Chapter 35. The first day.

“Your Highness.”

Rodrigo looked at me with angry eyes.

“Yeah.”

Feeling unnecessarily intimidated… I ended up answering timidly. I had decided to stay on the day I was supposed to leave to fight the Devil Bear, and because of the fierce battle, I had slept for three days, thus missing the day I was supposed to meet Rodrigo by two whole days.

“Still, I am glad you are safe.”

“O-of course. I’m not someone who gets hurt easily.”

“……”

Because of Rodrigo’s reproachful gaze, I turned my head to look out the window.

Geez, I can’t say a thing.

“Your Highness, I apologize as well.”

“Suddenly? For what?”

“I should have handled my work more quickly and come to where Your Highness was… I am sorry for not doing so.”

I heard that the processing of my re-enrollment and Michelle’s admission was quite complicated. Especially Michelle’s admission issue. Even with Chris’s recommendation letter, the school did not easily accept it. So I know that he had to ask Chris for another letter.

The more I think about it, the stranger it is. To try and not accept the strong will of the Margrave……. It can only be seen as someone’s will intervening.

“It’s all taken care of now, isn’t it? Then that’s all that matters.”

“That is not all.”

“Huh? What else is there?”

“Among the things I haven’t explained before, there is something called the opening-of-term exam.”

“Ah? An exam?”

At the word ‘exam,’ my face naturally darkened. An exam all of a sudden when I don’t know a thing… would it be okay if I do poorly?

“It was usually held a week after the term started, but for some reason, this time it was held the day after the term started.”

“It’s already been done? What about me?”

“I did protest that the timing of the exam was not right, but the school did not accept it.”

“So I got a zero?”

“That’s why I kept telling them. There will probably be another discussion about the exam once you enter the school.”

It feels like they intentionally excluded me.

“Don’t worry too much. Even if you couldn’t take the opening-of-term exam, as long as Your Highness puts in the effort…….”

“If I put in the effort?”

“Wouldn’t you be able to avoid expulsion?”

“There’s expulsion too? They kick you out if you do poorly on an exam?”

“It’s not just because of one exam. They do a student evaluation before the martial arts tournament, and if you’re lacking overall, there is… expulsion. But Your Highness works hard, so. You should be fine… yes.”

He was trailing off with an expression that lacked conviction. I’ve shown so many different sides of myself from the original 5th Prince after waking up, this is too much.

“I’m going to smash everything once I get into the school. Don’t worry about things like that.

It’s me. You don’t trust me?”

“……I believe you. I have to believe you.”

That was not a face that believed me at all.

“By the way, Your Highness. I heard you went through a lot, but your body and face seem to have gotten better.”

“You get stronger when you come back from the dead.”

“What?”

“Yeah.”

I ate a lot of good things for my body and strengthened my Mana Heart. I did get stronger in many ways.

Anyway, the opening-of-term exam. It seems like someone’s prank, and it’s annoying because it feels like someone I know. Very much so.

***

In the late afternoon, when the sun was packing its bags to wrap up the day, Michelle and I entered the Saint-Denis Military Academy.

Rodrigo and Elliot were not with us. It was due to the school rule that prohibited entry to anyone other than school-related personnel after the term began. Instead, they found a place to stay not far from the school. They said it was to respond quickly if anything happened to me, like before. From what I could see, it seemed like it was because they didn’t have a place to stay.

Bethel headed for the north. Rodrigo had worried that he might desert again. So I told him, ‘He’ll do well on his own if he doesn’t want to die.’ If he ran away again, Chris wouldn’t let him be, if only for the sake of military discipline. But that wasn’t the only reason I trusted Bethel. It was because his disposition had changed a lot while staying with me.

‘He has come to understand very well that running away won’t make things any better.’

In addition, Bethel was on the verge of the 2nd Circle. He would probably be able to break through to the 2nd Circle after experiencing three or four life-threatening battles. Bethel felt this too. So for him, the north was no longer a hellish place like before. It was a land of opportunity that would bring him a new life.

Just as the military academy was a land of opportunity for Michelle.

“Your Highness, you know.”

Michelle, who had been walking in silence, looked at her reflection in a mirror and called for me. She was fiddling with her jet-black dyed hair.

“It’s not allowed to dye hair inside the school, right?”

