"S in mana capacity, S in physical performance and an earth mage. Quite the scores you got, you came in tied with the royal trio, impressive." Constance nodded approvingly. "Your teacher has only said good things about you so far and it seems you have ambition as well. You'd be a perfect fit for the student council."
Matthew scratched the back of his head. "But, don't I have to be twelve to join? That will take like, four years...that and I kind of just applied on a whim."
Constance lightly chuckled, "we can wait, and besides, a lot of good things happen on a whim, right?"
Jahad nodded in firm agreement.
"Besides, we can register you as a recruit instead of a member of the student council. Think of it as an internship, if you know what that means."
Matthew was hesitant. He did not really
know what being a student council member entailed, or what he would even be doing as a recruit. Hell, he was trying to remember what an internship even was. He had heard it somewhere....
"So what will I do?" He looked upwards quizzically at Constance .
Lightly smiling, Constance ruffled Matthew's hair, "why don't you come with me and see?"
"Go on, kid, if you want to be strong then joining the student council aint a bad idea! Of course, don't forget about the gym. True strength lies in both mind AND body!" Jahad puffed his chest out and struck a pose.
Matthew chuckled at the sight of Jahad posing all macho-like behind Constance, who was trying his best to ignore the sounds Jahad's soft grunting as he flexed his muscles.
"Sure, I guess I'll join."
Constance took Matthew by the hand, grinning brightly, "then come on, lets get out of this sweaty place."
.
.
.
Matthew stood behind two regal doors, their frames laced with gold and beautiful patterns intricately carved into them. Constance knocked rhythmically on the door.
Opening it was a boy of thirteen with perfect, pitch black hair, fiery red eyes and olive skin.
"Thanks for watching the room, Orion, I've got our new recruit with us. Has Dylan and Hedrick returned with theirs?" Constance walked in with Matthew. "Oh, it appears they have."
Sitting on the sofa was Demitri, Lauren and one new person that Matthew hadn't seen before.
"You took your sweet time, Constance." Orion huffed, going back to the group of people lounging on the sofas. "Meet Lauren, Madoc and my little nuisance of a brother, Demitri."
Demitri scowled, "hey!"
Orion laughed haughtily as Constance and Matthew sat down parallel to them on the other couch, joining them all.
Dylan stood aside, impassive.
"Nice to meet you all, it is a pleasure to have you here with us! My name is Constance Iliad, I am the acting president of the student council while the real president and vice president are off doing a mission. In the meanwhile, I will be here to look after you new recruits and work on maintaining the school and the surrounding district! " Constance beamed, practically glowing with radiance. "Feel free to ask your seniors, Orion, Hedrick and Dylan any questions you have, they won't bite. Now, won't you lot introduce yourselves?"
Demitri stood up, chin held high. "My name is Demitri Fourthbringer, I aim to honor my family's name and put maximum effort into everything, I won't let the student council down!"
Orion covered his face with a hand, sighing loudly. "So cringey..."
"Shut up!" Demitri shouted, face flushed red with embarrassment.
Next up was Lauren.
She stood too. "My name is Lauren Tritus. I joined because my brother was in here."
And she was done.
Everybody in the room gave her an incredulous look, somewhat befuddled at the simplicity of her answer. Everyone except her brother, of course. He was rather unfazed.
"Okay, cool...alright, your up next!" Constance kept the pace flowing. "Tell us who you are and what you can do!"
The unknown kid stood up. He had lustrous silver hair, light brown skin and deep green eyes.
"My name is Madoc Kiertzche, I am a wind elemental, my hobbies are playing video games and watching...stuff? Anything that's entertaining is good, really. I joined the student council because I wanted to."
Did Matthew hear that right? Kiertzche. This kid was Harold's kid, or maybe nephew? Cousin? Somehow related to him? Or maybe they just had matching last names...
Constance clapped his hands together, standing up. "Alright! Now that introductions are over, let me explain to you what being in the student council means. First and foremost, we are the body that represents the school. Whenever or wherever you are, you must act with the school's image in mind. Second, we are the ones who will manage almost all the events that the school does, planning or creating them. Thirdly, we are the shield that protects the school from neerdowells who wish it harm, as well as the protectors of our neighborhood. Lastly, we are agents of Harold Kiertzche, which means...in simple terms, problem solvers. That is exactly why the president and vice president are away right now. Any questions?"
A hurricane of them blew through Matthew's mind. Was he supposed to manage ALL of the school's events? What did Constance mean, "shield", was he supposed to fight people who wished the school harm? Why would anybody even want that? And what did being a "problem solver" entail?
"Umm, what do you mean when you said we would be a shield?" He asked.
"Simple," Constance hopped up from his sofa, walking around the room. "Our school creates a lot of bad blood with others purely on the principle behind it. We pick up any kid, from bad backgrounds or status and bring them here if they show talent, social standing means nothing and everything is merit based. When we pick up these kids, we typically create enemies with anybody that had bad blood with them to begin with as we protect them, so occasionally, we get the jerk who thinks he's invincible and we have to deal with him. That and our literal Principal has many enemies."
Damn, and just when Matthew thought that being a shield was metaphorical.
This time, the new kid Madoc had a question: "So what do we get in return for dealing with all that?"
Constance grinned. "All this!" He gestured to the regal room, "As well as having a high ranking on your M.A.R.S and looking good on your resume." (Mages Academic Ranking Score)
"What this idiot isn't telling you is that just being a member of the student council unlocks pretty much your entire future career path choices." Orion spoke up. "If that doesn't give you incentive to join, then your stupid."
Unlocking all your future career choices...Matthew had never thought about his career before, it had been even more distant than him thinking of his future! What career did he want to pursue?
'Something related with being strong...'
Constance coughed, "yes, yes, I was just about to get to that, Orion, just being in the student council will bump up your M.A.R.S by a lot, but you still have to put in the work. It only really bumps it up by about 10%. And if you are wondering about the problem solvers thing, if something of great worry or interest comes up, Harold will call for you to deal with it. If not, he or some other group of teachers will do it instead."
Finally, Constance arrived at a high class, ebony desk. Sitting on the fur fitted chair, he put his elbows on the table and clasped his hands together.
"So, are you all interested?"