Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Disciplinary Fallout
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The two of them kept up their psychological warfare until the students filed out.
When Elias just kept grinning creepily, a student from Class 1-A got chills first and bolted up from his seat.
“We’re leaving together, right? Huh? If we get disqualified now, it’ll be all your fault, so you should be the one accommodating me.”
“…….”
While keeping an eye on the Class 1-A jerk, I called out to Elias as he headed for the door.
“Elias.”
“Yeah~?”
There were four days left until the exam—three days, if you counted by hours.
The key would be whether they could salvage their wrecked teamwork and showcase their skills in that time.
Of course, with Elias, I had zero worries.
“Do your best. I’m looking forward to it.”
Elias’s lips curled up smugly.
“Ah, what if we end up doing better than your team~?”
“Say that after you start.”
“Got it, see you later! Wait for me at the dorm~”
I nodded.
Elias skipped dinner and went straight to the training grounds.
And just like that, the rumors spread across the entire school. Thanks to the students and professors who’d attended the disciplinary committee with us.
“That was him?!”
“No way, he wasn’t just slacking off? I don’t get it.”
I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but everywhere I went, that was all anyone was talking about.
The Class 1-A guy had plastered flyers all over school, so student interest was already through the roof.
He’d really dug his own grave.
More than that, though….
I stifled a hollow laugh and headed back to the dorm.
‘The rumor’s out, but….’
Because of his usual behavior, no one was buying it easily.
But that was just because he looked like a thug, acted slippery, and seemed thoughtless. In reality, Elias had been openly attacking Pleroma and working for the citizens since last year.
The general public would accept it without issue.
‘No problems there.’
The students who’d watched the disciplinary committee from the conference room were excitedly blabbing about it everywhere.
No matter Elias’s reputation at school, the things he’d done wouldn’t vanish. The baffled students would come around eventually.
And now, it was time for me to head back to training.
I changed out of my uniform into training clothes and warped to the familiar training ground coordinates.
Leo, whom I’d seen at the disciplinary committee earlier, was already there.
“You’re here?”
* * *
“Good work. Your response time’s improved a lot.”
Leo flashed the most satisfied grin I’d seen from him all month.
I stared at it, dumbfounded, then just dropped my gaze to the floor. My whole body was already flat against it anyway, so this felt more stable.
I twitched my fingers, tapping the ground.
Leo caught on and asked.
“Hm?”
“…Th….”
All that came out was a raspy croak.
I gave up on speaking with my throat and used divine power instead.
—“Hey, you bastard.”
“Oh, it’s been a while since we did it this way. What’s up?”
“Hoo….”
What’s up? I could only laugh.
Had I done something to piss him off today?
I had no idea why training with this guy always made me reflect on my past life.
In other words, he trained me like I was his mortal enemy.
‘It was fine today, though.’
Was he still hung up on the partner issue?
But that wasn’t reason enough to get mad.
And it had happened last Friday anyway—I’d even trained with him over the weekend.
Things had been normal until the weekend, but today, Monday, the intensity had gone insane.
‘…Did he notice I’ve been training separately with Cheringen?’
But that wasn’t reason enough to crank it up either.
—“Hey. What did I do wrong?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Why do you think that?”
—“No matter how much I said your training style was fine, shouldn’t you at least leave me with basic human stamina?”
“Fair point. Was it too much? Sorry.”
I turned my head to check his face.
“Sorry, my ass.”
He was smiling so textbook-perfect it didn’t match.
Like Elias earlier, his soul was elsewhere—his mind full of nothing but magic.
He’d planned to push me hard from the start.
Guenter, getting shredded by Elias right now, was probably feeling the exact same way.
‘Normally, I’d just curse him out and call it a day.’
But hearing that this magic power came from my own aptitude, not Luca’s, had sparked a sense of crisis.
Until now, I hadn’t cared if Leo was obsessed with magic or not. The magic power he’d chased for over ten years was Luca’s, not mine.
‘But if the magic I’m using now manifested from my own aptitude, that changes everything.’
The magic I’d used in Adelbert’s body had been crude due to lack of adaptation, but its nature differed from Adelbert’s. The colors alone were different. And I could use divine power.
That meant Luca’s magic and mine had clear differences too.
Yet Leo couldn’t distinguish between them right now.
Even if the magic I used was mine, and Leo saw my magic power as academically perfect, nothing would change externally.
