Several days had passed since the kidnapping incident. While the investigation into the culprit was ongoing, Kent and his companions had returned to a peaceful life. One day, Kent and Josette gathered in a designated room to attend a meeting of the school festival executive committee. The meeting hadn’t begun, and not all seats were filled. The committee members chatted amongst themselves or reviewed documents as they waited.
“I apologize for leaving all the preparations, like the documents, to you, Kent,” Josette said apologetically to Kent, as she sat in the seat next to him.
“Josette, you’re busy with your shop, aren’t you? Clara took care of the documents, which was a great help,” Kent replied.
“Kent, who is Clara?”
“Huh?”
At Josette’s question, Kent paused for a moment. He then realized that Josette and Clara had never met.
“Clara is the maid of that auntie who became our sponsor… uh, I don’t think I caught her name. She works for me now as a liaison. She said she was a dispatch maid.”
“Are you saying, Kent, that you asked someone you don’t even know the name of to be a sponsor?”
“Huh? Now that you mention it, I guess that’s how it sounds.”
“Are you sure that’s alright? And dispatch maids don’t exactly have the best reputation… Is her name Clara? Come to think of it, I think I’ve heard that name somewhere before… Let me see.”
Josette, muttering about having possibly heard Clara’s name, pondered with a finger on her chin. Without realizing it, she looked around and saw that all the committee members had arrived.
“It looks like everyone is here. Let’s begin the school festival executive committee meeting,” Gordon, the executive committee chairman, declared, and the meeting commenced.
“Alright, I apologize for the short notice, but I need to collect the set of documents for sponsor registration that I asked you all to prepare last time. Please submit them starting with the first-year classes from the right. While we review the documents, other classes should brainstorm ideas for what they will do during the school festival.”
As Gordon said this, the classes began submitting their documents in order, starting with the first-years. Gordon merely gave instructions; the actual verification was being handled by those standing behind him.
“Who are those people behind you?”
“They are civil officials who handle administrative tasks at the castle. This is a royal academy, and a large amount of money is involved in the school festival. That’s why professionals like them come to check the documents.” Josette answered Kent’s question.
“It seems the donation payment is still outstanding. Please contact the sponsor and request payment by the next meeting.”
“Y-yes! I apologize.”
Gordon pointed out a deficiency for one of the first-year committee members. The member who was pointed out could only apologize. In reality, Gordon hadn’t reviewed the documents himself; he had merely relayed what the civil officials behind him had told him. However, when such a statement came from royalty, the targeted committee member could only apologize.
“Well then, it’s our class’s turn next.”
“We couldn’t check the documents in the end, but knowing you, Kent, I’m sure there are no flaws. Still, it makes me nervous.”
It was their class’s turn to submit documents. Given the lack of time, Josette trusted Kent and didn’t check the prepared documents herself.
“Oh, it’s Josette’s class next,” Gordon remarked.
“Yes, please proceed with the confirmation.”
“Thank you,” Kent said, handing the documents to Gordon. Gordon, in turn, passed them to the civil officials standing behind him. While the officials began their verification, the three of them remained in silence, an indefinable atmosphere filling the air. Finally, after finishing the confirmation, a civil official quietly whispered the result to Gordon.
“As expected of Josette.”
“What do you mean?”
Josette was surprised by Gordon’s sudden praise.
“I’m astonished that you managed to get our royal family to agree to be a sponsor.”
“Eh?”
Kent and Josette were taken aback by Gordon’s words. The other committee members who overheard also exclaimed in surprise.
“The royal family has never been a sponsor before, have they?”
“Even if there were royalty in a class, they generally didn’t intervene.”
From the murmurs of the other committee members, it seemed this was quite an unusual situation.
“Well, if it’s a request from the Duke’s family, my mother would have no choice but to agree,” Gordon said, seemingly convinced.
“Alright, there are no deficiencies in the documents. Good work.”
“Yes.”
Kent and Josette bowed once and returned to their seats.
“Kent, what is the meaning of this?”
“What do you mean? Perhaps that auntie has connections that allow her to make requests to royalty.”
“Right, about Clara the maid, I just remembered something.”
“What did you remember?”
“Although she’s a dispatch maid, she’s the highest-ranked A-class holder in this country and a direct subordinate of the Queen.”
“What? She was someone that amazing?”
Kent was shocked by Josette’s revelation. While she was certainly capable at her job, her usual clumsiness made her seem anything but an exceptional maid. However, since Josette said it, Kent assumed it must be true.
“Kent, you have a copy of the document we just submitted, don’t you?”
“Ah, I have it right here.”
“May I borrow it for a moment?”
At Josette’s request, Kent handed over the copy of the document they had just submitted.
“As I thought. The name listed is the Queen’s. However, I don’t understand why the Queen would volunteer to be a sponsor.”
“I have no idea either,” Kent replied.
Since neither Josette nor Kent could reach a conclusion by thinking further, they decided to move on to the next topic.
“Discussing this further won’t lead to a conclusion at this stage. Let’s think about what we’ll do for the school festival.”
“As for the other party… the Queen, there were no specific requests, right?”
“It was stated as ‘no designation’ in the documents, so it should be correct,” Kent confirmed, re-examining the copy of the document.
“Then what shall we do? As a committee member, I am authorized to make decisions, but we could also bring it up for a class discussion.”
“That’s true… Let’s discuss it with everyone in the class.”
“Understood. We’ll schedule a discussion session for the class at a later date.”
Kent and Josette discussed it, and they agreed to decide on the class’s exhibit by having a discussion with everyone.
“Good work, everyone. For the classes with deficient documents, please gather the necessary items and submit them as soon as possible. In the next meeting, we will discuss class exhibits and overall operations. This meeting is now adjourned.”
With the document checks for all classes completed, Gordon’s command signaled the end of the meeting.
