Trine’s dormitory room.
On the cramped floor, five male students were pressed close together, heads gathered.
"It’s so small, I don’t think I can write everything..."
"Somehow manage it with grit..."
"Aaagh! The letters smeared! I have to write it again..."
At that, Cat, who was sitting on the bed with her chin propped in her hand, murmured,
"Cheat sheets from the knight department, huh?"
Beside her, Muscle replied with his arms crossed.
"There were circumstances, so it could not be helped."
After returning from the Romer Empire, only one week remained until the exams.
It was a dangerous enough situation that if they did not cheat, they might truly be in trouble.
In the end, the male students had conspired among themselves and decided to do this.
Trine looked back at Cat and asked,
"Only I can see this paper, right?"
"If you are curious, pass it around to the person beside you."
At that, Prince Sirean took Trine’s note on his own and examined it.
"Hmph. Impressive."
At that, the other male students exchanged their notes with one another.
"Whoa! Someone else’s note really just looks blank!"
"We can do it with this!"
"As expected of the righteous thief Cat!"
For reference, Cat and Muscle had decided to live in Trine’s room together for a while.
Originally, servants were forbidden from entering the Academy.
However, Trine was an upstart noble who did not even have a territory, let alone a house.
In the end, he had gone through some trouble to get permission for the two of them to stay with him.
In any case, while the male students were diligently writing their cheat sheets...
Suddenly, Lizbette stormed into Trine’s room.
The boys hurriedly hid their notes,
But Lizbette noticed and suspiciously looked around.
"What is this atmosphere? Hurry up and confess what you are hiding."
At that, Cat said without hesitation,
"They said they were making cheat sheets."
At that, the students screamed in protest.
"Hey, Cat!"
"How could you tattle on us like that?!"
"That was low of you!"
When Lizbette struck the door with her fist, a crack appeared in it.
"Hand them all over, you disgraced the knight department."
When the male students grew frightened and handed over their cheat sheets, Lizbette tore all the notes apart on the spot.
"From now on, I will personally supervise your studying."
While the male students screamed all at once at those words, Trine grumbled quietly to Cat.
"How could you betray us like that?"
"It is all for your sake, you idiot."
"To betray male friendship like this. That is seriously too much."
At that, Cat stood and kicked Trine hard between the legs without warning.
"I am a woman, you stupid master!"
Trine rolled across the floor in agony.
Then he soon glared resentfully at Cat and asked back,
"You were a woman?"
"Just how stupid do you have to be to only realize that now?"
"You never acted like a woman even once. No, more importantly, if that was the case, you should have asked for a separate room!"
"For what?"
"What?"
Beside them, Muscle replied,
"Cat has been sleeping mixed in with others anywhere and everywhere all this time, so she lacks awareness about that kind of thing."
Lizbette placed a hand on Cat’s shoulder and said,
"Then from now on, Cat will sleep in my room with me."
"Hm? I do not really mind."
"By the way, Cat, how old are you?"
"I am twenty-two."
"...What?!"
"For reference, Muscle is one hundred and ten."
At those words, everyone’s expressions went blank.
The fact that Cat was a woman was shocking too,
But until now, they had thought the two were around the same age.
They knew other races had different concepts of age, but they had never expected it to be to this extent.
Lizbette cleared her throat once and said,
"In any case, prepare yourselves. I will correct your lax minds for the time being."
While the students began screaming again,
Lizbette stared intently at Trine.
"Especially you, Trine. You absolutely have to take first place in the entire school."
"...Right."
In truth, he had no intention of taking first place in the entire school.
He had no desire to dance in Princess Sia’s palm.
A score just good enough not to stand out would be plenty.
That was why he secretly began plotting to ruin his exams.
***
One week later, the day after the final exams ended.
Instructor Eloy roughly set the exam papers down on the lectern and smiled.
"Congratulations! The knight department is first place."
The students, especially the male students, all cheered at once.
"Yes!"
"Mom, I did it!"
"I have no regrets even if I die now..."
In a sense, their reaction was even more intense than when they had saved Princess Sia.
Lizbette’s Spartan-style studying had continued until three in the morning every day.
Those hellish days had finally ended.
