episode_0018

“There was a male senior I used to just say hello to. But I heard he dropped out of the academy last year.”

It turns out that she was regularly sexually harassed by a four-person group of delinquent students, including the Marquis and the Count.

However, since the male student was a vassal of a local lord, the incident seems to have been quietly buried.

“Should I say thank you to the princess? It’s also thanks to the seniors of the miscellaneous book research group, senior Lulu, and senior Ion.”

“It’s probably mostly because of Her Highness the Princess. If it weren’t for Her Highness the Princess, even if Knight Sustain or Moratium were behind them, there would have been people who would have tried to touch them.”

At Bandi’s further explanation, I thought, “I see,” and put another piece of bread in my mouth.

“We talked about Try Conflict yesterday.”

“Oh, right. Ain is a freshman too.”

Try Conflict is a traditional competition that only new students of the Academy can participate in.

It can be seen as a kind of festival that starts two weeks before summer vacation, tallies the number of participants for the first week, demonstrates the skills of new students through three tests for the next week, and then has an awards ceremony and closing ceremony.

This is the tri-conflict that I was talking about with Ion yesterday.

“Ain is also not participating?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, it’s like a gateway for promising noble young ladies.”

“What the heck?” he asks, putting another head of lettuce in his mouth.

“I participated in the Hoyodo Try Conflict last year.”

“How was it?”

“The first ‘Test of Strength’ was surprisingly great. The problem is that the next ‘Test of Wisdom’ robbed me of it.”

Tri-Conflict is divided into three parts: Test of Strength, Test of Wisdom, and Test of Courage.

Probably someone as strong as Hoyo would have easily passed the test of strength.

“First of all, I don’t have a way to test my strength.”

“Well, Ain is a recovery and medical specialist.”

Of course, I gained some more characteristics after entering school, but I wouldn’t say it’s something worth talking about.

“Still, it would be great if Ain participated.”

“Senior Ion said the same thing yesterday.”

“I don’t think it’s just Ion who thinks that way.”

I heard that Lulu has been friends with Hoyo since they were young, and that Ion knows Bandi.

It’s night, the Duke and I both seem to know that.

“Isn’t there any chance I’ll be able to compete unless a natural disaster occurs?”

“I agree with you too.”

First of all, there are roughly 4 months left until Try Conflict, so there is nothing more to talk about now.

“What about Senior Bandi?”

“I have no classes in the morning today. Instead, I have to run from lunch until dinner.”

“Then I’ll go to the club room at lunchtime.”

“Yeah, thank you for your hard work in the morning lecture.”

After the meal, after parting ways with Bandi, I arrived at the classroom a little early and saw a familiar back figure in the middle of the classroom.

“…”

I tried to escape reality for a moment by sitting somewhere else, but the Elfin Princess started shooting lasers from her eyes, so I gave up and sat down next to her.

“You weren’t looking for another seat, were you, Ain?”

“…No way, haha.”

I force a smile and put my textbook on the desk.

As for the Elfin Princess, at first she carried her textbooks with her, but she preferred to look at my textbooks with her because she felt ‘the bag was bothersome’.

Besides, today’s introductory lecture didn’t matter at all, because it was history.

And during history class, most students were unable to overcome their drowsiness and would bury their heads in the classroom desks, trying to make up for their sleep time.

The reason is simple. Since they are all children of noble families, they receive basic academic training even before entering the academy, and among them, history is almost a required subject.

It’s impossible not to fall asleep listening to Professor Sely, a history professor at the academy, explaining knowledge that I already know to some extent in an incredibly boring and plain tone.

But since I don’t know much about the history of this place other than the settings that are occasionally revealed in the game, I find history classes quite enjoyable.

What might be a boring history to some might be a well-established fantasy novel to me.

“…Thus, the Western Allied Forces were unable to break through the Empire’s defenses and their advance was halted.”

“Isn’t this the Western Battle where the standardized hammer and anvil tactics you mentioned were first officially used?”

The white female cat, Professor Shelly, turns her half-lidded blue and orange odd-eyed eyes toward me.

“…Yes. Hammer and anvil tactics have always existed, but it was the Moratium Dukes, then Viscount Moratium, who used them with a proper operational plan in the Western Battle. This is the first historically recorded instance of this.”

I remember the first time I spoke to Professor Shelly in my first history class.

Because when Professor Shelly, who had been mumbling with her head down in her textbook, suddenly opened her eyes wide in surprise, her pretty odd-eyed pupils remained vivid in my memory.

“The prepared lecture ends here. There are 30 minutes left.”

Professor Sally, who said that, looked at me with sleepy eyes.

“How about a story about the reform era?”

This is an unspoken agreement between Professor Shelly and me after a few history lectures.

Professor Selly would often end his lectures about 20 to 30 minutes before the end of the lecture, and would just sit in his chair, whether the students were sleeping or not, and then leave, leaving the students dazed and without a trace of their thoughts.

Instead, Professor Sally would comment on the topics I asked for (of course, the students were too busy sleeping to notice).

“The era of the Perion Empire’s reforms is still a hot potato. If there are a hundred historians, there are 99 different opinions.”

