Weekends at Witmore Academy had a relatively freer atmosphere compared to weekdays. But that did not mean students were allowed to leave the academy grounds without permission. If they wanted to go out, they had to submit an application stating their reason to the dormitory supervisor and have it approved.
Because of that, once the weekend came, students could be seen in all sorts of forms. First, in the dormitory, they were divided into those who leisurely slept in and those who chatted with friends in the lounge.
The slightly more active students played sports like soccer on the training field or walked around the school grounds with their friends.
Students who were faithful to academy life tended to go to the library and study, while students from the Department of Swordsmanship or Department of Magic sometimes practiced individually at the training grounds. This individual practice was usually allowed only for third- and fourth-year students. Students from the Production Department sometimes shut themselves up in the laboratory and devoted themselves to researching magical tools.
Chester had also started his day early and had just arrived at the training ground. In some sections, students who appeared to be fourth-years were already absorbed in practice. Chester took a spot in an empty section and brought out practice magic dummies to set them up.
A magic dummy was one of the magical tools made by the Production Department, created for Department of Magic students to practice magic. The dummy was structured so it would not fall unless a certain amount of magic was poured into it, making it perfect for the most basic practice.
After arranging the dummies at regular intervals, Chester slowly closed his eyes. When he focused the magic circulating evenly inside his body into his hands, blue sparks leapt up around him.
He immediately kicked off the ground and began attacking the dummies with fists wrapped in current.
Most mages had a main technique they used—in other words, a primary attribute—and among them, Chester’s primary attribute was lightning.
Among the basic attribute magic broadly divided into fire, water, wind, lightning, ice, and earth, lightning was considered difficult to handle, but Chester used it freely and knocked the dummies down one by one.
It took him a little over two minutes in total to completely subdue the ten dummies he had set up. He had dealt with, at a fearsome speed, dummies that would not fall unless they received a fixed amount of magic damage. As Chester let out a slightly quickened breath, applause sounded from far away.
“Wow, amazing! As expected of the top third-year student?”
It was the fourth-year seniors who had been practicing in another section. They whistled at Chester and said he was amazing, but in truth, their tone was closer to mockery. But when Chester did not give them even a glance, they clicked their tongues at the same time.
“Acting so rude when he’s just a junior…….”
“Hey, be quiet. What are you going to do if he hears you?”
“Must be nice. Duke Callaway’s son, and he’s even talented. Why is the world this unfair?”
“But his personality is rude. If you look at it that way, he doesn’t have everything.”
The fourth-year seniors snickered. They probably thought they were speaking quietly, but unfortunately, Chester’s hearing was good, so he heard it all.
Chester was famous and popular in many ways, but that did not apply to everyone. Like those students just now, there were also many who did not look kindly on Chester’s very existence. But none of that could do any damage to him.
Rather than wasting time caring about things like that, it was more beneficial to practice more or read one more page of a book.
“…….”
Chester stood blankly and stared down at his palm. I have to become the best at everything. That was what he had been taught. No, that was the only thing he had been taught. Just as that thought was ruling his mind, the training room door opened once more. Thinking it might be the seniors from earlier, he turned his head, but the one who entered was unexpectedly Ruite.
Ruite came inside and began looking around broadly, blinking his large eyes slowly. In the sunlight shining from behind him, his low-saturation silver hair looked especially bright.
It was the first time Chester had run into Ruite at the training ground on a weekend. Just as he began to wonder whether Ruite had followed him under the pretext of practice, Ruite slowly approached.
“Chester, have you seen Dylan?”
“Dylan?”
“Ah, maybe you don’t know who he is? He’s my friend from the Department of Swordsmanship, with curly hair…… Mm, his face is ordinary, so it’s hard to describe him…….”
“The one who steals your food every day at the dorm cafeteria?”
“Yeah, right. But has the fact that he steals my food spread all the way to you?”
At the tone that seemed to ask, you knew that too? Chester’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“He didn’t come here.”
“Really? He said he’d be at the training ground…… Anyway, got it.”
As soon as he realized the person he was looking for was not there, Ruite turned around without lingering.
“You came all the way here just to look for that friend?”
“Yeah. He asked me to watch his practice from the perspective of a Department of Magic student. Otherwise, there’s no way I’d come to the training ground on this precious weekend.”
Then that meant he had not come out deliberately to create contact with Chester? Around the early days, not long after entering Witmore, Ruite had timidly followed Chester around. Chester remembered that even if Ruite did not follow him openly, he would keep watching from afar or try to create situations that were obviously disguised as coincidences with blatant lies.
But the way he had entered the training ground now truly only looked like he was searching for that friend named Dylan. Chester’s gaze touched the slightly sticking-up hair at the back of Ruite’s head.
“……Aren’t you too carefree?”
“Me?”
“You’ll be a fourth-year next year, and as soon as you graduate, you’ll have to take the mage exam, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do individual practice.”
“What’s this? You’re not even a professor, so why are you suddenly nagging me?”
At the word nagging, Chester’s eyebrow shook once again.
“Well, from the start, you only entered this academy because of me.”
“Huh? I entered the academy following you?”
Ruite pointed at himself, as though it was the first time he had heard of it. Tilting his head was a bonus. At that shameless attitude, Chester clicked his tongue softly.
He clearly remembered. It had been when discussions of political marriage between the two families were in full swing and flowing toward confirmation. As soon as Chester decided to advance into Witmore’s Department of Magic, he had heard that Ruite, the eldest son of House Everhart, had also decided to take the entrance exam because he wanted to follow him.
“Ah, right. I’m sure that was how it was back then.”
Ruite stroked his chin and nodded indifferently.
“What’s with that reaction? Were you trying to pretend you don’t remember now?”
“No. I remember.”
Ruite shook his head. Back then, of course, it had been before he transmigrated into Ruite from the original story, so the memory came to him a little slowly. Anyway, just how much did the original Ruite like Chester?
It made him feel like he understood a little more why Chester disliked the person called Ruite. If a political marriage partner he did not even like followed him into the academy, with Chester’s personality, he certainly might have been fed up.
“But I really had completely forgotten.”
At the words completely forgotten, Chester slightly furrowed his brow.
“Now that you mention it, I remember.”
“Do you really remember?”
“Of course. On the day of the entrance exam, didn’t you say it? When you saw me trying to enter after following you, you called me pathetic and stupid.”
“…….”
“Did you also tell me not to waste my life? How is it? I’m remembering properly, right?”
Ruite recited Chester’s words as plainly as they came to mind.
No matter how much he liked him, to think he had even followed him to the academy. He certainly seemed like a character who would later crave affection and go extremely dark. To think the signs had been there since childhood.
Come to think of it, not long after they entered the academy, Chester had openly made a cold expression every time he ran into Ruite, who had followed him. He had shown his discomfort without hiding it at all.
Since I transmigrated anyway, it would’ve been better if it had happened before entering the academy. Then I wouldn’t have done such a pathetic thing. If that had been the case, I could have avoided the ending where I die a little more easily and maintained a smooth relationship with Chester too.
Just then, the training ground door burst open and Dylan poked his head in.
“Ruite, you idiot. I knew you’d be in the wrong place. We agreed to meet at Training Ground One, not here.”
“You said Training Ground Three.”
“When did I say that? Don’t make it obvious you weren’t listening to me, and hurry up.”
I’m sure he said Training Ground Three. Ruite scratched his head with an expression that said he could not remember clearly. Then he left the training ground, leaving Chester standing there alone.