Special Forces Mentality
The stunned cadets began raising their voices.
"Whoa… what did that guy just do?"
"What the hell? Didn't he just step on a trap?"
"No way — that's a trap that goes off a hundred percent of the time if you don't disarm it. How is he just walking through without even trying to disable it…?"
Sera came scampering over toward Ethan.
"You—you just stepped on an Empire-certified advanced trap, so why isn't anything happening?!"
Ethan scratched his head, then answered.
"I've always preferred things quiet."
"…"
"I'm not a big fan of loud stuff like traps."
The cadets exchanged looks.
Was that seriously something that should come out of the mouth of a Novice Cadet who'd just strolled straight through a minefield the Empire used in actual warfare?
"Is he some kind of ghost…?"
An absurd footwork technique.
An absurd skill altogether.
"Hurry up and cross already. My arm's getting tired holding this lever."
They still couldn't make any sense of the situation.
Ethan Cass had a peculiar constitution.
First among his traits was this: so long as he didn't draw attention to himself, the world thoroughly ignored him.
A passive stealth ability.
He had no idea why, but it was one of the powers he'd received after being reincarnated into this world.
No status window, no future knowledge — nothing like that.
Still, it had come in handy whenever he snuck midnight snacks behind his father's back at the manor.
He forgot he even had the ability so often that even he sometimes lost track of it.
"Never mind that — how is your body completely unharmed when the trap clearly triggered…?"
"Guess I've lost a little weight."
Just like before, stepping on the traps didn't set them off.
"Ethan!! There's a high-rank magical beast over there! Get over here, quick! …Huh?"
Swoosh. Click.
After walking right past the beast in plain sight, Ethan pulled the lever and dropped it off the cliff.
THUD! GROAAAAR!
"It's safe now. Come this way, Sera."
"W-wait — you walked right in front of a manticore with senses that sharp and it didn't notice you?"
"It didn't seem to notice when I passed by."
For some reason, cloaking just seemed to be his default state.
The main gate wasn't far now.
"Whoa, what's your name again?!"
"Ethan Cass."
The other prospective cadets running alongside him started heaping on the praise.
"You're real Thief Master material, Ethan!"
"I'm not planning on being a thief."
"Ethan, let's take Snatching Techniques class together later! Teach me stealth!"
"I told you, I'm not a thief."
"Ethan, you're a genius thief!"
"Damn it. These guys don't listen."
A bespectacled cadet running from the rear spoke up.
"Cadet — aren't you a descendant of Solitaire? I truly am curious about your future, young master!"
Ethan flinched.
Fighting desperately to keep his expression under control, he replied in a dry monotone.
"What a terrifying thing to say."
"But isn't it true?! You're not even the First Thief Master, yet you just punched straight through every trap and mechanical array barehanded!"
"Talk like that will get you arrested for treason. Watch yourself."
Well, at this point even I'm starting to wonder if I should just become a thief and make a living at it.
No. What am I thinking.
Absolutely not.
Graduate fast, steal the Imperial Seal…
Take the throne and live easy.
Ethan was supposed to have been emperor, in fact.
"Or so Father used to say."
But having failed at that, it felt like the family had been buried out here in the countryside.
Surviving was half the reason he'd come to this Thief School in the first place.
"They say we're the direct descendants of that founding hero, old man Valois — though I've always wondered why he dropped the family rank to Viscount and lived in hiding."
Still, survival meant coming here.
From ancient times, this land had a charming little tradition: any royal bloodline that failed to produce a Crown Prince got their heads chopped off.
As someone who'd read every last scrap of The Chronicles of Solitaire on Grass Forest Wiki — the power struggles, the bloody history, all the grotesque worldbuilding — this was not a situation he welcomed.
"The one silver lining is that once you're in the Academy, the Empire's reach doesn't extend here."
Say he really did carry the blood of the founding hero Valois Solitaire as a direct descendant.
With no Emperor on the throne and the Crown Prince currently ruling the Empire…
That meant they'd been hunting him from the start.
Like it or not, surviving meant attending thief school. Here.
His father and the rest of the family already lived outside Imperial jurisdiction, so they'd be safe enough.
"Still — there are knights, mages, and priests. Why thieves of all things…"
The family secret founding-hero one-in-four gacha roulette had spun and come up a spectacular blank.
"I said I hate thieves."
"Even so, your talent is ridiculous, Ethan!"
"Which is exactly why living is suffering, Sera Barakin."
"…?"
Before anyone noticed, the number of cadets had dwindled to a tenth of what it had been.
Even so, plenty still remained around them.
Every one of them was a promising scion from the Empire, the various kingdoms, or the great merchant houses.
"Hahh… hah… hah… insane… without Ethan, we'd all have washed out…"
"That guy is seriously something else. How does anyone clear ancient-ruins-grade traps barehanded?"
"Ethan Cass… I'll have to keep an eye on him… Wait, where did he go?!"
The moment the cadets looked away, Ethan slipped clean out of their awareness.
