Chapter 9
Chapter 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Late
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Tardiness patrol is a natural duty for the student council!”
Carnel was brimming with energy.
Arms on her hips, the morning sunlight framing her from behind, wearing a supremely confident expression.
“Even so, on the first day... Surely no one will be late, right?”
“Heh heh! Violet, you’re being too complacent!”
Ah, she was wrong.
Carnel’s eyes overflowed with pride at pulling off a “perfect 100-point operation.”
“A judgment that rude individuals who are late on the first day might exist! Preparing for that possibility is the true duty of the student council!”
“...Isn’t that judgment criterion a bit illogical?”
“Eek...! As expected, 29 points suits you, Violet!”
Violet’s score, which had been 30, dropped by 1.
“Sigh.”
Violet let out a sigh.
It had been the same with that street patrol last time.
Carnel was the one who had yelled “Uniform score: 3 points!” at students in sloppy attire and tried to force them into uniforms.
Now she was out at the front gate early in the morning for tardiness patrol.
Cornelia von Delbar, student council president and lady of the Delbar ducal house.
An elite among elites, acknowledged by all.
Her family background, grades, mana, etiquette, looks—all in the top tier.
So why was her focus so oddly skewed?
‘Is that how all geniuses are?’
Violet suddenly had that thought.
All the “geniuses” she had encountered—people with monstrous talents—were each twisted in some way.
People whose thought processes didn’t run on normal rails.
Carnel seemed especially severe among them.
Where on earth had she gotten her concept of student council duties?
“What happens to the latecomers?”
Please.
Please let this get a normal answer....
But.
“It’s very simple! Latecomers naturally lose points!”
“...”
“And! Below a certain point threshold means confinement!”
“......Confinement?”
“Yes! They spend a day in reflection in the student council’s disciplinary room!”
“There’s a disciplinary room?”
“I just made it!”
“...”
Violet turned her head to check the clock.
7 a.m.
School starts at 9 a.m.
Students usually trickle in from 8 onward, so true tardies are after 9.
“Carnel... It’s not even time for students to arrive yet... Don’t you see the streets are empty?”
“Heh heh heh... Tardiness always arrives faster than the clock hands....”
“What nonsense is that...”
“The posture of preventing tardiness is precisely how to maintain Yuram’s order!”
Violet’s brain couldn’t find words to parse that.
‘How do you even prevent tardiness?’
Violet clamped her mouth shut.
‘No... Better not to ask....’
She meant it.
Holding a tardiness patrol on the first day of school was weird enough, but their student council president planned to handle it with confinement.
Carnel was persuading the world with eyes full of conviction.
‘What to do about this.’
And so, with nothing happening, time flowed on and on.
‘...Where am I... Who am I...?’
She had really spent 2 hours standing right there.
During that time, Violet thought.
Was this really the student council?
Why was she even here?
“Oh! Latecomer spotted!”
Carnel shuddered as she shouted.
“Nya, nyaaah...!”
Before they knew it, a female student had been grabbed by the scruff by Carnel and was being dragged over.
“What’s thisss!!”
“Heh heh! Don’t struggle! You 13-point tardy cat!”
The girl flailed with cat ears and a tail whipping every which way.
“Let me gooo, nya!!”
The girl hissed like a cat.
Complete with twitching cat ears and tail.
“Nyaah! How late am I that you’re doing thiiis, nyaah!!”
“Tardy is tardy! Late is late! Excuses are grounds for deduction!”
Deductions too, huh.
“You’re at minus 2 points! Minus 3 means confinement! Confinement!!”
“Guh....”
The girl drooped her ears and curled her tail.
Even from afar, she looked like a deflated cat.
“However! By the student council president’s discretion, since it’s the first day, I’ll let the penalty slide.”
“...Really, nya?”
“No more tardies from now on!”
“Got it, nya....”
And so the cat’s scruff was released, and the cat ears perked up again, regaining freedom.
“But....”
Carnel glanced sideways and in an instant grabbed someone else’s wrist.
“I can’t let you slide!!”
“...Huh? Sis?”
Adel.
Distracted by the cat, Adel had been casually passing by and got caught.
***
[Good morning, President.]
“Hmph, at least your greetings are proper.”
[I always greet properly.]
“But! Tardy is tardy! No exceptions!”
...You just let the cat go, though.
‘No, here we go again.’
Adel muttered inwardly.
‘Is it broken?’
【Walker in Silence】 was definitely active.
The silence itself, where all presence vanished.
Yet.
‘How’d she notice?’
Veronica was one thing, but getting caught by Carnel every time was incomprehensible.
“But? Who knows....”
[?]
Know what?
“If you show the proper attitude for a latecomer, who knows? I might let it slide...?”
[??]
Should I run?
Or fake collapsing?
“Eek...! I mean show remorse!”
Ah, that’s what she meant.
I picked up the pen.
And...
[Sorry, President. I overdid it yesterday, so I’m not in top shape.
If we trace the cause of that strain, it’s actually because of Yuram’s student council president and lady of the Delbar house standing right in front of me... I even almost got killed by the dean because of it. For real.
So I barely escaped and barely made it back to the dorm.
The moment I hit the bed, I passed out like the dead.
I tried to wake up early, but couldn’t.
I opened my eyes and it was morning.
But being tardy was already locked in, so I took it easy coming here...]
“Stop! Stop it!”
...?
She hadn’t even read half yet. Why stop?
My arm hurts for nothing.
“Just go! I’m letting it slide since it’s the first time!”
Yes!
***
‘Hm....’
