The day after the entrance ceremony—
There was no absurd entrance examination like the one yesterday.
After a simple breakfast, we were issued the Academy uniform, formal uniform, and training clothes.
The uniforms and formal wear were designed around navy and gold, giving them an elegant, old-fashioned appearance.
They had a certain sense of tradition to them.
Unlike the uniform of the Royal Magic Academy I had attended in my previous life, these clothes offered far greater freedom of movement.
Considering how often we would be moving our bodies here, I supposed that was only natural.
“Young Master. How do I look? Don’t I look rather handsome dressed like this? Hehe.”
Tyr had already changed into his uniform and came strutting proudly in front of me.
Tanned skin, short red hair, and a sturdy, muscular build.
Now that Tyr was wearing such an elegant uniform, he certainly gave off a very different impression from before.
“Hmm, how should I put it? You look like a very sturdy, compact potato with red hair growing out of it.”
“Oh? Is that a compliment?”
“Of course. Of course.”
I had never actually seen a potato like that, but if one existed, it would probably resemble Tyr.
Once we had completely changed into our uniforms, we headed back down to the auditorium for the remainder of the entrance examinations.
But looking at the schedule made me sigh repeatedly.
Lion Heart was truly an unforgiving place for its cadets.
How could the schedule for the first two days alone be this murderous?
No wonder thirteen of the original two hundred freshmen had already given up and gone home yesterday.
“Strength, agility, intelligence···. Why are there so many tests?”
“They’re determining our classes today. You remember, don’t you?”
“I remember. But since you enrolled as my attendant, you’ll be assigned to the same class as me anyway. Is the class itself really that important?”
The Magic Academy had classes too, but they were merely a way of dividing students while minimizing differences in ability, so they had never mattered that much.
Surely it would be the same here?
“The class itself may not be particularly important, but who ends up in the same class as you certainly is.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Like it or not, the classmates assigned today would be spending the next three years together.
Of course, no matter who ended up in my class, none of them would dare cause me serious harm.
I was the youngest son of the Seirin family, after all.
And even putting aside things like social status, I was already one of the finest mages on the continent at this point in time.
There was not much for me to fear.
No, I shouldn’t think that way.
Whatever happened, I needed to avoid using magic unless it was absolutely necessary.
“Ah, Young Master. That’s Miss Anna Camil ahead of us.”
When we arrived at the auditorium, Tyr cautiously pointed toward the front.
Sure enough, a girl who looked almost like a fairy was standing there in the Academy uniform.
A delicate face, long golden hair, and a somewhat petite stature gave her an adorable and refreshing charm.
If I had truly been a sixteen-year-old boy, there was no way I could have avoided taking an interest in her.
But with my mental age approaching fifty, looking at her merely felt like seeing the adorable young girl next door.
At that moment, Anna noticed us and lightly walked over.
Her steps were so light that she seemed to be walking on air.
But why did she look so familiar?
Had I met her in my previous life?
No, I shouldn’t have.
“I am Anna Camil of House Camil.”
Anna bent her knees slightly and offered a noble greeting.
Her manners were so refined and dignified that I could not find a single flaw.
I returned the greeting by bowing and placing my right fist against my left shoulder.
“I am Ruben Seirin of House Seirin.”
After receiving my greeting, Anna smiled so brightly that the surroundings seemed to light up.
“My, the youngest son of the Seirin family really did enroll here. I had heard the rumors, but I didn’t believe them.”
This girl….
Was she insulting me with a smile?
“Hahaha. Even rumors that sound like fantasies occasionally turn out to be true. But may I ask why you didn’t believe them?”
“Well, the Seirin family is traditionally famous for producing exceptional mages.”
Fair enough.
When one thought of the Seirin family, one inevitably thought of one of the Empire’s most prominent mage families.
If not for what had happened in my previous life, I would never have even glanced in the direction of a Warrior Academy.
But by the time this life reached its end, the image associated with the Seirin family would have changed considerably.
Because I would change it myself.
“There are exceptions everywhere. This time, I suppose I am that exception. Rather than becoming what my family wants me to be, I am simply walking the path I wish to follow. A person can truly call themselves a warrior only when they carve out their own path instead of following one that has already been decided for them.”
“Ah···.”
For some reason, Anna looked as though my words had struck her squarely in the chest, and she was unable to respond.
