Chapter 16: Entrance Ceremony (1)

I found a nice place, somewhat similar to my hometown garden, in a vacant lot a little away from the academy.

This place, where people rarely passed by and was wide enough, had a tree standing tall similar to the one in my hometown garden, which stirred my nostalgia.

After today’s entrance ceremony, I would use the academy’s training ground, so I wouldn’t come here again, but it was a place that somehow put my mind at ease.

‘Then, shall we begin….’

Shaking off distracting thoughts, I took a stance facing the empty air.

The sword pointed towards the empty air.

Imagining the ideal draw in my mind, I swiftly drew the sword from my waist.

“Whew….”

The sword, which cut through the air with my exhaled breath, returned to the scabbard at my waist like a boomerang.

As expected, drawing the sword felt good. It erased all unpleasant and complicated thoughts like an eraser.

‘What were you thinking when you did that!!’

After I disrupted the social gathering, even though it didn’t cause him any harm, Victor nagged at me for a while as if he were my parent.

‘Hurry! Let’s go apologize now!’

After escaping from Victor, who was spouting such nonsense, I arrived at this quiet vacant lot.

Although I discovered this place by chance, I felt like I could think peacefully here.

‘Then, let’s start organizing first….’

Drawing my sword, I began jotting down the names I needed to remember, using the sword as a pen for organization.

First, the protagonist of this novel and the next Sword Saint born in the lineage of Sword Saints, Leon Von Reinhardt, was the most notable.

In the novel, he is described as a tall, handsome man with magnificent golden hair like a lion’s mane, so it wouldn’t be difficult to recognize him.

‘In the illustration, it looked like a Japanese host hairstyle; I wonder if it’s similar in reality too?’

Since the double bun hairstyle is considered vintage, a shaggy cut might be a trendy hairstyle in this world.

Leon, who inherited the blood of the first Sword Saint strongly, handled all kinds of weapons including the common sword, but his specialty was the greatsword.

Wielding a greatsword of about 160 cm, the scene where he swept away enemies with the large sword was thrilling as if watching an action movie, even though he wasn’t using Baldo.

‘But it’s not time yet….’

Of course, even in the beginning, compared to his peers, he was several levels above, but he still hadn’t reached the realm of Swordmasters.

My goal was to defeat the recognized Sword Saint and demonstrate the greatness of Baldo.

To avoid the folly of picking unripe fruit prematurely, I needed to carefully choose the timing for a duel.

‘Since the story describes growing stronger after defeating enemies, I wonder if I could just defeat the appearing enemies….’

For now, it would be best to leave Leon alone and move in a different direction.

With the highest potential in the story, if left alone, he would become a perfect sacrifice for Baldo.

Deciding to leave Leon alone, I turned my attention to the second prince of the kingdom, or more precisely, his bodyguard.

Eugene Von Derpardt, the second prince of the kingdom and the future king who would surpass his elder brother.

Although he uses a weak weapon, a rapier, he too will grow into a formidable opponent in the future, though not as much as Leon.

However, for now, he is a weakling who can’t even beat Leon, let alone me, so he’s not worth worrying about.

What I need to focus on now is his bodyguard, Vector Alkaid, who is slated to become one of the future commanders of the Royal Knights.

The royal family has five knight orders directly under the royal family, symbolizing the power of the royal family.

All the knight commanders have reached the realm of Swordmasters, and becoming a commander of the Royal Knights is considered the greatest honor for a warrior.

And at the young age of 28, Vector Alkaid was designated as the next commander of the fourth knight order.

It’s a bit off-topic, but whenever Eugene and Vector appeared, I felt the urge to draw my sword because of those idiots in the comment section making BL fanfics.

There were even f*cking people who dragged Leon into it, making disgusting comments about train play or whatever.

‘Really makes me want to draw my sword….’

Anyway, I wouldn’t know Vector’s true skill unless I met him directly, but he was probably as strong as me, maybe even stronger.

That thought made my hands itch, but the problem was how to fight him.

This wasn’t a game, and even if I abruptly requested a duel or sparring, Vector wouldn’t accept it.

In this world, refusing a duel is considered dishonorable both as a noble and a warrior, but that’s only if there’s a justified reason.

Without justification, refusing a duel brings no criticism, and the one who requested it would be seen as a barbarian.

‘He wouldn’t accept a sparring match either….’