“Do as Rodrigo tells you. Don’t be a nuisance.”

“……Yes.”

The dyeing had to be done meticulously. So that not a single strand of Michelle’s red hair would show. That way, the 3rd Prince wouldn’t easily recognize Michelle’s existence.

‘He said the 3rd Prince threw a fit. The young bastard is too precocious.’

I heard a rumor that the three idiots who were kidnapping Michelle were shattered. Not by me, but separately by the 3rd Prince.

Armand Blace, who had led the kidnappers, was said to be walking with crutches due to a broken leg. The other two were said to have been exiled from the capital. And that too, with disabilities.

‘His personality is no ordinary kind of nasty.’

Even the 4th Prince, who was said to be cruel, couldn’t do anything in front of the 3rd Prince.

So there was a need to be careful of the 3rd Prince. A mad dog bites people easily, after all.

“Your Highness.”

“What now?”

“Where are we going?”

“The Office of Academic Affairs. Rodrigo told you. He said that once we enter, we have to go to the Office of Academic Affairs and sign the re-enrollment and admission confirmation forms.”

“Ah! Right.”

It seems she chewed and swallowed Rodrigo’s explanation along with her food. From now on, if I need to explain something to Michelle, I shouldn’t do it at the dinner table. Anyway, I gave her the answer, but why is she still wearing a face full of question marks?

“You know where you’re going, right?”

Ah… this is my first time here too.

“Of course. I know. Even if I don’t, someone else does.”

If I don’t know, I can just ask for directions.

I sent Michelle a smile to tell her not to worry and started looking for someone who could tell me where the Office of Academic Affairs was.

But the atmosphere was strange. For some reason, it felt like people were stealthily avoiding me when they saw me. I heard a lot from Adellian that the 5th Prince was not interested in others, but I never heard that he acted like a hooligan, so why are they avoiding me…….

“Hey, who gave you permission to wander around?”

A voice I had heard somewhere before cut off my train of thought.

I turned my head to see the owner of the voice. A plump face was oozing a sly smile like oil.

They say even a monster appears if you talk about it; as soon as I thought of Armand Blace, he appeared as if he had been waiting. And with a bunch of hangers-on.

“Long time no see?”

“……Huh? Long time no see?”

Blace let out a disbelieving laugh. The people who came with him had the same reaction.

“Do you know him?”

Michelle asked in a small voice.

“Yeah, we’ve even exchanged words.”

“Aha! Hello.”

Michelle greeted Blace. A polite greeting to the person who tried to kidnap her.

“Huh? Oh. Hello.”

Why is that guy looking dazed as if he’s possessed? And why is he returning the greeting?

When he was the one who tried to kidnap her.

What a farce. Tsk tsk tsk.

“What was that?”

I guess the sound of my tongue clicking was too loud.

“Fuck, last time you were pissing your pants begging to be spared.”

“Did he hit his head for real? He doesn’t know fear. Shouldn’t we remind him?”

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s been a while, you can’t do that. You have to check where he was hurting.”

What are those guys trusting in that they are being unnecessarily aggressive in a public place? I know that inside the school, titles and statuses are all set aside and everyone is treated equally, but the behavior Blace and his cronies were showing now was not equality, but contempt. Like a deranged noble tormenting a servant.

“So you were there.”

I let out a long breath and looked at Blace. There were quite a few eyes on us. So I was conflicted. Whether to make it clear that I refuse useless quarrels and draw their attention, or to let it slide quietly just this once.

“Come over here. No. I’ll go and see how healthy you’ve become.”

He swaggered over, showing off his delinquency to the fullest. The guys who came with him also came closer, creating a threatening atmosphere.

Right, when have I ever lived quietly.

“After dying and coming back to life, your head must be… Ack!”

I placed my hand on Blace’s shoulder. I put a tiny bit of strength into my fingertips and pressed down.

With a scream, Blace’s balance crumbled. The guys who came with him glared and were about to rush me.

You dare to act up, you who just follow around a worthless guy and pick up the crumbs, you who can’t do anything on your own?

“A very pleasant reunion. Isn’t it?”

I looked at them with murderous intent in my eyes. The guys just spouted deflated words like ‘This bastard!’, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’, ‘Let him go!’. But not a single one of them stepped forward. Their faces were also full of tension. It seemed that since they had learned something, they could feel the magnitude of the killing intent.