Perhaps, as expected of someone from a martial family, she simply was not very skilled with words.
“Then, Miss Anna Camil, I wish you excellent results in today’s remaining examinations as well. I hope we have another opportunity to speak.”
I offered a thoroughly courteous farewell and turned away.
Who knew?
If I maintained a good relationship with this cute, inarticulate young lady, perhaps she might eventually teach me House Camil’s Family Secret Technique.
Whether in the Empire or at the Academy, connections were everything.
There was nothing to gain from needlessly making enemies of other noble families.
* GROWL···.
Damn it.
How long had it even been since breakfast?
I was already starving again.
Ever since consuming the ‘White Blessing’ I had taken from Britz, I became hungry again almost immediately no matter how much I ate.
Was this a side effect?
Well, if this was the extent of the side effects, the ability was still more than worth it.
Still, it was inconvenient.
“What are we having for lunch today?”
“···He’s much braver than I expected.”
Anna Camil watched Ruben walk away with his attendant and did not understand why her cheeks were turning red.
All she could do was dwell on the deep impression left by what he had just said.
‘Not the path my family wants, but the path I want.’
She had never once considered such a thing.
Blessed with natural talent, she had carried the expectations of her entire family from an early age.
While other girls played house with dolls, Anna had used hers as pieces in mock strategy games on imaginary battlefields.
Growing up in such an environment, she had lived while constantly telling herself that walking the path of a warrior was simply her predetermined destiny.
She had believed that burden was the price nobles paid for living lives somewhat more comfortable and secure than those of commoners.
But Ruben, despite being born into a noble family far more prestigious than hers, had cast aside the burden of his family profession with his own hands.
At only sixteen.
The same age as her.
‘Perhaps he isn’t someone I should dismiss so lightly.’
She felt ashamed that she had subtly looked down on him simply because he came from the Seirin family.
At the same time, a strange tightness lingered in her chest.
What exactly was this feeling?
“My Lady. The Strength Test will begin shortly.”
At that moment, a female cadet approached Anna.
She stood nearly two heads taller than Anna, with black hair and an eyepatch covering her right eye, giving her a somewhat intimidating appearance.
Judging by the way she addressed Anna as ‘My Lady,’ she appeared to be Anna’s maid.
“Yes, Karen. By the way, what about what I asked you earlier? Did you find anything?”
Anna spoke while fanning her reddened face with one hand.
“Yes, My Lady. I asked as many cadets as possible, but there does not appear to be anyone named ‘Bob’.”
“That’s strange. I’m sure he said ‘Bob’.”
“I will investigate further.”
Karen, Anna’s maid, shifted her cold gaze toward Ruben’s back, which was already some distance away.
She was closer to a bodyguard than an ordinary maid and needed to examine every person who approached Anna.
‘Ruben Seirin. I’ll remember that name.’
Karen possessed good instincts, and something about his presence felt ominous.
Having added him to her list of people to watch, she had no intention of taking her eyes off Ruben from this point onward.
“Attention, incoming cadets. The second entrance examination, the Strength Test, will now begin.”
“Hmm. I expected this, but still.”
After all the examinations ended, I stared at my unimpressive report card while eating lunch.
I had received an S in intelligence and a C in every other physical attribute.
Even those C grades were only possible because of the absurd breakthroughs I had experienced yesterday.
With my original body, I obviously would have received an F.
‘Still, that’s disappointing.’
I had endured pain that felt like death itself to train my body, and the result was only a C.
I still had a very long way to go.
Damn it.
Britz had spoken about those flowers as though they were some extraordinary treasure.
Was this really how they were supposed to work?
No, that monstrous bastard looked as though he could move an entire mountain by himself.
So why was my physical ability still only at a C?!
Did mystical treasures discriminate between people too?!
Actually, that might make sense.
If this treasure truly strengthened the body, then naturally, someone born with a strong physique would benefit more from it.
Damn this cursed body.
Even after obtaining such an extraordinary treasure, I could not properly make use of it.
Moreover, this was humiliation I had never experienced in my previous life.
When I took the aptitude test at the Royal Magic Academy, I had received an S in every category.
Back then, everyone around me had envied and admired me….
No.
Thinking about that would not help.
I could never return to that path anyway.
The moment Archmage Ruben Seirin emerged once again, preventing the continent’s destruction would become impossible.
