Diamond Class Monster and the Princesses' Encounter
"Honestly, he doesn't seem like someone who should be taught at the academy. Don't you feel sorry for the professors who have to instruct a monster like that, Lady Iril?"
The dean's desperate cry was met with a heavy silence settling over the training grounds. He wasn't wrong. The white Fireball Rian had just unleashed boasted a level of mana control that even the academy's professors might never achieve in their lifetimes.
Taking in a student like that was downright cruel to the instructors.
"Haa."
Iril let out a deep sigh, rubbing her throbbing brow. She agreed completely. But there had been no choice but to bring him here.
"It was unavoidable if we wanted him to develop some social skills."
"…Pardon?"
The dean blinked at her words.
"As you can see, the kid grew up as an orphan his whole life, all alone."
Iril gave a wry smile.
"His intelligence and magical intuition are freakishly brilliant, but he's severely lacking in common sense about the human world and empathy for others. I brought him here so he could rub shoulders with kids his age, learn some social graces, and form normal relationships."
She added,
"Plus, I had this nagging feeling that if he veered down the wrong path, the world might actually end."
Cold sweat trickled down the spines of the dean and professors alike.
'World destruction? It sounds terrifyingly plausible coming from her.'
Those words from a 9-circle grand mage didn't feel like exaggeration or a joke. If a child with such absurd talent—and a flaw in his humanity—turned to evil? Just imagining it conjured visions of half the continent vaporized in catastrophe.
At that moment, Rian, who had been idly inspecting the rubble of the collapsed outer wall, chimed in with a bored tone.
"Plus, I came because they said the cafeteria serves meat every day."
"……."
Silence descended once more. The dean's lips quivered.
The enrollment reason for a potential world-ender? Gluttony. The professors lamented how this historic moment's true face was so pathetically mundane.
'Why does the embarrassment have to be ours?'
The dean barely clung to his composure with a forced cough.
"A-hem! We fully understand your profound intentions, Lady Iril."
He couldn't refuse a grand mage whom even the previous dean had bowed to anyway. And they'd all witnessed that monstrous talent with their own eyes. From the academy's perspective, they had to embrace this walking disaster… no, this blessed genius.
"This academy forms classes strictly based on ability."
The dean pointed at Rian.
"We divide students from the bottom up into Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond classes, based on status and exam scores. Commoner students usually lack foundational education, so they go to Bronze or Silver by convention… but…."
He glanced alternately at the gaping hole in the one-meter-thick outer wall and the vanished remnants of the 5-circle barrier stone.
Assigning the culprit of that to Bronze class would be the academy's shame. No, the Bronze students might suffer ulcers just sharing a class with such a calamity. The Diamond class kids would plunge into self-loathing, feeling inferior to Bronze.
"Rian has achieved an unprecedented score in entrance exam history, so he's naturally confirmed for the top-tier Diamond class. No objections, I presume?"
"Of course not!"
"None at all, Dean!"
"Who else deserves Diamond if not someone with that kind of power?!"
The professors nodded vigorously in agreement. It was the first time a commoner had entered the top class since the academy's founding. But now wasn't the time to quibble over status. There had never been a rule against it—simply no commoner had ever qualified before, lacking elite early education or overwhelming talent.
Yet the protagonist of this once-in-history event reacted with utter indifference.
"I have a question."
"Oh, yes. What is it, Rian?"
The dean leaned in with a kindly smile. A question about magical achievements? The curriculum, perhaps?
Rian asked with dead-serious eyes,
"Does that Diamond class have the best food?"
"……."
Food again. The dean swallowed his rising frustration and replied,
"…Yes, it does. The Diamond class dining hall has a dedicated imperial chef. Unlimited buffets every meal, using the finest ingredients airlifted from across the continent. They even cook steaks to your exact preference."
For the first time, life sparked in Rian's perpetually blank eyes—a passionate gleam neither his past nor present life had ever seen.
"What an excellent institution. I'll dedicate my bones to it, Dean."
