episode_0008

Classes at Sacred Academy were typically divided into two types.

Morning classes focused on theory.

Afternoon classes focused on practical exercises.

If asked which I preferred,

I would have chosen the former without a moment’s hesitation.

The reason was very simple.

“…It’s so boring.”

Given that the practical classes mainly revolved around sparring with others, and there was no one in sight willing to spar with the likes of me at Sacred, I found myself sitting alone on a bench, watching other students engage in sparring matches.

This had become my routine once outdoor classes began, and it was one of the reasons I had skipped yesterday’s afternoon class.

I’d rather endure the boredom of theory classes.

When a class is boring, you can just drift off, but this blatantly isolated appearance draws too much attention.

Even the professor conducting the class didn’t pay me any mind, making me keenly feel the weight of being Lian Trice.

I wondered how it would have been at first.

Before I was transmigrated.

That is, during my first semester as a freshman before acquiring the title of Lian Trice, the troublemaker.

But even then, wouldn’t there have been someone to spar with?

Back then, nobody would have known.

Nobody would have known that Lian Trice was the biggest troublemaker in the world.

Of course, there might be unique cases like Elena, who had watched over Lian as a fiancée since childhood, or someone like Alice, who had already gathered information about those who had enrolled in the academy, but not every student would be like that.

Not every freshman would have entered knowing Lian’s true identity.

In simple terms, the current situation meant that it was an aftermath created by the wretched Lian Trice.

In a situation where most freshmen were strangers to each other, Lian had perfectly shattered his image, and I, the adopted one, was bearing the brunt of it.

And the one who should have borne that burden has disappeared without a trace.

It truly couldn’t have been more unjust.

“….No, actually, I’m the one in the worse situation.”

Furthermore, if I were to nitpick, my current situation was just as isolated as Lian’s in the past.

“Can’t even handle this? That’s why you’re hearing things like being called an idiot.”

“What did you just say? Try spewing that filth from your mouth again.”

There they were, those fools swearing at each other. The troublemakers who were part of the same club as Lian before I took over. Lian must have had to deal with them too.

“You called me an idiot. Any complaints?”

“Yeah. Quite a few, actually.”

“…Maybe it’s better not to have any?”

Of course, having these guys around might not be all that great, but my situation meant I was even more isolated than Lian.

Clang—

“I… I lost.”

“Good job, Elise Arkstra.”

And on the opposite side of those fools, Elise had just been bested by Princess Labilaa’s sword.

“Hah, seems I’m still lacking to stand against Her Highness the Princess evenly.”

“No, you have the ability to become strong enough, Elise Arkstra. If you continue training here, someday you will be able to face me on equal terms.”

“…Is that so?”

“Strive forward from now on.”

“…Even if it’s just words, thank you, Your Highness.”

We were quite distant, but I could feel Elise’s grit from here.

“In the original work, Elise felt inferior to Elena and Labilaa.”

The difference in status, the difference in talent. In these two aspects, there was no one in the original work who could match Elena and Labilaa. This was something Elise knew better than anyone else. That’s why the original Elise focused on things only she could do.

Becoming the queen of the other world under the name of the Arkstra family.

Labilaa, the crown princess, and the righteous Elena couldn’t even attempt such a feat, but the original Elise Arkstra achieved it effortlessly.

“…She was the only heroine who could provide help in that direction.”

Only possible from that position, the other heroines supported the protagonist from the sidelines with methods that were absolutely impossible for others.

Here is the translated text:

Just because she was the second most popular heroine in the author’s official popularity poll.

And it wasn’t for nothing that Alice’s fans and Elena’s fans, who had completely opposite personalities, fought on the original comment section.

Hmm.

Thinking back, that comment war was quite chaotic.

Some readers even refused to open the comment section due to the insane Galdecup, so it’s easy to predict how intense the fight was.

As I reminisced about my memories of the original work,

“What are you doing here alone?”

“···.”

“Ugh, it’s tough.”

Suddenly, a sweaty Alice, looking disheveled, sat down beside me, making a strange sound.

“······Why have you been like this since lunch? I won’t acknowledge it in front of others for fear of starting weird rumors.”

