episode_0016

After that night, several days passed and the academy’s entrance ceremony approached.

-Growling.

As he went inside, Arthur saw the noisy interior due to the large number of people and the chairs installed on the left and right.

Reading the instructions that were handed out earlier, I saw that the chairs on the right were for freshmen in the Faculty of Magic, and the chairs on the left were for freshmen in the Faculty of Knights.

Arthur headed towards the chairs in the front row and found one with the number 2 written on it.

Because the academy was a merit-based institution, even the order of these chairs was differentiated based on the ranking of the entrance exam.

When I sat down and looked at the chairs towards the knight department, I saw Alice sitting on the chair marked 1 and waving at me.

Arthur looked ahead again and adjusted the uniform he had received this time.

“After…”

As Arthur waited for the entrance ceremony, relaxing, he heard a man’s voice for the first time.

“It’s you?”

“…?”

The man who spoke as if he knew her sat down naturally next to her. Naturally, the number engraved on the chair the man was sitting on was 1.

“Uh..yeah hello..? You’re the head of the class.”

“Yeah. Thanks to someone, I became a half-top student.”

The man seemed angry and tried to say something, but as soon as the entrance ceremony began, he clicked his tongue and looked forward again.

After that, boring speeches continued, and Arthur, who was tired recently because of Alice, listened to the speeches with half-closed eyes.

As Arthur was sleeping alone, he heard Alice’s voice.

When I opened my eyes and looked in front of me, I saw the man who had spoken to me and Aris reading the oath as a representative of the department.

-Clap clap clap clap!

When the reading was over, there was a lot of applause, and Arthur clapped along, recalling the name of the man he had heard at the end of the oath.

‘Fabian Schneider…’

As far as Arthur knew, the only ones who could use the surname Schneider were the Duke of Schneider, the best magical family in the empire who always produced outstanding magicians.

‘W…could it be that I was targeted by the Duke’s son?’

Arthur, sensing an ominous atmosphere, came down from the stage and began to sweat coldly as he looked at Fabian sitting next to him.

As I was spending my time observing the situation, the entrance ceremony was already coming to an end.

“… … We sincerely congratulate you on your admission.”

As the woman who appeared to be the president on stage finished speaking, applause broke out once again.

‘Come to think of it, the current president is a retired former president of the previous school, Ma-Tap-Ju…’

‘Ah! That’s right. That’s not what’s important now!’

As the entrance ceremony ended, Arthur saw students getting up to leave and he quickly reached out to Fabian next to him and said.

“Okay..Please take care of me. Let’s get along well from now on!”

But Fabian frowned and headed out, ignoring Arthur’s words.

Arthur, who failed to become close to Fabian, stood still with a sad face.

“Arthur. Shall we go back now?”

Arthur came to his senses upon hearing Alice’s voice from beside him, and went out with Alice and walked towards the dormitory.

The academy’s dormitory was the best in the empire, with each person’s room provided, and there were two buildings, with separate male and female dormitories, but since they were all adults, there were no restrictions on their entry and exit.

Arthur felt tired after the long entrance ceremony that lasted from morning to afternoon, so he headed to his room to prepare for the classes that would start the next day.

-Thump thump.

-Thump thump.

Arthur heard footsteps following him. He turned around and saw Alice smiling.

“The Aris girls’ dorm is over there.”

“I know too.”

“??”

Then suddenly he put Arthur’s arm under his side and started walking towards Arthur’s room.

Arthur, who was being forcibly dragged to his room, turned his head and looked at Alice’s face. He saw Alice licking her lips with a flushed face.

“No way…again?”

Arthur, struggling to escape from the side, quickly opened the door and went in, trying to close it before Alice could come in.

-Chin!

Looking down, I saw Alice’s foot blocking the door from closing.

“No! Absolutely not today!!”

“No.. Arthur? Do you know what I’m going to sayㅡ”

“What the heck!! I’m so tired these days, I think I’m going to die!”

“Now I have to take care of my studies, so I’ll only do it once every two weeks!”

Then the smile disappeared from Alice’s face.

“Arthur? What kind of nonsense is that?”

“What the hell is this! You don’t know moderation!”

“No, it’s your fault, Arthur, for tempting me so much!”

“Why is it my fault!!”

“After…3 weeks.”

“What? Are you kidding Arthur?”

“4 weeks.”

“…”

“Okay, let’s do it for 2 weeks…”

Eventually, Alice gave in to Arthur’s pressure and agreed to two weeks, then took her foot off the door.

