episode_0007

A murmur rose. Under the warm, pouring sunlight, countless students were entering the academy.

Standing before the main gate, I slowly looked around.

‘It’s exactly as I saw it in the game.’

A clock tower rose majestically in the center like a magic tower, and colorful buildings adorned its surroundings. As befitting the Empire’s largest academy, its scale was larger than five universities put together.

I wondered if it would take a full day just to look around once.

“Young Master. Then I shall take my leave now. I wish you a pleasant entrance ceremony.”

“Alright. See you in a bit.”

Giving Julie a casual reply, I left her behind and entered the academy.

The gazes of the nobles pricked my face.

“Look at that person over there.”

“Is that Young Master Ruan Friuli?”

“Could the rumors be true? They say he forces himself on maids. He’s supposedly gotten a truckload of women pregnant.”

“Shhh! Be quiet. He might hear you.”

“Ah, yes! Let’s hurry inside.”

Glancing at me, the noble young ladies who were reciting fabricated rumors quickly disappeared, lest they get caught.

‘My reputation is utterly ruined.’

In this state, it seems wise to give up on making friends within the academy.

Not that I had any intention of doing so in the first place.

‘I need to keep up the act of being a scoundrel.’

I met a transcender yesterday.

The incident of raping Alisa was so impactful that I didn’t have the luxury to think deeply, but after returning to the mansion and carefully considering it, I came to the conclusion that they were very dangerous.

Those who know the future of this world, and those who have been granted special abilities like me.

Although I don’t know the individual tendencies of each of them, recalling Dane the drug dealer I saw yesterday, the possibility of us happily cooperating is low.

Rather, I should view them as rivals.

This means they also grasp most of the information about hidden dungeons and hidden pieces that I know.

If I were to go obtain them without a second thought and happen to encounter them, I might as well consider myself dead.

Because it’s hard to believe that my opponent would have transmigrated into a weaker body than mine.

One must always assume the worst.

Anyway, thanks to that, last night I spent the entire day revising my plans, breaking out in a cold sweat.

‘Things just got more troublesome.’

Lamenting internally and sighing, I raised my head. I had already arrived at the auditorium. In front, teaching assistants were writing down visitor records.

After briefly leaving a record there, I finally entered the auditorium.

“Freshmen, please come this way! We would appreciate it if you moved to your assigned seats.”

Moving according to the guide’s shouts, I slowly looked around at the students.

I saw a few familiar faces.

‘They’re all supporting characters.’

Whether it was good luck or bad, there were no main characters around. At best, there were only a few who played roles in the middle of the main story.

After assessing the situation, I quickly sat down.

If I were to encounter Alisa here, I wouldn’t know how things would unfold. If the truth about the rape were to leak, it would be direct expulsion.

Entrance and expulsion at the same time?

In a way, this would be an achievement that would go down in Solias Academy’s history.

But fortunately, unlike my worries, time passed without any problems. Not long after, the entrance ceremony began.

A middle-aged man, with a height of 2 meters and his entire body packed with rock-like muscles, came onto the stage.

[Welcome, freshmen, to Solias Academy. I am Gion Cruise, the headmaster.]

Cheers!!!

Gion Cruise is the headmaster of Solias Academy, and a monster whose level exceeds 400.

His main duty is to protect the academy. To be exact, he is in charge of protecting the heart of the immortal magic beast Levios, sealed deep within, from the Dark Cult.

Therefore, he rarely shows himself.

Thanks to that, in the early days of the game’s release, there was a lot of talk about where on earth the headmaster was and what he was doing, letting the Dark Cult run wild.

And a week later, he was cursed as an incompetent character who couldn’t even stop Levios’s resurrection.

[Then I will conclude my speech here.]

Gion Cruise descended after finishing his welcome speech, and this time, three men and women ascended the stage.

The one leading them had passionate, fiery red hair and brilliant golden eyes. He was none other than Crown Prince Damian Solias.

