The new semester had arrived, and as the student council president, Nephelira Ranoa had to start investigating how many students had died this year. Students who died regularly while on quests would have their deaths reported at the adventurers' guild, so Nephelira only needed to send someone to inquire at the adventurers' guild.
Thus, Nephelira instructed the vice president to go to the adventurers' guild and obtain the list of deceased students from Ranoa Magic University.
"I wonder how many people will have died this time?" Nephelira lazily leaned back in her chair and said casually.
Her voice was soft, as if she were merely talking to herself, yet it carried a faint sense of helplessness.
Today was the first day of the new term at Ranoa Magic University, but for Nephelira, the day held nothing particularly special.
As the school's student representative, she still had to give a speech on stage later, so for now she had a little time to rest.
Every year at this time, the student council president was responsible for tallying the death count.
It was an unpleasant task, but a necessary one.
Generally speaking, those who went home to visit family would report to the school, while the rest went off to become adventurers—hence the need to check on student deaths.
Ranoa Magic University had a strict system: if a student failed to arrive on time or gave no news at all, they would be listed as missing.
For these missing persons, the student council was required to send people to investigate the situation.
Nephelira couldn't help but sigh. If there were missing persons, that would truly be troublesome.
Not only would it take time and effort to search for their whereabouts, but various potential issues would also need to be handled.
Moreover, if no news of the missing was ultimately found, the school would default to declaring them dead and expelling them from the student registry.
Thinking of this, Nephelira shook her head, hoping there wouldn't be too much trouble this year. She adjusted her sitting posture, preparing to face the upcoming events.
Time passed quickly as Nephelira tapped on the table. Soon after, the student council vice president hurried in carrying the list compiled from the adventurers' guild.
"President, this is great news! The number of deaths from quests this year has dropped dramatically—fewer than a hundred people unfortunately lost their lives during commissions." The vice president reported this good news to Nephelira with a face full of joy.
Upon hearing this, Nephelira showed a faint smile. "Mm, this really is encouraging news. It's not easy to have so few deaths this year."
However, just as the vice president was about to continue her report, she suddenly seemed to remember something important and paused slightly.
Nephelira keenly noticed the vice president's odd behavior. Her gaze fell on the vice president as she asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
The vice president hesitated for a moment before finally speaking slowly. "It's just… this year, six people went missing."
"Missing?" Nephelira's brows furrowed tightly, surprise appearing on her face. "What's going on? How could anyone go missing?"
The vice president sighed and handed the paper in her hand to Nephelira, explaining, "This has the detailed information on those six missing persons. Take a look."
Nephelira quickly took the paper and focused on it. It contained detailed records of the six missing persons' identities.
The more she read, the more something felt off. She said slowly, "They're all members of the student council?"
"This is going to be difficult. We need to find the reason behind the disappearances too."
"President, what do we do now?"
"First, take the entire student council and go around to every class to ask if anyone has seen them. When it comes to missing people, this is all we can do for now." Nephelira said slowly.
Having received the task, the vice president then left the room. She needed to hurry and gather the entire student council to ask around about the whereabouts of these missing members.
Meanwhile, Nephelira leaned back in her chair, thinking about whether she had made any enemies or something—otherwise, why would all the missing people be from the student council?
"That doesn't make sense. As the princess of the Ranoa Kingdom, I haven't provoked anyone. So why are they all from the student council?" Nephelira's fingers rhythmically tapped on the desk, producing a steady dak-dak-dak sound.
"Whatever. I'll wait for their investigation results first."
...
The vice president gathered all the student council members and informed them of the missing persons' information and physical descriptions. She instructed them to go to every class and ask if anyone had seen these missing individuals—any clue at all was to be reported to her truthfully.
Afterward, the entire student council—except for the president—mobilized.
They wandered through the various classes, asking anyone they met if they had seen these missing people.
Most people simply shook their heads, saying they didn't know them.
This commotion from the student council quickly drew puzzled looks from most students, who began asking those around them what was going on.
"I heard six student council members went missing during the break, and now the student council is going around asking if anyone has seen them." Someone who had caught wind of the news explained to the confused people nearby.
"There are actually missing people? And all from the student council? They probably died on quests, right?" Another person guessed.
"Are you dumb? If they died on a quest, would they still appear on the missing list? They'd go straight onto the death list."
The student council had been inquiring for an hour without getting any leads—until the vice president casually asked a passing student and finally found a clue.
"Oh! The people you're describing—I think I have some impression of them." The person stroked his chin, thinking slowly.
"Really? Think carefully!" The vice president immediately smiled upon hearing there was a lead.
"Mm… I remember it was just a few days after the break started. That day, there was a conflict between a few people at the adventurers' guild."
He then recounted everything he had seen that day to the vice president: how [Imbibitor Lunae] Dan Feng had clashed with one of them and pinned the person to the wall, among other details.
After hearing this, the vice president immediately took out her notebook and recorded what he said. She needed to show this to the president.
Once the vice president finished recording, she thanked the man and hurried toward where Nephelira was.
The vice president quickly returned to the president's lounge and relayed everything she had heard to Nephelira, also handing over the notebook used for recording.
Upon hearing about Dan Feng and the little girl with water-blue hair, Nephelira's mind automatically conjured up images of the two.
"It's those two?" Nephelira said in confusion. She then set the notebook down, stood up, and headed toward the door.
"Eh? President, where are you going?" The vice president asked in confusion, watching Nephelira walk away.
"To find someone. Don't follow me—help me tidy up the miscellaneous items on my desk." Nephelira said to the vice president behind her, then headed in the direction of the Ranoa Magic University library.
After all, if she wanted to find Dan Feng and Roxy, they were most likely in the library. The last time she had found them there too.