CHAPTER 251: TURNING ENEMIES INTO FRIENDS [PART 1]

With Theo and Professor Gareth taking the lead, the incident soon wrapped up completely.

Two days after the student assembly, the President of the Lionheart Society, Chester Blackvale, stepped down from his position and withdrew from the academy.

But he didn’t go alone. As Alex had required, the student who had targeted Nessia also left the academy as well.

On paper, they weren’t expelled but left because they couldn’t stand the injustice done to them.

Their excuse left a bad taste in Alex’s mouth, but he didn’t say anything about it. As long as they were no longer part of the academy, all was good.

The club president position of a Crest Club couldn’t be left empty, so Prince Edward was quickly pushed to be the new president of the Lionheart Society.

The first thing he did was a purge, kicking out every member who had a bad reputation. He also vowed that as long as he was the president, the Lionheart Society would stay true to the goal of Noblesse Oblige.

Many students welcomed this change, especially the commoners who had been abused by the members of nobility.

With the third prince of the Kingdom of Avalon taking command, they hoped that they would no longer be persecuted in the academy.

Of course, this was merely a hope.

There was no guarantee that the nobles would suddenly change their attitude and treat the commoners any differently.

But, one thing was clear.

None of them would dare touch even a single hair of Alex’s club members for everyone now feared the young man, who earned the moniker Blackmail King of the Academy.

The consequences Lionheart Society and the other Crest Clubs who had played a role in the harassment of the members of Endless Horizon faced for what they had done was enough lesson for all to know that they were untouchables.

After the incident reached a conclusion, many commoners and even some low-ranking nobles reached out to Chuck, Charles, Nessia, and Vaan, hoping to form connections with them.

As for Renard, they avoided him like a plague—he was simply too scary. A single glare from him was enough to send them all running.

What about Alex?

Well, none of them dared to get close to him!

Even Dim Dim, who regularly patrolled the academy with Daisy the Doom Cow, was now seen as a dangerous monster despite how cute it was!

In the Headquarters of the Merchant Alliance...

"Who was it?" the President of the Merchant Alliance, Preston Kingsley, asked the officers of his club, who avoided meeting his eyes. "Who among you guys ratted us out?

"You have all seen the projection that day. That room is within the private chambers of our club room, where only we can enter! It is impossible for anyone else to make a recording here with all the layers of security we have in place. So, who is the traitor among you? Speak now before I personally interrogate every single one of you!"

All the officers of the Merchant Alliance glanced at each other, hoping to see the "spy" who had made them suffer during the past two days.

After checking the inventory of everything purchased from the Merchant Alliance, the staff had tallied the prices of each item.

They were given an ultimatum of reimbursing the academy everything or disbanding their club.

The one who led this investigation was none other than Theo, who was more than happy to bring down the Merchant Alliance since he considered it one of his political enemies.

With the club controlling the economy of the academy, the student council president hadn’t dared to antagonize them in the past.

But things were different now.

They were now under his mercy. Even Preston had to take two steps back and appease the person whom he had looked down in the past.

The shock he received from seeing the projection that day still haunted him in his dreams.

Every person inside the room was an officer he had personally selected. This meant that he trusted them enough to work with him and share his secrets.

But now, that trust was broken. The enraged club president glared at his officers, ordering them to confess now while he was still being nice!

The same thing was happening in the Lionheart Society Club Room.

Prince Edward had also arrived at the conclusion that there must be a spy among the officers of the club, which had resulted in their public shaming.

This was also the reason why he did a purge—he hoped the same incident wouldn’t happen again.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all the Clubs, as well as the nobles, who were implicated all arrived at the same thought.

There was a traitor amongst their midst and they must be identified at all cost!

But what they didn’t know was that everything was just a ploy by Alex.

As someone who had played the game countless times, Alex knew of the security measures in each club room.

In fact, no one would be able to enter them unless they knew the passwords that would unlock the enchanted doors.

It was similar to the clock tower’s defensive formation.

Only those whom Alex had given permission could access their inner club room.

Unfortunately for them, Alex had joined all the Crest Clubs in different playthroughs, so he was aware of these hidden passwords and rooms.

But the real MVPs were actually Lotte and Nessia.

Nessia had created the magical formations that made it very difficult for the recording crystal to be detected.

Lotte had been the one to infiltrate the club rooms and plant several recording crystals in places that couldn’t be seen easily.

Of course, Alex had taught her how to bypass the security features of each club room, giving her access to the inner chambers and secret rooms.

There really was no spy.

It was just a means to cast suspicion on all the members of each club, making them wary of each other.

Just as Preston was about to lose his temper because none of his officers came clean, a knock sounded from the door of their conference room.

"We are in a meeting!" Preston shouted. "I said that no one is allowed to disturb us!"

"P-President, Alex Stratos has come. He says he wants to meet you!" one of the members replied from the other side of the door.

Clearly, he didn’t want to disobey his president’s orders, but Alex said that if he didn’t see the president, he would release more evidence and have their club disbanded.

The Blackmail King was already a feared existence in the academy, so the club member didn’t have a choice but to report to his superiors.

Preston’s face turned grim after hearing the Blackmail King’s name.

He had already paid a million academy points to that devilish young man. He had also been forced to give the academy a refund.

Not only that, but he was now forced to align himself with the Student Council, whom he had believed couldn’t touch a single strand of his hair.

All of this was the fault of Alex Stratos, who had now come to their club for who-knows-what reason!

"Send him in!" Preston hissed.

As if waiting for that moment, the door of the conference room opened, and Alex Stratos walked in as if he owned the place.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen," Alex said. "Especially to my spies who have helped me tremendously. I will secretly send you the academy points as promised, so please, continue working hard for my sake."

The sound of something snapping reached everyone’s ears as Preston broke the magical pen in his hands.

Alex’s words were the confirmation he needed—there were indeed spies inside his club, bribed by the enemy!

Of course, the young man was just fanning the flames that didn’t exist in the first place.

He had just visited the other Crest Clubs and struck a deal with them, ending all future hostilities on both sides.

Alex didn’t want to have many enemies in the academy, so this step was important. He wanted himself and his club members to grow stronger without having too many flies buzzing around them.

The Merchant Alliance was the last one the young man visited because it was the club whose assistance would be of utmost importance if he wanted to achieve some of the goals he had as a student of Frieden Academy.