[Hero Research Club]
The first time I thought I should join this club was shortly after enrolling at the academy.
To be precise—right after obtaining the ⟨Hero's Blood⟩.
It was from that moment, when I saw the vision of the First Hero.
The First Hero who appeared in that vision had spoken to me clearly. She told me to seek out her traces.
Which meant that the First Hero, who had lived a thousand years ago, had known in advance that I would fall into this world a thousand years later.
That was when I understood. That my possession of this world was no simple accident or mishap.
I didn't know the reason, but a reasonable suspicion took root in me—that the reason I had fallen here, the ⟨Sword Saint⟩, and even the ⟨World's Trial⟩ itself. All of it was connected to the First Hero.
And that suspicion hardened into certainty on the day the ⟨Shard of the Holy Sword⟩ Cruje had brought reacted to me.
Within the halo of light the ⟨Shard of the Holy Sword⟩ had poured forth, I had heard the First Hero's voice, clear as day, gently soothing the holy sword.
[She's 'different.' So… wait.]
*At first I wondered if I'd been summoned as a hero….*
It seemed there was some other purpose—something other than being a "hero."
Of course, there was no way to figure out what that purpose was right now.
So the best course of action was to follow the First Hero's traces….
The problem was that the traces of the First Hero remaining within the academy had either already been burned to ash by Rustil, the principal, or whatever scraps remained were locked away under her meticulous supervision and watch.
*In that sense, there's no club more fitting than this one.*
Even Rustil, so long as she operated as the academy's headmaster, could not arbitrarily shut down a club run by students.
She was bound by that contract.
Well, she'd obviously hate it, so there was no point hoping for funding or anything like that.
And beyond that….
*There's also 'that person' here.*
With a quiet smile playing at the corner of my lips, I focused my senses on the other side of the firmly shut, weathered wooden door.
⟨Heart-Sight⟩
Through my expanded perception, the presence of someone beyond the door came through with perfect clarity.
I'd been wondering what I'd do if they were out—thankfully, it seemed they were in.
It was right then.
Rattle, rattle!
"Dia, this door's locked. Is this really the place?"
My young mistress, standing beside me, shook the door handle roughly with an irritated hand.
She clearly wanted to get this over with and go back.
Well, given her personality, this was already a great deal of patience.
Cruje, peeking out from behind her, tilted her head with a puzzled look.
"Huh? It really won't open. The catalog says it's definitely here… Could the location have changed?"
Hmm. These ladies don't know what they're dealing with.
The Hero Research Club isn't the kind of place you can just walk into through ordinary means.
"No, we've come to the right place."
I raised my index finger to my lips and gestured for the two of them to be quiet.
"Shh."
At my signal, my young mistress clicked her tongue in displeasure but obediently pressed her lips together. Through ⟨Heart-Sight⟩, Cruje's presence conveyed that she had clamped both hands over her mouth as if determined not to let out even a breath, nodding vigorously.
*…Though Cruje makes the air tremble every time she moves.*
Knock, knock, knock.
"Stellar Delivery. Here with your 1/8-scale Hero figurine!"
Bang!
"Oh, it's finally HERE!!!!"
The weathered wooden door flew open with a joyful shriek.
But the joy of whoever burst out from inside didn't last long.
"…Huh?"
The upperclassman who had opened the door expecting a delivery froze the instant she spotted us standing outside.
She looked back and forth between me, my young mistress, and Cruje for a moment—then immediately tried to shut the door again.
*Not a chance.*
Thunk.
"Eek—!"
I swiftly wedged my cane into the gap.
While the flustered upperclassman struggled desperately to force the door shut, I tilted my head slightly into the gap and offered my most perfect maid's smile.
"How do you do, senior. We've come to apply for membership in the Hero Research Club."
***
The one who had opened the door was a short upperclassman.
She had tried to close the door at first, but the moment she realized they were prospective members, her attitude flipped a full hundred and eighty degrees.
She ushered Aiolette, Gladia, and Cruje into the club room and shut the door behind them.
Click, click, creak, thud!
An extraordinary number of locks sealed the door shut.
Aiolette and Cruje watched the process with suspicious eyes, but Gladia simply smiled, unperturbed.
"I, I never expected prospective members to actually show up. Hehe…."
The upperclassman spoke with a shadowy little smile.
"Our club isn't exactly what you'd call popular, so I figured I'd be alone again this year… hehehe."
When she finished speaking, she swept aside the thick curtains blocking the window. Brilliant light flooded into the room, and the club room's true appearance was finally revealed.
It was a shock.
The first thing that caught Aiolette's eye was the sheer volume of Hero merchandise.
Posters depicting various heroes in various poses covered every inch of the walls, and the bookshelves lining both sides of the room were lined with Hero figurines of every conceivable size.
The crowning piece, however, was the life-sized golden statue of the Hero standing squarely in the middle of the room—!
