Chapter 30
Chapter 30
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Lord First
>Chapter: 30
>Chapter Title: A Night of Counting Stars (4)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
*
Oswald was a freshman in the magic department. As most elves were.
Looking at the demographic distribution of Saint Yansk University, most elves were concentrated in the magic and music departments. It could be attributed to the inherent laziness of their race, which preferred not to engage in physical exertion.
In the morning, with classes in full swing, Ivan and Yujin were making their way to the magic department.
“Sir, I’ve been thinking.”
“Hm.”
“Isn’t it strange that there are no paladins in this world?”
It seemed this fellow had no intention of hiding the fact that he was a transmigrator anymore.
“I mean, for both of us, this world is already different from the original story. In a world with gods, divine spells, and knights, shouldn't it be common sense for paladins to exist?”
“Is there a need for a priest to wield a weapon?”
Ivan knew that the very position of a paladin was little more than a fantasy.
On Earth, paladins were knights who fought for their religious beliefs during the Crusades, so strictly speaking, they weren't priests. They hadn't been ordained. (And they were often incredibly secular.)
That wasn't to say there were no cases of ordained priests acting as knights, but they couldn't be called knights in that case. They were simply armed warrior monks.
This world was no different. The priests of this pre-modern era were fundamentally an elite class. They had to accumulate a wide variety of knowledge comparable to that of modern-day legal professionals.
Furthermore, if they took the three vows of ordination—poverty, chastity, and obedience—and received divine spells from a god, there was even less reason for them to get physical.
Why bother when they could strike harder than most knights with a single Smite spell without even getting up?
An ordained priest would never have to go to the front lines, so why would they?
On top of that, there was one more, even bigger reason.
In a world where personal gods actually existed, the authority held by a priest was beyond imagination. This was because one could not use divine spells without a virtuous character.
In other words, all priests in this world were fundamentally good. Surprisingly, it was true. And because this was common knowledge, priests were all held in immense social esteem.
Therefore, the only time they ever strapped on a sword and went to the front lines was during the war with the demons, and even then, they were never placed at the very forefront.
A knight who used divine spells was bound to be a fantasy.
After listening to the kind lesson from the 30-year veteran of this other world, Yujin clapped his hands and said.
“Then I’m the first, right?”
“…What?”
“I got a divine spell slot after I applied for the theology department! I don’t have many spells I can use yet, but it’s possible, isn’t it?”
And Yujin had a specialized passive called ‘Sword Mastery.’ Meaning, his skill with a sword was superior to others.
“So, a priest who can use divine spells and is also good with a sword… isn’t that a paladin? Wow, sir. I think I might be the founder of the paladin build.”
He wasn’t wrong. Ivan nodded and fell into thought for a moment.
A divine spell slot…?
“Can you perhaps learn other spells too?”
“It’s possible, but the experience point cost is so high I haven’t tried. Life is all about choosing where to focus, isn't it?”
Divine magic, sorcery, and swordsmanship. He could learn all three types of skills?
Ivan narrowed his eyes and looked at Yujin. A past conversation flashed through his mind.
-It’s good to learn anything! Except for magic. That’s just too difficult.
>-It’s a bit of a problem if the Hero can’t use magic.
>-Haha, I told you I’m in the knight department!
It was a conversation he’d had in passing with Isabelle.
The Hero’s daughter doesn't necessarily become the Hero, but what if one considered Maximilian's case?
‘He can use divine magic, sorcery, and swordsmanship, and he’s a transmigrator.’
Is this guy… the Hero?
Ivan looked down at Yujin with a complicated expression. Yujin was walking with a sycophantic grin.
“If I become a paladin, there’s one thing I’ve always wanted to say. You know, ‘Deus Vult!’ Man.”
Ivan, who had been thinking of Maximilian, shook his head. A world that needed this guy as its Hero was a world he could do without.
Ivan and Yujin soon arrived at the magic department’s lecture hall.
*
Oswald, who was in the middle of a lecture, suddenly felt an eerie chill run down his neck and flinched.
An intense gaze. Almost murderous—no, it was denser than that, filled with a thick greed…
It was Evelyn Rustfitz. The apple of the Privy Council Chairman's eye, the daughter of the Rustfitz ducal family, was glaring at him.
Oswald ground his teeth.
‘What do you want me to do…!’
He was a normal man in his twenties. This meant he had never read the so-called ‘female-oriented romance fantasies,’ often categorized as villainess stories.
So, he had absolutely no information about this novel.
Putting aside why he had been unceremoniously transmigrated into a novel he hadn't even read 30 chapters of.
He was in a situation where he had to survive in a world he knew nothing about, with no special transmigration perks.
‘I should’ve at least read some of those angsty obsession stories!’
He felt like pounding the ground and wailing. It wasn't that he'd never read novels that fell into the regret-misery-obsession genre, but that was a trope one could enjoy when it was just a story.
In the harsh reality of 21st-century South Korea, a situation where the heroine feels regret, misery, and obsession toward the protagonist is called something else.
Stalking. A form of dating violence serious enough to get the police involved!
In any case, this current situation.
The reason why Evelyn was glaring at him now.
It happened because Oswald had accidentally bumped into a female student in the hallway and had smiled and told her it was okay…!
‘Fuck, was I supposed to slap her across the face then?’