Rian bowed politely. The dean felt no joy in the praise. Sadly, born a noble and raised in comfort, he couldn't comprehend the depths of Rian's starvation-born hunger.
The grand banquet hall on the second floor, now a waiting room for the entrance exams at Solarrium Academy. Dozens of noble heirs filled the space, thick tension choking the air.
It wasn't just exam nerves.
"That's her……."
"Shh, lower your voice. Don't commit the sin of staring."
The nobles, decked in frills and silk, retreated to the walls as if by agreement. Their gazes fixed on one spot.
Before the hall's massive floor-to-ceiling window stood a girl who dominated the very air around her. Dazzling golden hair shining like molten sunlight. Crimson eyes said to manifest only in the imperial bloodline, as if forged from the sun itself.
Ardelia de Solarrium, princess of the empire.
'This is where my life changes.'
Ardelia's hands trembled faintly as she gazed out at the academy's majestic sprawl. The young nobles peeking at her back held their breath in awe of her overwhelming nobility.
But inside, Ardelia was a storm of tension—her eyes far too cold and heavy for a 13-year-old girl.
And for good reason. The chilling sensation of the guillotine's blade dropping toward her neck still lingered vividly.
That death had been just days ago for her.
'This time, I won't die like a dog.'
Her father's gaze, looking down on her like vermin. Emperor Kaiderion de Solarrium's mad eyes and manic laughter still echoed in her ears like tinnitus.
In her previous life, she'd believed peaceful days would last forever. So she'd hidden deep in the palace, skipping the academy.
But not this time.
'I'll build my own power with my own strength and escape that palace hell.'
She needed Diamond class to turn the empire's top talents into her limbs. Turn the knights who would behead her into allies. Use the Mage Tower's geniuses as shields.
As she bit her lip, steeling her icy resolve—
"Your Highness!"
A fresh, bright voice like spring breeze sliced through the stifling air, tickling her ear.
Ardelia turned. Parting the nobles like the Red Sea came a girl with jet-black hair in twin braids, beaming innocently.
"Lady Vesperia."
Ardelia reflexively offered a soft smile.
Purple amethyst eyes gleaming beneath the dark locks. Vesperia von Edelgart, daughter of the Edelgart Duke—who ruled the northern continent and wielded massive military sway in the central court.
The nobles inwardly marveled at the duke's daughter's boldness in approaching the princess so casually. But as the second-highest noble after royalty, it made sense.
Ardelia knew her true identity, though.
'My twin sister.'
A tragic truth she'd only learned on the brink of doom in her past life. Her other half, abandoned at birth due to the cursed prophecy "Star of Ill Omen."
She knew those black hair and purple eyes were magical disguises hiding the imperial gold and crimson.
'She was always so bright, even back then.'
Ardelia didn't know the details of how Vesperia ended up adopted by the duke. But seeing her sister grow up pure and unscarred stirred a strange relief and affection in her chest.
"You've come for the entrance exam today. Aren't you nervous?"
Ardelia perfectly masked her thoughts, acting the graceful, benevolent princess.
She couldn't let Vesperia suspect she knew everything—or it might spread suspicion to others.
"A little shaky, but I'm just thrilled to attend the academy with Your Highness!"
Vesperia clasped her hands, cheeks flushing as she nodded. She looked purely delighted, her smile genuine and radiant—innately cheerful and positive.
"Is that so? I'm happy to attend with you too, Lady Vesperia."
"Really?!"
"Hee-hee, of course."
Ardelia meant it. The two girls smiled at each other. The waiting room's mood warmed like spring winds.
Warm sunlight pouring through the windows. The beautiful princess and duke's daughter sharing tender smiles. It was like a page ripped straight from a romance fantasy novel—perfectly elegant.
A flawless beginning.
KABOOOOOM!!!
If not for the insane explosion that shattered the elegant scene to pieces.
"Kyaaah!"
"Wh-what was that?!"
The perfect romance fantasy page lay in ruins, courtesy of one glutton's Fireball.