Ch.3003. Is This That Golden Sun or Whatever?

On the day of his departure for the academy, he was summoned by his father, the Count of Lithuania, and received yet another warning. This was truly the last chance, so he should behave himself.

What kind of warning is this? It’s just a threat.

But he wasn’t foolish enough to voice the thoughts he kept inside.

In the end, if he didn’t like the current situation, he could simply change it through his actions.

Of course, he couldn’t completely erase the firmly established image of being a delinquent and a playboy.

It would be strange if people’s perceptions changed immediately just because he did something good. Even if this was some game world, now that it had become his reality, it was something he had to consider.

‘Who can I blame? It’s largely my own fault for stupidly piling on weird settings like some fanboy.’

Gilbert clicked his tongue at the thought.

He should consider himself fortunate that he had possessed this body before entering the academy.

If he had acted like the delinquent he was set up to be after entering the academy, he might have been cast out from his family before even getting a last chance.

Sighing deeply, he stared blankly at the tedious carriage scenery. Gilbert found himself once again contemplating how his life had come to this. He had been living a gamer’s life, receiving a pension and playing games, when suddenly he was thrown into a game world and had to survive.

If this wasn’t something to complain about as unfair, what was? Even as he thought he should finally accept it, anger boiled inside him. Entering a game world and enjoying it pleasantly was only possible in novels.

Still, he knew how fortunate he was to start as the son of a prestigious count’s family in a world with a class system. Considering the game’s scenario where war would break out and lives would be easily lost, he was truly lucky to have a status that came with substantial support and rarely required him to bow his head to others.

After all, who would dare treat the eldest grandson of a margrave disrespectfully? If he had foolishly set himself up as a commoner to experience more hardship, he might have ended up hanging himself. Even if not, he might have died a miserable death being forced into war as cannon fodder.

Gilbert chuckled absently as he closed his eyes, feeling the comfort of the luxury carriage. Since they were at the border, it would take several days to reach the academy, so there wasn’t much he could do. At most, he could only doze off.

After endlessly riding in the carriage and struggling with boredom, he finally arrived at the Imperial Academy.

Demeia Imperial Academy.

It was a kind of military educational institution created by Infractus, the massive empire in Tactical Combat.

Given the era’s frequent outbreaks of war, it was a natural progression for the empire’s highest educational institution to teach military science.

This place was particularly notable because both nobles and commoners could enroll. For commoners without titles, it was the fastest way to secure a future, and anyone with talent aspired to enter the Demeia Imperial Academy.

On the other hand, all noble children had to graduate from this academy regardless of their personal wishes, due to one principle that permeated Infractus:

Noblesse Oblige.

It meant “nobility obligates” and implied that wealth and power come with corresponding responsibilities and duties.

In Gilbert’s original modern world before his possession, this expression could be seen as excessively elitist and even as a chosen people ideology. Discussing noble obligations already divided people into classes and established hierarchy, so it couldn’t be viewed entirely favorably.

However, in the world of Tactical Combat where class and status systems actually existed, the meaning changed. In an era where a person’s value was determined by their bloodline, fulfilling noble obligations was rather a model of noble behavior, and people described it with a single phrase:

Proof of Blue Blood.

It was a kind of ritual where one proved and demonstrated their ability to fulfill noble obligations through evaluation at the academy.

Therefore, graduating from the Demeia Academy within the Infractus Empire was synonymous with successfully completing the Proof of Blue Blood.

That was why the Count of Lithuania had given Gilbert one last chance. It was also an unspoken pressure to complete the Proof of Blue Blood admirably since he had tarnished his own honor.

Upon arriving at the academy, Gilbert followed the guidance of an academy servant to the dormitory where he would stay before enrollment.

No matter how much of a delinquent count’s heir he was, he had to enter the academy to complete the Proof of Blue Blood.

Even the imperial family couldn’t avoid it; in fact, it affected the succession order, so they couldn’t escape the academy. Naturally, high nobles, unlike commoners, could enter the academy without taking entrance exams, receiving a free pass.

However, the academy curriculum didn’t end with mere enrollment, and the requirements for nobles were much higher, so not having to take entrance exams wasn’t a significant advantage.

Rather, there were cases where students were cut during mid-term evaluations, becoming a disgrace to their families. It wasn’t for nothing that academy graduation was called the Proof of Blue Blood.

After throwing his luggage in the assigned dormitory, Gilbert stretched his body, stiff from the long carriage ride. With the entrance ceremony two days away, he had some free time.

‘First, image improvement.’

Gilbert pulled out the first plan he had thought of. In fact, when becoming the eldest son of a delinquent count’s family, the common approach was to improve one’s image to show that “this guy was hiding something all along.” This would work perfectly when the protagonist’s family was corrupt, but the Hart family he had encountered throughout the game was nothing like that.

