Chapter 33: Princess Mia... Is Running Out of Options

“Please vote for Princess Mia!”

Unified by their newly established color, the members of the Mia faction campaigned with renewed vigor. Ribbons of guillotine red adorning their chests, their spirited voices resonated in the halls as they canvassed the school. Mia herself participated, reading her campaign promises to anyone willing to listen, with a cordial smile. Figuring their only chance at victory was to do what Rafina couldn’t, their campaign efforts tended toward the adventurous. When Abel suggested she try delivering a speech on horseback, she started wondering if they’d finally gone too far... but the performance ended up being surprisingly well-received by the Equestrian students, significantly elevating her opinion of Abel’s strategic prowess. As a result of their unconventional efforts, support for Mia slowly began to climb. Despite that, she was eons away from truly tilting the balance in her favor.

“According to Chloe’s analysis... we’ve managed to pull our numbers up to just under twenty percent,” said Mia before letting out a weary sigh.

Her fellow campaigners present in the headquarters followed suit. They’d made progress, but said progress had plateaued. Victory was still far out of their grasp.

But I can’t just call it quits either...

She’d tried to wring more details out of Bel the night before, but all she managed to figure out in the end was that Ludwig had been supremely confident in his analysis that Mia had needed to become the student council president for the world to avoid disaster. Which, given her current situation, was an extremely unwelcome piece of knowledge.

We’re so far behind I can’t see how we’d possibly turn this around...

Making things worse was the fact that plenty of people — Bel, Anne, Tiona, and Chloe, to name a few — were still convinced that she would pull through in the end. She shuddered at the thought of losing the election and seeing the looks of sheer disappointment on their faces.

U-Ugh... Just imagining it is making me feel bad...

Her glum contemplation was interrupted by Abel, who approached her with a grave expression.

“Mia, do you have a moment?”

“My, Abel. What’s the matter?”

“I... just wanted to apologize. For interfering with your campaign promises. This situation is my fault...”

“Huh?”

Her baffled reaction only turned his tight-lipped frown into a bitter grimace.

“I know you based most of your official platform on the one I drafted. That makes me responsible for these dismal results we’re seeing. You probably could have come up with much better ideas... Wonderful ideas that would never have crossed my mind... But because I showed up with my list, you decided to be nice to me and use them, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about? Nothing could be further from the truth!”

She meant it, too.

“If you hadn’t shown up to help, I wouldn’t even have a list of campaign promises right now!”

What she said was one hundred and twenty percent true. There wasn’t a hint of false modesty in her claim. Its veracity was further validated by a voice at the door.

“She’s right, you know,” said Sion as he entered the room. “Humility is only a virtue when displayed in moderation, Prince Abel. Have some faith in yourself.”

“But...”

“You saw Miss Rafina’s platform, didn’t you? Her policies are impeccable. Do you really think we could have produced something that surpassed it in quality? And even if we did, how much better could it possibly have been? Enough to erase Miss Rafina’s overwhelming lead over Mia? I think not.”

The large gap in support between the two candidates could be attributed to incumbent advantage. Rafina, who already had an impressive track record, could simply play it safe with her campaign promises. Mia, on the other hand, had no accomplishments under her belt and her political competence was yet unknown. In order for her to win, she’d need to come out with some truly groundbreaking ideas to win over the students’ hearts.

“In essence, there was no chance of us outdoing Miss Rafina on campaign promises, so long as we went about it properly,” concluded Sion.

“What an odd thing to say. If we don’t go about it properly, what are we supposed to do?” asked Mia with a puzzled tilt of her head.

He gave her a knowing look before shaking his head.

“Really, Mia? You of all people should know the answer to that.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“I asked Bel about those campaign ideas I saw in the library the other day, and she told me that you were the one who wrote them.”

“...Huh?”

It took her a few moments before she realized he was talking about the unfiltered list of personal desires she’d put down on paper.

