episode_0020

Due to their characteristics, special admission students are treated and treated completely differently from regular students.

In the case of general admission students, they were able to select talented imperial citizens, train them into excellent warriors, and then lure them into joining the imperial army after graduation using senior-junior relationships or expensive student loans.

As even commoners could obtain qualifications equivalent to knights in the imperial army upon graduation, the students’ motivation to learn was also very high.

On the other hand, in the case of special admission students, there were cases where they came voluntarily, but in most cases, they were sent as a kind of hostage with the intention of obeying the order of the empire.

Of course, they had no particular reason to target the imperial army, etc., so they had no motivation to even listen to the lecture.

However, if you bundle it into tuition, special admission students are said to have been pushed out of their country, but they are usually key figures equivalent to the royal family of that country.

It would be a national disgrace if such a person lived like a beggar, so they were people who could not have suffered financial difficulties thanks to the living expenses and tuition provided by each country for the sake of respect.

Therefore, as a result, these special students only showed up occasionally at lectures that were moderately interesting, and they were usually delinquent students somewhere in the academy to kill time as they pleased.

…In the game, it only appeared once every few turns, and if you didn’t build up favor for that time, you would never join as a companion.

There were characters that were only mentioned through character dialogue or settings.

On that subject, since they were children of royal families and great nobles of each country, the empire could not afford to treat them poorly.

Only the nobles and royal family of the empire would obey the emperor’s orders, but since they were nobles of a foreign country, if they were treated poorly, their home country could use that as an excuse to put diplomatic pressure on the empire.

Therefore, the empire provided many benefits to these special admission students. Respecting ‘cultural diversity’, they were allowed to wear their own country’s clothing, were accompanied by attendants and escorts, and even provided private rooms for them.

Since there were only a few people anyway, the idea was to just listen to everything they asked and put them all in one place.

All academy students are equal.

However, special admission students were more equal than other cadets.

…From the perspective of general students, it is bound to be viewed as truly negative.

They live in a narrow dormitory with a minimum of 2 people per room and a maximum of 4 people per room, and they must always wear the academy uniform outside the dormitory.

In addition, due to tuition and career issues, I have no choice but to focus on my grades, so I have to do my best to take the rigorous academy classes.

In their view, special admission students who were allowed to dress freely in a large private room even though they only played leisurely in one way or another were clear evidence of discrimination.

Naturally, a significant gap was bound to widen between these two classes.

In fact, this was also one of the reasons why the empire deliberately provided discriminatory benefits to special admission students.

Thanks to the common enemy of special admission students, regular cadets were able to get along well despite their different social statuses.

—-

As I walked to the second floor bleachers, I glanced at them.

All three people were sitting apart from each other, seemingly not paying much attention to each other.

The bald Yongin was looking down at the stadium with his scaly arms crossed, yawning continuously, with a listless expression.

The abundant scales on his face and arms showed that he was a high-ranking dragon of nearly pure blood.

Four red scales in two rows stood out in the middle of the forehead.

The neat gray monk’s uniform without any decoration was bulging with muscles that seemed ready to explode.

Was it Calix Terban?

The setting was that they were dragons from Jin, the dragon kingdom in the northwestern part of the empire.

Because he was a second-year character, he couldn’t be received in a party, so he was never seen fighting.

I guess he came to check if there were any useful new students, but he had a bored look in his eyes, as if he didn’t like him at all.

Across from Yongin, a dwarf woman was sitting in the stands, shaking her feet that were not touching the ground back and forth.

As a dwarf, he was only as tall as a human’s solar plexus, but his firm brown skin was full of health.

Her gray hair, braided from the sides and back of her head, was gently swaying, and her face, which was both dependable and mature, exuded confidence and playfulness, showing off her unique charm.

His eyes sparkled as he looked down at the audience with an excited expression.

On his back was a complex mechanical device.

A metal bag with a complex structure that starts from the shoulder and covers part of the arm and the entire back.

The gears and cylinders were constantly moving and making clanking noises.

The short legs were also wearing similar looking metal mechanical boots.

Asha.

He was a new student from Himmel, the Republic of Dwarves.

In the game, it was a favorite character because it had a particularly high critical rate when dealing with humanoid enemies such as thieves.

At the very back of the audience, a silver-haired woman was resting her chin and looking down at the exam room indifferently.

Even though he is a special admission student, he is a westerner who wears only a luxurious black fur coat on top of the academy uniform that is no different from that of regular students.

The red-brown eyes, containing no emotion, were frozen cold.

The most popular character among players.

Princess of Palun, the Grand Duchy of the North. It was Friede van Peilun.

—-

As I got closer to the second floor bleachers, three people turned to look at me, probably because they felt I was popular.

Three pairs of eyes of different colors stared at me and Nigel.

hmm. What do we do? First of all, I have to say hello, what should I say?

hi? No, this seems too formal and friendly, and it doesn’t fit my image.

So, would it be better to go out harshly and ask for something?

Still, I would like to become closer to other special admission students.

Perhaps because he saw my hesitation, Calix pointed to an empty seat and nodded.

In the middle of Calix and Asha. It was an empty seat in front of Friede.

Just sit here first. It’s a complete siege on three sides.

There was no reason to refuse, so I just went ahead and sat down. Nigel took the seat right behind me.

“Nigel, don’t just stand there, you sit down too.”

