Chapter 1: I Am a Fool
by fnovelpia
I am a fool.
I thought that swearing in the interview would be enough to get me rejected from Jeolip Academy.
Thinking about it, some high-ranking nobles, backed by their families, even dared to disrespect the professors.
I was foolish to think that I would be rejected when I had decent grades.
Perhaps it wasn’t such a shock to the interviewing professor, as his mother had been dead for a long time.
I should have been more disrespectful.
So, here I am, having received my academy admission letter and now bound to attend Jeolip Academy.
Due to the contract, dropping out in the middle isn’t an option.
Under the school rules, being expelled is like committing a serious crime under imperial law, so even if I were expelled, I would end up rotting in jail.
So, that’s not an option.
‘School rules practically make expulsion impossible. What’s left is… the chancellor’s authority.’
The chancellor of Jeolip Academy has the power to decide on a cadet’s expulsion.
So, I need to get on the chancellor’s bad side to be expelled.
But how?
It won’t be easy for a mere cadet to meet the chancellor.
Based on my experience in South Korea, it’s uncommon for a student to meet the principal.
Even with parents involved, it would be hard to arrange a meeting.
And it doesn’t seem like my parents in this world would set up such a meeting.
The contract also prevents me from dropping out on my own.
Damn it.
‘If only the academy had appeared in the game, I wouldn’t be this anxious…’
In World Fantasy Saga (WFS), the game I played, there’s no academy.
And having played the game, I know of better mentors, so I don’t necessarily need to be at the academy.
‘It would be better to grow elsewhere over those four years. To stop or check the main antagonist…’
All things considered, it’s more beneficial for me to leave.
So, planning to cosplay as a delinquent and hatching various schemes, I decided to skip the entrance ceremony and was making various plans when…
Bang Bang Bang!
Someone knocked on my dormitory door.
Creak—
Not stopping there, they ripped the door off.
As the door was ripped off, I turned towards the entrance to see a giant figure, a full head taller than me, looking down at me.
“Not interested.”
With those words, I quickly enhanced my body with aura and covered the entrance with the torn-off door.
It was a move to counter the person who had unreasonably torn off the door without giving me even three seconds.
And then he completely shattered the door.
Like a cookie.
I didn’t know a door could be destroyed like that.
“Abraxas Mentuhotep. The second son of the Duke of Mentuhotep.”
Suddenly, he stood in front of me and started talking.
“You didn’t show up for the entrance ceremony.”
And then he stated his purpose.
Immediately, I started racking my brains for a way out.
Trying to find a way to escape from someone capable of crushing me like a cookie.
I had a trump card prepared for the future, but using it would take me further away from being expelled from the academy.
A first-year cadet who can fight a professor?
Just like how a national team keeps a player with terrible personality but top skills for the sake of honor, the academy would try to keep me for its reputation.
But I couldn’t think of any solution.
So I decided to just blurt out nonsense.
“The entrance ceremony is a place to celebrate the cadets who have been admitted. Therefore, wherever I, an academy cadet, stand becomes the entrance ceremony—aaack!”
“Quiet and follow me quickly.”
While he told me to follow him, he actually grabbed my ear and dragged me towards the entrance ceremony.
For someone born in 21st-century South Korea, this was an unacceptable and horrific violation of human rights.
Shortly after, the doors of the entrance ceremony hall burst open.
Those seated inside, looking around the auditorium, spun their heads 180 degrees to look at me.
And what they saw was a man being dragged in by a giant.
It was me.
“Wait a minute! Whether you’re a professor or an executioner here to punish me, you’re obviously stronger than me! If knew you cared this much, I would have come on my own! There’s no need to force me here!”
“You already have a record, don’t you?”
“A criminal record shouldn’t immediately lead to forced measures! Forced measures are for those who don’t respond to summons!”
“You didn’t respond to the summons.”
“Was missing the entrance ceremony a crime? Then I’m as much a criminal as the current saint of this generation!”
A low-level conversation ensued inside the entrance ceremony, and the reactions of others to this conversation grew even more intense.
“Isn’t that Maximilian Wilhelm, the professor?”
“Really? It is him!”
“Who’s that?”
“The hero of the empire, you idiot.”
