episode_0027

“After you graduate, join our family.”

“Huh?”

A somewhat dumbfounded sound escaped my lips after hearing Johanna’s sudden words.

To clear my head, I drank the cold water beside me. Drinking it all at once gave me a slight headache, but it did help me regain my senses.

“What do you mean by ‘join your family’?”

“The man who picked a fight with you earlier, he’s the prince of the Arshen Kingdom.”

Only now did I remember. Which kingdom that worm was a prince of. The Arshen Kingdom, if I recalled correctly, wasn’t a kingdom that significantly impacted the story.

“What does that have to do with me joining your senior’s family?”

“When you graduate from the academy, he’ll use the kingdom’s power to mess with you.”

Only then did I understand why Johanna told me to join her family.

“If I join Senior’s family, then he won’t be able to recklessly touch me? So then, ‘join our family’ means…”

“After you graduate, will you join the family as a knight?”

Although that worm was royalty and Johanna’s family was a ducal house, this side was an empire. Even they wouldn’t dare mess with an imperial ducal house.

“Oh! I thought it was something else; you suddenly told me to join your family, so I misunderstood!”

“……!”

Johanna seemed to not understand what I had said at first, but after a moment of thought, her face flushed as if she realized her words could be misunderstood.

“Your offer is too generous for me, Senior-nim, but I don’t particularly intend to become a knight!”

“But.”

Johanna seemed worried that the kingdom would mess with me, but I was truly fine. Even if I couldn’t face the kingdom right now.

“Don’t worry, Senior. You said it yourself. The kingdom will only mess with me after I graduate.”

As long as I was in the academy, the kingdom could never lay a hand on me. At most, that worm of a prince would just harass me.

“Senior, I believe there are three things people consider before messing with someone. That is, power, military might, and wealth.”

I said to Johanna, who was still looking at me with worried eyes.

“If I overwhelmingly possess even one of these, the kingdom won’t be able to touch me. And I intend to acquire all three before graduation.”

This time, Johanna made a dumbfounded expression upon hearing my words.

“How?”

“Of course, that’s a secret.”

But it wasn’t a lie. I truly intended to acquire all three before graduation.

“You can look forward to it. Senior, I’ll specially show you from the closest seat. You can just sit in that VIP seat and watch how I acquire those three things.”

“….Mm.”

Johanna finally seemed relieved.

Her face was flushed; was it still because of what she said earlier? It seemed even redder than before.

When I stared intently at Johanna, for some reason, she turned her head away. Johanna asked while still looking away.

“Then what are you planning to do after graduation?”

After graduation, huh. Until now, I’d only thought about my academy life and acted accordingly, but I hadn’t really thought about what came after.

“I haven’t really thought about it. Hmm, traveling wouldn’t be bad.”

“You’re not going to the Adelien family, are you?”

I wasn’t sure why the Adelien family was suddenly brought up.

“I’ll probably visit, yes?”

“Why?”

When I said I’d visit the Adelien family, Johanna spoke in a cold voice. Moreover, she seemed slightly angry.

‘Is there something going on between Johanna and the Adelien family? As far as I know, there isn’t anything particular.’

“Well, I owe them a lot.”

Although I had cured the Adelien Duchess, the Adelien family had given me much more than that.

If I hadn’t visited the Adelien family back then, I might not even be here now.

“If you’re going to the Adelien family, then visit the Freya family too.”

“Huh?”

At my answer, Johanna made a disappointed expression and said.

“You’re not coming?”

Seeing that expression, I couldn’t refuse.

“I’ll definitely go!”

After that, while I ate lunch, Johanna told me how great the Freya territory was.

.

.

.

After finishing lunch and parting ways with Johanna, I headed towards the special class in the basement.

Perhaps because it was lunchtime, unlike the noisy first floor, the basement where the special class was located was completely silent.

Walking through the quiet basement, I soon arrived at the special class. I opened the door and entered the special class.

No one was in the classroom except Clara.

“Clara, did you enjoy your lunch!”