B-Bel! You little traitor! You sold me out! I was going to take that to the grave!

Objectively speaking, she’d never explicitly forbidden Bel from disclosing the original author of Project MSC, so it wasn’t technically a betrayal. That didn’t make it any easier to stomach though, and she had to force down a cry of dismay.

“...What’s this now?” asked Abel, his brows furrowed in cautious curiosity.

“U-Uh, it’s not what you think. Y-You see, I...” stammered Mia.

She was about to make an excuse for her embarrassing creation when Sion answered in her place.

“That list of promises was the way to go. The content could perhaps use a little more work, but in terms of approach, it was definitely the correct one.”

“...Eh?”

“I see you have no intention of dropping the act. Fair enough. I shall keep explaining then,” he said, addressing everyone else in the room. “You see, what she realized was that an impartial, principled approach to her platform would have no chance against Miss Rafina. Therefore, as a thought experiment of sorts, she tried jotting down some promises that were... a little less noble.”

“I see what you mean.” Abel nodded, his eyes widening with understanding.

Both princes regarded Mia with more than a little admiration in their gazes.

“U-Uh... Well, I suppose you have me figured out. That’s exactly it...”

She jumped on the bandwagon. Which was definitely awkward, considering the other passengers were all under the impression she’d been driving, but such inconsistencies were nothing a smug grin couldn’t resolve. So she put one on and looked around the room as though she were asking them Did it really take you people this long to catch on? The beads of cold sweat rolling down her back were very uncomfortable, but a seasoned prevaricator like Mia wasn’t going to let that get in the way of her performance.

“And there you have it. As you can see, Prince Abel, there’s no need for you to be sorry. Mia had already explored ways in which she could beat Miss Rafina, and she gave those up willingly.”

“What do you mean? If there’s a way to win, why give it up?”

“Don’t you see? What happens if you take that train of thought and push it to its logical conclusion? Let’s say we tried to differentiate ourselves by maximizing ideological distinction. What’s a promise that runs most counter to Miss Rafina’s ideals? Instituting preferential treatment for prominent nobles, perhaps?”

“What? Are you out of your mind, Prince Sion? We can’t do that.”

Abel blinked in astonishment, but Sion shook his head.

“You may not wish to, but the unfortunate truth is that it would be a very effective strategy. Miss Rafina is a benevolent individual, but she is equally benevolent toward commoners and nobles. If anything, she judges nobles more harshly, and I’d hardly be surprised if a good number of them aren’t particularly fond of that approach.”

“I see. Proposing the same sorts of things as Miss Rafina wouldn’t give people any reason to shift their vote away from her. If we fight her on her terms, she’s just going to come out with a perfect list of principled, impartial promises and crush us.”

Between the financial capabilities of the student council and the labor it could muster, there was a limit to what the organization could realistically achieve, especially when factoring in the overarching restrictions of the academy as a whole. Assume, for example, that Saint-Noel had a total of twenty problems to solve, and the student council had the capacity to deal with ten of them. While this would ostensibly allow for numerous permutations in choosing which problems to solve, the actual number of variations was much lower in practice. Those with an accurate grasp of the academy’s condition and a thorough understanding of the student council’s capabilities would naturally reach the same conclusions as to what could be realistically accomplished. The only difference, then, would be their priorities.

Therefore, if Rafina took the side of good in her campaign promises, Mia would have to present evil ones. If Rafina promoted fair and impartial treatment for all students, Mia would have to offer unfair, preferential treatment for certain groups. That was the only way for Mia to differentiate herself. So long as the council had to operate within the confines of its staffing and budgetary limits, the ways in which it could be run would converge toward the same point. If Rafina was already standing on that point, there would be no room left for Mia.

The two princes continued to discuss the principles of election strategy, paying little attention to Mia, whose cheeks had been steadily ballooning as she listened.

How terribly unfair of Rafina to take all the good ideas and use them for herself! That’s cheating!