The Rival's Encounter #1
“…Lucian student!”
Startled by the loud voice calling me right in front, I looked ahead.
Professor Roy, who was handling the Literature lecture, was gazing at me with a slightly furrowed brow.
It seemed he had raised his voice because I hadn’t answered when he called my name.
“Ah… sorry, Professor. I must have been lost in some other thought for a moment.”
“I know you went to the infirmary because you were injured during sparring. If you’re not feeling well, maybe you should rest today instead of coming. You’re not the usual Lucian student right now, unable to concentrate.”
In a fantasy world, I had expected something medieval or dark-age-like, rigid and heavy with gods and such. But this place was different.
The era itself was modern, and thanks to that, culture and art were highly developed.
Thanks to it, the Literary Division had developed considerably, and it was the best possible place for someone like me who loved to read.
I had even thought about writing novels here that would be called modern fantasy on Earth, or genuine “fantasy” content here.
As the one teaching the Literature lecture, I had no choice but to feel passionate about it.
It was one of the few classes, alongside History, where I could listen without using any abilities at all.
Because of that, the student who showed so much enthusiasm today had completely lost the thread of his concentration, and Professor Roy had no choice but to react that way.
“I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
Because I had shown so much enthusiasm in the Literature lecture, Professor Roy didn’t scold me any more.
I looked at the book to focus on the lecture content, but the only thing that came to mind was the incident with Rie from earlier.
The face of Rie leaning in right in front of me, her warm breath, her soft lips.
It was the first kiss I had ever experienced in this world. Even now, touching my lips made me feel that sensation.
If that had been all, I wouldn’t have lost my mind like this.
Even the chest that felt like it would melt if touched and the place that felt like a sin to even lay a hand on.
Thanks to that crazy bastard interrupting, I hadn’t been able to do what I really wanted.
Even if I dug out all the memories from my previous life, there was no moment that made me this excited and thrilled.
Given how I was feeling right now, I worried a little that Rie was okay.
At the time she had been very calm, but when the Forbes guy caused everything to disappear and only the two of us remained, her shy, flustered expression was still vivid.
For her, it had been an enormous act of courage, but that scoundrel had ruined it all.
On top of that, my very first experience in this fantasy life had been ruined by that guy.
‘At least the Haniell and Cleasant families have some information I can investigate. But…’
The Royal Palace of Lebechia was on a completely different level from gathering information about noble families.
Though nobles existed, the current era was already one where absolute monarchy was perfectly established.
If even a minor offense against the palace was caught, there was absolutely no leniency just because you were noble.
Just a few years ago, a noble had been drowned in alcohol, insulted the royal family, and vanished without a trace.
He wasn’t some rural noble either, but a direct descendant of a rather successful family.
Everything from being burned, buried, drowned, and wild rumors had circulated.
In the end, he returned to his family, but everyone knew he had received a fitting punishment right up until death.
That was the palace intrigue I wanted to uncover.
Of course, ordinary connections wouldn’t be enough.
It could ruin the entire network I had painstakingly built if I made an improper request.
I wasn’t sure it was worth going this far, but I couldn’t just let the engagement talk with Rie slide.
A woman who had come to me willingly was being taken by another man? That was crossing every line.
Especially since the man trying to take her was the legendary scoundrel Forbes? That was crossing every single line twice over.
I would find out by any means necessary, and then shut down the scoundrel at the source.
That was my resolve, so I decided to ask a few real connections for help.
“Lucian. Are you really all right? I’ve never seen you this unfocused in lecture.”
The moment the Literature lecture ended, Raoul came up to me and asked that.
He must have been worried because I had nearly gotten my head cracked open during sparring.
Still, I was grateful for his concern as a friend, and I was about to say I was fine when…
“Ah, what about Lady Rie? She must have been shocked too.”
…This bastard. His real purpose wasn’t me at all, it was worrying about Rie.
I had been friends for nothing! As I sighed and turned to leave, Raoul followed me with a deeply aggrieved look, asking why.
You bastard, you told me everything, everything. Damn you.
The injured part was still throbbing uncomfortably.
It would be tender to the touch or slightly painful, and the day was already long and painful in every way.
The injury news had already been passed to other professors, so I could legally go back to the dorm to rest.
Just as I was about to head back to my room, Locke’s booming voice caught my ankle.
“Lucian!!”
“Oh my, you startled me. Lucian, did that guy get eaten by a troll or something? Why is your voice so loud?”
“Ask him yourself. I sometimes have that thought too when I go there.”
After telling that to Raoul, I watched Locke dash toward me like a wild boar.
He couldn’t have collided without at least regulating his speed.
I’m a patient, you idiot. Slow down to the usual slinky pace and don’t touch me.
Whether my order worked or Locke actually understood I was a patient.
Locke stopped at a reasonable distance and suddenly thrust something into my hands.
“Take this.”
The thing he offered was an impressively large box.
“…What is this?”
“A medicine that’s good for bruises or tumors. Because I kept colliding with things everywhere, my family specially prepared a lot and sent them to me.”
It seemed he really did run into trouble like a wild boar.
If he hadn’t, there was no way Locke would have prepared so many medicines from his own house.
Not just one medicine either, but all kinds.
This one looked like something to swallow, that one for rubbing on, and what was this?