"I am proud that all of you finished beautifully. As promised, there will be no homework at all during vacation!"
The students cheered even louder.
"On top of that, as expected of the class representative. You splendidly took first place in the entire school."
Trine sprang to his feet in shock.
"That cannot be true!"
Instructor Eloy shrugged and replied,
"It seems the other instructors pitied you over the broken engagement and gave you generous scores."
"No, is that even allowed? And there should have been answers in history and magic that I wrote halfheartedly!"
Instructor Eloy cleared her throat once, then began reading Trine’s exam paper on her own.
Explain why the Altoria Kingdom and the Romer Empire are still in a cold war.
Because both nations’ royals have rotten personalities.
"That is obviously a zero-point answer!"
"They said they had never seen such a bold answer in their lives and gave you full marks."
Discuss the most efficient method for dispelling a magic barrier.
Smash it apart with a sword.
"This one truly should not have made any sense as an answer!"
"You have a record of actually smashing apart Benheim’s barrier, so they must have counted it as full marks."
Trine sank down, clutched his head, and screamed.
The questions he had deliberately answered incorrectly to adjust his score had received full marks.
In the end, his petty trick had backfired completely.
In the middle of that, Prince Sirean glared at Trine beside him and murmured,
"Royals have rotten personalities? Should I tell Sia?"
"Do whatever you want."
For reference, Prince Sirean did not believe Princess Sia’s declaration that she had broken off the engagement.
Princess Sia still seemed to like Trine too.
It was surely a temporary deception to avoid political issues.
Or perhaps the damn king had threatened her.
Rather, he suspected that Trine was the one acting strangely.
Instructor Eloy set down the exam paper and said,
"Vacation starts tomorrow and lasts one month, so enjoy yourselves. Be careful not to do anything too stupid as members of the knight department."
"Yes."
"And as you all know, five days from now, a celebration party for Princess Sia’s complete recovery will be held at the royal palace."
Instructor Eloy took a bundle of letters from her pocket, showed it to them, and grinned.
"The princess personally sent invitations to all of you."
At that, the students began cheering again.
Only Trine was wearing a somewhat subtle expression when a familiar woman’s voice sounded in his head.
'What will you do?'
'If you do not keep your distance from Princess Sia, you will be dragged around more and more, you know?'
'You have to save Lady Yuril, Master.'
At the voice of the grimoire Hwaran inside his clothes, Trine replied in a quiet voice,
"It has been a very long time since you spoke to me."
'That was my consideration so I would not interfere with your studies.'
'Do you even know how bored I was?'
"For someone saying that, you were openly snoring away all day long."
'Be quiet.'
'In any case, do not change the subject.'
'What will you do now?'
"What can I do? If I openly run away from Princess Sia, I have no idea what she might do instead."
'Perhaps you have actually fallen for Princess Sia too, Master?'
At those words, Trine’s heart began pounding violently.
He had remembered the confession from that night again.
I love you. So prepare yourself from now on.
Trine desperately shook his head and denied it.
"Do not worry. For now, I am also working on a plan to make Princess Sia dislike me."
'That makes me even more worried instead.'
Just then,
Muscle suddenly entered the classroom carrying a battered Cat over his shoulder.
The students all stopped tormenting Trine at once and looked at Cat.
Startled, Trine asked,
"What happened?"
"Well, Cat got into a scuffle with a clerk at Quitz Apothecary."
At that, Cat stomped her feet and shouted,
"That bastard insulted the Master, calling him a pathetic bastard who cooked porridge just to hand it to someone else!"
Jize walked toward the classroom door with a solemn expression and said,
"Everyone, let us go."
Trine asked Jize,
"What? Where all of a sudden?"
"Is it not obvious? Anyone who insults our hero class representative is an enemy of us all."
At those words, all the other male students rose and followed Jize.
Even Prince Sirean.
While the female students stared at them as if they were pathetic, Trine shouted,
"Calm down! Instructor, please stop them!"
Instructor Eloy picked at her ear and said,
"What did you say? My ears have not been working well lately."
***
Quartz Apothecary was an old apothecary in the village in front of the Academy.