In the game, he had a history of acting as a reliable helper to the protagonist.

“Wow, it’s His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Behind him are Her Royal Highness the Princess and Isis-nim.”

“Oh my! All three of them are magnificent!”

“I wonder who Isis-nim will marry? Does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince suit her best after all?”

“Well? Perhaps she might inherit the marquisate. As you know, their eldest son is a bit… like that.”

“Was he? Then perhaps I should nominate myself? Ahaha!”

At the incredibly annoying remarks, I picked at my ear and focused on the front again.

‘Isis.’

Ruan Friuli’s older sister and a genius of spear martial arts, Isis Friuli, who would later become the student council president, proudly stood behind the Crown Prince.

Her jet-black straight hair exuded noble charm, and her clear silver eyes shone sharply. Despite being a woman, her iron-wall-like spirit made observers feel admiration.

Truly a flower on a cliff.

In the game, despite routinely ranking first in popularity, she garnered complaints for being an un-conquerable character.

‘I thought she’d be conquerable in the expansion pack…’

It’s a shame, but let’s be content with being able to see her with my own two eyes instead of on a monitor. The fact that I happened to be Isis’s younger brother and a scoundrel was a problem, though.

Next, past Isis, my eyes finally landed on the Princess’s face.

Regina Solias.

Like the Crown Prince, a beautiful girl with impressive fiery hair and golden eyes.

Her appearance was truly beautiful, but there was a fatal disqualifying factor: her personality was extremely nasty.

She would pick fights at every turn and interfere so much that it even caused setbacks in conquering heroines.

Perhaps because of that, on 19+ manga sites, stories about ‘properly educating’ the Princess were predominant.

‘The thirsty person digs the well [a proverb meaning one must take action to satisfy their own needs].’

For reference, the Princess is also an un-conquerable character.

Personally, I think the developer must have had a grudge against the student council during their school days.

Perhaps because I recalled so much information in such a short time, my head ached a little. I leaned back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling.

*

Ruan Friuli Level – 25 (+2) Strength: 26 (+1) Stamina: 18 (+2) Durability: 25 (+3) Perception: 19 (+2) Magic: 21 (+1)

*

Looking at the status window, my fatigue eased a little.

Due to the fight with Dane the drug dealer and Alisa, my level increased by 2, and my stats increased by a total of 9.

Usually, depending on one’s potential, stats increase randomly from 1 to 5 when the level goes up by 1, so the current growth rate can be considered satisfactory.

However, since most of it was taking hits, the growth in durability was higher than expected.

‘Not bad.’

Since my ‘rape declaration’ only increases strength, to avoid getting hurt by my own power, a durable body is essential.

Anyway, it seems my prediction was correct.

‘As expected, levels don’t rise just by killing someone.’

To be precise, it’s not that you gain experience by killing someone, making your level rise and growing stronger.

In the game, it was explained that levels rise and stats increase through one’s own enlightenment gained from battles.

At the time, I wondered if it was some kind of hipster trend, but perhaps this world took that form because it wasn’t simply a game.

This is something I can’t know for now, though.

Having erased the status window, I this time stared blankly up at the empty space.

‘When will this end…’

The Crown Prince’s voice faintly echoed within the auditorium.

*

[Greetings, everyone. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Damian Solias, the student council president of Solias Academy. I sincerely congratulate you on your admission.]

The second most brilliant sun in the Empire. Crown Prince Damian Solias’s welcome speech began.

Now, with everyone listening intently, only one female student was focusing her attention elsewhere.

‘Where is he?’

His black hair isn’t visible.

Alisa Bretes, who had spent yesterday in fear, was looking for the one who had taken her purity.

From the moment she set foot in the academy until now, she hadn’t been idle for a single moment, constantly looking around, but there was no particular gain.

Just then, platinum blonde hair fluttered beside her.

“Alisa Bretes? Who are you looking for so intently?”

A haughty yet spirited beautiful voice.

