The after-party that started early in the evening continued until late at night.

Today was the day when the curfew of the dormitory was lifted, so many students had a drink until late at a rare opportunity.

There was still no sign of the light going out in the main playground of the academy.

“Um~! After all, it’s rare meat, so it’s really delicious!”

“How can the meat be so tender and soft?”

“Besides, the flavor is no joke. The moment you put it in your mouth, the perfect taste harmony resonates?”

A special menu helps to liven up the atmosphere of a drinking party.

Although the meat of the Great Owl Bear did not have an ethereal taste compared to other foods, the unusual experience would have been a good side dish and snack on its own.

For aristocratic students, it will be an opportunity to build a special education, and for ordinary students, it will be a valuable once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Seeing the other students enjoying the delicious meat even though it wasn’t actually that great, I also felt like I was in a good mood and enjoyed it as well.

Most of all, everyone was busy eating the Owl Bear meat, so the competition rate for the whole pig barbecue, which would have been the most fierce, has decreased.

I was able to easily get my hands on my favorite menu without competition.

He sleeps with a great owl bear, and this is much better for a snack.

“Con… Rad, senior~sir~.”

“Ah, pu… cool… .”

As the time of the dinner party got longer, the colleagues at the same table were also drunk and lost their senses.

I was the only one left at the table sipping a drink casually.

Don’t mix it up and drink it. Why should I insist on eating what I eat?

Both of them didn’t seem to be coming to their senses for a while, so they quietly got up from the table where they were eating.

“Senior? where… Are you… ?”

“Let’s get some fresh air. I’m resting until I wake up.”

“Be careful~ go… please… .”

“Cool cool cool… .”

Leaving the two drunks at the table.

Among the dozens of tables installed in the plaza, I searched for the place where Xian sunbaenim was.

Of all my acquaintances at the academy right now, the only person who could match my drinking level was senior Xian.

… It would be nice to see them as acquaintances now.

Despite the noise and crowds, it wasn’t too difficult to find her.

Even in this crowded crowd, it was a sensation that I couldn’t help but feel, unless I deliberately tried to hide Xian-senpai’s magical power.

As I moved to the place where I felt the second strongest magic power, except for Principal Russell, as expected, Xian-senpai was continuing his meal with his colleagues from the hunting festival.

It was the moment when I was going to call Xian sunbaenim by making faces with other people as well.

“Senior Xian, if your seat is empty, I can join you… .”

“So~. Still, isn’t it because of Xian’s strange strategy that our party will die at the hunting festival this time?”

“… uh?”

However, at the after-party, the dinner party where Xian sunbaenim belonged was flowing in a strange atmosphere different from what I expected.

“Rayon?”

“Even though Xian is the leader of our party~. But now that I think about it again, that strategy wasn’t zero~.”

I came here to have a light chat with senior Xian, but the scene unfolding in front of me was a little different from what I expected.

It was the appearance of a student from the spear club who was defeated by the Great Owl Bear yesterday, blaming senior Xian for this hunting festival strategy.

“… … .”

Xian-senpai listened to Ray En-senpai and made an expression of embarrassment at the unexpected situation.

“Looking back now, it seems that it was an unreasonable operation. It would have been much better if we had hunted in our normal way.”

Then, the swordsmanship student also started to scold Xian, and Xian sunk his head.

“… I have no face.”

With a disappointed answer that seemed to admit that yesterday’s hunting festival was all his fault.

“Hey, sophomore! Say something too!”

“Yeah? Me, me?”

“You went out according to his strategy, and your grades were ruined! Don’t take sides with the archery club.”

“Well, I mean… .”

“… … .”

“Irrespective of whether your strategy is a good strategy or not… Joe, I think you were a little cowardly… .”

In the end, seeing how he was listening to this kind of story from his juniors, it was impossible to remain silent any longer.

“Ha~. As long as the Werewolf we saw at the awards ceremony earlier, we can originally catch it~. Even if you can’t do it, you shovel as a member who can do 2nd place, but you can’t even get the ranking… .”

“Stop it, Rayeon.”

“Eh?”

Hearing my voice that suddenly appeared, Rayeon made a puzzled expression.

“Oh, it’s Conrad. Thank you for yesterday.”

“Sunbaenim Rayeon, what did you just say to sunbae Xian?”

