning underneath. Staring at the calm, uncaring boy sitting on the other side of the table, she tried her best to calm herself down and continued with a scoff, "You think your dirty tactics were enough to transform yourself? Face it! No matter what you end up doing, you are no more than a branch family heir with no position to hold in your clan after your worth desiccates!"
Jonathan Schwarz sighed and stood up lazily. Unlike other aristocrats, his hair was always messy and unkempt. And because his top and bottom eyelids seemed to be parallel to each other, the sentence "I don't give a crap" was always written distinctively within his eyes.
"Calm down, calm down… You are absolutely correct in your assumption, alright?" He shrugged, visibly bored. "Before I'm kicked out of the picture, I just want to leave some precious memories behind. Is the gorgeous and dominant Miss Amy Schwarz so controlling that she cares about my little party games?"
Amy Blanc clenched her fists so tightly that they turned white. "You call your shameless measures 'party games'?" she spat. "The treaty was the only positive connection I had with you, and since you've decided to tear it in half, there is no longer anything between us other than loathing discord."
"I mean, well, I suppose so, but yeah, whatever," Jonathan murmured in reply, clearly not even focused on Amy's statement. "Let's face it, Amy, neither of us took the treaty that seriously. The dispute between our families has already gone past the point of no return, so yeah, there should have never been anything else except loathing discord."
After three years of an adversarial relationship with Jonathan Schwarz, Amy still couldn't help but get exceedingly furious at his attitude. She knew that words alone were never enough to defeat the arrogant boy in front of her.
"Very well, very well. Now with that Rune Arts Federation boy joining your territory, you think you will be the one in control?" Her anger disappeared, shifting to a vicious smile that even caught Jonathan's attention. "There will never be an ending in which you are the winner, Jonathan Schwarz."
Jonathan shook his head in resignation. "Repeating what I've said before, I'm as clueless as you about who that boy is. But maybe what happened was just another one of my dirty tactics, you reckon? And as for who ends up as the winner, it isn't something that we two can settle."
"Let me put it this way: There was never a clear resolution to the conflicts between our families. No one will win in relative terms, but everyone will win in practical terms." Jonathan softened and took a seat, though his words held more weight than anything before.
The meaning of his sentence was vague and illogical. Mostly recognized only as a humble heir of a branch family, Jonathan Schwarz, in reality, understood more than most of the other clan members his age.
Amy Blanc leaned backward and sat down as well. It was not the first time that these words had entered her ears.
The last time she heard a similar comment was from no other than her father, head of the Blanc clan, Godfrey Blanc. It was something she had overheard, and though she was sharp enough to understand the meaning behind it, she had always refused to believe it.
On the lower end of the table that stretched out through the chamber, two students stared at each other, clearly getting used to the student council's usual atmosphere.
"You both look incredibly stupid and embarrassing, you know that?" Nicolas Terrast, secretary of the student council, squeezed in his comment as Amy froze from Jonathan's statement. "Everything aside, can we leave personal business out of the student council? There is a much more important matter that needs to be sorted right now."
Nicolas was the only second-year student on the student council. Though his family supported the Blanc clan, he did not get involved in any conflicts. Straightforward and efficient, his socially unsympathetic nature was outweighed by his immense effort to "Get things done," as he would say.
"Well said," Treasurer Dorothy Rumble replied as she crossed her arms. "If either of you wants to win the war, first focus on winning the current battle."
"Silence! Silence!"
The thundering roar hooked everyone's attention to the door, which was violently pushed open by Arthur Paradox. He was already in a horrible mood.
Arthur parted the curtains with his wide movements, allowing sunlight to finally reach inside the dark room. However, this ray of light also illuminated the chillingly dark expression on his face.
Scanning around the rest of the student council room, he shook his head in disappointment and sat down at the far end of the table. Everyone else remained eerily silent as they sat with their heads low—even Amy Blanc and Jonathan Schwarz.
Slamming his fist onto the table, Arthur announced with authority,
"As long as I'm still the president of the student council, none of you incompetent idiots will be in charge!"
"Schwarz or Blanc, Rune Arts Federation or royalty, as long as you are still students of this academy, my words are absolute, and I decide who wins which battle."
His words, though more reserved than his previous deafening command, were like fists that directly struck everyone's hearts. The words they were planning to say were pushed back down their throats.
Arthur sneered with mockery. Even though he knew that the four other members of the council were nowhere close to as useless as he openly declared, against these proud aristocrats, the only method he approved of was to subdue their confidence.
Of course, that was only under the condition that the Paradox family could easily suppress their fury.
But for the few individuals that exceeded that limit line… Well, Arthur Paradox had already displayed how he dealt with them.