Delusions and Reality
Looking back on it now...
...And with that, I expect this year at the academy to pass without any major issues. The end.
I set my pen down in my dormitory room.
I had just written a letter to my father, asking him to cancel all the arranged marriage meetings set up for me.
I informed him that I had begun dating Lilit Tistina, the daughter of the Tistina family, with marriage in mind.
I also mentioned that Seraphina Serion of the Serion family had offered to help me with my wedding.
To avoid any misunderstandings, I simply reported the facts exactly as they had happened.
Especially regarding Seraphina, I wrote down our entire conversation word for word.
Of course, I left out the part where Lilit and I had made a drunken mistake and spent the night together.
No matter how close you are with your family, some things just shouldn't be put in a letter.
After finishing my workout—a staple of my daily routine—I had returned to the dormitory, finished organizing the letter detailing everything that had happened, and sent it off.
It would take some time to reach my hometown, but I could expect a reply within two weeks to a month.
So much had happened in the mere three days since I returned to the academy from my hometown.
I had met Lilit Tistina, become her lover, and even shared a bed with her.
On top of that, Seraphina Serion had promised to help me arrange my wedding.
Somehow, I had ended up drawing the intense interest of two of the main heroines from the original game.
Even thinking about it now, it felt utterly surreal.
In the original game, none of the five main heroines showed any real affection toward anyone other than the protagonist.
Lilit Tistina drew a strict line as a friend with everyone else.
Seraphina Serion ignored anyone she deemed incompetent, and even to those she acknowledged, she showed only the bare minimum of courtesy.
Yet, those very girls... were showing an bizarre amount of affection toward me.
...It felt a bit late, but now that I had regained the memories of my past life, I needed to compare the events of the original game with what had actually transpired so far.
My actions before regaining those memories might have unconsciously influenced the game's scenario.
You might think, Isn't that the first thing you should do when you get your past-life memories back?
But since the original protagonist was resolving the incidents according to the scenario, I had assumed his relationships with the other heroines were progressing naturally as well, so I hadn't paid much attention.
Besides, I was just a minor extra. I had dismissed the idea that my actions could alter the plot in any significant way.
Anyway, let's look back and review what had happened so far.
First, let's start with the major events of the first year.
A group of black mages, instigated by the mastermind behind the scenes, launched a terror attack during the academy's entrance ceremony.
The protagonist, Marc Visus, resolved the crisis by personally taking down the leader of the black mages.
This incident progressed in a manner very similar to the original scenario.
I could say this with absolute certainty because I was directly caught up in it.
Having unintentionally ended up at the epicenter of the attack, I personally witnessed the leader wearing a robe engraved with red patterns.
And although I didn't see the final blow myself, countless people testified that they saw his head roll to the ground under Marc Visus's sword.
If there was one difference, it was that the incident was publicly credited to Marc's heroics.
In the original game, due to the chaos of the event and Marc's unassuming attitude, the achievement wasn't officially recorded as anyone's specific merit and was buried.
For some reason, however, this time there were many eyewitnesses who saw Marc execute the leader.
This resulted in Marc gaining fame much earlier than in the original story...
Well, aside from Marc becoming a bit more arrogant, the fact that he resolved the incident remained unchanged, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Next was the midterm exam: the dungeon conquest test.
The dungeon was supposed to be a low-risk, F-rank dungeon suitable for an exam. In reality, it was a high-level dungeon closer to C-rank, and the students were soon trapped inside, facing grave danger.
In the original game, the protagonist successfully cleared the dungeon and saved the students, gaining immense fame and growing significantly stronger in the process.
Furthermore, reaching the deepest part of that dungeon yielded several artifacts that were highly beneficial for character growth.
Thanks to that, the event in the original game served as a massive opportunity to power up.
But if I had to compare the original story with what actually happened... honestly, I couldn't say for sure.
After all, I was trapped in the dungeon myself, busy fighting for my own survival, so I didn't know what the protagonist was up to.
Still, once the dungeon was cleared, Marc was the first to escape, and he claimed to have slain the dungeon boss himself.
So, I assumed this event also went according to the original plot.
And finally, the mock combat exam held at the end of the semester.
The academy's Knight Academy and Magic Academy gathered in one place for a tournament-style duel.
If they wished, students could directly challenge a specific opponent.
In the game, this event was crucial. Depending on how much the player had trained Marc Visus, the main heroines' affection levels would either skyrocket or plummet.
Crucially, by dueling Seraphina Serion, who appeared as the final boss of the exam, Marc's affection with her would rise significantly regardless of whether he won or lost.
Hmm... There might have been a slight variable during this event.
Because, shortly before the exam, a massive argument broke out between Marc and Seraphina.