“Oh, that guy. I didn’t know his real name since everyone just calls him the hero.”
Who is he?
I had never heard of this mysterious figure while playing World Fantasy Saga (WFS).
I knew almost all the real strong characters who participated in wars.
If he was someone I didn’t know, it was likely he wasn’t very significant.
The only name from this academy mentioned in WFS was the chancellor.
Everyone else was either not mentioned or I had to find out about them separately.
“But who is that guy?”
“If he didn’t attend the entrance ceremony, could it be him?”
“Wasn’t that just an urban legend? Some crazy guy who passed all the academy exams and then swore at the professor.”
My actions during the interview had already become a topic of gossip among the people around me.
Regardless, the man called Maximilian dragged me to the seat I was originally assigned.
“This is where you’ve been assigned, Cadet Abraxas. Sit down.”
He towed me close to my assigned seat and then threw me there.
It seemed even more foolish to just comply, so I stayed where I was.
This is a school for nobles.
The worse my reputation gets, the more political pressure there will be to expel me.
Being classmates with an idiot would be a dishonor too great for the high and mighty.
After the incident with Maximilian was over, the atmosphere remained unsettled.
But I’m someone who lived in 21st-century South Korea.
I know how to stop attracting attention.
I found a good method and immediately acted on it.
“Hey… that crazy guy is actually lying there, sleeping!”
If you don’t feed them gossip, interest dies.
So, to show I’m not interested in their attention, I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.
Playing dead.
This technique would surely kill any interest in me.
“Is he really crazy?”
“Wasn’t there a rumor that he insulted a professor’s parents during the interview?”
“…That can’t be true. Even now, he was polite to the professor who dragged him in.”
The reactions I got were a bit different from what I expected, but it didn’t matter.
I will get expelled from the academy.
Then, I’ll go outside and make the looming disaster a little bit less threatening.
Becoming an adult and finally getting freedom, if I waste another four years at the academy, who knows what consequences it will have.
[Enough of the chatter. Let’s move on.]
The chancellor’s speech continued.
Luckily, thanks to my act of playing dead, no cadets bothered me.
The speech was impressive.
A desire to offend the chancellor, whom I’ve never even seen in person, filled my heart.
Provoking the anger of someone I hadn’t even seen was also a kind of talent.
[…I hope that you will all work tirelessly and diligently at Jeolip Academy to become bright citizens of the empire in the future. With that, I conclude this entrance ceremony.]
Luckily, the chancellor’s speech ended before I lost my patience.
And with it, the entrance ceremony too.
[Oh, and the entrance exam is only the minimum passing mark for the academy. A class exam will be held separately in three days, so please be prepared.]
And now, the cadets who passed the entrance exam have another test in just three days.
Are they insane?
Even high school seniors don’t have exams like this.
If they tell me to take another exam three days after the exam period, I’m confident I could kill a professor or anyone.
Luckily, I don’t have to worry about my grades.
If it’s beyond my ability, the contract doesn’t affect it.
‘Class exam… First, now that I’m enrolled in the academy, I need to find more information.’
Until now, I only looked up a few academy rules, thinking I’d be expelled during the interview.
But now that I’m enrolled, I need to delve deeper.
That way, I can get kicked out.
Despite my hopes that they might expel someone as brazen as I was this time, it seems unlikely.
Looking at today’s events, it seemed that no matter what I did, I’d be forcibly dragged into things.
To get expelled, the only thing I could do was:
‘The class exam.’
The class exam.
There, I would cause chaos once more.
An uproar incomparable to what happened in the interview.
After all, the timing and place are crucial for creating a disturbance.
Jeolip Academy.
According to the information I found, it’s the top academy on the Byzantium continent.
Even nobles can’t get in if they don’t meet the entrance exam criteria.
As a result, the proportion of commoners is higher than in other academies.
Surprisingly, commoners are recognized as barons upon graduation, so they’re considered future nobility, and discrimination against them isn’t as severe.
This being the only public academy in the Helium Empire has a big influence on this aspect.
‘No wonder. In WFS, there are thousands of barons.’
Every year, dozens, sometimes hundreds, of baronial families are created.
That explains why there are so many barons.