“yes? Why are you drawing so suddenly… .”

Since my reaction didn’t seem to be very good, the drunken and confident babbling of the mouth became a little demoralized.

“Didn’t you say that because of Xian’s plan, even the other party members, including Rayeon, had poor grades?”

“… … .”

Senior Rayeon seemed to be thinking about it for a while, but as if he couldn’t lose, he started talking to me this time.

“Oh, you’re right anyway! If Xian hadn’t asked Conrad to harass you guys with a strange strategy, I wouldn’t have run into that big owl bear or something!

If we had just calmly found a suitable opponent and fought against us, wouldn’t we have been able to take second place at least!”

“But didn’t Ray En-senpai agree with Xian-senpai’s strategy in the end, so he followed it?

The last time we saw each other, the expression he showed us after catching a werewolf seemed like he really liked Xian’s strategy.”

“… It was just the atmosphere.”

“No matter how much you say that Xian-senpai is the leader of the party, if even one of the other members actively opposed it, do you think Xian-senpai would have carried out the strategy?

And yesterday, everyone said that there was nothing they could do about it, but why do you insist on bringing up these words only on a good day like today? Your body will be safe and you will drink alcohol. Did you remember the bundle you didn’t bring?”

“… … .”

At my words, Rayeon-senpai, as if he had nothing to say, quietly moved to a corner and began to avert his gaze.

“So are the other two.”

As my gaze shifted to the left, the students in the swordsmanship and archery clubs also flinched.

“Senior Kane also actively participated in senior Xian’s operation.”

“… yes.”

“If you knew that it was an unreasonable strategy and thought that hunting normally was better, why didn’t you do it in the first place?

You didn’t assert yourself clearly from the beginning, and you’re agreeing with Rayeon’s words because you wanted an opportunity?”

“… … .”

Senior Kane couldn’t answer my question clearly, so he started to pack his bag and coat around the seat.

“… Tomorrow I have to go back to my hometown early in the morning, so I will wake up first.”

Senior Kane, who stood up with a flimsy excuse, got up from his seat as if he was running away from my accusations.

“Oh~. I have to get some fresh air too… .”

With senior Kane gone, Rayon, who had no one on his side, immediately got up from his seat with an obvious excuse.

The table where four people were originally sitting had suddenly become a situation where only two students from the archery department were left.

“Did you say Renaria?”

“Ah yes!”

Lastly, I spoke to my comrades who are in the same department as the remaining senior Xian.

“If you get swept up in public opinion like this and can’t express your opinion properly, know that you won’t be able to eat or drink later.

Anyway, it was your choice to agree with Xian-senpai’s strategy and to participate in Xian-senpai’s party.”

“Yeah… .”

Renaria also quietly got up from her seat and bowed her head toward me and Xian-senpai.

“Let’s go in first… . Sorry for the strange words, senior Xian… .”

“No, go in and rest.”

Still, he was much better than the other two in that he knew how to apologize right away for his own mistakes.

When Xian-senpai waved goodbye to Lunaria, the only people left at the table for four were me and Xian-senpai.

After properly removing the tableware from the seat where Lunaria was sitting. He replaced it with a new one and took the seat next to Xian.

“… Thanks for your help.”

“It’s nothing, what.”

“These kids aren’t bad at all. I must have ruined the final evaluation because of me, so I said something sharp.”

“Why is that because of senior Xian? It was only natural that anyone would fall against that monster.”

After hearing my words, Senior Xian’s face turned towards me.

Well, even if I, the person responsible for defeating that monster, said this, it would only sound strange.

“And if it had been a monster other than the mutant Great Owl Bear, senior Xian’s party could have easily caught it and won.”

“Maybe.”

“It’s a bit strange to share the glory of success and place the blame for failure on one person.”

“I will… map.”

“Take a drink.”

After pouring the alcohol on the table into senior Xian’s glass.

Likewise, I filled my glass up and bumped it lightly.

“Who are your party members?”

“They both stretched out. Both of them have very poor tolerance for alcohol.”

“You look fine.”

“I am stronger than them.”

He tilted the glass at the same time as senior Xian and swallowed the contents in one go behind his neck.

“So, while I was looking for someone to drink with me, I remembered senior Xian, so I came to find him.”