But was a madman mad for nothing?
I had zero intention of telling him, but if he found out I wasn’t from this world, he’d probably use me as a research subject as long as magic power lingered in me.
‘If this passion doesn’t break, I’ll ship him off to grad school.’
He needed to pour this fanatic zeal into research, not just gawking at someone else’s magic power. It was a national loss.
When I didn’t reply and just stared into space, Leo cast a healing spell.
[Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.]
“Poison first, then antidote, huh.”
“Hm?”
“Never mind. So what’s with today?”
“Nothing much. I was just surprised by what you showed in the joint training today.”
“So you wanted to test it out?”
“Something like that. Sorry. I got competitive without thinking.”
At that, I let out a light chuckle.
He’d noticed.
He’d pushed harder than usual today, but I’d minimized my magic use.
He’d definitely sensed it.
‘Now I get it.’
He was still puzzled that I’d handled the joint training this morning without proper magic—just my body.
He’d probably wanted to analyze my movements one-on-one.
“No wonder you came at me like I was a sacrifice today.”
“Yeah. So you’re not gonna tell me? You just followed Cheringen’s instructions today, right?”
“Well, it’s exactly what you’ve seen from me before.”
“I’m curious about the strategies you come up with, Lucas.”
In other words, situational judgment.
Even Leo didn’t need to know since we were different teams—especially not now.
He’d pushed me today to probe what our team was hiding, so we were even.
“Who knows? See on exam day.”
“Hmm… I’m looking forward to seeing how your team trained.”
“No, don’t.”
I said that and warped back to my room.
And as soon as I entered, I spotted Narke sitting in the corner, munching on pie and cookies.
“Lucas is back~?”
“You’re here again.”
No crumbs falling everywhere?
When I glanced at the cookie case, he must’ve taken it as me wanting some and held out a cookie.
I took it while shedding my coat.
‘Wait, this guy can read my mind—does he know what I’m thinking?’
He’d just shoved it in to shut me up.
“Haha, right on the money~ I’ll clean up nicely before I go.”
“Yeah. And read the room a bit.”
“Oh yeah, Narke can read thoughts now?”
Leo, who’d followed me in, asked.
“Apparently.”
“Ah, only Lucas~ Not the others.”
“…You can only read my thoughts? Why just me?”
“Now you’ll have to watch your thoughts too….”
“As if. He’s always thinking about Pleroma anyway—what’s there to hide~ Perfect cardinal material.”
Not thinking of God for even a second, and he calls that flawless?
“There are plenty of people who commit all sorts of sins while claiming to think of God. Those who do wrong, invoke God, and don’t even reflect are not devout—they’re blasphemous. History’s covered in rationalized sins like that.”
“Hm.”
He sounded like a priest.
The moment I thought that, Narke gave a puzzled smile.
I ignored the laugh and spoke to Leo, who was sitting and reading the newspaper article on Primrose Path.
“You seem in a good mood, by the way. You looked baffled when El ripped that guy’s clothes earlier.”
“…How could I not be? He’s not even on good terms with His Majesty the Emperor, but he handled it so cleanly.”
Still, he was imperial family.
It was hard for palace organizations to defy their master.
Simply put, it was like saying I couldn’t stick my nose into the Ascanien family’s internal organization.
‘Of course, the problem is their relationship isn’t exactly smooth.’
But Elias seemed to have handled it perfectly.
He’d probably stormed the Security Bureau right after the casino, yelling it was urgent before they could report to the Emperor and get orders.
He’d gotten a search warrant from the wrecked bureau, so that was the only plausible route.
Just then, light flashed at the room entrance.
“Oh, what’s this? Everyone’s here.”
Elias waved hello and flopped naturally onto my bed.
He’d clearly just showered, dressed in pajamas.
Still grinning, so training must’ve gone smoothly.
“Ah~ Feels good. This is living.”
“How’d it go?”
“How’d it go~? What choice did those guys have?”
Elias said with a leisurely laugh.
“You didn’t threaten them in some weird way, right?”
“Hey, what do you take me for~? Anyway, Luca, you’ve been drinking that a lot lately.”
Elias glanced around for a topic change and pointed at the cola on my desk.
It was the half-finished bottle from this morning.
“Have I?”
“Yeah. There’s always one half-drunk on the desk whenever I come to your room.”
I was so nostalgic I couldn’t help it.