“L-let this g…….”

“Shh.”

I looked at Blace and put my index finger to my lips. His face was nicely crumpled.

“If you don’t want your shoulder shattered, let’s not be loud. I hate noisy things.”

“Th-this, this, thiiis!”

Blace, as if his shoulder was about to break from the pain, trembled with both hands and almost knelt down. Naturally, the surrounding gazes turned towards me.

“We’re just having a friendly greeting since we haven’t seen each other in a long time, so don’t mind us and carry on with what you were doing.”

The people who confirmed that I was involved with Blace quickly averted their gazes. It seemed that if they got involved with me, they were bullied together.

“Your Highness…….”

Michelle’s eyes were wide open, seemingly a little surprised by the sudden situation. It was understandable, since she had even greeted him because they were acquaintances, but now I was pressing down on his shoulder as if to subdue him.

“We need to get along from now on. Education.”

“Ah!”

She was the type to just accept whatever I said as is.

“Let go of this…!”

Blace tried to resist when he saw an opening, but was easily suppressed. Blood flowed from his shoulder, soaking his clothes. It was because my fingers had pierced his skin and dug into his muscle.

“I told you not to be loud, did you forget?”

“……”

Blace, who was looking at me with a face that looked like he was about to cry, shook his head. It seemed he realized that my words about shattering his shoulder were not a lie.

I sighed. Then I looked at Blace’s cronies who were standing awkwardly.

“Didn’t you hear what I said earlier?”

As if they felt with their skin that the flowing air was unusual, they started to leave one by one.

Blace, who was contorting his face to endure the pain, was thus left alone.

“Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. The moment you pull any stupid shit, you’ll be living with one arm. No. Maybe it’s better to make you eat only porridge. Then you won’t be noisy. Right?”

“……!”

Blace bit his lip and shook his head violently.

“Looks like you understood properly.”

I removed my hand from his shoulder. The guy, as if he felt immense fear from me, hung his head low and only stared at his own feet. His body also trembled. It seemed that the memory engraved in his body was reacting. He wouldn’t think that I was the one who had beaten him to a pulp last night, but the body is honest.

“Don’t be too scared. Why don’t you guide me to the Office of Academic Affairs?”

“The Office of Academic Affairs?”

“Do you need an explanation of what the Office of Academic Affairs is?”

When I asked, pointing to my chin with my index finger, Blace took a deep breath and started walking, looking only ahead. I feel it again today, but from ancient times, for such a lacking fellow, a kind action is a more desirable method of conversation than kind words.

“H-here.”

Blace, standing in front of an imposing building, said in a trembling voice.

“This is the Office of Academic Affairs?”

“Wow, it looks like a huge temple.”

Really, as if the school staff were some kind of gods. As if to express their will to place students below them, the Office of Academic Affairs building was like a huge temple.

“C-can I go now?”

Blace asked, sneaking glances at me.

I scratched my head and looked at him with an indifferent expression.

And so, three seconds of time passed without a single word being exchanged.

“Don’t you have business at the Office of Academic Affairs?”

“I do.”

“I don’t have any business here…….”

“You never know.”

“Huh?”

“You never know what might happen in life, right?”

When I sent him a smile with the corners of my mouth pulled up all the way, a look of horror bloomed on Blace’s face.

“Don’t be a wimp. Go on.”

“Yeah. R-right. But you see…….”

The guy who said he was going didn’t move his feet but just rolled his eyes and mumbled.

“You don’t want to go? Stay here then.”

“No, no. I just got curious.”

“Ask away.”

“Have we perhaps met before…….”

He trailed off, looking at Michelle.

“Pardon? This is the first time I’ve seen you.”

“Right? Ha… But somehow you look familiar…….”

“You think she looks familiar? Want me to leave a mark on your brain?”

I cut off Blace’s words with a relaxed laugh. Then Blace said, ‘No. I-I’m going,’ and hurriedly moved his feet while covering his chin with his hand.

“Blace.”

So I called out to him. The guy turned around, unable to hide his anxiety.

“When I call, you come running. Without anyone knowing.”

I said what I had to say and walked into the Office of Academic Affairs. His answer wasn't important, after all.