Alisa, who turned her head, found a platinum-blonde, drill-haired, large-chested young lady.

Her name was Felicia Belmore.

As the daughter of the Belmore Marquisate, she had first met Alisa in society when they were 12.

That doesn’t mean they had a good relationship. They weren’t sworn enemies, but they weren’t friends either; perhaps it would be more accurate to call them rivals?

As luck would have it, they were assigned seats next to each other, so she had been annoyingly talking to Alisa ever since.

Naturally, her replies became brusque.

“Mind your own business. I’ll handle it myself.”

“Oh my? For someone who says that, you’ve been looking around constantly since earlier, haven’t you? Could it be that you’re perhaps looking for a young master you admire?”

Alisa’s gaze, which had been ignoring Felicia’s words, turned back to her.

Her eyes were chilling.

So intense was that aura that Felicia’s shoulders flinched and trembled. She twirled a strand of her drill hair with her finger and averted her gaze.

“Ah, never mind then. There’s no need to glare at me like that, is there?”

“…If you know, then be quiet. I need to concentrate.”

“Hmph! And here I was, talking to you for once.”

Felicia pouted.

In her own way, she had been somewhat considerate of Alisa, who had a limited standing in society as an illegitimate child.

Since Alisa didn’t acknowledge that and treated her so coldly, Felicia couldn’t help but feel slighted. Still, perhaps due to the warning, she didn’t bother her anymore.

Alisa sank into her own world.

‘Could it be he didn’t come?’

There was no rule that said one would be expelled for not participating in the entrance ceremony, but hardly any students would go to such lengths to skip it.

However, the scoundrel Ruan Friuli was indeed a prominent figure who might belong to that extreme minority.

If he really didn’t participate in the entrance ceremony, then searching for him with burning eyes now would be as good as wasted effort.

Alisa clenched her fists tightly.

‘I absolutely cannot let him be.’

Ruan Friuli wouldn’t know at all what kind of terror she suffered last night.

Worried that she might get pregnant, she personally inserted her finger to remove the semen, and even that wasn’t enough to reassure her, so she even lost sleep at night.

She had soaked her pillowcase with tears until dawn.

If she could, she’d storm into the Friuli family’s mansion right now and kill him.

First, she would cut off the thing that spread its seed inside her, then burst its ‘eggs’, and slowly slice off his flesh piece by piece, inflicting pain.

She would torture him thoroughly and ruthlessly until he begged to be killed.

Alisa, who had been indulging in delusions bordering on madness, suddenly snapped back to reality.

‘This isn’t it.’

It’s too early to give up.

It wasn’t even decided yet that Ruan Friuli wasn’t here, but she had already escaped reality.

Alisa quickly raised her head.

[Next, we will have a greeting from the freshman representative.]

Just then, the student council president’s speech was coming to an end, and the freshman representative was ascending the stage.

The lights hit her dazzling silver hair and shattered. It was a brilliant beauty. Her blue eyes, reminiscent of a transparent lake, every time they swept across the surroundings, it felt as if the temperature dropped by several degrees.

A ripple of murmurs went through the audience.

“It’s Skadia-nim after all. Such dignity, even as a freshman. She’s truly amazing.”

“Indeed. I heard she got a perfect score on the theoretical exam too?”

“She truly is the treasure of the Maryland family. It would have been great if only she had chosen her fiancé well….”

Skadia Maryland.

She was the young lady of the renowned magic house of Maryland, and the fiancée of the infamous Ruan Friuli.

In Alisa’s dazed eyes, a spark of clarity returned.

‘That’s right. She was here!’

If it was Skadia Maryland, it was obvious she would know if Ruan Friuli participated in the entrance ceremony.

Whether that haughty young lady would deign to deal with her, a mere illegitimate child, was uncertain, but if she lingered around, she thought related stories might surface.

At least it would be much better than giving up based on premature assumptions like now.

Alisa felt a flicker of hope.