"Listen closely, Alex. No matter what happens, no matter who asks, if they ask you to sing, don’t do it," Professor Arienna said in a serious tone. "You are our academy’s secret weapon. As such, we must keep your talent hidden from the world."

The Professor had already heard and even fought Alex in the Battle Choir. As such, she didn’t want others to hear his singing voice because if that happened, it would leave a black stain on their academy.

Usually, the Singing King and Queen of the academy would perform in the musical battles of their respective academy. Yet, aside from the Battle Choir, the Professor had no intention of letting Alex sing in the other contests.

She didn’t want to be charged with mass murder during the Inter-Academy Battles, so Alex’s singing voice had to be sealed no matter what!

The young man, who had no idea what his Professor was thinking, casually flipped his hair before heaving a deep sigh.

Alex casually flipped his hair before nodding in agreement. "I understand, Professor. I’ll do as you say. This is the price that I have to pay for being such a talented singer."

"Thank you very much!" Professor Arienna held the young man’s hands firmly while doing her best to resist the urge to slap him for being shameless. "Remember, you are our secret weapon. If someone asked you to sing, don’t do it. But, if push comes to shove, just hum. You do know how to hum, right?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Good! I don’t want to go to prison, you see!"

"Huh?" Alex blinked. "What do you mean by going to prison, Professor?"

"A-Ahahaha!" Professor Arienna chuckled. "I was just joking, you know? Who wants to go to prison? I’m just lightening up the atmosphere!"

The Professor was tasked to handle the candidates of the academy that would participate in the singing contest. As such, any incident that would happen would be her responsibility.

Since that was the case, she needed to make sure that none of their candidates would suffer PTSD before the contest started, so making Alex promise not to sing was the most important thing she had to do from the start!

"Just make sure to keep your promise, Professor," Alex said calmly.

"Of course!" Professor Arienna patted her chest. "As long as you behave and do as I say, your club will receive funding that is equivalent to the Crest Clubs of the academy. Well then. Let’s go to the grand assembly!"

Professor Arienna dragged Alex by the hand as they headed to the conference room where the talented students of the academy were already gathering.

The moment she entered the room with Alex, the music candidates greeted her respectfully.

Their gaze then landed on the young man she was pulling behind her. Of course, they knew who he was.

Even if they were hiding in a rock, all the First Years had already heard of Alex by now.

He was known as the Blackmail King, as well as the Singing King.

And lately, another title was bestowed upon him. It was none other than the Philandering Prince of Frieren Academy!

Of course, this title was only mentioned in hushed whispers because they were afraid that the Blackmail King would dig up their past and use blackmail to make them obey... or worse, make them do his perverted fantasies.

Alex, who had no idea what these ladies and gentlemen were thinking, gave them all a casual nod like a celebrity that was being greeted by his fans.

"Sit beside me," Professor Arienna ordered, which the young man obeyed.

Astrea, and her brother, Cassian, were sitting across Alex, and the two thanked him once again for saving them in the Dungeon of Beasts.

But, to his surprise, there was one more person whom Professor Arienna had also invited.

It was none other than Lapiz, who looked overwhelmed after being surrounded by many famous people in the academy.

"First, we will discuss the lineup for the singing contest." Professor Arienna lightly clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. "Our main singers will be Alex Stratos and Astrea Nocturne."

Everyone gave the two a round of applause, which made Alex smile faintly. Astrea also smiled back at the people and even gave them a wink.

"Now, our backup singers will be Lapiz Sylvarine for the ladies’ division and Cassian Nocturne for the men’s division," Professor Arienna added.

Her strategy was simple. Alex would sing in the Battle Choir, while Cassian would sing in the men’s singing division.

After Alex won his match in the Battle Choir Contest, which Professor Arienna believed was already in the bag, she would order someone to knock him unconscious and lock him up until the contest was over.

Since he couldn’t attend, his backup, Cassian, would go up the stage to sing. That was the strategy the Music Professor had worked hard to devise, and she would be damned if she let Alex sing in the contest, which were meant for the Singing Kings of each academy.

Just like Astrea, Cassian was blessed with a beautiful singing voice. In fact, he was the previous Singing King, which Alex had defeated in the rankings using foul play!

Well, it wasn’t foul play. However, the Fairies had reached their limit and decided to just toss the title of the Singing King to Alex, just so that they could have some peace of mind!

Strangely enough, these fairies were now immune to Alex’s singing voice. In fact, they even wanted him to sing in the contest.

Their reason?

Watching the world burn through rose-tinted glasses would be a blast!

In fact, all the fairies were already looking forward to seeing thousands of people foaming at the mouth! They were even telling Alex not to hold back and show the world what he was made of!

This was also the reason why Professor Arienna decided to do some damage control before things got out of hand.

’So Lapiz is Astrea’s body double.’ Alex smiled faintly. ’As long as she doesn’t look down on herself, I believe she would do well in anything she sets her heart into.’

In Lapiz’s route, the Protagonist’s goal was to help her overcome her inferiority complex.

Since birth, she had always been compared to her perfect sister, who was also one of the Main Heroines of ELO, Aeris Sylvarin.

Aeris was often hailed as the perfect lady by the fandom because she had everything.

Beauty, talent, character, as well as background.

Compared to Nessia, who was a commoner, and Evangeline, who was the daughter of the Vampire Lord, Aeris stood out due to her flawless storyline.

Yes. Even her story routes were perfect with enough action, drama, and suspense.

Many loved her True Endings, and hated her Bad Endings.

Yet, Alex was one of the minority who didn’t like Aeris’ route because of its perfection.

It wasn’t because it was bad. It just didn’t sit well with him.

Because of that, he noticed the Heroine’s imperfect little sister, and fell in love with her struggles to overcome her inferiority complex.

"I-Is there something on my face?" Lapiz asked shyly because Alex was looking at her with a serious gaze.

"No." Alex shook his head. "You are perfect as you are, Lapiz. Have more confidence in yourself."

"Um... Thank you?"

"You’re welcome."

Alex couldn’t help but smile because it was very rare for someone to cheer her on. However, her sister had warned her not to get too close to the Philandering Prince because she might catch the Alex Virus or something.

When Lapiz asked her sister what the Alex Virus was, she simply said that it was a weaker version of the Zion Virus, but didn’t care to explain more about it.

’Should I ask him what the Alex Virus is about?’ Lapiz thought as he looked at her club president, who seemed to be overflowing with charm and confidence at that time.

However, a few minutes later, the other candidates for the fighting competition had finally arrived, which made everyone inside the room pay close attention to them.

’As expected, Prince Edward is leading the fighting team for the academy,’ Alex thought. ’But, this lineup is just so-so.’

If possible, Alex wanted to form the Dream Team, which consisted of Renard, Prince Edward, Nessia, him, and Chuck.

Yes, Chuck!

Now that he had become a Rank 4 Flame Sorcerer, his firepower would be able to match even those of the elves and the candidates from Solara Academy.

Even if he didn’t drink his Conqueror’s Potion, which would be banned because it was equivalent to doping, the young man could still pull his own weight when it mattered the most.

Alex had noticed this when they were inside the Dungeon of Beasts, where Chuck’s role stood out.

If the five of them fought side by side in the tournament, he doubted that there would be any team that could defeat them in battle.

But, for now, he decided to pay attention to the Headmaster’s speech, who had just arrived to officially start the grand assembly.