He walked right in front of them toward a quiet corner, and not one of them managed to spot him.
These guys are way too loud.
Ethan approached Sera and whispered so the other cadets wouldn't overhear.
"I'll head to the main gate a little later. See you at the entrance ceremony, Sera Barakin."
"Okay! You worked so hard getting here. Watching you disarm those traps was so cool!"
"Right. See you in a bit."
Sera trotted off toward the Thief School's main gate.
Ethan rolled his stiff shoulders and dusted off his hands.
"Whew."
For the record, they were still inside a cave.
A cave nearly the size of a country…
"Finally alone."
Ethan cracked open the ornate case in his palm.
Click.
Inside lay a seal cut cleanly in half, like a half-and-half order of fried chicken.
"So I'm supposed to steal the other half of this."
The Imperial Seal — something only the Emperor of the Solitaire Empire was meant to possess.
And half of it was sitting right there in Ethan's hand.
Beneath it lay two sheets of old-looking paper.
"This is my bloodline certificate."
On the rustling genealogy document were portraits of his own face and his father's.
And written there:
"Ethan Cassius Valois."
A secret birthright straight out of a movie or a game.
He'd heard nothing but family secrets this and family secrets that his whole life.
He'd never imagined the story would go quite like this.
That the legendary founding hero and Thief Master, Valois Solitaire, was his ancestor.
Under the bloodline certificate was a letter of recommendation to the Thief School.
A recommendation stamped with the seal of a previous Emperor of the Empire.
"…"
His father Garret Cass's final words circled through Ethan's mind.
Ethan Cass, enroll in the Thief School. Become a Thief Master, and steal the current Crown Prince's half of the Imperial Seal.
The Solitaire Empire is in crisis because of a false king. This land needs an emperor like you.
This is both your ancestor's legacy and your duty. Fail, and there is no future for the Empire or for this family.
Did he have to be so dramatic about it?
Snap.
Ethan shut the case along with his wandering thoughts.
"Fine. I'll just get it done."
He still wasn't thrilled that the path of choice happened to be thief, but—
"Going in with Special Forces mentality."
In his previous life, Ethan had been a Special Forces commander. His mental fortitude, at least, was rock solid.
"I'm the type who sees anything through to the end once I start."
Let's see who wins, then.
Ethan quietly set his feet toward the Thief School's main gate.
Before he knew it, the number of cadets had swelled again.
"Looks like there are people from other kingdoms too."
"That group over there is probably from the Western Kingdom? Their clothes are all white."
This vast cavern that housed the Thief School.
These must have been cadets from other regions who'd come through the countless ant-tunnel passages that connected to this place.
A scarred man in a fluttering, worn uniform turned to face them.
"Once you overcome just one more trial, you will be able to begin your honorable Academy life as thief cadets!"
He raised both hands as he spoke.
Qi rode his voice, carrying it all the way to the ears of the farthest cadets.
"At this Empire's prestigious Thief School — standing alongside the Knight School, Mage School, and Priest School — hone your abilities, then go forth and become the pillars of the Empire and the kingdoms!"
The cadets began clapping, one by one.
"As expected of the Thief School. I came braced for a trial of this caliber."
"Of course. I've heard the Thief School is every bit as impressive as the Knight School."
"These aren't the thieves of ten years ago. No wonder the reputation's been climbing."
But as Principal Donovan's speech dragged on, cadets started losing focus one and two at a time.
"Gaaaah…"
"Zzz…"
What kind of entrance ceremony went on this long?
Just as Ethan himself was starting to doze off—
"That is all! Before we proceed with the entrance ceremony and the entrance exam, we will have a meal."
At the mention of food, the prospective cadets' faces lit up.
"Ooooh, food!"
"It's mealtime!"
Then their faces immediately fell dark again.
"…Wait. We haven't done the entrance ceremony yet?"
"I think he said we'd be taking an entrance exam. So all that hell we went through dodging traps wasn't the entrance exam?"
"I'm going to lose my mind… so this is the Thief School…"
Among the Empire's Four Great Academies, the Thief School was infamous as the one with the most incidents, the most accidents, and the roughest daily life — and true to that reputation, word was that the entrance ceremony and entrance exam still weren't over.
Ethan tapped Sera on the shoulder beside him.
"Sera Barakin. Any idea when the entrance ceremony ends? I'm starving."
"They're saying we're going to eat right now?"
"I have serious doubts this damn school serves real food."
"Apparently it's combat rations mixed from honey and tree bark!"
"Does that taste any good?"
Sera answered with a sunny smile.
"It's so bad that some upperclassmen passed out eating it!"
"…"
"They say they make it almost identical to the Imperial prison menu, so you'll be ready if the Empire's police ever arrest you!"
Ethan bit down on his lip.
"Shit."
It was the sound of the world collapsing for a man who lived and died by good food.
"Everyone, follow me!"
Guided by Principal Donovan, the cadets set off toward the student cafeteria.
"What the hell is this."
And then a menu beyond all imagination appeared before them.