They were like a painted picture—the shield of the empire and a sword loyal only to the imperial family, protecting the imperial household. For this reason, even if he tried to change his image, the effect would likely be minimal.

From what he had investigated, Gilbert Lion Hart, as created by the settings, was the epitome of trash, and no amount of rehabilitation would change that fact.

Therefore, even if he showed a changed appearance, it would likely end with people thinking, “What’s he up to this time?” But doing nothing would mean staying in place.

His first plan was physical training. Physical training for image improvement wasn’t entirely unhelpful to him.

Physical conditioning was important here too. Piloting a high-performance god-machine would clearly put strain on the body, so physical training would reduce that burden. Since all of this was a device to see the ending, it was right to try everything possible.

From the moment he first opened his eyes here and looked for a way back, he knew there was no guarantee that seeing the ending would allow him to return. He was simply trying what he could.

This included helping the protagonist’s party grow stably. Now that this was reality, there might be limits to what he could do with his flawed trait skills, and the protagonist might be included in the trigger for seeing the ending.

It might have been easier if he had possessed the protagonist or if he had given his custom character Gilbert normal skills, but that damn rotten water mentality never made normal judgments.

Feeling annoyed for no reason, he finished unpacking roughly, caught an academy servant walking outside, asked for the location of the physical training room, and headed there.

Why sudden physical training in a place where they fight wars using god-machines?

Golden Sun Rule 1:

The body must be in good condition.

***

One reason Infractus is a super-massive empire is that it’s a military powerhouse. With tens of thousands of elite soldiers and hundreds of knights who can perfectly handle god-machines, Infractus was a nation that people found strange hadn’t unified the continent yet.

Because of this, Infractus was filled with talented individuals. From the lower 6th-grade knights to the highest 1st-grade knights. Numerous knights, classified according to star brightness grades, possessed brightly shining talents.

And among them, the one born with the greatest talent in imperial history was the First Imperial Princess of Infractus, Seraphina Rector Infractus.

With talent reaching the heavens, she could handle god-machines from a young age, and at just 15 years old, she was called a knight despite being an imperial princess. She was known as the royal family member closest to the imperial succession despite being female.

Even such an imperial knight princess had to enter the Demeia Imperial Academy, and she was proving herself quite admirably.

Seraphina, who returned a few days before the entrance ceremony that would begin at the end of the academy’s break period, headed to the physical training room as always. Several nobles escorting her followed behind, but this too was almost routine.

No matter how much the academy didn’t distinguish between high and low status, her position was that of an imperial princess. Moreover, she held a knight’s title and was called the empire’s greatest talent, close to the succession rights, so having escorts was a natural procedure.

“Huff… huff…”

As she arrived at the physical training room, Seraphina heard rough breathing. It was coming from inside the training room, and it was surprising that someone was using it while the academy was still on break.

Even during the regular academy schedule, not many people did physical training. Magic power was more important than physical strength for piloting god-machines, and many people spent their time mastering control techniques instead of physical training.

Perhaps that’s why?

She became very curious about the person doing physical training, which others avoided, during this period before the regular academy schedule had even begun.

To be more accurate, she was interested. As someone who might lead this country in the future, she had a desire for talent, and that desire was gradually raising its head.

Seraphina silenced her escorts and entered the physical training room, concealing her presence.

‘This is…’

Perhaps thinking no one would visit the physical training room? A blonde man had thrown off his upper garments and was doing intense physical training, sweating so profusely that one could feel the heat just by looking.

The weight he was lifting seemed difficult for an ordinary person to even pick up, but the blonde man was controlling his breathing and lifting it without much difficulty.

Finely divided muscles repeatedly contracted and relaxed, and beads of sweat ran down his tanned upper body.

Seraphina felt she could understand what effort the man before her had put in to build such a body without even seeing it. People who took care of themselves to this extent were truly rare.

That body had the complete form a man could possess, just from looking at it.

“Who are you to be peeping at someone else’s naked body?”

The man threw the equipment he was holding to the ground and slowly turned around, wiping away flowing sweat with a cloth. He was a handsome man with striking ruby-red eyes and strong facial features.

“How dare you be so disrespectful! Put on your clothes and show proper respect immediately!”

The guard who had been standing quietly behind Seraphina stepped forward to criticize the man, Gilbert’s behavior. Who in this country could stand so stiffly in such an indecent attire before Seraphina? Only the sovereign of this country could do such a thing, not some unknown ruffian.

Meanwhile, Gilbert was a bit annoyed at the people who had barged in while he was quietly enjoying his back muscle workout. Wasn’t he the one who had been using this place from the beginning?

If anyone was an uninvited guest, it would be those who were peeping at his physical training, so their accusatory stance was laughable.

However, this was a place where the class system was alive, and the fact that they entered with escorts clearly indicated they were people of high status. Moreover, Gilbert could immediately recognize who was looking at him with interest.

The Imperial Knight Princess.

Seraphina Rector Infractus.