episode_0015

After finishing breakfast with Claire and leaving the inn, many people seemed to be waiting for me and Claire. It’s the day of the entrance ceremony, so we have no choice but to come outside.

It may not be as much attention as me, but Claire is definitely in the top tier of talents that many places want to recruit, as she can provide pure ability enhancement buffs without penalties.

Seeing Claire looking anxious, pressing her hood tightly against her robe, I briefly let go of her hand that I had held to reassure her.

Slowly, I lifted her hood and removed her robe. Her beautiful sky-blue hair and brown eyes were revealed.

Looking at Claire, who seemed bewildered as if asking what I was doing, I held her shoulders tightly, met her gaze, and spoke.

“It’s okay. There will be more of these things in the future, and you can’t run away forever. Have confidence and be bold. Claire, you are someone who deserves to be confident.”

I felt her hesitant gaze towards me.

Hesitating, she spoke softly to me as if hesitantly entering.

“Instead, hold my hand… and take me with you. I’m still scared, but I think I’ll be okay with you.”

Without a word, I held her hand. Seeing Claire trying to look confident and brave while looking ahead, a gentle smile formed on my face.

Originally, due to trauma from the past, she was afraid of people’s gazes, but eventually overcame it. Even though it was impossible to quickly resolve this in the game, now that it has become reality, she is making efforts to overcome it before entering school.

Having spent over 8,000 hours with her, even now that it has become reality, my desire is to help her escape from the past as quickly as possible.

As there are many things that can be changed now that it has become reality, I will make sure she can be happy.

Making a silent vow, I, like Claire, looked ahead again and headed towards the academy.

In preparation for any unforeseen circumstances, I activated my heightened senses to the maximum and headed towards the academy with a dagger in one hand, but fortunately, the feared situation did not occur until I arrived at the Ardent Academy.

The Sineria Black Moon Guild members, who were most cautious and tense, showed no signs of movement.

They continued to observe me from a distance.

Passing through the academy gate, I unconsciously sighed in relief.

“Now that I’ve arrived at the academy, I can relax.”

I sheathed the dagger that I had been clutching tightly at my waist.

“Claire, the entrance ceremony will be held in the auditorium, so let’s head over there in advance.”

“Okay.”

Glancing at Claire, she seemed relieved like me, but also appeared to be struggling.

“You must have had a hard time coming all the way to the academy. Are you okay?”

“Yeah…”

Clearly, she must have had a tough time, but answering that it wasn’t difficult was probably Claire’s way of showing consideration, fearing that I might worry about her unnecessarily.

With a grateful and respectful heart, I cautiously supported her and walked together towards the auditorium.

*

Arriving early at the grand hall where the entrance ceremony would be held, the seats were spacious. To consider Claire, who must have had a hard time coming here, I decided to go to a corner seat.

As time passed, the new students took their seats one by one, and soon Helena Clark, who had caused me trouble for the past few days, also arrived.

Considering her actions towards me so far, I thought she would naturally come over here and sit down to make things awkward until the entrance ceremony began, but she glanced briefly in this direction and then went to sit elsewhere.

“What’s going on? I expected her to come over here, but she didn’t.”

My seat is also empty. If it’s her, she wouldn’t want to miss the person she once showed interest in.

It felt uncomfortable, but I decided to think positively if Helena Clark isn’t interested in me.

I will refrain from getting involved with her anymore. If she doesn’t like it whenever it’s important, I don’t know how to back off.

As soon as everyone arrived, the doors of the auditorium closed, and all the lights went out.

There was a slight disturbance when the sudden blackout startled the students for a moment, with comments like “What’s going on?” But it wasn’t a big issue.

Rather than that, my intuition kept sending me faint warnings as I tried to grasp the presence that suddenly appeared on the dark stage.

“In reality, this is how one acts upon encountering a strong opponent.”

Originally, my intuition didn’t have the function to warn or do such things when meeting people.

Although it feels only faintly hostile towards me, it seems like a warning keeps coming from a significantly stronger opponent compared to me.

Soon, the lights came back on, revealing the identity of the figure that appeared on the stage.

Iris, who serves as the head of the Ardent Academy in the capital city of Arte in the Armenian Empire.

When she snapped her fingers at the murmuring sound, everyone’s mouths seemed forcibly shut, and the room quickly fell silent.

“She’s truly remarkable.”

The fact that not a single person, despite the considerable number in the auditorium, could speak due to a spell was surprising enough, but even more astonishing was the enhancement of magical resistance against those inherently resistant to magic, possessors of related unique abilities, or individuals with high magical levels.

In this brief moment, she assessed all the students and cast spells by adjusting their magical powers appropriately.

As she slowly surveyed the students, she eventually spoke. Although her voice was low, it sounded clear and distinct in everyone’s ears.

“Welcome, new students. I am Iris, the head of the Ardent Academy. Congratulations and welcome to the new students who have passed through the competition in the entrance exam. Each of you may have come here for personal reasons, but after graduation, you will lead the new era of the empire. While you are at the academy, it will protect you. However, I hope you will show responsibility and maturity so that being an Ardent Academy student is not something to be ashamed of. I hope you can achieve your dreams and goals at the academy. That is all for now.”

“The welcoming speech from the headmistress for the new students has ended. Next, the vice principal will…”

“My dear new students! I sincerely congratulate the new students who have come here with big dreams at the beginning of this new semester. I participated in this new student induction ceremony as the vice principal because of the high expectations I have for all of you. Since long speeches may not be well-received, I will say just three things and finish. When I was young in Arte… At that time, the academy had a system of social hierarchy. I had quite a dilemma trying to fix this system because, as you all know, there were some nobles who bullied commoners, right? How did I figure out how to educate these troublemakers?…”

He really talks too much… He might be the epitome of a chatterbox.

Listening to everything for the first few times was challenging. It took a long time to listen to it all, almost resembling a mental torture, so I kept skipping it. But now that it has become a reality… I drifted off for a moment while listening.

There used to be a culture among the Sungyong-a users where newbies who didn’t skip and uploaded screenshots of the final dialogue segment were praised, but it was tough.

Claire woke me up, and as I looked around, I saw students rising from their seats as if the entrance ceremony had ended.

Leaving the auditorium, I picked up a school information pamphlet one by one.

Since the entrance ceremony was over, I planned to explore the school with Claire and visit the campus cafeteria for lunch, but I saw someone approaching this way.

Seeing the face, it was a staff member from the student support team. Do they have something to discuss with me now?

I haven’t caused any trouble at school right now, and it’s not time yet to lower tuition fees for financially struggling students, so there’s absolutely no reason for the student affairs team to come looking for me at this point.

“Are you Yukal, the new student?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Excuse me, what is this about?”

“I’m sorry to your friend next to you, but the principal is looking for you. You should probably go to the principal’s office now.”

“What? Did I hear you correctly?”

“You heard me right. Hurry to the principal’s office. I relayed the message properly! It’ll be awkward if something else comes up later!”

Staring at the staff member who suddenly disappeared, all I could do was feel bewildered.

I had never been called to the principal’s office from the entrance ceremony before.

‘Why are they calling me? They didn’t do this even when I got into a fight with Mokgeom before.’

Leaving a message of apology to Claire, I couldn’t hide my perplexed feelings and headed to the principal’s office.