Confronted for the first time in her life with the genuine article, Aiolette experienced a profound cultural shock.
But soon she noticed something odd.
*Is this room actually this big…?*
At first she had simply thought the room was larger than it appeared from outside, but the sight of the endless Hero merchandise filling the interior made her reconsider.
*Space-expansion magic…!*
Aiolette's eyes narrowed.
Now that she looked, space-expansion magic had been installed throughout the entire room, expanding the interior space.
*Space-expansion magic is something only a select few among 5th Circle mages can use…?*
And yet such magic was cast on a club room like this….
Aiolette's gaze drifted toward Gladia.
Whenever something seemed off, asking Gladia usually produced an answer.
Gladia must have sensed Aiolette's look, because her face turned slightly in Aiolette's direction.
She gave Aiolette a mischievous smile and mouthed silently.
[L-a-t-e-r.]
It was right in the middle of that private, wordless exchange between the two of them—one of whom had her eyes closed—that it happened.
"Wow…! What a wonderful room!"
Cruje, who had been looking all around the room, clasped her hands together and let out a gasp of admiration.
"R-really…?"
The upperclassman, who had never in her wildest dreams expected anyone to compliment the club room, startled and asked again.
In the past, the few prospective members who had come by had taken one look at the state of the room and fled.
That was precisely why she had locked the door after letting them in—but instead of fleeing, they were actually complimenting her.
*…This girl. She's a good one!*
The upperclassman's fondness for Cruje shot up to stratospheric levels.
Meanwhile, Cruje nodded enthusiastically with wide, utterly guileless eyes.
"Of course! It feels just like the cathedral I grew up in!"
That was absolutely not the case.
The cathedral Cruje had grown up in was no ordinary cathedral.
It was the cathedral where the Saintess lived, which naturally made it anything but ordinary.
It was the grand cathedral considered the most central of all the faith's holdings—the very heart of the order, where not only the Saintess but the Pope himself resided.
As such, the cathedral's interior was packed wall to wall and corridor to corridor with enormous statues modeled after the Goddess of Light, along with all manner of religious artworks and ornaments—and this Saintess was apparently equating all of that with Hero merchandise.
A bold statement that might have earned her a smack from any member of the clergy, Saintess or not—!
In any case, it had earned the upperclassman's goodwill, so for this one moment, it could be called a fine play.
It was then.
"…!"
The upperclassman's shoulders gave a sharp flinch, as though she had sensed something, and she began to move with sudden urgency.
She swept her hand through the air, and the thick curtains slid shut, plunging the room back into deep darkness.
"Wait, what—"
Before Aiolette could even finish opening her mouth in confusion—
The upperclassman, drawing on some hidden reserve of strength in that small frame, yanked Aiolette, Gladia, and Cruje all at once and stuffed them like parcels under a large desk in the corner of the room, then crawled in after them.
"Shh, shh…!"
In the cramped darkness beneath the desk, the upperclassman pressed her index finger to her lips with a face drained of all color, gesturing frantically for silence.
Caught up in that urgency, the three of them held their breath without knowing why.
And at that very moment—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A thunderous pounding shook the entire club room as though the door were about to be beaten off its hinges.
A raw, violent emotion bled through from the other side of the door—the kind reserved for the home of one's most hated enemy.
"Hey! Hero Research Club! I know you're in there! Open up right now!!"
A rough, sharp voice rang out savagely from beyond the multiply-locked door.
"Hey! You said you'd pay back the whole debt by today! I know you're in there, so open this door right now and hand over the money!"
In the darkness, beneath the cramped desk, Aiolette's cold gaze bored into the top of the upperclassman's head.
*A debt collector?*
She had already suspected this wasn't a normal person based on the state of the club room, but debt on top of it.
Aiolette looked at Gladia, who was still smiling, with a deeply dubious expression.
Aiolette generally trusted most of what Gladia said and went along with it—but right now, she was genuinely questioning whether this was the right call.
*Dia… are you really sure we should join here?*
But what could be done?
Easy to walk in, not so easy to walk out.
Gladia was still smiling.
*Accept it, my lady.*
The upperclassman, oblivious to the silent exchange between the two, seemed genuinely happy just to have company in this situation—she broke into a bashful grin and opened her mouth.
"Ah, c-come to think of it… I haven't even introduced myself…."
Aiolette thought, *a self-introduction? Now, of all times?*—but what could be done. She had to accept it.
*Don't think about it, my lady! Just accept it!*
Gladia had somehow drawn close to Aiolette's side, and her whisper tickled Aiolette's ear.
Cruje, for her part, simply found the whole situation entertaining—it had the feeling of getting into mischief with friends.
With the shouts of the debt collector hammering at the door serving as background music, the upperclassman tensed up and continued in a small, timid voice.
"I'm… the, the president of the Hero Research Club… 3rd year… my name is Dorothia…. P-please take care of me, j-juniors…."