“Ah, that’s dried Horde tree. Soak it in water, wrap it thickly in cloth, and press it against the wound. The swelling goes down quickly. It’s one of the effects I’ve personally tested.”
“Is that so…?”
“I’m vouching for it. All the stuff I brought is effective. Tomorrow the swelling will be gone, and the day after the pain will vanish too?”
“I’m truly amazed, Locke.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
I didn’t have anything else to use them for, but Locke was different.
After patting his shoulder and praising him, Locke muttered that he couldn’t understand why I kept getting in a bad mood.
“And one more thing.”
“The medicine is enough. You don’t need to give me more.”
“That’s not it. Lady Rie asked me to tell you she’s sorry again.”
“Eh? Lady Rie! Locke, does that mean Lady Rie spoke to you first?”
“Is that what happened? But why are you more excited than me, Lucian? You were supposed to be the one who got talked to.”
“Ignore that and go ask directly why she made you do it.”
“He said he didn’t have the courage to meet me face to face. It seems he’s really, really sorry.”
Not just that. If I went to meet him directly, the earlier incident would come back to me, and I’d be too embarrassed to stand it.
That’s why I was having him deliver the apology instead of me facing it.
How could a girl this shy have first confessed, then taken one more step and even hugged me right there?
If it hadn’t been for that Forbes scoundrel, it would have been better.
The purity of the two of us had been cruelly trampled by that troublemaker!
“Why aren’t the kids going? They’re all gathered over there.”
“Indeed. It seems another notice has been posted.”
As I cursed Forbes in my mind, Raoul and Locke tilted their heads and said the same thing.
I could see my classmates gathering noisily in front of the bulletin board set up on one side of the corridor.
I wondered if there was something worth posting on the board, so I approached it and saw a rather large notice.
It was about the meeting.
“Meeting? What’s the meeting?”
“Ah. That. It’s when first-year freshmen meet and greet upperclassmen from other years.”
“I don’t see the need. Most upperclassmen I already know.”
“There are students who aren’t like that, Raoul. There are students who transferred from the countryside and commoners. The goal is to give them a chance to widen their connections. If they’re left out, they’ll just suffer.”
The notice announcing the meeting proved my point with the phrase “attendance is highly recommended” not at the top and bottom, but “attendance is voluntary” in the same places.
There were students who didn’t have time, and others who already had overflowing connections.
Those kinds of people might ruin the mood just by showing up, so the academy’s opinion was that those who didn’t want to come shouldn’t bother.
Still, since it was a meeting between first-years and upperclassmen, the notice included that the freshmen should attend as much as possible.
And whenever such an event happened, the class representatives were sure to attend.
“I should go.”
“…Because of Rie, right?”
Surprised, I asked, and the guy nodded his head boldly.
I knew it. You hate troublesome things, why are you going to the meeting?
I sighed and looked at Locke, who had been standing on the opposite side.
“….”
My friend who usually talked a lot was strangely silent while reading the meeting notice.
It seemed he was torn about whether to attend or not.
Locke’s family had originally been commoners.
Later, Locke’s father earned merit and became an honor noble.
Unlike ordinary nobles, honor nobles could not pass the title to their children.
When the holder died, the family would revert to commoners again.
But the honor remained, so even if they were commoners, they received nearly noble treatment.
Yet nobles were still nobles and commoners were still commoners.
Many walls had been broken between them, and the era of treating people recklessly had passed.
But if asked if there were no obstacles between them, I would say no.
It was still a better world for commoners than nobles, a world with more rights.
Perhaps Locke was hesitating for his father’s sake.
Or for his future self, whether he should still sell himself for connections now.
He looked like he was torn between the two.
“Locke.”
“…Yeah. I’m listening.”
“Your father will understand. It’s just that your son entered the academy and made some friends.”
Locke’s father was a knight who valued honor even more than nobles, despite coming from commoner stock.
He had even been the deputy captain of one of the kingdom’s three knight orders.
And Locke’s father had a tendency to avoid shallow acquaintances with people as if selling himself.
“I’m not worried about my father.”
“Then what kind of worry is that engraved on your face?”
“There is one. Anyway, Lucian, what will you do? It seems you don’t really need to go.”
“Lucian’s personality, he won’t say ‘I’ll go sleep or read instead of going there!’ right, Locke.”
“Ah. I see.”
Just as Raoul had predicted, if it had been the old him, he wouldn’t have gone. He would have gone straight back to his room.
The meeting wasn’t something that ended in ten minutes. It had at least three hours of sitting through.
Everyone was an adult, so it wasn’t just talking. Within the limits the academy allowed, people could even drink lightly.
In this fantasy world, I thought it was more accurate to view alcohol as a tool for getting drunk than for socializing and enriching a gathering place.
Even at noble banquets, a certain amount of alcohol was always served.
That was why drinking was possible at Minerva Academy within the strictly permitted limits.
Of course, if you caused trouble, you’d be warned without mercy, and depending on the degree, expulsion was possible.
“I should go.”
“Exactly, you were going to say… wait?”
“Hey, Lucian, wait a second. What did you just say? You’re going? You?”
Of course I was going. The situation had completely changed now.
If it was a meeting, Rie would be there, and if Rie was there, Forbes would definitely come too.
The scoundrel who keeps following the girl I confessed to? I had to go chase that tail away.
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