Every nation would devote itself to cultivating magic in order to counter an Empire that possessed an Archmage, and naturally, the balance between magic and the sword would collapse.
I steeled the resolve that had nearly weakened and looked at Tyr, who was sitting across from me with an extremely pleased expression.
“How did you do, Tyr?”
“Ah, I suppose I was lucky. Hehe.”
Looking at Tyr’s report card, I saw results that were almost the exact opposite of mine.
Every physical attribute was an A.
His intelligence was a C.
Well, that was certainly very Tyr-like.
“You’ll do well, Tyr.”
“Oh! You’ll do well in everything too, Young Master!”
He really was like a puppy.
If he had a tail, he would probably be wagging it furiously right now.
Anyway, once lunch ended, we would have a short period of free time before the evening banquet and class assignments began.
Since we had some free time, it might be a good idea to look around the Academy.
After finishing our meal, Tyr and I left the dining hall together.
I was wondering where we should explore first when an enormous shadow approached from behind.
THUD!
“Guh!”
What was that?
Did a rock hit me?
I stumbled forward from the tremendous impact, and a rough voice came from behind me.
“Oops! My mistake! You all right? A scrawny runt like you should watch where you’re going when you stagger around like that.”
Furious, I turned around.
A man built like a mountain was looking down at me with a malicious grin.
Two stupid-looking lackeys stood behind him.
He looked like the very embodiment of a typical piece of trash.
But the family crest embroidered on the chest of his uniform looked familiar.
Three spears piercing through a shield.
···House Slipel.
Come to think of it, his face looked somewhat familiar too.
Ah!
That was him!
Pan Slipel!
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
Tyr helped me upright and protested, but there was little meaning in an attendant objecting to the son of a count in the first place.
This was the Empire.
No matter how exceptional someone’s talent might be, social rank rendered them powerless.
“Shut up. What right does a lowly servant have to interrupt when a noble is speaking?”
THUD!
“Urgh···!”
As though determined to prove that very point, Pan brutally kicked Tyr in the side.
Tyr quickly blocked with his elbow, but perhaps because the blow had come from someone built like a mountain, he was still knocked back a considerable distance.
Naturally, my expression turned cold the moment I saw it.
“···So you were an insufferable bastard even when you were young.”
“What? What did you say?”
Pan Slipel would later become a magnificent knight known as the Empire’s Greatest Spear.
But even then, he had merely served as my Personal Knight.
Whenever we camped, I had even made him do punishment drills from time to time.
How nostalgic.
“Maybe it’s because you’re such a scrawny runt, but even your voice sounds like a mosquito buzzing. Ruben Seirin. I saw you talking to Anna Camil earlier. A weakling like you doesn’t even have the right to speak to real warriors like Anna and me. Understand?”
As he sneered, he repeatedly poked me in the forehead.
My mind nearly went blank with rage.
How long had it been since I had suffered humiliation like this?
Of course, this was a Warrior Academy.
It was a place where martial strength proved everything.
Moreover, my current fighting ability could reasonably be considered among the lowest of this year’s freshmen.
Perhaps Pan Slipel was even right.
Maybe I should be cautious about casually approaching a promising warrior like Anna.
But he had dared lay a hand on me and kick Tyr?
I still had the dignity of an Archmage to uphold.
There was no way I could simply let that pass.
This time, I looked directly into his stupid eyes and spoke clearly enough for everyone around us to hear.
“House Slipel truly has no manners. I suppose the rumors about your family being ignorant were accurate.”
Contrary to what he had expected, my defiant attitude drew a crazed smile across Pan Slipel’s face.
I could feel his anger radiating from him.
“Hahaha! You weak little brat from the Seirin family. Do you want to become a cripple on your second day at the Academy?”
“You certainly have mastered vulgar language. Throwing your weight around simply because you’re large makes you no different from some back-alley thug. In my eyes, you are no noble. Kneel, you uncouth brute.”
“···What?”
Pan Slipel immediately released a burst of killing intent.
Yes.
Even in the old days, you were far too easy to provoke, and it constantly caused you trouble.
What a simple-minded fellow.
“I don’t know why you decided to pick a fight with me, but this is a Warrior Academy, so let us settle it fairly with skill. I challenge you to a duel, Pan Slipel.”