In my first semester, it was already hard enough to look out for myself, so I couldnât afford to worry about anything or anyone else. Iâd been put in a situation where it was unclear whether I would be able to even take care of my own safety first.
Of course, after starting my second semester, while I hadnât gained enough strength to ensure my safety, I had become a lot stronger.
However, for a time, my routine had pretty much stabilized.
Because my personal training and performance routine was stable, I could focus on other things as well.
Airiâs business, the new business plan for the Rotary GangâŠ
And even promoting the growth of the main storyâs characters.
I had to keep working on myself while also making progress in the other fields.
FirstâŠ
While it had not been decided yet if it would be a magic research circle, a magic research society, or a magic research club, it was clear that I had to talk to each student of Class B one by one, so I planned on visiting them after classes were over.
*Â *Â *
The next day. Wednesday.
DawnâŠ
I did my early morning training with Adriana. Of course, compared to Adriana, my stats were still a lot lower, but I didnât fall behind anymore.
I couldnât do any morning training the previous two days because of the Tiamata incident, but Adriana seemed to have kept doing the training alone during that time. When she asked me what happened, I said that I had simply overslept.
I did wonder how Adriana would react if she knew that I had become the Holy Sword Tiamataâs master. It was the divine Relic of the goddess Towan whom she served, after all.
I was pretty sure she would be surprised. Of course, that didnât mean I would tell her. Adriana had a weak heart, after all.
âPhewâŠâ
After one set, Adriana and I rested on the bench on the hill.
âSummer is almost over.â
âYouâre right.â
By October, the summer heat would have left, making room for Fall to take over. And after a short Fall, Winter would be upon us. Adriana looked at Templeâs landscape stretched out before the hill.
âDuring winter, the view from this place is really nice, you know?â
âReally?â
âYes.â
Adriana had lived a year longer in Temple than I had, so it was no wonder that she knew the scenery one could see in Temple during the winter. She guaranteed that Temple looked amazing in the snow.
âSo does that mean that youâll do your morning training during that kind of weather as well? What if you slip and hurt yourself?â
âDid you forget this?â
Adriana smiled as she showed me her hands emitting divine power.
Even if she got hurt, she would be able to recover with that, so it didnât really matter if it snowed or not. That only made that girl seem even more clumsy.
âBy the way, have you ever gotten into a fight with the Orbis Class?â
There had been some incidents the day before, so I was a little curious.
The incident taking place between the Orbis Class and Ludwig was scheduled to happen during the school festival, but we were already getting entangled with the Orbis Class because of trivial things.
Did Adriana, who had been in that place for one year longer than me, ever have a fight with the Orbis Class?
âThe Orbis Class? Why? Did you get in trouble with the Orbis Class?â
As if wondering what she should do with that personality of mine, Adriana distanced herself from me while looking slightly tired.
No! Seriously!
I knew that I had accumulated a lot of karma, but no matter what I said, people would always connect me with the image of a troublemaker!
âNo. I never got into a fight with them, and I only sparred and practiced with them in a normal way a few times.â
Of course, Iâd overdone it a little, but I didnât tell her that because she would only feel disappointed in me if I did.
RightâŠ
Come to think of it, I never picked a fight with them, but they did, right? If you were asking me, they were the ones who asked for it, right? And because Iâd won, they didnât come to me to cause trouble afterwards, either.
Adriana nodded at my words.
âHmm, the Orbis Class isnât really fond of us. A lot of our kids also donât really like the Orbis Class kids either. Art, for example, has been in a few fights with them.â
Art de Gartis, the second-yearsâ A-3. He was the one I was supposed to have a duel with. Of course, Iâd actually ended up fighting the third-year, Mayarton.
I hadnât seen that dude ever since that duel. I only knew that his reputation had completely fallen to rock bottom within the Royal Class because heâd tried to punish a first-year through a duel.
Anyway, it seemed that the second-years, who attended Temple longer than us, had problems with the Orbis Class as well.
âHow did the fights go? Did he win?â
âWell, they would be about equal. The students of Orbis Class are really hard-working, after all. Of course, thatâs just because I stopped the fights before they became too heated.â
I didnât know how strong Art de Gartis actually was, but it seemed to be rather difficult to tell whether he or the Orbis Class students were superior in their fights. Adriana sighed as she took a sip of water from her canteen.
âItâs understandable. Weâre talented, and there are a lot of kids in the Orbis Class who really think that we would just get strong without having to put in any effort.â
There were some students that only relied on their talent and nothing else, but there were also students like Adriana who continued to train hard, so the dislike the Orbis Class held for the Royal Class was rather twisted.
âWorst of all, the Orbis Class is pretty much forcing its students to hate the Royal Class. Teachers and seniors alike. They tell them things like, âDo your best if you donât want to lose to those bastardsââŠâ
The Orbis Class had deliberately stimulated the studentâs inferiority complex towards the Royal Class to make them work harder. âYou guys donât have any talents, so do you think you can afford to be lazy? How are you going to deal with the Royal Class if you donât work harder?â Something like that.