Vector was already highly regarded as a young swordsman.

If he were to struggle or lose in a sparring match against a mere student, what would happen?

Regardless of his opponent’s skill, losing to a student would be a black mark on his record, jeopardizing his appointment as the commander of the fourth knight order.

So, Vector would never accept a duel or even a sparring match.

In the story, Vector only intervened when the prince was in danger, and otherwise, he remained a bystander.

‘So, to fight Vector, I need to somehow provoke a duel with the prince….’

If I could get into a duel with the prince, Vector would come out as the great warrior to protect him.

But how could I possibly provoke a duel with the second prince of the kingdom, the second in line for the throne?

‘Should I flirt with his fiancée?’

No, that won’t work…. I couldn’t let Baldo be recorded in history as a technique used by a piece of trash who flirted with someone else’s woman.

I could barely tolerate a reputation related to warlike violence, but an abhorrent crime like adultery is absolutely out of the question.

‘Tsk….’

I couldn’t figure out how to pick a proper fight that would spread the right kind of rumors.

In the end, time just passed without any plan forming, and as the time for the entrance ceremony approached, I stood up.

Although I hadn’t come up with a concrete plan, I had determined the general direction, and that was enough for now.

Before heading back to the dormitory, I erased the writing on the ground, not that anyone would see it, and left the spot.

“Hmm….”

After showering and changing into the issued uniform, I checked the fit by moving my arms and legs.

Since the academy’s courses were more practical than theoretical, the uniforms were designed for ease of movement, even better than most athletic wear.

The belt for hanging the sword was also of better quality than before, holding the katana more securely, which was quite satisfying.

‘It’s about time….’

As dawn broke, the time for the entrance ceremony approached, so I strapped the katana to my waist as usual and left the room.

“…….”

As I exited my room, I noticed Victor’s room, where he had muttered sleep talk-like nonsense to me last night.

There was no sign of him inside; maybe he had left early like me to attend the entrance ceremony.

Thinking it was typical of Victor, who had been wearing his uniform even before enrollment, I headed out of the dormitory and arrived at the main building.

‘There they are….’

In front of the main building entrance were two familiar faces, one was Jessica, half-covering her face with a fan, and the other was Victor, with a gloomy expression.

As I slowly approached them, Jessica maintained her smile while Victor walked away with a sullen face.

Seeing this, I roughly guessed what might have happened and slowly approached Jessica.

“I told you I’d never forget, right? This is just the beginning. I’ll cut off your friends one by one, isolating you completely!”

“…Is that all?”

I was someone who, after reincarnating in this world, lived a life solely dedicated to the sword, constantly practicing Baldo alone.

Even in my previous life, I fought a lonely battle among the ignorant masses who didn’t appreciate the greatness of Baldo, and now you want to ostracize me?

“Why don’t you go tell your dad instead? I won’t say anything bad.”

Even if I broke ties with Victor, who I only met two or three days ago, it wouldn’t affect me much.

“Again with that arrogant tone…!! Do you think I’d even blink because of that――!”

“If you want to make me angry, you should insult Baldo in front of me or kill my mother.”

“You…!”

As I turned my back, Jessica shouted something at me, but her words were so desperate that they were hard to understand.

‘It would be better to keep my distance from Hori for a while.’

Being a commoner already means facing various discriminations, and adding Jessica’s bullying to that would be unbearable.

‘The entrance ceremony is held in the main hall of the central building, right.’

The central hall is used for events, announcements, and as a shelter when the academy is under attack.

In the novel, there were so many attacks over the course of 600 chapters that there were sarcastic remarks about renaming it the central shelter.

After wandering around for a bit, I joined the other students and entered the central hall as the time approached.

“Please take your designated seats.”

Inside, a man who seemed to be a staff member handed out numbered papers, telling us to sit in our designated seats like in a movie theater.

[E-12]

I remember the novel saying the seating was random.

It felt hypocritical to pretend to be fair during the entrance ceremony when they segregate students by rank in the dormitories.

‘E-12… surely… oh?’

As I was about to sit in my designated seat, I found a familiar face I had just parted with not long ago.

“We meet again sooner than expected.”

“Ha…”

I sighed audibly, sitting next to the girl with the double buns, and pointed at the fan she was holding.

“I remember you breaking that fan yesterday. Do you always carry a spare because you break them so often?”

“Shut up…!!”