The Changed Life #4
Students from the 2nd year had not uttered a single word of complaint or rivalry since last weekend’s joint training session.
The pride of the 2nd years ran deep, and so did their noble honor.
Any disagreement over a fair fight was no mere difference of opinion—it was sheer shame.
That was why no friction had arisen with the upperclassmen.
On the contrary, they had actually praised me.
“Lucian! Are you free for a match this week…?”
“No.”
“Come on! Please! Please!!”
“I said no.”
The ones exhausting me to the breaking point were none other than my ridiculously adorable junior and senior classmates.
Whether they were from the Literary Division or the Martial Division, the moment they spotted me they automatically requested a spar.
They wanted to defeat me now that I had beaten the 2nd years.
But if that was truly their goal, they could have simply used underhanded means to crush me instead.
They were probably thinking that a genuine spar would let them gain some insight.
Most of them had approached with pure motives.
What insight? I only rolled into chocolate training myself.
As for me, I had no time to spare for matches and no physical reserve left to give.
Every single moment I could carve out was spent entangled with Rie—rolling, being rolled, rolling again.
Keep swinging the sword until you can deliver a flawless attack.
Even in your sleep, don’t let go of the hilt.
I had fallen asleep with the practice sword resting beside my head.
If I didn’t feel like canceling our rivalry right now, I would have.
But we had already agreed to keep competing and occasionally lend each other a hand.
Above all, we had crossed into something far more intimate here at the academy.
How could I suddenly say we were done now?
“Huuu…”
Eventually, after finishing lunch, I had barely managed to escape Rie before the ten-minute mark until Professor Milaze’s history lecture began.
I would have vomited everything I had eaten if I hadn’t swallowed that lie whole.
“Lucian. Are you all right?”
Raoul, who had been away from class for about an hour, had returned looking like he’d been asleep the entire time.
The drowsiness in his voice was unmistakable, yet why did it only make him seem more pitiful—and more irritating?
When I flicked my hand dismissively, telling him to shut up, the boy let out a stifled chuckle.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because it’s funny. I’ve never seen anyone get treated like this before.”
“If anyone overheard, they’d think I’m tormenting someone else.”
“It’s not like that. But once a dispute starts, I see you go all out. You’d make a duke of Deodore’s household look cheap with your oratory alone.”
“What a nice compliment. Huh? Thank you, you rascal.”
“Don’t mention it. Besides, wasn’t this all your idea? Rie’s miss said you asked her to help you strengthen your swordsmanship because you felt your own abilities were lacking.”
“…Yeah. That’s exactly right.”
I still felt I had been training diligently.
But the training with Rie these past days had come to feel less like practice and more like hell.
Most of all, the terrifying punishment of a chocolate ban had instilled more fear of missing out than any satisfaction from improvement.
Luckily, I had survived until today, but the unease only grew.
Rie’s expression was slowly hardening.
She must have been agonizing over how to resolve my utterly flawed attacks.
I wanted to follow her immediately and see that smile return to her face.
I wanted to push past the most basic—and most crucial—stage of attack.
Yet it remained stubbornly difficult.
“Hey, Lucian. Wake up. The professor is entering.”
I snapped upright at Raoul’s words.
History class was enjoyable, and Professor Milaze Eindhoven was a wonderful woman.
I had no desire to attract any unnecessary attention.
“Everyone, I am truly delighted to see you all. Where did we leave off last time?”
“We had covered the second war between Lebechia and Pirot, Professor.”
“Ah, yes. The part where His Majesty King Ruhart Edan Hal Palasia entrusted full authority to the front-line commanders and placed his trust in them?”
“That’s correct.”
“Excellent. Then let’s move on from there.”
Professor Milaze’s history lecture began.
The second Lebechia-Pirot war had started with Lebechia’s offensive, followed by Pirot’s counterattack and fierce battles everywhere.
Normally I would have been deeply engaged, but the hours of rolling with Rie had left my body heavy and heavy-lidded.
Then the warm afternoon sunlight poured into the classroom, wrapping me in a soothing warmth that almost sang me to sleep.
This won’t do. Why are my eyes growing so heavy?
I had never once dozed off in a lecture before.
Now it kept happening.
“Hey, hey. Lucian. The professor saw you. Wake up.”
“Eh, ah. Thank you.”
Raoul poked my side and quietly warned me; I had snapped back for a moment.
I couldn’t afford to lose points by goofing off with the professor right in front of me.
If I dozed through a lecture, who would believe I was the academy’s genius rival?
So I tried desperately to fight the drowsiness, but my eyes kept closing.
My head would droop, then I’d jolt awake.
Then my vision would blur.
If I kept going like this, I would truly fall asleep.