I heard it was almost as if they were in the military.
Adriana knew that there were some of her classmates who hated the Orbis Class, but she had no particular opinion about them. She seemed to worry more about structural issues.
âSo you donât like or dislike them?â
âWell, thatâs how it is. Itâs not like nothing happened.â
Adriana wore a slightly awkward smile as we talked about that topic.
âSomething happened?â
âHuh? Ah⊠Yes. We didnât get into a fight. The matter was⊠quite difficult.â
âWhat happened?â
At my question, Adriana scratched her cheek slightly, wearing a somewhat bewildered expression.
âWell⊠One of the Orbis Class kidsâŠhad been following me for quite a whileâŠâ
âFollow you? For what reâAh. No way.â
Adrianaâs slightly flustered look made me realize what had been going on.
âDid some guy fall in love with you at first sight or something?â
ââŠY-yeahâŠâ
Adraina nodded her head slightly, her face red.
Certainly, it wasnât really that strange or surprising that something like that happened.
âWell, even when I told him that I was planning on becoming a Paladin of the Church of Towan, he didnât give up⊠that guy was kind of troublesome.â
Since she was going to be a Priest of Towan, she couldnât accept his heart, no matter how much she liked her. Sheâd told him that many times, and yet he was still unable to understand her words.
It seemed like Adriana hadnât gotten into a fight with them, but sheâd still had some trouble with them.
âThings are probably really difficult for you, too. If anything happens, then tell meâŠâ
This didnât only apply to the Orbis Class, Adriana was in a position where she couldnât accept anyoneâs love, even if she liked them.
âUhm⊠that might be a bit troublesome. So⊠While I do think of you as a friend, I want us to be a bit more cautious because others might think otherwise.â
Adriana was just reasonably comfortable with people of the opposite sex, but other people might believe that it was something more, so it seemed like I had unknowingly caused her harm. Her expression darkened slightly.
Adriana stretched her body.
âUrg⊠I just feel relaxed around you, junior. You donât seem like someone who has that kind of interest in me.â
âYou can tell?â
âOf course, itâs obvious.â
Adriana smiled at me.
Iâd thought she was just nice and pleasant to everyone, but that was the first time I realized that she was actually quite the careful person in regards to those kinds of things.
Was it because I hadnât been showing any signs that I was trying to get closer to her more than we already were?
Adriana smiled, seeming lonely as she was fiddling with her canteen.
âIf someone I thought of as a precious friend tried to be more than just that⊠What should I do in that situationâŠ?â
She wouldnât be able to accept their love.
A situation in which she just wanted to stay as friends while the other party didnât.
It seemed like Adriana found herself in that kind of situation at the moment.
âPretending to not notice their feelings⊠would be bad, right?â
That seemed to be a separate matter from what happened with the Orbis Class.
Someone liked her, but that person was a very precious friend to Adriana. They couldnât be anything more than friends, and she also didnât want them to be anything else.
However, Adriana seemed unable to decide whether it would be right to pretend that she didnât notice the other personâs feelings or not.
âThat would be bad indeed.â
I answered curtly before I took a sip from the canteen as well.
Did I really mean those words that I spoke to Adriana?
I didnât know.
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator â KonnoAren
Proofreader â ilafy
* * *
Thereâs a saying that even ten bodies arenât enough to get everything done.
It meant that one was just that busy.
To be honest, I didnât even need ten.
I wished I had just three, no more or less.
One placed at the Rotary Gang, one located in Temple, and one for my private life.
Spending some personal time was necessary because, in the end, my human relations within Temple were very important as well, so I couldnât just neglect them. I didnât know if I could solve everything with my own strength alone. However, nothing like that was possible.
Of course, splitting myself into three was impossible, even with âAdditional Settingsâ, so I had to do everything myself.
I had to live such a damn hard life, even though no one asked me to.
No, but honestly, if someone actually asked me to do all that, I donât think I would work as hard as I was.
I entered the dormitory of Class B because of my work for the Magic Research club. Harriet and Adelia were the only ones with magic majors in Class A. I wasnât in charge of persuading Adelia because that was Harrietâs job.
What I planned on doing was talking to the two students with magic majors from Class B and number B-2, Louis Ancton.
Louis Ancton once helped me to prepare for the midterm exams in our first semester, though Iâd half-forced him.
âHey, itâs been a while, right?â
âUhm, Ah⊠Reinhardt. Ehm, yesâŠâ
Louis Ancton, that nerd, still stiffened when he saw me. Honestly, I had never done anything to him. I had just asked him to study together, and I hadnât said anything harsh to him or tried to blackmail him.
âIâm going to make you an amazing offer.â
ââŠHuh?â
âSo come to the magic lab. Bring Anna and Christina as well.â
âHuuuh?â
Damn it. Although I didnât really bother him, whoâd like a guy who talked to people in such a commanding tone?
