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It was an hour later when the election results were finally brought to us.

“Now then, it’s time to announce the results of the vote! The Student Council President elected with eighty percent of the student body’s support is—”

Hearing that the winner had received eighty percent of the votes, murmurs spread among the students.

“Este—”
“Ignis! Ignis!”
“Lord Ignis!!”

A tremendous cheer erupted from Ignis’s followers, as if they were determined not to let anyone call Estea’s name. Their voices were loud, but considering that I could hear almost exactly the same voices repeated over and over, they were probably using amplification magic.

“Quiet, please! Quiet, everyone!”

Ms. Matilda calmed the students, then cleared her throat. The plaza fell completely silent, and once the silence had settled, Ms. Matilda spoke again.

“Estea Sidra!”

The instant Estea’s name was announced, cheers and murmurs erupted at the same time.

“Why!? How could this happen…? I refuse to accept this!!”

The commotion seemed to be coming mostly from Ignis’s followers, who were apparently still using the amplification magic. Ignis’s voice echoed throughout the academy.

“Hey! What’s going on!?”
“I-I don’t…”

Just as Ignis angrily confronted the vice principal, the amplification magic was apparently deactivated when they realized they had gone too far.

But it was already too late.

“By ‘refuse to accept this,’ I presume you mean these ballot boxes?”

A calm, low voice echoed across the plaza through another amplification spell. Standing on the stage in place of Ms. Matilda was Count Felix, the academy’s chairman. At his feet sat two ballot boxes. Both of them were marked with the number six.

“What!? Why are there two ballot boxes!?”

Vannabelle was the first to react, loudly protesting.

“Allow me, as a member of the Election Committee, to explain what has happened.”

The one who took the stage after bowing to Count Felix, an amplification magical device in hand, was the Professor.

“These two ballot boxes are incontrovertible evidence that some kind of fraudulent scheme was being attempted. Thanks to a certain safeguard, we were able to prevent it before it could be carried out. However, we must now reveal ‘who’ attempted it and ‘why.’”
“Huh…? Fraud? Someone cheated?”
“Why would anyone do that…?”

The Professor’s explanation sent a wave of unease through the students. Yet from the reactions I heard, they seemed less shocked that there could have been fraud than focused on why anyone would have attempted it.

“Regardless of this particular election, the Student Council here at this academy exists to represent student self-governance. Ultimately, its representatives are meant to contribute to the academy’s further development, built upon an equal and peaceful school life. We must avoid a situation in which someone wins through fraud.”

Having said that, the Professor paused for a breath, then looked down from the stage at the vice principal.

“Now, the person responsible for managing this Number Six ballot box was our academy’s vice principal. …Vice Principal, you understand what this means, do you not?”
“I-It’s a trap! I didn’t do anything…!”
“That’s right! Isn’t this some kind of harassment by Estea’s side!?”

Ignis vehemently came to the vice principal’s defense as he panicked.

“Is that so? At this point, that is merely speculation. So, I’d like to collect the evidence from these boxes.”

The Professor spoke in a calm tone, then signaled to Ms. Matilda, who had been waiting nearby. Ms. Matilda raised her magic wand and cheerfully cast a spell.

“Alriiight, unlocking, unlocking! ♪”

One of the two boxes was unlocked, and white ballots flew out from inside. They fluttered down over the students, and those who caught them began reading them aloud.

“Ignis Dulan…”
“This one’s Ignis, too…”
“Estea got eighty percent of the vote, and all of these are for Ignis…?”

There were well over a hundred ballots at a glance. If the breakdown of Estea’s winning votes was accurate, this extreme imbalance was highly suspicious.

“That’s cheating! This is a trap designed to make it look like I committed fraud!”
“Every single one of these ballots bears the name Ignis Dulan. But who exactly stands to gain from that?”

The Professor responded to Ignis’s shout in a flat voice. Ignis glared at the Professor with palpable hatred, then challenged him.