I spoke to Clara, who was reading a book, and Clara shifted her gaze from the book to me.

“Why are you so late?”

Clara closed the book she was reading and asked me. It sounded as if she had been waiting for someone, but.

That question was genuinely asking why I was late. When I left the cafeteria, Clara was still eating.

So, she was probably just curious why I was so late.

“Ahahaha, I was a bit late because I was talking for a while. By the way, where did everyone else go?”

To be precise, even after lunch, I kept hearing about the advantages of the Freya territory from Johanna. In the end, I was only able to leave after promising to definitely visit later.

“The others went out to look around the academy.”

Well, it was natural they’d want to look around the academy they’d be attending for a long time.

“Clara, why didn’t you go?”

“I already looked around this morning.”

I don’t know why, but Clara seemed different. Should I say she answered a bit more kindly? Why was she like this?

While I was wondering why, someone opened the classroom door and entered.

Clank.

“Just in time, both of you are here.”

The person who entered was Alicia, the professor in charge of the special class, with ash-gray hair.

“Professor-nim, did you enjoy your meal!”

“Yes, I heard about the commotion in the cafeteria. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Not really!”

Unless the entire kingdom went mad and brought an army to capture me, I wouldn’t be asking Professor Alicia for help.

“By the way, Professor Alicia-nim? What do you mean by ‘just in time, both of you are here’?”

“For the afternoon class, the two of you will attend together. You can follow the directions on this note.”

Now that I thought about it, I remembered that the special class students would be divided for their afternoon lessons.

After finishing her words, Professor Alicia left the classroom.

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

Right after Professor Alicia left, Clara spoke to me.

“Huh? What are you referring to?”

“Why didn’t you ask Professor-nim for help?”

Now I understood. The reason Clara was acting kindly was because she was worried about me, having been targeted by that worm.

“Hahahahahahahahaha.”

“Wh-what’s wrong with you?”

As I laughed like a maniac, loud enough to shake the classroom, Clara took a step back.

“Clara, are you that worried about me?”

“No, I’m not.”

Clara answered immediately, but I could tell it was out of embarrassment.

“Aw~ Don’t deny it so much. How much did you worry about me?”

“I didn’t,”

As I spent time teasing Clara, the other students who had been exploring the academy began to enter.

Lucas also spoke to me, seemingly worried. Other students besides Lucas also looked at me with concern.

“Loki, are you okay?”

“Lucas, do you think I’d be scared of a mere prince?”

As I spoke with a smile, Lucas also relaxed a bit.

“Ha, yeah, you’re not the type to be like that.”

I waited for all the special class students to gather.

After a little time passed, all the special class students had gathered in the classroom.

“Everyone!”

I moved to the front of the teacher’s desk and called out to the special class students. When I spoke, the special class students looked at me.

“I haven’t been targeted by the prince.”

I intended to use this opportunity to tell the special class students not to worry.

“The prince has been targeted by *me*. So, you don’t have to worry about me. If you’re going to worry, worry about the prince who got targeted by me instead.”

As I spoke as if it were truly nothing, the worried gazes directed at me lessened a bit.

Of course, they hadn’t completely disappeared, but they would soon vanish entirely.

.

.

.

“Clara, who couldn’t sleep a wink worrying about me, shall we go together?”

“……”

Clara cleanly ignored my words and walked towards the class, and I followed behind her.

Thud,

While following behind Clara, someone bumped into my shoulder.

“Why the hell did you bump into me? If you can’t even look straight ahead, take off that mask.”

“You’re right, what a nuisance.”

I was clearly looking straight ahead and walking. The reason our shoulders still collided must have been because that man deliberately bumped into me.

It was highly likely these men were also from the Arshen Kingdom. That worm probably ordered them to harass me.

Unless I went directly to them, bowed my head, and apologized, he would continue to send people to bother me.

Thinking about what would happen next, I covered my mouth and trembled all over.

….Heh.

Because if I didn’t do this, it would be hard to suppress the laughter threatening to burst out.