Is This Really a Class?
As the week had flown by in the blink of an eye, so too did the three days. The things that happened during that time were anything but simple, of course.
"The Saintess and Aileen... they'll sort themselves out somehow."
In truth, Aileen's problem would resolve itself even if I didn't get involved. According to Charles Teddybear's epilogue after the ending, Aileen Teddybear awakens as the Saintess after enduring long suffering. The only issue was that Aileen would have to suffer until the ending arrived.
The Saintess is the real problem.
If I hadn't intervened this time, the Saintess would have disappeared from Romance Academy entirely. In the game, a nun named something like Ruina would notice that Aileen was the Saintess and run away. The player then had to persuade the Saintess, who was chasing after her to kidnap the nun. In other words, the player served as a safety mechanism to prevent the Saintess from going completely off the rails.
'This time it got twisted, and she ended up kidnapping and interrogating her instead.'
Still, it was fortunate that I stepped in midway and managed to properly "persuade" the Saintess. Once she started going off the rails like that, she would continue relying on violence and murder, walking the path of heresy until she eventually dropped out of the academy. After that, she would vanish without a trace, and Aileen would take her place.
Since everything had been resolved, there wasn't really a problem, but...
"Haa......"
I still seemed to be heavily bound by the past. To think I would see my mother in someone else—their face, height, personality, and even their voice. It must have made me lose my mind a little. I'd used Observation too much, and my right eye was still throbbing.
......
When I lay alone on the bed like this, quietly organizing my thoughts, countless questions would arise and then vanish. What had happened to reality on the other side? How exactly had Ji-soo put me into the game? Was Ji-soo even the one who sent me here in the first place...? These worries kept surfacing.
"Ah, I don't know anymore."
But all of it was meaningless to think about right now. Tomorrow was already going to be tough enough; I needed to take things one step at a time. I'd just finished the entrance ceremony and wrapped up one event. How could I be this exhausted already? The real days at Romance Academy were about to begin.
And since I'd ended up in the special class, the suffering would only get worse. I took a deep breath and steadied my mind. Those worries could wait until after I reached the ending.
"...Besides, one thing is certain."
PS. Do your best!
The final line of the status window still glowed in the corner of my vision. There was no way the bastard who used to hear Ji-soo say that like a catchphrase every day wouldn't remember it. I didn't know what was going on, but it was clear she was involved somehow. Once I got back, I'd interrogate her and something would come out.
I got up from the bed, checked my clothes, and left the base. With a heart full of determination, I strode forward with energy!
"But why is the assembly point a mountain?"
This kind of start was new to me. Why did it feel so... ominous?
*
"Welcome, special class cadets."
An elderly man with white hair tied in a topknot, an eyepatch over one eye, and scars covering his face. He wore ordinary clothes that held no authority whatsoever, yet the large blade at his waist swayed threateningly. With a wild smile on his lips, he stood atop a boulder, looking down at the students.
...Wait, why is this guy here? Isn't he in charge of outdoor classes and the Swordsman department? No way.
"One, two, three, four... eight! Everyone's here."
As I watched the elderly swordsman with a growing sense of unease, Liu Yen approached my side before Lane, who seemed to be trying to come this way. Then she turned around and made some gesture toward Lane. What was she doing?
"Yo, long time no see? Lackey."
"...Miss Liu. I still haven't given you an answer yet."
"Shut it. You're gonna accept anyway, right? More importantly, you know you still haven't told me your secret, yeah?"
"Of course. I was planning to tell you after class today, actually."
Anyway, even after three days, Liu Yen still had that arrogant demeanor. The dark circles under her eyes were gone, so it seemed like she'd been sleeping well. I gave an appropriate response to the strangely energetic Liu Yen while glancing at the elderly swordsman.
"My name is Scarlet Redfield. Just your average swordsman, more or less."
No, even if the world's strongest says that...
"Hey, lackey. Be careful around that old man."
"Well, he is Scarlet Redfield."
Scarlet Redfield. The elderly swordsman was the character Ji-soo would always rave about, calling him the coolest. He could be summed up in one line: This old man is the strongest in the world. End of story.
"This special class has gathered quite the excellent talents."
Redfield, ignoring our chatter, looked over the special class students standing according to their various personalities.
"Even the imperial siblings from that nation over there."
"......"
"It is an honor to be recognized, Lord Redfield."
Kim Seong-il and Kim Eun-ha stood perfectly at attention. Since Kim Seong-il was the future emperor, it seemed Princess Kim Eun-ha handled these matters. In any case, this man was on equal footing with the emperor himself, so no one was surprised by the princess's polite words. It only served to highlight the old man's status.
"The siblings from that family on the other side of the land are here too."
"I am Lucas Arthur. It is an honor to meet the great hero of Africa!"
"I am Lane Arthur. The same goes for me."
"Haha, I do appreciate the flattery from you youngsters."
The Arthur siblings stood properly at a slight distance from the imperial family. Especially Lucas Arthur—with his meritocratic values, seeing Scarlet Redfield, the pinnacle among the strong, seemed to move him quite deeply.
...More importantly, why did those two keep glancing this way? Especially you, Lane. Why are you staring so intensely at Liu and me?
"And the Saintess is here as well."
"May the Lord's grace be with you."
"That's good. I've been saved by the Lord's grace or whatever it is several times myself."
The Saintess stood smiling in the middle of the assembly area. Fortunately she wasn't looking in my direction, but... I could still feel her paying intense attention to this side. It was understandable after what happened a few days ago, but I hoped she wouldn't say anything strange.
"A Hero, huh. Quite the unique one here too."
"............"
"Being taciturn is good."