Truth be told, I’d never touched non-zero-sugar drinks in my old life.
Partly for weight management due to my job, partly because I didn’t enjoy putting stuff in my mouth.
‘I didn’t think much of it back then.’
But here, I’d started craving things I never drank before.
Its design belonged in a museum now, but nostalgia made me seek it out unconsciously.
Then, footsteps sounded outside.
Knock knock—
Our eyes met again with my friends.
I’d put a soundproof spell on the door, so voices wouldn’t leak.
I went to the door, but some inexplicable dread made me hesitate.
[Senior.]
Hm.
I thought it was the club president, but it was Adelbert.
I opened the door—and froze.
“…….”
The club president stood beside Adelbert.
‘I hadn’t considered them coming together.’
Adelbert already looked half-soulless.
I could tell how it went without asking.
“What’s this?”
“S-Sorry… The president said to come.”
I had told him we’d talk later during the day and shaken him off.
I just hadn’t expected “later” to be a few hours.
Adelbert shook off the president and whispered to me.
“Senior. Do you know why the president’s face looks like that…? I thought he was sick.”
“Who knows.”
Even Adelbert saw the president looking like a wreck.
With the play less than two weeks away and no lead actor, what else could he do?
No one would stay sane after a planned show months out suddenly fell through.
‘Obviously, they tried passing it to Adelbert as a sub, but no one had the memorization skills.’
Still, two weeks should be doable.
Unlike the festival’s 40-minute play, this was nearly two hours—heavy burden.
The school had dumped too much on an arts club full of entrance-exam maniacs.
They’d joined for fun memories, not to memorize two hours of lines.
‘And I’m the same.’
Plus, I wasn’t fully New Humanity in mind yet.
But I had logic—er, a method—ready for this.
“Sorry to barge in suddenly. Do you have time now, junior…?”
“Yes.”
It was something I needed to settle properly someday.
To steer the negotiation well, I softened my expression and said.
“President. Let’s rewrite the script. Editing around the romance boosted Rosalind’s role. We can balance it by expanding the family conflict.”
As play talk got serious, the president’s eyes sharpened.
“Ah, I considered that. The first-year sub keeps forgetting lines…. But audiences come for the romance mostly. Everyone has expectations for each play. No one goes to Hamlet for two hours of romance.”
Hm.
Fair point.
I stroked my chin thoughtfully.
But if that was the issue, it wasn’t even a real problem.
“Then change my role to the male lead. Increase my lines, cut Rosalind’s. If we need romance, make it the male lead version.”
“Oh…?”
“The original describes Rosalind’s inner thoughts more. Let’s flip it. It’ll generate buzz.”
The president’s eyes lit up a bit, intrigued.
I smiled and drove it home.
“I’ll handle the rewrite. You just focus on your role, President. You’ve got the second-most lines anyway.”
“That’s… true, but.”
True, but?
I kept smiling, tilting my head.
The president smiled soullessly.
“Actually, there’s a reason I keep coming to you.”
“What?”
“It’s over.”
“What’s over?”
The president stayed silent a while, so Adelbert spoke up.
“…The performance date got moved to this Friday.”
“What?”
“The exam schedule shifted. It was set for the second exam day.”
“What does the play have to do with exams?”
“If they’re resting, it has to be after exams. It’s club arts festival day.”
“…….”
It was half a festival day.
Why not just push it after the third exam?
What made delaying impossible?
‘I need to find out why.’
Assuming they pushed ahead anyway, let’s think.
No rewriting.
The school announced it months ago, so shifting a week wouldn’t be a big deal—they thought naively. Since they broke decorum first, announcing a one-hour cut wouldn’t be an issue.
‘But Friday leaves basically three days.’
Even shortening, three days…
No one had properly memorized those lines yet—that was the problem.
“So I thought… If you tell me why you don’t want the lead, I’ll try to adjust where I can… Any reason?”
“There’s a slight emotional issue.”
“Why?”
“…….”
Why, my ass.
I gave up. No convincing these New Humanity folks.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
* * *
And so, second exam day arrived.
Time had flown incredibly fast.
With so much crammed into three days, it was inevitable.
‘For now, shelve play thoughts.’
Time to focus on the exam.
Then, the announcement echoed in the exam hall.
[Team 1, enter.]
“Leo’s team is first.”
Cheringen, waiting right next to me, muttered.
Soon, he grinned and asked.
“Nervous, Lucas?”