As someone who clearly heard Alice’s previous remarks, I was utterly dumbfounded.

Of course, as if unconcerned about my reaction, Alice naturally spoke up.

“Oh my, did I say such a thing?”

“Yeah. I heard you loud and clear.”

“You’re quite sensitive. Men who hang onto women’s words tend not to be very popular, you know?”

“···.”

“Just kidding. I remember saying something like that. Remembering what you said is an important habit.”

I was truly relieved.

If those last words hadn’t reached my ears, I might not have been able to bear it.

Perhaps reading my expression, Alice slightly curved her lips and said,

“Relax your face. I was just kidding.”

“······I’m really glad it was a joke. It was hard to endure just now.”

“I’m feeling a bit off right now. You were sitting here and saw everything. Me losing so miserably to the princess.”

‘Even though the distance was far, you definitely felt my gaze,’ Alice added in a small voice.

Was it a misconception?

There was a hint of sorrow in that voice.

No, it probably wasn’t a misconception.

The current Alice was saying things she would never have brought up in her usual state, colder and more calculated than anyone else, as the original character, Alice Arkstella.

However, the woman sitting next to me was pouring out her emotions to me more emotionally than anyone else.

Is this a tender side of Ellis that wasn’t revealed in the original work?

Or has the character “Ellis Arkstra” in the novel been influenced by the changed ‘Lian Trice’?

I don’t know which of these is true.

“Well, I think if I properly engage again, you might win.”

“······Me?”

Perhaps because of this thought, words of comfort that would never have come out of my mouth under normal circumstances began to flow.

“A longsword isn’t the weapon you usually use, right?”

“···.”

“A person who has only trained in assassination with a dagger, trying to defeat a sword genius like the princess with a longsword she doesn’t usually use, lacks conscience.”

“Hah, how did you know that I mainly use a dagger as a weapon?”

“······Ah.”

“You seem to know me much better than I anticipated.”

Oh, right.

I shouldn’t have said that.

In the original work, aside from the main character, no one knows that Ellis’s main weapon is a dagger.

Where did the expression that was focused on my words just now go? Ellis’s expression had turned into a chilling smile.

A move that defies belief.

Forcing unwarranted comfort in my situation and making a mistake.

An unjust situation.

Getting into trouble for trying to do a good deed.

Enduring a dreadful silence for a while, I was waiting for Ellis’s words to come out.

It was then that an unexpected laughter came from Ellis’s lips.

“······Haha, it’s okay. Don’t be nervous.”

“···.”

“I already know much bigger secrets, so would I kill you just for knowing this much about you? I’m not that strange, am I?”

‘······She seems pretty strange right now.’

Although I muttered in my head about the fear of retaliation to come, it was a sentence filled with more sincerity than anything else.

Just a moment ago, the sight of someone whose spirits had been so low they seemed ready to die, suddenly perking up at the mere comfort of a mere stranger’s words was quite peculiar from the observer’s standpoint.

“What’s with that unpleasant expression? It’s almost as if you think I’m some strange person, isn’t it?”

The strange person even caught on quickly. How does she know? She must have just guessed from a tiny twitch of my lips. Indeed, the woman before me wasn’t just an ordinary woman…

“Thank you for comforting me.”

“Huh?”

“I meant it when I said thank you. Maybe all this time, I just wanted to hear some comforting words.”

“…?”

“No one around me has ever spoken to me like you have.”

Alice seemed to be reminiscing about the past. I knew Alice Arkstra’s past quite well. “Academy’s Blade” is a novel that reveals heroines’ pasts better than any other novel. That’s why I just sat quietly on the bench. I knew better than anyone how important it is to have someone who will listen quietly. Perhaps in this regard, Alice hadn’t experienced the same thing as me when I was possessed. That was just a small guess.

“Oh my, isn’t this our traitor, Lian Trice?”

“…?”

“Lian Trice? Are you talking about that despicable guy who abandoned his comrades and cowardly ran away by himself?”

“Yeah, that guy. He enjoyed himself more than anyone when we were having fun together, but in the end, he shamelessly ran away alone, that coward.”

It was then that disruptors appeared, shattering the peaceful feeling I had just experienced.