Crimson Twin Tails
Red-haired twin tails.
Class 1.
Eventually, I ended up separated from Haru. I patted the back of Haru, who was in despair, and opened the door to Class 1 at the front and entered.
Gazes immediately poured down on me.
The curious stares of the grayish-brown-haired girls and boys locked onto me.
Most of them were probably just curious.
After I had opened my mana measurement device and spoken with Haru and Elly, the rumor must have already spread through the academy.
I glanced around. Elly was nowhere to be seen either.
In the original story she was supposed to arrive the next day, so she probably wouldn’t enter the dorm until tonight. Thinking that, I took an empty seat.
And then, what a coincidence.
A girl with crimson twin tails was already sitting there.
“Eh.”
It felt like pure fate, yet this girl also had a high mana reading and came from a high noble family, so entering Class 1 was only natural.
Still, sitting right beside me was surprising.
“Eh… Hello.”
I offered an awkward smile and greeted her.
She returned the greeting with a slight bow and spoke.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you… No, saying ‘first time’ feels a little strange.”
“You remember me?”
“People like you and that person from the mana measurement device are hard to see. Besides, you were walking with Raye’s companion right beside you.”
I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to.
She said this while flipping her fiery, wavy twin tails behind her.
She was truly a cool girl.
“My name is Ophelie Marlene. Just call me Ophelie.”
“I’m Therese.”
“Then I’ll call you Miss Therese.”
Ophelie Marlene.
This side was a commoner with no status at all, yet she spoke without a trace of care.
A heroine who wielded flames and light spears as weapons.
One of the main heroines who would appear properly in the original work.
“By the way, you were with that person who seems to be the Saintess, right? Were you friends from the start?”
Ophelie was clearly referring to Elly.
Although she hadn’t been officially announced as the Saintess yet, everyone seemed to assume she was.
Since it was the correct answer anyway, I answered without hesitation.
“Yeah. I knew her since childhood, so we entered together.”
“Is that so.”
Ophelie’s expression turned slightly tilted.
I asked with a puzzled look.
Did she have this setting originally?
“You don’t seem to like it.”
“It’s not like someone like me would say that, but I don’t like people like Saintesses or heroes.”
“Why?”
She glanced at me briefly, then turned her face away and continued.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. We’re not close enough to discuss it.”
I wanted to ask more, but the atmosphere made it clear Ophelie had no intention of continuing, so I stayed silent and looked forward.
Our conversation had clearly drawn the attention of the surrounding students.
The expression of looking down on commoners… wasn’t there, but it wasn’t something I needed to worry about. After all, the academy was a place where ability mattered most.
This was the first time I learned that Ophelie disliked the Saintess and the hero.
Since I had started collaborating with her from the middle of the story, I had assumed I had known her for a long time, but apparently not.
I know nothing unexpectedly even though I read the original work.
Even if I had read the original, I didn’t remember every single line, so it was only natural.
After all, the medium of writing couldn’t show everything in real time.
“Ohohoho. The Saintess isn’t to your liking? How typical of a narrow-minded commoner.”
“What did you say?”
A girl with lustrous black hair that shimmered with a violet tint stood up and spoke in the exact way one would expect from a typical academy villainess.
Ange Leverica.
Her swaying chest was impossible to ignore.
Suddenly I looked down.
It wasn’t small. Not small at all…
Yet somehow I felt unpleasant.
At the same time I noticed Ophelie wearing a displeased expression.
She narrowed her eyes for a moment, then laughed as if the whole thing was ridiculous.
“People like you who look down on others every day don’t seem to be in a position to say that…”
“I haven’t liked your arrogant self since the old days. Even though I’m the youngest in the Marlene family, I handled everything.”
After cutting her off, Ange’s usual tone made Ophelie clench her fist tightly.
The veins standing out on her fist looked rather intimidating.
“Your ears are still blocked. Ange Leverica.”
Even while keeping a smiling face, Ophelie was impressive.
Suddenly Ange started a fight and Ophelie responded, but the other students didn’t react much.
Even if the academy allowed commoners to enter, there were only five hundred students per grade.
