episode_0011

“…With this, it seems like this year’s academy life will also proceed without much trouble… End…”

At the academy dormitory, I put down my pen.

This is because I wrote a letter to my father requesting the cancellation of the scheduled arrangements related to the marriage proposal.

That I had started dating Lillith Tistina, the young lady of the Tistina family, with marriage in mind.

Also, that Seraphina Serion of the Serion family had told me she would help me with my marriage.

To avoid any misunderstandings, I conveyed only what had happened, exactly as it was.

Especially regarding Seraphina, I wrote down the entire content of that conversation.

Ah, of course, I left out the part about making a mistake of one night with Lillith while drunk.

No matter how close family is, you don’t write such things in a letter.

Afterward, I finished my workout, which was one of my usual daily routines,

returned to the dormitory, and wrote and sent a letter to my father summarizing the events so far.

Although it’s a bit far to my hometown, I should receive a reply within two weeks to a month.

In the almost 3 days since returning to the academy from my hometown, many things have happened.

I met Lillith Tistina, became lovers, and even reached the point of sleeping together,

and Seraphina Serion told me she would help with the ceremony.

Somehow, I seem to have attracted significant interest from two of the main heroines in the original game.

Thinking back on it now, it’s truly strange.

In the original game, none of the 5 main heroines showed significant favor to anyone other than the protagonist.

Lillith Tistina drew a definite line as a friend to everyone except the protagonist,

and Seraphina Serion consistently ignored anyone she didn’t deem capable, bestowing only minimal favor even upon those capable individuals.

And yet… they show an unusual amount of affection towards me alone.

…It feels a bit late, but now that I’ve regained my memories from my past life, I should compare the content of the original game with the events that have occurred so far.

This is because my actions before regaining my past life memories might have unconsciously affected the game scenario.

Shouldn’t something like this usually be done as soon as memories from a past life return? You might ask, but

Since the original protagonist was already resolving the problems according to the scenario, I thought his relationships with the other heroines would naturally progress well too, right? And I didn’t pay much attention to it.

And I was merely an extra, so there was also the reason that I underestimated how much my actions could change the scenario.

Anyway, let’s go back and reflect on the events so far, shall we?

First, let’s start with the major events that occurred during the first year.

A Dark Mage organization, instigated by the mastermind, forced a terror attack at the academy entrance ceremony,

and the protagonist, Mark Visus, solved the problem by personally dealing with the leader of the Dark Mage organization.

This incident proceeded in a form similar to the scenario.

This is something I, who was directly caught up in the incident, can assert.

Unintentionally at the center of that terror, I personally witnessed the appearance of the person wearing a robe with a red emblem who was leading the Dark Mages,

and although I didn’t see it myself, many people testified that they saw that person’s head fall to the ground by Mark Visus’s sword.

A slight difference was that it became publicly known that the incident was resolved through Mark’s efforts.

In the original, due to the commotion at the time of the incident and Mark’s demeanor of not showing his feelings, it wasn’t particularly recorded as anyone’s achievement and was buried,

but for some reason, this time there were many witnesses who saw Mark personally executing the leader.

So, it resulted in Mark becoming famous a little earlier than in the original…

Hmm… Excluding the point that Mark became a little arrogant, the fact that Mark solved the incident itself didn’t change much, so there should be no problem.

Next is the midterm assignment, the Dungeon Conquest Test.

The dungeon, befitting a test, was estimated to be of difficulty grade F with low risk, but in reality, it was a higher-level dungeon close to difficulty C, and soon students were trapped inside and fell into danger.

At that time, the protagonist successfully conquered the dungeon and saved the students, gaining both fame and significant physical growth, which was the content in the original.

Furthermore, upon reaching the end of that dungeon, one could obtain several artifacts greatly helpful for growth,

thanks to this, in the original, this event became an opportunity to greatly grow characters.

And comparing the content of the original like that with what actually happened… honestly, I can’t answer well.

That’s because at the time, I was trapped in the dungeon and busy preserving my own life, so I wasn’t well aware of the protagonist’s actions.

Still, afterwards, Mark was the first person to escape when the dungeon was conquered, and he also said he personally defeated the dungeon boss, so

I think this probably proceeded according to the original as well.

And finally, the Sparring Test held at the end of the semester.

The Knight Faculty and Magic Faculty of the academy gather in one place to spar in a tournament format.

There, one can also directly designate their sparring opponent if they wish.

In the game, with this event, Mark Visus’s favorability with the main heroines would greatly increase or decrease depending on how much the character’s growth had progressed,

Critically, it was also an event where, regardless of the outcome of the spar with Seraphina Serion who appears as the boss in the Sparring Test, her favorability could greatly increase.

Hmm… There might have been a slight variable at this time.

Because… a major argument occurred between Mark and Seraphina shortly before the Sparring Test.