“Hmm… It doesn’t seem like there are any threatening elements, so I guess it’s okay. yes. I will do that.”

It was embarrassing to see him standing alone, so he ordered him to sit down.

Nigel looked around for a moment and then sat down.

…As far as threatening elements go, there’s a huge one to my right.

Bald man with half man and half dragon muscles.

I turned my head to look to the right, and made eye contact with Calix.

The long, vertical golden eyes unique to reptiles gave off a strange sense of intimidation.

“Hmm…!”

Calix, who was looking at my face and armor, nodded with a strangely satisfied smile.

The scaly trapezius muscles bulged as the head moved.

What is it? What’s wrong with it?

“That’s the freshman student. May I ask your name?”

Calix spoke to me.

It was a murky voice, almost like a purr, but the tone was more polite than expected.

“…Hashall. Hashar Aishangiorda.”

“Aishangior…Ahh! Those eastern people. I heard it’s famous among humans. So, Sozer is the princess of Ka`har? There are a lot of rumors going around.”

Calix smiled and held out his hand.

The end of the strong, scaly arms and the sharp horns rising from the elbows caught my eye.

I guess this means shaking hands…?

After a little hesitation, I stretched out my hand and held it.

“The Hinayana is called Calix Terban, who came from Jin. This is my second year at the academy. Anyway, nice to meet you. Can I call you Lord Aishangior?”

Calix’s large hand, which seemed twice as big as mine, grabbed my hand and shook it up and down.

It was so strong that it almost lifted my shoulders up and down.

“Just call me Hashal. By the way, you act more freely than I thought. Didn’t you say you heard about me?”

“Aren’t we all the same special admission students? The general cadets tend to be very envious of us, so it is better for us to be friendly among ourselves.”

Calix shrugged his shoulders and laughed.

The friendly attitude was rather perplexing.

Calix let go and continued, pointing to my scale armor.

“More than anything, those scales. It’s a great attitude to try to resemble a dragon, just like us. Also, coming here means that you will control your natural anger and pursue peace. This is also like us. You have two similarities with us, so you are just like our compatriot. As a descendant of a dragon, how can you hide your kindness?”

So, you like my armor.

My pulse relaxed.

Certainly, I have seen settings where dragon people worship dragons and train to resemble dragons. Is this what it meant?

“…First of all, let me tell you, most of the rumors about me are true. So you’re saying it doesn’t matter?”

“After all, it’s between humans, right?”

Calix tilted his head as if he was rather puzzled.

“Humans used to often kill each other and make amends. However, this is not something that the Yongin Theravada should worry about.”

The way of thinking itself is different.

“However, it would be better not to eat people. Meat promotes mental health, so it is better to eat a vegetarian diet.”

“……That’s a rumor.”

Who on earth spread the rumor that I rip people off?

If you’re going to criticize, I hope you do so with only the facts.

“I see! Well, cannibalism is not that common. If so, that’s it. Lord Hashal, please take care of me in the future.”

Calix smiled and nodded once again.

It was a smile that looked menacing because of the sharp teeth that stood out, but it was probably an expression of goodwill in its own way.

“Yes. Well, please take care of me.”

I felt like the start was better than I expected.

“……Hmph.”

A sharp snort was heard from behind me.

“Calix That’s your problem. Seeing everything so positively. They treat sub-races like humans.”

It was a sharp, cold voice full of irritated contempt.

I turned my head back and looked at Friede van Peilun, the Princess of the North, sitting behind me.

The brow that seemed cool was distorted with disgust, like cracked ice.

“What are you looking at, barbarian.”

The tone was almost insulting.

It is said that the North is always at war with attacks by beastmen, so Ka’har, who commits the same acts as beastmen, will not be looked upon favorably.

But that’s something I decided not to worry about anymore.

Should I attack it first?

“What are you? You’re not much different from me when you’re dressed like a pig.”

He made fun of her attire and laughed, baring his fangs.

There must be a difference in luxury, but there is essentially no difference between a fur shoulder cape and a fur coat, right?

“Watch your mouth, barbarian. If it were in the North, they would have split the intestines already.”

“Oh, really? If it had been in the East, I would have already tied it to the back of a horse and run.”

The atmosphere suddenly became hostile.

Nigel looked back and forth between me and Friede with trembling eyes.

Although he is nominally my bodyguard, he is essentially a knight of the marquis, so Nigel’s situation would be quite difficult if I were to engage in bloodshed with the princess of the Northern Duchy.

Nigel, who hesitated, eventually looked toward Friede and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

If a knife fight breaks out here, does that mean you will ultimately take my side?

It’s rewarding to have been friendly to you all this time.

Asha, the dwarf sitting on the left, was circling quietly, looking this way with excited eyes.

“Hehe. Calm down, Lord Hashall. Prince Friede also quit. Isn’t today a festival? Unnecessary noise is a nuisance to others.”

Calix laughed as if he was embarrassed and stopped the two of us.

Although he had an easygoing attitude, the wriggling pectoralis major did not look easygoing at all.

Friede and I glanced at the muscle, which was as big as a human head, then snorted and turned our heads away from each other.

“What, I won’t fight?”

Asha, who asked a question quietly, seemed to lose interest when we didn’t answer, and then turned her head and looked back toward the stadium.

The entrance exam continued.