episode_0025

I tried to ignore it, but it was impossible.

If it was just a little bit, I would just let it go, but if it follows me around every day and stares at me as if it were going to poke holes in my body, it’s impossible not to notice.

So I’m reading the data that Yugram brought up after doing background checks… no, just regular checks. I didn’t use any illegal means, and I just gathered rumors and information from within the academy, so it’s not something grand enough to be called background checks. Hmm.

“Agnès Berche. Berche is the name of a famous mathematician of commoner origin, so it is likely a pseudonym. There is a very high possibility that he himself is a commoner. He has no social relationships, is extremely lacking in communication, sociality, and cooperation, and after class, he buys food and goes straight home, never leaving his dorm. There is nothing particularly unusual about him. ”

“There is no such thing as information if there is no one to exchange information with.”

That’s right. If it’s about appearance that isn’t written here, then of course, as expected of a resident of this world, Agnes has a very cute appearance, and if categorized, she’s a glasses intellectual like Yugram. However, if Yugram is the type of glasses that strict and scary people like professors or housemasters usually wear, Agnes is the type that has big, round lenses, so she’s cute. And she’s quite short, so she’s shorter than me, which is unusual?

Also, the reason why they are likely to be commoners can be found out by observing them in various ways. The easiest way is probably to observe their clothing. Since the academy uniforms are basically a set of several pieces, there is no unfortunate incident where a student keeps wearing the same set of clothes just to get admitted. However, unlike nobles who are usually accompanied by servants, commoners have to take care of their own clothes.

Of course, there are shops that provide laundry and repair services for students, but this also costs money, so students who don’t have much money often end up doing their laundry in public bathhouses. Even if they somehow manage to do the laundry and even dry it, it’s unlikely that they have an iron or something to fix their clothes, so it’s easy to tell just by looking at this.

In the case of Agnes, I don’t know if she has a spacious house or if she takes care of it herself, but she tends to keep it clean. Even so, there’s a clear difference in skill between her and the professionals at the store, so you can roughly tell that she’s a commoner. If we look into it further, there are many things to consider, such as cosmetics, accessories, and personal belongings, but while these can be intentionally avoided or ostentatious, clothes are not usually like that.

However, my curiosity grew by the day because the information that I was a commoner, had no friends, and had a somewhat awkward personality did not explain why Agnes cared about me.

So I decided to just ask myself.

On the way back to the dorm after parting ways with Cosette. I quickly approached Agnes, who was following me as usual, and grabbed her hand. Ignoring her screams, I dragged her to my room and kidnapped her. No, it would be awkward to call it kidnapping, so let’s call it forcibly taking her away.

He took me to the table where Yugram had already set up the tea and forced me to sit down, and I sat down across from him. Today’s tea was perfect, too.

“What the heck is this! What the…what the…what are you trying to do to me…”

Agnes said something, but I decided to ignore it for now.

“Do you think you’ll be okay after doing this…this…this…thing to me?”

He stutters a lot, probably because he’s nervous.

“Do you know…this is a crime? Do you know what will happen if you touch me? ”

It’s not like they’re particularly criminals, and it doesn’t seem like they come from a particularly powerful family.

“What..what are you talking about..say something..”

As I continued to drink tea while staring at him, he suddenly started to cry with tears in his eyes. How cute. That’s how kids should be.

People usually compare these guys to small dogs, but I think that comparison is a bit wrong. Even though they are small dogs, they are still dogs, so their claws and teeth are quite threatening. If they bite or scratch, it is natural that they will bleed, and the wound can last quite a long time. I don’t think the cute creature in front of me has that level of aggression and danger.

I like ducks if I have to compare them. Ducks are cute and gentle, and even the way they flap their wings and get angry is cute. The way they waddle around on their plump butts is cute. But I don’t like geese. They’re kind of scary.

In the meantime, Agnes stopped crying, perhaps calming down a bit, and only then began to drink the tea in front of her. Up until a moment ago, she had been flustered and had been spouting out random words, but eventually, given time, she had the brain to calmly assess the situation.

“Looks like you’re ready to talk.”

“Yeah..”

The duckling is mumbling as it cries. How cute.

But it’s a bit disappointing. All ducks are cute, but since pure white ducks are the cutest and prettiest, it would have been better if Agnes was mostly white. There’s nothing wrong with purple, but how can you change it to white?

And as he stared at her intently, Agnes seemed to sense something and shrank even further.

“Anies, do you want to be the top student in your class like that?”

“..Of course.”

“Is there a reason to be obsessed with being number one? If it’s this academy’s scholarship system, there doesn’t seem to be much difference in the amount for first or second place, and there doesn’t seem to be any other special benefits.”

“..It’s not really because of the money, but..”

Agnes hesitated, then emptied his tea completely and opened his mouth.

“If I don’t get first place… I feel bad towards my hometown people who cheered me on…”

what.

You’re so cute and kind.

Even Agnes, who spoke, seemed embarrassed, as she lowered her head and cracked open her cookies. It is clear that she has a bad personality and cannot make friends, but rather, she does not associate with others at all, so she has low social skills. Seeing her not being able to hide her words and saying everything.

“I think they’d be happy if you got good grades, even if you weren’t particularly obsessed with rankings. Besides, it’s not like you did badly just because you got second place.”

And then… he took a sip of tea.

“To be honest, I don’t think I’ll miss out on being the top student since I don’t really need to study at the academy.”

“..Is it okay to say that?”

“There’s nothing wrong with it.. Even if I told Annies..”

Although he didn’t say anything like, “Do you have any friends who could spread rumors?” Agnes shivered, perhaps sensing it from his gaze.

“Aniès. Don’t be obsessed with rankings. If, as an extreme example, you were told that you got the top grade because everyone else didn’t study, would you be happy about that?”

“That’s…”

“Grades and rankings are not the ultimate goal, but merely the results along the way. Agnes studies for herself and a better future, and she just gets good grades while doing so.”

Agnes didn’t answer and just bit into the cookie. He was just a kid, so even though he knew rationally that what I said was right, he couldn’t help but feel differently.

“..I wanted to become a senior surveyor. That’s why I came here. It’s almost impossible to get a high-ranking position without being an academy graduate..”

Suddenly, Agnes’ personal fatigue party started..!

Well, that’s true, but are you a surveyor?

To put it simply, he is a mathematician, and in this world, the position of a surveyor is extremely high. In real life, he is always involved in the sticky land disputes between nobles, and that is why he learns mathematics at a tedious level at the academy.

However, the difficulty of the job is not that high compared to the position. To be exact, the difficulty of the survey itself is not that high. In any case, isn’t it a simple calculation with a set answer? Although the speed and accuracy may vary slightly from person to person, if you take enough time to check, there won’t be much difference.

So what’s important to a surveyor is trust rather than skill. Whether this guy is a trickster or not, if he’s a person who studied at a proper educational institution and has a guaranteed status, wouldn’t he be more trustworthy than other people? That’s why, unless you have connections to nobles, you have to have an academy diploma, and at that, a pretty good grade, to be liked by the higher-ups.

“So I thought that if I got the top award, things would work out somehow.. but when I heard the princess’s words, my eyes opened. It’s true that being the top award among fools doesn’t increase my value. I realized that my value is determined by my own ability, so I shouldn’t be obsessed with evaluations and should continue to work hard. Thank you.. Masked Princess.”

Hmm… That’s a pretty good point. Maybe you should publish a self-help book later. I don’t know if it’ll sell well in this world.

That aside, you shouldn’t call someone an idiot so carelessly, and it bothered me a little that I called her a masked princess, so when I poked her in that context, Agnes gasped in surprise. How cute.