If I recalled correctly, Marc, whose ego had inflated to the heavens, made an accidental slip of the tongue during a conversation with Seraphina.
I didn't know the exact details, but apparently, Marc, who had easily defeated Seraphina in the past, made an insulting remark to her.
The fault lay entirely with Marc, but because he had resolved the previous two incidents and possessed unrivaled fame within the academy, public opinion turned against Seraphina instead.
Unable to ignore this situation due to my meddlesome nature, I ended up challenging Marc as my duel opponent.
It was a truly foolish move.
Challenging Marc, whom even Seraphina couldn't defeat at the time.
Naturally, I lost.
From the very start, I was utterly overwhelmed by his sword strikes, barely managing to hold on using magic, and only managed to land a single clean hit right at the end of the duel.
However, there was a slight anomaly. Seraphina, who had been overwhelmingly defeated by Marc before the exam, actually beat him in the final match of the tournament and claimed victory.
Regardless, Seraphina watched Marc Visus perform exceptionally throughout the exam, and he reportedly apologized for his previous insulting remarks afterward.
In the original game, even if you lost to the final boss Seraphina, her affection would rise as she offered to train you.
So even though Marc lost this time, Seraphina's affection for him must have increased.
In the end, it could be said that things progressed according to the original scenario.
Summarizing it like this, it seemed there were no major deviations, at least among the first-year events.
Other than that, there was the matter of the main heroines...
Looking back, even before regaining my past-life memories, I had been involved with the original main heroines in various ways.
Just like in my previous life, I was born with a meddlesome, almost pushover-like nature.
Of course, that didn't mean I had any deep relationships with them, so there was no room for misunderstanding.
To a mere extra like me, they were far out of my league.
I had neither the talent nor the background to reach them.
We had simply crossed paths through minor incidents, forming connections and maintaining friendships.
I had helped Lilit Tistina build up the courage to confess to the protagonist, Marc Visus.
I had given advice to Seraphina Serion when she was troubled over her duel with Marc.
I got involved with Elisio Gremlina during the black mage terror attack at the entrance ceremony.
And Isabella Kshatri and I crossed paths after she struck up a conversation, claiming my way of casting magic was unusual.
As for Princess Tiara Altarion, we had only shared a few casual encounters.
...
No matter how much I thought about it, I hadn't done anything to deeply involve myself in their lives.
Even now, with my past-life memories returned, that fact remained unchanged.
At best, we were just close friends.
Besides, most of the incidents I mentioned involved me unilaterally helping them.
There was absolutely no way they would harbor romantic feelings for me.
...Wait.
But didn't I just become lovers with Lilit Tistina, one of those very girls?
And Seraphina Serion had been acting strangely nice to me too...
...
Hmm...
Re-evaluating the situation, a slight sense of unease crept over me.
Of course, being liked by the main characters was better than being hated, but there were limits.
Surely... Seraphina Serion... and the other main heroines besides Lilit...
They couldn't possibly be harboring secret feelings for me, right?
Could my past actions have unconsciously charmed them, ultimately making them fall in love with me, Rofel Teufel?
...
Pfft.
I quickly snorted at the thought.
Becoming lovers with Lilit Tistina was certainly a big deal, but that didn't rewrite the past, nor did it suddenly grant me some irresistible charm.
To them, I was probably just one of many acquaintances and friends—someone slightly easier to talk to than others.
For people who possessed both status and talent from the moment they entered the academy to think of me as special?
Talk about delusional, I thought, swallowing a bitter laugh.
Just as my face was flushing red with embarrassment over my silly delusion—
Tap, tap.
Two birds, one black and one red, were tapping on my window, each clutching a letter in its beak.
Puzzled, I opened the window and took the letters.
Once the black bird saw that I had received the letter, it scattered glowing dust from its wings and flew away. The red bird flew off and vanished into a portal that opened in a distortion of space.
Both letters were wrapped in luxurious envelopes, stamped with the seals of noble families.
One had a dark black and yellow swirling pattern, and the paper carried a strange, medicinal scent.
The other was engraved with an elegant, red-toned pattern powered by magic.
Contrary to their extravagant packaging, the contents of both letters were quite ordinary.
They asked if I had returned safely to the academy from my family's estate, how I had been doing, and suggested we meet up soon.
To an outsider, they might look like typical letters from friends checking in.
But the senders were anything but ordinary.
Rofel,
Did you return safely from your estate? I hope you have been well. Let us meet up soon...
— Eli
To Rofel,
Have you arrived back at the academy? I trust you are doing well. We should meet up in the near future.
— Isabella
The genius alchemist, Elisio Gremlina.
And the prodigy of the Magic Academy and daughter of the Magic Tower Lord, Isabella Kshatri.
Both were daughters of families deeply involved in the founding of the academy, and both were main heroines in the original game.