As I recall, the trigger was an unintentional slip of the tongue by Mark, who was at the height of his arrogance at the time, during a conversation with Seraphina.

I don’t know the exact details, but they say Mark, who had easily defeated Seraphina, made a derogatory remark to her.

The fault was clearly with Mark, but since he had solved the two previous incidents and his reputation within the academy was second to none, public criticism instead turned towards Seraphina.

I, being overly meddlesome at the time, couldn’t just let this situation pass and ended up designating Mark as my sparring opponent.

It was a foolish action.

To challenge Mark, whom even Seraphina at that time couldn’t defeat.

The result was, naturally, that I couldn’t defeat Mark.

From the start, I was completely overwhelmed by his sword attacks, barely hanging on with magic, and only managed to land one effective hit towards the end of the spar.

Instead, there was a slight unexpected turn: Seraphina, who had been overwhelmingly defeated by Mark before the test,

despite facing Mark in the final Sparring Test, defeated him and claimed victory.

Anyway, Seraphina saw the great performance of the protagonist Mark Visus throughout the test,

and afterward, she reportedly even apologized for the previous derogatory remark.

In the original, even if you lost to the final boss Seraphina, favorability would increase through training from Seraphina afterward,

This time, even though I lost, Seraphina’s favorability towards Mark itself must have increased.

As a result, it can be said that it proceeded according to the original scenario.

Putting it together like this, it seems there were no major variables, at least among the first-year events.

Other than that, it’s about the main heroines…

Thinking about it now, before regaining my memories from my past life, I was involved with the main heroines of the original in various ways…

This is because, just like in my past life, I was born with an overly meddlesome and somewhat pushover nature in this life too.

Ah, of course, you shouldn’t misunderstand that I had some deep relationship with them.

In the first place, they were overly grand existences for me, a mere extra,

and I had neither the ability nor the background to reach them.

It was merely that, starting from respective minor happenings, a connection formed with each one of them, and that friendship continued.

I helped Lillith Tistina so that she could confess to the protagonist Mark Visus,

I advised Seraphina Serion when she was troubled about the spar with the protagonist Mark Visus.

I became involved with Eligio Gremlina in relation to the Dark Mage organization’s terror incident at the time of academy admission,

I became involved with Isabella Kshatri after exchanging words a few times because she found my way of using magic peculiar.

With the princess Tiara Altalion, it was just a few casual meetings.

…

No matter how much I think about it, I don’t seem to have been deeply involved with them.

Even thinking about it now that my memories from my past life have returned.

At best, they and I were just close friends.

Furthermore, most of the happenings I mentioned earlier were instances where I unilaterally helped them, so

there wouldn’t be even an iota of a chance that they would harbor feelings close to romantic affection for me.

…Huh?

But… among those very girls I thought of that way,

Didn’t Lillith Tistina and I become lovers?

Seraphina Serion also seems to be treating me strangely well…

…

Hmm…

Thinking about it again, I felt a slight sense of unease.

Naturally, being liked by the main characters is better than being disliked for no reason, but there’s a limit to everything.

Surely… Seraphina Serion too… and the other main heroines besides Lillith Tistina…

They’re not secretly harboring feelings for me or anything, are they?

Perhaps, without my knowledge, my actions somehow enchanted them, resulting in them falling in love with me, Rophel Teufel.

…

Pfft

But soon, I snorted.

Becoming lovers with Lillith Tistina is certainly a big deal, but

That doesn’t mean that things that didn’t happen in the past suddenly did, or that I gained charms I didn’t have, does it?

To them, I am, at best, just someone they can talk to a little more comfortably than others,

just one among countless connections and friends.

They, who possessed status and ability from the moment of admission, thinking of me as special?

This is truly too much self-importance, I swallowed a bitter laugh.

Just as I was blushing and feeling embarrassed about the previous delusion,

Tap Tap

Two birds, one black and one red, each holding a letter, were tapping on the room window.

I opened the window in confusion and received the letters.

As I confirmed I had received the letters, the black bird flew away scattering sparkling dust from its wings, and the red bird, while flying away, a portal appeared with a spatial distortion and it disappeared into it.

Both letters had elaborate packaging and were stamped with the seal of a noble family.

One had a whirlpool pattern mixed with generally dark black and yellow colors and smelled of strange chemicals,

The other had an antique pattern in red hues engraved with magic.

The content of the two letters, unlike the packaging, was ordinary.

They contained greetings asking if I had returned well from the territory to the academy or how I had been doing, along with the intention to meet soon.

One might think these were just letters from friends sending ordinary regards, but

The senders were not ordinary at all.

The genius alchemist Eligio Gremlina and Isabella Kshatri, a prodigy from the Magic Faculty and daughter of the Tower Lord of the Magic Tower.

Both are young ladies from families deeply involved in the founding of the academy and characters who appear as main heroines in the original game.