“…Do you have any proof that these are fake?”
“Of course. Ms. Matilda, please.”

The Professor’s lips curled into a smile as he signaled to Ms. Matilda.

“Alriiight! ♪ Then fly over to everyone! ♪”

Ms. Matilda waved her magic wand, and blue ballots flew out of the other ballot box, floating gently toward us.

“My ballot! Why? The paper turned blue!”
“This one’s too! And Romeo’s as well, forsooth!”
“How does this work? This is amazing!”

Most of those who received the ballots were the students of Class 1-F and the demi-human students in their second and third years.

““Lili-Lulu knew. This was an election that guaranteed our freedom and victory.””

While everyone else was voicing their astonishment, Lili-Lulu alone danced around in circles as usual, ballots in hands.

“You can clearly see that you followed the voting instructions and put your wish—in other words, aether—into the ballot. These ballots react to aether. I gave the effect a delayed reaction so that the mechanism wouldn’t be immediately obvious. These ballots, however, do not react to aether.”

Professor demonstrated by materializing aether and channeling it into the fraudulent white ballots and the legitimate ballots. One of them soon changed to blue, while the fraudulent white ballots remained unchanged no matter how long they waited.

“Guh…”
“I-I didn’t do anything! Nothing…”

Beside the silent Ignis, the vice principal was the only one in a panic, pacing around restlessly. Seeing him like that, Count Felix let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

“I’m afraid that from this point onward, this falls outside my jurisdiction. Karlman, Ignis, it seems you have crossed a line that should never have been crossed.”

At Count Felix’s signal, the adults who had been waiting near the main gate appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Ignis and the vice principal all at once.

“W-Why are the Public Security Forces here!?”

Hearing the vice principal shout, Alfe and I looked at each other.

“…S-So they weren’t parents after all…”
“Looks like it.”

Knowing the Professor’s true identity, I could understand that something like this was possible, but everyone else seemed stunned as they backed away from the two men.

“…Given what has happened, the academy cannot simply remain silent. Effective today, Karlman is dismissed from his position. Ignis… Considering the Dulan family’s contributions, this is difficult for me to say, but I have already spoken with your father. You are to remain suspended from school until your punishment has been determined.”
“What!? What are you talking about!? There’s no way my father would accept such treatment…!”
“You will comply.”

Ignis fell silent under the cold, unyielding gaze of the academy chairman.

And so, amid all the turmoil, the Student Council election came to an end.

The vice principal aside, Ignis probably wouldn’t be expelled from the academy so easily. He would likely return eventually.

Thinking that, I couldn’t help but feel that even though Estea had won by a landslide, the road ahead was going to be a difficult one.

“…It’s over, isn’t it…?”

Watching the vice principal and Ignis being led away by the Public Security Forces, Alfe murmured amid the commotion.

“Yeah.”

The long Student Council election, and our battle with Ignis, had finally come to an end. Now, at last, it was time for Estea to stand at the starting line.

Estea was already surrounded by a crowd of students, all offering her their congratulations. Melua and Marie were there at the center of it all, too, and I could see the refreshing smiles of people who had seen something through to the end.

“…Master.”
“It’s okay. Go congratulate her, Hom. I’ll be there soon.”

Hom nodded and hurried over to Estea, looking unable to contain herself. Estea must have noticed her coming, because she opened her arms wide to welcome Hom. Hom leaped straight into her arms without hesitation.

“…This was the right thing to do, wasn’t it, Leafa?”

Watching Estea and the others from a distance, looking so happy, Alfe quietly asked me.

“Well, Ignis and the vice principal brought it upon themselves.”

There were plenty of reasons to worry about what lay ahead, but for now, I wanted to share the joy of Estea’s victory with Alfe and everyone else. Thinking about what came next was probably my job.

That could wait until tomorrow.

“Let’s go too, Alfe.”
“Yeah!”

Alfe clasped the hand I held out to her tightly. Led by Alfe, I plunged into the circle surrounding Estea.