WellâŠ
To be honest, it was a lot easier to just act like that than to give detailed explanations every time. When I said, âHey! Give that to me!â theyâd just give it, and when I said, âHey! Do this!â theyâd just do it.
It was very comfortableâŠ
It seemed like I had already long passed the point of no return.
I just couldnât help it anymoreâŠ
*Â *Â *
There were two students with magic majors in Class B:
B-5, Christina, who had a talent in Alchemy and Enchantment.
B-6. Anne de Gerna, who had a talent in Black Magic.
Then there was B-2. Louis Ancton, who didnât have a magic-related talent but studied it.
Enchantment was a very expensive field of magic, as I heard from Harriet. It was a magic system that wouldnât be taught easily and whose methods were strictly guarded.
However, that didnât mean that it was a rare type of magic or that it was a higher-ranking magic system.
A-7 Adelia had talents in summoning and magic crafting. While enchanting was merely used to enchant objects, magic crafting was used to create machines powered by magic. A typical example would be the mana train or the warp gates.
Magic crafting was a higher-level magic system that couldnât even be compared to the field of enchantment.
Of course, Harriet, who had a talent for magic in and of itself, held the absolute best talent among all magic-related talents.
So, what was unique about No. 6 Anna de Gerna?
Her talent was black magic.
While it was quite the insidious and evil type of magic, there were black magicians among the teachers in Temple. Not every part of black magic was used to curse others after all. They were simply studying the field of magic and science called black magic.
âSo. Erm⊠I bought them.â
âOh, well done. You did a great job, man.â
ââŠâ
Anyway, Louis Ancton went to Class Bâs magic lab with the other two, just as I told him. I could see Louisâ expression slightly stiffen when I told him he did well.
It seemed like he felt slightly humiliated, totally being treated like my henchman like that. No, but I really just meant that he did a great job, though.
While they both had seen my face before, we hadnât spoken with each other.
Neither of them had any idea for what reason I called them there, so they were rather curious as well as bewildered, each in their own way.
However, the most important thing was that they came, even though it was some guy that they werenât even close to whoâd called them.
In the end, I was still of the opinion that first impressions were very important. I hadnât done anything like that before ever since Iâd acted like a rabid dog in our first semester.
After the second semester had begun, Iâd stayed quiet, except for that time where I sparred with a student from the Orbis Class during my Swordsmanship Classes. Of course, there were still rumors about my unusual actions in the Darklands floating about.
However, that was vastly different from acting like a scumbag.
Anyway, both of them came when I said that I was looking for them, and I donât know what I would have done if they hadnât.
Christina wore a pair of glasses on her nose and had her orange hair tied in braids. She was wearing a white robe, which looked similar to the gown worn by doctors, with various stains on it. Some of them could be presumed to come from drug ingredients, and others appeared to be dirt.
It was quite well known that her clothes would always appear like that because she frequently dealt with alchemical reagents as well as plants and herbs.
Anna de Gerna didnât give off the same gloomy feeling as Dettomolian that made me want to ask if he was okay. Her eyes just seemed somewhat hollow all the time. She had black hair, black eyes, and wore a black robe. Her skin was a little pale, however.
If Dettomolian seemed like a Skeleton, then she seemed likeâŠ
A Vampire who really needed a blood bag.
Even Eleris didnât have that bad a complexion.
She seemed slightly sickly with her somewhat pale skin. If one was looking for an example of a pretty girl that exuded a very dark aura, that would be her.
Anyway, all of them were staring at me.
âI didnât make you come here to cuss you out or something. This is your dormitory. Just sit down, guys.â
I was trying to talk nicely, but I ended up uttering commands again.
What the fuck?
Did I get too used to that? Was Reinhardtâs personality, the embodiment of the saying, âStrong against the weak and weak against the strongâ, ingrained in my body?
All of them, including Louis Ancton, sat down.
Those guys all had pretty different personalities.
Class B was the main focus of the story and all descriptions, so I knew all the characteristics of each individual character. Of course, Iâd gotten to know the guys from Class A better as well.
Louis Ancton was a man who had a great sense of superiority and an idiot who looked down on anyone who was dumber than him to the point that he would even ignore them.
Christina was bright, cheerful, and curious.
Anna de Gerna gave off a rather ghastly and gloomy vibe, but she was actually not that bad.
However, in front of the supervillain that seemed to be me, all three of them froze up like mice before a cat, even though they all had different personalities.
Oh well, it was a good thing, I guess.
It was a lot easier to talk to them when they were calm like that.
âDo you guys have any thoughts of creating something like a magic research group?â
ââŠMagic research group?â
ââŠ?â
â?â
All of them seemed rather perplexed because they never expected that these words would ever come out of my mouth.
I was pretty sure that they were seeing me as some kind of super villain, but I wasnât actually planning anything villainous or anything, all I did was plan things to make those guys successful later on.