“Then see you tomorrow, Alice~”

As I saw her off with a bright smile, I saw Alice walking away muttering to herself.

“Arthur.. Be prepared for two weeks. I won’t forgive you even if you cry and beg.”

But Arthur did not hear Alice’s vow of revenge.

… … …

The next morning.

Arthur put on his school uniform and went to the classroom to attend his first class, Fundamentals of Magic.

I sat fairly close to the front, and the classroom quickly filled with students.

-Thump thump.

At that moment, I heard the sound of shoes. I looked ahead and saw a woman who looked to be in her 30s come in, and the classroom quickly became quiet.

“Hello. I am Professor Serena, who teaches the Fundamentals of Magic class.”

Arthur felt relieved after hearing the professor’s simple self-introduction. This was because special rules were enforced within the Academy.

The rule is ‘equality’. Therefore, within the academy, neither students nor professors can assert their own status.

It was obvious that the professors at the Academy were from prestigious families, but judging from what they didn’t say, it was clear that the rules were well enforced.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that if you treat the nobles like friends from the beginning or pick a fight, you’ll run into problems, so you just have to be aware of what you’re doing.

“Today is the first day, so let’s do a light orientation and get started tomorrow.”

“First of all, considering that the evaluation is a theory class, we will evaluate theory and practice at a ratio of 8 to 2….”

The professor continued his explanation, and the class, which was originally three hours long, ended in just one hour.

Arthur looked back and saw students leaving the classroom, chatting with each other as if they had become close friends at some point.

‘Yeah! It’s only the first day. I’ll probably make some friends later!’

Arthur rationalized it like that and packed his bags. Of course, he saw a few people who didn’t have friends like him, but Arthur, who was not social, didn’t think of approaching them first.

… … …

At that moment, there were beings surrounding a round table in the dark interior.

Someone broke the silence and spoke up.

“It’s been a long time since the Demon King died. I think it’s time to choose a new Demon King.”

“I agree. The Demon King’s aura is no longer felt in this world.”

“Hmm… So even that Demon King was destroyed in the end?”

Then someone knocked on the desk and said,

“Quiet. I recently found the Demon King’s soul.”

“Are you finally going crazy? I know you are the Demon King’s loyal servant, but if you continue to lie and deceive us, you will not be safe.”

The atmosphere suddenly became tense. But then the voice was heard again.

“Yeah. I made a slip of the tongue. To be exact, I found a fragment of the soul.”

“Soul fragments? What does that mean?”

“That’s right. Up until now, I’ve been tracking the soul of the ‘complete’ Demon King.”

“But I couldn’t find it because the soul that was in the Demon King’s essence was used for something by the empire and was destroyed.”

“So what does ‘fragment’ mean?”

“Recently, we found out that the Empire performed some kind of ritual with the Demon King’s essence. And we found out that there is a human who has accepted some of the Demon King’s essence and is still alive.”

“I see. If that’s true, does that mean the Demon King can be resurrected?”

“Yeah.”

Just then someone slammed the desk hard.

-Boom!

“Huh… I see… But I can’t see that person. What is he doing here?”

“By any chance…you couldn’t catch a single human?”

“Calm down. I was going to talk about that part anyway.”

“That’s funny. Tell me quickly. Send my men to catch him right now.”

“You think that’s funny? That guy is in the capital of the empire right now.”

For a moment, the interior was enveloped in silence.

“We don’t have the manpower to infiltrate the imperial capital right now.”

“Yeah. To make sure things work, one of us has to go. If we clear the line, the ‘guys’ will notice, right?”

“Sending the subordinates?”

“No matter how weak the imperial people are, they cannot be ignored when they gather together. This must be done with certainty.”

“Then I’ll go! Kidnapping is my specialty.”

“Then tell me the method now, Demon King’s loyal servant number 1! Isn’t that why you brought it up this time, since you figured out the method?”

“As expected, you’re quick-witted.”

“Half a year… Yes, if you give me about half a year, I can create an opportunity.”

“You have to invest that much time to fool those guys. If you rush it too much, you might get caught.”

After hearing the answer, he seemed satisfied and started laughing, and the laughter echoed throughout the room.

“Hahaha! Alright. Half a year… I’m really looking forward to that time?”

“Oh right! What happens if you kill it?”

“Never kill. Must stay alive.”

“Then if you resist, you can cut off your limbs, right?”

“It doesn’t matter as long as you don’t die.”

“I hope that day comes soon~ hahaha!”

In the dark room, all that could be seen was Inyoung, giggling with an ecstatic expression on her face.