But I couldn’t escape the drowsiness no matter what.
While I was lost in that effort, Professor Milaze’s voice cut through the air.
“Hmm. The weather today is unusually wonderful. Not too hot, just perfectly warm, with a refreshing breeze. And although the lecture topic can sometimes feel a little dull… I understand perfectly why students might nod off.”
Is she talking about me? My heart leaped; I forced myself awake.
Looking around, I saw that Raoul, who had woken me earlier, was now dozing as well.
Meanwhile, almost half the students listening to the lecture were nodding off in unison.
Thinking back, it had been right after lunch; everyone had eaten their fill.
The weather was perfect, the sunlight warm, the breeze cool—ideal conditions for sleep.
History was a subject that was boring for many people anyway.
That was why Professor Milaze had spoken so understandingly.
“Let’s do a quick note-test.”
The moment the professor’s most feared word—exam—escaped her lips, the students who had been holding out began screaming and shaking their neighbors.
“What?!”
“Hey, wake the person next to you!”
Even in a world with kings and nobles, the most terrifying thing for students was a test.
And this wasn’t even a regular exam—it was a surprise one.
They called it the devil’s three sacred techniques of the professors, after all.
“Professor! That’s not right!”
“Isn’t it?”
“Yes! It’s only two months until midterms. There’s no need for a note-test!”
“Hmm. Really? But I’ve already decided. I’m doing the note-test.”
From every direction came the same cries: “Professor! No!!”
I had thought it was just a prank to fight drowsiness.
But the students realized it was the real thing.
Even for me, this felt off.
Oh no, this is a nightmare. I muttered as I tried to comfort Raoul.
“Just in case, we’ll take a short break soon. Until then, let’s quickly review the material and take the note-test. The scope is the second Lebechia-Pirot war, specifically the opening phase and early battles.”
“Professor, please…!”
“It’s not real! Save me, Professor!”
“Don’t be dramatic. It’s not that difficult, and no one has heard of proper assignments from other classes.”
The professors must have been communicating among themselves.
They were using that to their advantage here.
These aren’t just any elite professors at the kingdom’s top academy.
In the end, I and my classmates had no choice but to take the note-test.
Our grades would certainly be affected, so we all abandoned our sleepy postures and frantically flipped through our textbooks, trying to memorize the important parts.
As for me… I pretended to read.
Honestly, thanks to this ability, I had already absorbed the entire book’s content—scanning it with my eyes and storing it layer by layer in my mind.
I simply didn’t want to let anyone know I was studying.
“But Raoul, aren’t you studying?”
“No. I’m not.”
“Why not?”
“I gave up.”
“…”
Ah, this guy was a history prodigy—specifically, a war-history prodigy.
He claimed his mind worked like a machine for economic policies and national projects, which involved money.
But when it came to war or political conflict, it froze solid.
The others said he was talking nonsense.
Honestly, I understood him perfectly.
After all, my brain worked at lightning speed, but my body only managed 1 percent of it.
“Still, aren’t you going to at least look at the book? You should pretend to study, right?”
Even my words couldn’t change his mind.
The war section was already cleanly abandoned; he didn’t want to be tempted by it anymore.
Hey, this isn’t temptation—it’s obvious!
Don’t you see the professor staring right at you?
The time passed in a flash.
As soon as the break ended, Professor Milaze smiled and began distributing the pre-prepared note-test papers.
My classmates wore expressions of pure desperation: Please, please… don’t do this, Professor…
But it was useless.
“I’ve selected five very simple questions to stimulate your sleepy brains. These are truly easy note-tests, aren’t they? Hehe.”
It was not at all easy, Professor. The scope covered more than a hundred pages, yet only five questions?
It wasn’t simple—it was pure torment.
“Let’s start with the first question. Write down your answer.”
Professor Milaze swiftly wrote the prepared questions on the board.
Many classmates who had stopped struggling stared at the problems.
Some looked relieved and began writing, while others clutched their heads with a groan.
They had clearly missed something in the questions.
From my perspective, the questions were nothing difficult.
I had always listened carefully in history class, and my mind already held everything in perfect order.
After writing answers to the first three questions without hesitation.
I moved to the fourth.
When I finished that one too, I tilted my head in confusion at the last question.
Normally a note-test consisted of objective questions with predetermined answers.
But Professor Milaze’s final question was unusual.
What do you think was the most important battle in the second Lebechia-Pirot war? (You must write at least three lines of reasons.)
A sudden open-ended essay question?
I felt a little flustered, but I quickly decided to write my answer.
I chose the most important battle to me and jotted it down.
After the note-test ended, once the lecture was finally over.
“Lucian? Could I speak with you for a moment?”
Professor Milaze suddenly grabbed my arm.