The society of the Kingdom Academy—roughly two thousand people including previous years, professors, guards, and researchers—was narrow.
Ophelie Marlene and Ange Leverica.
The two prestigious families had been known for bad relations since old times, and it was only natural that their descendants would also clash.
The two who had fought since the old social gatherings.
They were still fighting in real time now.
It could be called the classic bad-guy relationship.
But.
“You’re friends with that Saintess, right? How about joining my faction?”
“What nonsense. No one will join your faction anyway.”
The conversation arrow had suddenly turned toward me.
“No…”
I had no intention of joining any faction or group.
“Right now I could make you my right-hand man.”
Ange said this with a bright, energetic smile.
By the way, Ange’s faction currently had only one member: Ange herself.
“Isn’t that faction only you?”
And Ophelie immediately pointed out the obvious.
But Ange didn’t look embarrassed in the slightest. Instead she energetically thrust out her large chest and declared.
“I can make it even from now on. People know who has virtue. It won’t take long before this academy’s largest faction is mine.”
“Indeed, is that so…”
Ophelie said it as if it could never happen. Of course I agreed.
That idiot fake villainess wouldn’t do something like that.
Anyway, my position as the Saintess’s friend would be difficult from now on, both for Ophelie and Ange.
Because it would be easier to get close to me, the friend, than to approach the Saintess directly.
This is going to be troublesome from now on.
From the very beginning, the peaceful academy life already felt like it was slipping away far behind me.
“Hello~. The professor who will take charge of Class 1 has appeared!”
The purple-haired professor’s arrival brought the fight between the two to an end.
Long purple hair and a face that looked in her mid-twenties. Yet the staff she carried was unmistakably a top-grade weapon.
One of the strongest in the kingdom academy, ranked among the top five.
Diane Pierce, the homeroom teacher for Class 1.
“Enough of that. How about replacing self-introductions with mock duels?”
The professor clapped her hands casually.
Replacing self-introductions with duels? Where in the world was that even a thing?
Everyone wore expressions of disbelief.
No, Ophelie seemed to welcome the idea because she could finally tear Ange apart.
“Everyone, please head to the training grounds.”
Diane showed no sign of retracting her words.
After the mock duel began, one hour passed.
I had just knocked down a classmate in the same class who used spear and shield.
“……Hah. Hah.”
The duel method was shockingly simple.
Professor Diane had given us mana shields, and the one whose shield broke first lost.
The confrontation wasn’t a one-time fight but a full tournament format.
I was determined to become the top of this class.
Normally Classes 1 and 2 were filled with elites of exceptional talent and knowledge, while Classes 3 through 10 were completely random.
In other words, Diane wanted to assess the abilities of the students who might become the face of this academy.
While watching our mock duels, she nodded with satisfaction. My thoughts were correct.
I was suffering here, yet she was leisurely sipping coffee and watching us. It didn’t sit well with me at all.
“Next! Ophelie Marlene, Therese, come forward!”
But what could I do. If I had to, I had to.
The opponent I would face last was Ophelie.
I squeezed my mana once more and summoned a light sword.
I had no techniques or experience. I had simply stubbornly squeezed the quantity and quality of mana to win every time until now, but it probably wouldn’t be easy against Ophelie.
After all, Ophelie had just crushed Ange in three seconds during the previous duel.
It was an incredible technique that even I couldn’t follow with my eyes.
Ophelie held the spear with one hand like a fencer.
I couldn’t afford to be careless with her elegant figure.
“Ready.”
I lifted my sword high. I was going to dive in and stab downward with full force.
“Start.”
Ophelie bent her body largely like an athlete while gripping the spear.
Although it was the first time I had seen that posture, I didn’t panic and lifted my sword. I would block any attack that came.
My mana was 2370. Ophelie’s was 1550.
Moreover, I held the Rank 1 value higher than hers.
A fight that could never lose in terms of numbers.
I charged forward with golden mana.
And we collided.
Kwaang!
I won! The moment I thought that, my vision went black.
When I opened my eyes, I was rolling on the floor.
“Winner. Ophelie Marlene.”
Three seconds. Exactly the same time as Ange being crushed by Ophelie.