Professor Sally, who had been so lucky, looked at me and smiled faintly.

“The only one left is a historian who collapsed from overwork.”

During our private comment time, Professor Sally would occasionally throw in a joke, and when I told this story to people around me (Lulu, Ion, the miscellaneous book study group, or my male friends like Damyeon, Nari, and Bada), they all responded with, “Don’t lie.”

So, with Professor Selly’s heated presentation of his views (by my standards) on the reform era coming to a close, the history lecture also came to an end.

Professor Shelly muttered, “Next time, we’ll learn about the changes in the Western Kingdom after the Battle of the West,” as she watched the other students rise up like zombies, and then disappeared in a pitiful manner.

“You seem to be interested in history, Ain.”

“Wow, weren’t you sleeping?”

As I was organizing my bag, I was startled by a voice next to me. It seemed like the Elfin princess hadn’t left the classroom yet.

“Interesting…is right. It’s fun. I like it because it’s like listening to a well-written narrative.”

“Education before entering school… I see. You said you’ve been to the Great Liberation Front since you were young.”

I nod my head at the words of the Elfin Princess. In fact, if you take me to the North, I will immediately feel that it is a bit awkward, but I guess you could call it a system correction, at least the people here won’t be suspicious.

“Do you have some time left before basic physical education, Ain?”

“Yes, Princess Elfin.”

“Would you mind hanging out with me for a moment?”

I nodded my head at first, not knowing what to say to the Elfin Princess who was politely asking me.

“The time is fine, but what is it…”

However, the Elfin Princess did not answer my question and walked ahead, nodding for me to follow her.

‘This position again…’

Just like last time, I couldn’t help but sigh as I saw the Elfin Princess walking in front, me following behind, and the guards (written as guards but read as sentinels) following me on both sides.

“This may seem like a pointless question, but is it important?”

When I ask again, the guards on both sides look at me but don’t do anything to stop me. It seems like the Elfin Princess has been nagging me since the last time I applied for the class.

“First of all, Ain’s question is not meaningless to me. And it is quite important.”

In the voice of the Elfin Princess as she answered, I could sense some discomfort, tension, and even a hint of annoyance.

I’m not a very perceptive person, but when I entered the game and my body changed, I began to feel and experience many things that were different from my original personality or tendencies.

“…It almost sounds like the princess doesn’t want it either.”

“Did you notice? It seems that a male’s senses can’t be fooled.”

I could also sense that her voice was in a better mood this time, as if she was glad that I had caught her vibe.

“This is a private counseling room.”

“It’s always empty. You guys just wait here.”

“Once upon a time, Your Highness the Princess.”

At the Elfin Princess’s instructions, the guards salute and enter alert mode, and I follow the Elfin Princess’ escort into the consultation room.

“It seems like it’ll come out in some kind of dirty situation…”

Although it was called a private consultation room, I muttered to myself as I looked at the simple furniture and even the bed.

“…”

However, the Elfin Princess’ expression was as cold and solemn as usual, as if she had somehow managed to hear the conversation, but her cheeks were flushed red.

“I’m joking.”

“Are you familiar with that kind of situation? Ain?”

The princess’s stammering words felt awkward, so I thought about it for a moment. In summary, it came down to, ‘Aren’t you a darling?’, so I smiled and denied it.

“I said it to make you laugh. Princess Elfin is always so serious.”

The Elfin Princess, who had a very awkward expression on her face at my words, manipulated a vision tool whose purpose was difficult to determine.

And a little later.

I realized that it was a device that opened a vision portal. As soon as the Elfin Princess finished manipulating the tool, the portal activated and someone slowly walked out of it.

The person who came out of there…

“Meet Empress Alexandra Le Perion.”

To my surprise, it was Empress Alexandra, the sole ruler of the Perion Empire, who walked out.

It would have been difficult to hide the look of surprise if he had not quickly knelt down and bowed his head in greeting.

“Get up, Baron Frostgarm Youngsik. I will allow you to take the example.”

A voice so gentle that one could almost say that when the Elfin Princess grows older and becomes more mature, it will sound exactly like Empress Alexandra’s voice.

As I bow my head and raise my body at the Empress’s instruction, the toes of her ornate shoes catch my eye.

“Let me see your face.”

When I raised my head, the first thing I saw were the large, clear, golden eyes of Empress Alexandra.

And her appearance was surprisingly similar to that of the Elfin Princess. However, the difference was in her aura of intimidation, and the aura of the ruler naturally surrounded the empress.

“For a male, he doesn’t seem to be overwhelmed by the energy of this woman. How funny.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

” Okay. I came to see Elfin because I was curious about the male story he had never told in his life.”

Empress Alexandra naturally sat down on the chair placed in the consultation room, and Princess Elfin and I also sat on the chair opposite.

“Baron Ain Youngsik, I heard you advised this child on his application for admission.”

“That was an outrageous act.”

“No, Baron Youngsik. I don’t like it when my subordinates lie to me.”

“…I judged that if I had carried out the plan as is, the Elfin Princess would not have been able to endure it.”

As I corrected my answer and spoke, the Empress crossed her legs and smiled faintly before turning her gaze to the Elfin Princess.