While I was studying in the academy library, someone called out to me.
Turning to look, I saw a man with a somewhat sleazy air about him.
“…You. Aren’t you acting too high and mighty for a duke’s son?”
He picked a fight for no reason.
I never bragged about being a duke’s son.
He was just spouting nonsense.
Looking around a bit more, I noticed many people gathered around him.
“Explain this first. Is it true that you insulted the professor’s parents during the interview?”
It was true.
So, I told the truth.
“Yes, that’s true, but who are you? Do I know you?”
A stranger was questioning me.
I answered, so I also asked a question in return.
Despite being asked a question in return, they looked at me with a kind of astonished expression, as if they were offended.
“Ha… Someone like you needs to be taught a lesson. Watch this, everyone.”
Then, suddenly, he spat out some clichéd villain-like line.
It reminded me of those bullies who think protecting a girl from a threat will make them fall for them.
“I challenge you to a duel, purely on skill, without the influence of being a duke’s son!”
Then he showed a sly smile.
Seeing him say such ridiculous things while being so obviously conscious of the surrounding eyes, his intentions were quite clear.
‘Ah, the teenage angst has arrived.’
Academy cadets are typically between 17 and 21 years old.
There are idiots who get this teenage angst even after becoming adults, so it’s totally possible at this age.
Later, they’ll be thankful it hit them at 17.
Any later, and they’d be socially buried.
It’s the age when they think such behavior is cool.
But apart from that, a challenge to a duel?
As soon as I heard those words, a good idea struck me.
“I accept your challenge to a duel.”
As I accepted, his face contorted in surprise at my response.
“Do you accept? Then follow me to the duel—”
Kwaang!
However, his words were cut short.
My fist distorted his face at a high speed, just before the point of knocking him out.
“What’s going on?”
“What happened?”
“Is there a fight?”
As the loud noise echoed, everyone in the library began to watch us.
With the people around the guy I knocked down and the witnesses sharing what happened, the library turned even more chaotic.
“That crazy guy… he just started a fight right here.”
“Fighting outside of the dueling arena is a violation, isn’t it?”
“What kind of audacity is this?”
“So he accepted a duel but then threw the first punch here?”
There’s no need to go to the dueling arena.
I need to be expelled anyway.
So, I will resort to any absurdity necessary.
“Guh—cough—”
Facing the guy whose face was twisted from my punch, I said,
“A duel is about measuring skills. Being unguarded until the duel, thinking you’re safe, just means you’re less skilled. In a real fight, preemptive attacks are a strategy, just like in a duel.”
I confidently enlightened him about the harsh truths of the world.
People around looked at me as if I was crazy, but I was normal.
After all, even the heliocentrism* was once considered madness.
“Are you insane? Duels are for building basic skills without any danger!”
Is he for real?
If you lose, you lose.
What’s with all the talk?
As I waited for the academy’s response, suddenly, the murmuring around me grew louder.
Looking in that direction, I saw someone, like Moses parting the Red Sea, making their way through the crowd towards me.
“So, what is this all about? Cadet Abraxas?”
A woman, about half a head shorter than me, stood there, her voice filled with anger.
And addressing me as a cadet, she seemed to be a professor.
She might try to restrain me if I acted out.
A wrong move and I could end up badly beaten.
However, behaving well could mean falling further into the abyss.
Let’s do some calculations here.
If I defy the professor, I’ll probably get beaten up.
I have a technique that could potentially win against the professor.
But using it might make me the top cadet, which is not my goal.
Besides, it’s not a normal technique, so if I’m suspected of using magic, I’ll have nothing to say, so I shouldn’t go all out.
That means I’d have to fight without using my full strength.
Which, of course, would be extremely painful.
But if I don’t resist?
In the worst case, I might have to continue attending the academy.
Pain would last at most a month.
The academy would be at least four years.
Conclusion: It’s better to endure the pain.
I threw my aura-wrapped fist at the woman, expecting her to seize the opening I had deliberately shown.
When I opened my eyes again,
I saw an unfamiliar ceiling above me.
Surely, I haven’t died and gone to the afterlife?
*Heliocentrism (also known as the Heliocentric model) is a superseded astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe. (google)
0 Comments