Unless one was a complete psychopath, one wouldn't do such a thing. Even if elves were a race plastered with arrogance, they didn't have such a culture.
They believed arrogance was another facet of nobility. Which meant they didn't engage in such vulgar acts. In other words, Oswald's response was considered common sense even in elven society…!
However, our dear Miss Evelyn, whose personality transcended the bounds of elven decency, didn't seem to think so.
“Alright, class was a bit dull, wasn't it? It can’t be helped, everyone. Wake up that sleeping student over there. Shall we take a ten-minute break and then continue?”
When the professor on the podium spoke with a warm smile, students stood up from their seats around the lecture hall, stretching.
Oswald also stood up naturally and headed for the hallway, avoiding Evelyn, who was still glaring at him as if she wanted to kill him.
This time, he would be very careful not to bump into any female students.
“Get him.”
“Yes, sir!”
Walking down the hallway, Oswald ended up bumping not into a female student, but into a group of transmigrators.
*
Oswald’s impression of them was simple. A duo of a madman and a lunatic.
Indeed, the young madman, a black-haired human youth with a sycophant's face who was constantly rubbing his palms together, said this as soon as he saw him.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Eastvelpen! I am Yevgeny, but in Korea, I was called Kim Yujin. And this is Ivan. I don’t know his Korean name, but he’s Korean!”
“…?”
“We know you’re a transmigrator. Don’t you need help?”
“…???”
Around which chapter was this event supposed to happen? At least in the parts he’d read, no other transmigrators had appeared…
The [Magic Genius the Villainess is Obsessed With] that Oswald had read wasn't like this. Of course, it didn't have this strange Russian setting either.
While he was momentarily lost in confusion, the old man introduced as Ivan spoke up.
“I know you’re surprised. But you, and we, need each other’s help. Could you spare us a moment?”
“Ah, yes… But how did you…?”
What was the most significant characteristic of a transmigrator? Naturally, it was hiding the fact that one had transmigrated.
Transmigration, simply put, is the act of taking over the body of someone who was already living. What would happen if you entered the body of someone whose family and friends were still alive and well?
At best, you'd be subjected to human experimentation; at worst, you'd be in danger of having your head lopped off by someone claiming you were the enemy of their son (or daughter).
This was a fact already proven by the countless transmigration clichés in Korea. To the family and friends, a transmigrator would be nothing but an enemy.
Therefore, after realizing he had transmigrated and spending an adequate amount of time in despair, Oswald had thoroughly concealed his identity.
So, it should have been perfect…?
“You weren’t very elf-like.”
“Excuse me…?”
“It’s rare for an elf to use honorifics.”
Except when addressing beings like the Saintess, the king of a nation, or someone of comparable status, elves don't use honorifics, even in official correspondence. Long-lived races are generally like that.
But this fellow had requested his admission documents from the administration office using polite speech. The moment Ivan heard this story, the word ‘transmigrator’ came to mind before the thought of a ‘polite and kind elf.’
Because the proposition of a polite and kind elf simply could not exist.
Having identified a transmigrator so naturally, Ivan had underlined Oswald's name and had been keeping an eye on him.
An elf who smiles and says it’s okay to a human classmate he bumped into while chatting with his friends around a corner?
Such a thing could not exist.
-Don’t monkeys also have forward-facing eyes? Are you perhaps a herbivore? Can't you see what's in front of you? Don't misunderstand, even vegetarians deserve some respect.
Isn't that what a typical elf would say to a rude human…?
Listening to Ivan’s explanation, Oswald’s expression gradually hardened.
What on earth was this old man talking about…?
Was this racism? To experience a feeling he'd never felt on Earth, and as an elf in another world at that, made his mind complicated…
“So, what was the story you read?”
“Ah, for reference, mine was [The Northern Duke's Delinquent Sword Genius]!”
“…Mine was [The Magic Genius the Villainess is Obsessed With]…”
“Oh, the regret-and-obsession genre. You must have transmigrated sometime after 2021, then?”
“It was May 2023.”
“Oh…!”
Oswald ignored Yujin, who was chattering away about his personal details, and turned his head to Ivan.
“Are there more transmigrators?”
“Probably.”
Yujin nodded gravely.
“Let’s go to the knight department.”
*
Yuri turned pale as she looked at the three men blocking her path.
There was a suspicious gardener with a towel around his neck, and next to him, a handsome, tanned man rubbing his palms together with a sycophantic smile…
“Hello? My name is Oswald from the magic department. I'm also a freshman. My major is Mind Sorcery, um, so it’s a mind-related field.”
And now a character with narrowed eyes who casually revealed that he used hypnosis magic had been added to the mix.
“You’re a transmigrator, right? I heard you’re Korean. Man, doesn't this feel like we should form a Seoul Hometown Association or something?”
The handsome, tanned man grinned and extended his hand.
“Hiiiek!!”
Yuri’s vision went dark!
*
The top student of the knight department, Yuri Franck.
>Yevgeny Novikov Karamzin, who studied theology and swordsmanship simultaneously.
>Oswald Eastvelpen from the magic department, majoring in Mind Sorcery.
>And Ivan Petrovich, a scout from the Annihilation Squad.
Ivan looked over the transmigrators gathered in the small club room and thought.
Isn’t this… the classic Hero’s party lineup?
*