The Academy had procured most of its medicinal ingredients from here.
Originally, it was a shop run by an elderly couple, but they had said it had closed for a few weeks after they recently retired.
When the male students arrived in front of Quartz Apothecary, they all began loosening their shoulders like gangsters.
Having given up on stopping them, Trine sighed and said,
"Please, do not overdo it."
At that, Jize shouted,
"Everyone heard that, right? The class representative orders us to thoroughly teach them a lesson!"
Led by Jize, the students swarmed into the apothecary.
These guys were clearly only teasing Trine.
The stress that had built up because of exam studying probably played a part too.
That was why Trine thought it would be nothing serious and planned to leave them be, but...
A pointlessly loud sound came from inside the shop.
"What the hell are those bastards doing..."
Just as Trine tried to enter the shop-
"Aaagh!"
Jize was suddenly thrown out of the shop.
Startled, Trine ran to Jize and asked,
"What happened?!"
"That clerk... is insanely strong..."
When Trine looked inside the apothecary,
For some reason, all the other male students had also collapsed.
And in the middle of those fallen male students stood one young female clerk.
A white kerchief and apron over black hair,
A face that somehow seemed strong-willed compared to her small build.
She had an extremely pretty face, but there was something uncomfortable about her.
While Trine stared blankly, the clerk glared at him and said,
"Are you a customer, or are you a gangster like these boys?"
Trine took one deep breath and forced himself to smile as he answered,
"I am sorry. I think my friends got a little excited."
"Then would you help clean up?"
Trine helped Prince Sirean stand.
"Are you all right?"
"Tch. That bastard is definitely stronger than a manticore."
Trine swallowed dryly.
No matter what, saying she was stronger than a monster was probably an exaggeration, but...
"Do not ever come here again."
The clerk grabbed two male students at the same time and flung them outside.
For now, unlike her appearance, her raw strength definitely seemed absurd.
After sending Prince Sirean outside, Trine said to the clerk,
"Um, I am truly sorry in many ways."
With her arms crossed, the clerk sneered,
"To charge in as a group because your subordinate got hurt. You have become quite the gang boss, hero."
"That is a misunderstanding! I absolutely did not order them to do this!"
"Even your excuses are feeble. No wonder the princess you went through all that trouble to save dumped you."
Trine took one deep breath, then carefully asked again,
"Do you perhaps dislike me?"
"If you have no business here, please leave."
"Um, then as an apology, may I buy ten mana potions?"
Trine was no longer a pauper.
After he had half-forcibly become a baron, he began receiving ten gold every month.
He did not really have anywhere to spend it right now,
And for the time being, he wanted to make peace with this clerk if possible.
"Three gold per bottle."
"What? It is that expensive? The Academy sells them for one gold."
The clerk stared at Trine’s face for a moment before opening her mouth.
"If you rely on potions, your body will gradually break down."
"I know that, but my mana is seriously low, so sometimes I need to use them-"
"You, in particular, seem to have a major disorder in your mana, so it is not good for you to force yourself to use it."
The clerk took out a small wooden box from a shelf and handed it to Trine.
"I will give you this instead. They are tea leaves that help natural mana recovery."
"Ah, thank you."
"They also have a stimulant effect, so do not abuse them too much."
"How much are they?"
"Thirty silver coins."
Trine scratched his head once and took a wallet from his pocket.
One hundred silver coins equaled one gold coin. In other words, it was one-tenth the price of a mana potion.
To go out of her way to worry about Trine’s body and sell him a cheaper product...
Maybe, unexpectedly, she did not dislike Trine that much?
As Trine handed the coins to the clerk, the shop door opened and a customer came in.
"One mana potion, please."
"Fifty silver coins."
Until the customer exchanged coins for a potion and left the shop again, Trine stood there dumbfounded.
Fifty silver coins meant half of one gold coin.
In other words, it was six times lower than the price she had quoted Trine.
It seemed she really did hate Trine terribly after all.
The clerk irritably said to Trine, who was standing there blankly,
"If you have nothing else to buy, leave."
"Yes, no..."
"Do not ever come here again."
Without warning, the clerk shoved Trine outside.
Then the door closed with a loud bang.