“Are you okay? I am strong.”

“Do you want to bet?”

“bet?”

“It’s a bet on which of the two gets drunk first.”

“… great.”

This time, Xian sunbaenim filled the glass with the contents.

Once again, the contents were emptied with a toast.

“This is delicious. Was this also given to you by the academy? Why do you think I didn’t see it?”

“no. This is from my hometown.”

“Ah, is that elf’s silk?”

“It’s not as good as that, but it’s a good drink.”

After saying that, Xian-senpai looked at the vacant seat at the table vaguely.

Perhaps senior Xian also brought it with the intention of comforting the team members about the final evaluation match.

It must have been that the swordsman of the spear department suddenly made a fuss, and the atmosphere was agitated.

“Did you treat the scar?”

“yes.”

“Let’s take a look.”

I didn’t like Xian’s expression like that, so I hurriedly changed the subject.

Senior Xian silently rolled up his sleeves and exposed his snow-white forearms towards me.

The scar on his skin burned by the electric current he had seen yesterday seemed to have disappeared without a trace.

“The priests were great.”

“Because a high-ranking priest is always resident at the academy in preparation for such a situation.”

“I didn’t know because I was barely hurt. They are such great people.”

After entering school and winning the hunting festival four times, this is the first injury.

If someone else said it, it might have felt arrogant, but it was persuasive enough because it came from senior Xian’s mouth.

“One more drink, please.”

“You are really old.”

“At home, I’m still normal.

My mother and younger sister drink especially well. I’ve never seen them drunk before.”

“It is a scary family.”

Then another drink.

This time, the story came out first from senior Xian.

“A little while ago, when the kids unanimously said it was my fault. It was a little sad.”

“It can be.”

“You shouldn’t be hurt by something like this. Am I not very good at being a leader?”

“The strongest and smartest person is the leader, so what’s different about it?”

“It is, but. I’ve never met someone stronger and smarter than me.”

“Don’t talk like that in front of anyone other than me. You may hear that you are unlucky.”

“… That’s how it was until now.”

Senior Xian didn’t even run into the glass this time, wondering why he was in such a hurry, and hurriedly started passing the contents inside.

I followed her and emptied the contents of the glass neatly once more.

After that, Xian-senpai and I continued to talk about trivial things, then refill and swallow the contents of the glass over and over again.

When about an hour passed like that.

“… Stop eating.”

The declaration of surrender came out of Xian’s mouth first.

“okay? It still looks fine.”

“yes. But if I keep tipping my glass with you, I think something strange will come out.”

“Is that a strange word?”

“… There is such a thing.”

He didn’t seem to want to answer much, so I didn’t ask any more and tilted the glass in front of me again.

“So I won the bet?”

“… yes.”

“I didn’t risk anything, but I already won, so would you grant me a wish?”

“… Unless it’s too weird.”

Since Xian’s other party members weren’t there at the time, I thought it was a good opportunity, so I started talking.

“Can you seriously reconsider what I said to Xian-senpai yesterday?”

“… Like what.”

“Senior Xian asked if you would like to join our party.”

As if it was an unexpected story, senior Xian’s eyes widened.

“I thought it was a joke.”

“There is no one who would joke about bringing someone the size of senior Xian to the party.”

“… … .”

“Since we broke up like this today anyway, wouldn’t it be a bit difficult to do it again next time even with the party members now?”

“Yes… .”

Senior Xian put on an expression of serious reflection on my suggestion.

But i know Senior Xian said that he would eventually accept my offer.

At first glance, it seems like a cold personality, but in fact, it only values reality.

He doesn’t talk and seems blunt, but that’s because he’s introverted and prone to loneliness.

Perhaps in the end they will accept my offer.

If it’s Xian-senpai’s judgment, there’s no doubt.

“I’m going to go back soon. I have to take the party members to the dormitories.”

“… Okay.”

“I will be waiting for a good answer.”

“… I will try.”

I returned to the original table to take the two drunkards away, leaving senior Xian, who was left alone at the empty table and continuing his worries.

“Oh~! I’m Conrad senior~. It’s a coincidence… .”

“… … Coul.”

Arguably, getting the two drunken guests back to their respective dormitories.

It was the most troublesome thing I’ve been through this semester.