Hero Abel Legion was the only one who didn't even respond to Redfield's words, simply leaning against a tree. For a moment, the imperial siblings and Arthur siblings' gazes turned toward the Hero, but he simply closed his eyes, completely unconcerned with their stares. Redfield didn't seem to mind either, so it passed, but that Hero really was a tough one.
"Ah, the great wealthy one."
"...Liu Yen."
"Sorry about the casino last time. Haha!"
...Casino? I glanced at Liu and she looked quite heated, though she was maintaining her manners. He couldn't have taken advantage of Liu at the casino, right? The world's strongest wouldn't use that physical ability to gamble and win money, right? Right?
Since in the game he only appeared as a training NPC, I didn't know his background or setting in detail, which made me anxious.
"And finally... the Fortune Teller."
"Yes, I am Namgung Min."
"I know very well. Your performance at the entrance ceremony left quite an impression on me personally."
"You flatter me."
Hmm... I did go a bit wild in the maze. Still, it probably wasn't a big deal. They'd done that maze every year, so there must have been many students before me who tried to incite others. Since I ultimately failed to escape, it was fortunate that I'd still caught the instructors' eyes.
"Anyway, now that everyone's here, let's get straight to the main topic."
Redfield looked over the special class students once more before speaking.
"To get to the conclusion, you all have no need for the academy's regular classes."
"......"
"............"
"......"
...Wasn't the academy a place to learn things? Even the special class was supposed to have normal classes, wasn't it?
"Ah, I'm not saying there's nothing for you to learn. It's just that your occupations are the problem."
"...Ah."
Our occupations. I roughly understood what he was trying to say.
"The academy's classes are structured according to occupations. Swordsmen with Swordsmen, Fighters with Fighters. Those kinds of occupations have many people, so instructors specializing in them provide guidance."
However, the special class was different. This was literally a gathering of 'special' occupations.
"But occupations like Imperial Family or Saintess are different. There might be others with the same occupation, but the academy cannot systematically teach them. And for completely unique occupations like Psychic, Mage, Great Wealthy, or Hero, it's even more so."
He was right. Romance Academy wasn't like high school or university where they taught new common knowledge. Strictly speaking, it was an occupation academy—a place to help each person blossom their own occupation. In that sense, it made sense that special occupations, which were one-of-a-kind or extremely rare in the world, lacked dedicated education or had insufficient resources.
"Um, Instructor Redfield?"
"A question? Go ahead and speak."
"As far as I know, there are quite a few Fortune Tellers."
But I was different from them. Fortune Teller wasn't even a special occupation to begin with. It was a common occupation that could be found anywhere, like Swordsman. So why was I here?
"That is correct. Even though you are the first Fortune Teller to enroll in the history of Romance Academy, I heard that they created a dedicated curriculum for Fortune Tellers just in case when the academy was established."
"Then why am I...?"
"However, aren't you different from those ordinary Fortune Tellers?"
Different? I might hate Fortune Tellers, but we still have the same occupation, don't we?
...Liu? Lane? Lucas? Saintess? Princess? Why are you all nodding?
"Ordinary Fortune Tellers show an average accuracy rate of about twenty percent, but only in extremely limited situations. You, on the other hand, have demonstrated a one hundred percent accuracy rate in everything we've seen so far."
"......"
"At first, many instructors opposed giving a dedicated test to someone who wasn't even a special occupation, but the chancellor strongly pushed for it. And that judgment was exactly right."
The chancellor... strongly recommended it? The chancellor I knew was an extreme discriminatory person. Between this unknown class and everything else, why did things keep getting so twisted?
"Ah, I'll just be straightforward."
"Please speak."
"If you hadn't entered the special class, you would have cut down all the other students."
"Pardon?"
"What do you think the academy's evaluation criteria are? Grades matter, but the top priority is how well one utilizes their occupation. From what I see, among the new students, there isn't a single one who uses their occupation better than you."
Lane, stop nodding. Lucas, don't smile like you agree. And Liu. I still haven't decided yet, so why are you shrugging your shoulders like you're proud...?
I was just spouting nonsense with fortune-telling and using my original knowledge, yet it turned out like this.
"Well, in that sense, you'll probably be the most important one in this class."
"...Pardon?"
"Good. Since we've roughly finished talking, I'll now explain the class."
Whirr.
When Redfield kicked the boulder at his feet once, a hologram appeared beside him. So that boulder was a device. A holographic map implementing the entrance area of the mountain we stood on in 3D expanded and glowed.
"Earlier I said we can't conduct classes according to occupation, but Romance Academy has created several special classes over the years and successfully graduated all of them. And there's one lesson we've learned from that."
Tap.
Redfield picked up a random tree branch nearby and pointed to the mountainside with a grin.
"Special occupations simply grow on their own when you throw them into real combat."
......? What?
"Therefore, the first class will be practical training right away. The class content is mountain climbing! This mountain has artificially implemented monsters, various traps, and multiple magical barriers."
Wait a moment.
"The first one to break through all of that and reach the target point wins! If you can't find it, class will continue until midnight tonight!"
What is this? Is this Sparta? This wasn't in the game at all?
"One piece of advice: no matter how well you fight, if you can't find the path, it's all pointless! Haha!"
Tap.
With those words, Redfield disappeared into the forest in an instant. Was this what being the world's strongest meant? I couldn't see his disappearance at all... or rather.
Mountain climbing? Magical barriers, artificial monsters? Traps? This was way beyond my expectations.
"Pathfinding......"
"With traps, monsters, and barriers..."
"...It's basically a maze, isn't it?"
Liu Yen looked at me. Lucas turned his head toward me as if he had no choice. Lane approached hesitantly. Princess Kim Eun-ha looked at me with a smile. The Saintess, seeing all this, ran off first as if trusting in me.
"...Excuse me?"
Why are you all looking at me like that?