【Walker in Silence】 was off now.
I could see the perky cat ears.
“...What, nya?”
[Hi.]
“Why’re you following me, nya?”
[Same direction?]
“Oh... Yeah, nya.”
[Hey, do you know Beru?]
“...How do you know Dad’s name, nya?”
As suspected, she was Uncle Beru’s daughter.
[I’ve been helped out at his shop sometimes.]
“Oh... That happened, nya.”
[Yeah.]
“What’s your name? I’m Neru, nya.”
[I’m Adel.]
“Adel... You can talk casual, nya.”
[Got it.]
“But Adel’s in S Class too, nya?”
[Yeah.]
“Oh... Impressive, nya~”
And so we walked in the same direction.
S Class was tucked way in the corner.
And.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Neru ]
Attributes
: 「Darkness」
: 「Fire」
Skills / Traits
: 【Stealth】
: 【...】
Unique Skills
: 【Harmonious Cat】
: 【...】
Unique Traits
: 【...】
Stats
: Stamina: 20 (C)
: Strength: 21 (B)
: Intellect: 5 (F)
: Willpower: 16 (C)
: Mana: 25 (B)
Talents
: 【Dagger Arts (A+)】
: 【Assassination (S+)】
: 【...】
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘You’re her.’
Should we call her a villain of “Aka Catastrophe”?
Originally started as an ally, but from mid-game, she shakes up Yuram from within... as a spy.
You could persuade her to your side, but the difficulty was so high that guides recommended eliminating her early.
‘Troublesome.’
Neru was... a real pain-in-the-ass character.
On top of that.
‘What to do.’
Killing her? I owed Uncle Beru too much.
It wasn’t visible, but my ability to navigate the darkness was thanks to his help.
‘I'll think about it later.’
It's not important now.
“But what do we do, nya?”
[About what?]
“We’re late, nya.”
[There’s ways.]
We arrived in front of the S Class classroom.
I subtly pushed Neru forward.
“...?”
The moment Neru’s head and tail tilted in confusion.
- Bang!
I roughly shoved open the front door.
The instant the door opened, I activated 【Walker in Silence】.
“...”
Every gaze in the classroom locked onto the cat that appeared at the front door.
“...Nya?”
Neru blankly perked her ears, not grasping the situation.
I didn’t miss the opening, quietly heading to the back door.
Sneaking it open and slipping inside.
‘Good.’
Plan success.
***
“Ahh~ So, you wanna die right now, huh?”
And the result was, naturally a failure.
“Using a cat as bait so you alone survive?”
[That’s a bit]
“You madman.”
The classroom temperature dropped a full10 degrees.
[Dean, she’s not a cat, she’s a beastkin. That’s racial discrimination.]
“You can use your friend as bait, but I can’t discriminate against her?”
“You really used me as bait, nya?!”
And next to me, Neru stood frozen in the exact same pose.
[Strategic teamwork.]
“Phew... Clean that up or die.”
At Veronica’s words, I quickly stowed the whiteboard in my inventory.
“Yeah... it's the First day, it could be rough sleeping in a new bed, right? Yeah?”
Right. That’s it, Dean.
I can’t sleep well in unfamiliar places.
I have insomnia, and I’m sensitive too....
“Got it...? I’m letting it slide ’cause it’s the first day. But pull this crap again, and I’ll shove you in that... student council disciplinary room? Whatever it is.”
Thanks for going easy on the first day, but....
Disciplinary room? A confinement room in the student council office?
“Ugh... Whatever, sit down if you get it.”
Yes.
I headed straight to the very back row.
“Now, continuing...”
Veronica propped her elbows on the lectern and tilted her head lazily.
“The new student welcome is next week, so try to show up. Eh... But it doesn’t matter if you skip.”
She then twirled her black hair around her finger.
Looked super annoyed.
“Also... Today’s classes are all orientation style. Probably.”
Why “probably”?
“Anyway~ That’s it from me. you have one hour till the next class, so do self-intros or nap in the dorm or whatever.”
Veronica pulled a candy from her pocket, bit the wrapper off with her teeth, popped it in her mouth.
“Then, bye~”
She gave a casual wave and left.
“...”
The classroom fell silent.
No one moved to speak first.
“Um... Should we at least do self-intros?”
A bit later, a light green-haired girl cautiously spoke up.
“Why bother with that crap, it's annoying.”
The gray-haired boy next to her shot it down.
“Yeah. Shut it.”
The girl said it casually and dragged the boy by the arm.
He grumbled as he was pulled to the front of the lectern.
“I’m Laphia von Ayrin! And this idiot here is Seros von Spade!”
Heirs to marquess houses famous for spirits and spears, respectively.
“Hm, can’t have this body sitting out in a place like this.”
Then a golden-haired boy stepped out from the opposite side.
“Rufus von Leonhardt.”
An unmistakable name.
“My status? ...Crown Prince, I guess. But since we’re in Yuram, I don’t think that matters much. Treat me casually if possible.”
Yuram’s principle was that status means nothing, but few truly believed it.
Politics, power, connections all worked subtly.
Even so, Rufus’s words were sincere.
It was verified in the game.
“...Erwin von Orpheus.”
Another noble.
Heir to a marquess house famed for magic.
Why’s he staring at me?
‘Creepy.’
He was staring outright.
Something is up?
Or does he just doesn’t like me?
‘Either way, it was no good getting involved.’
Erwin was insane.
A zealot, maybe?
...There was no benefit whatsoever in tangling with him.
For real.
“...Charlotte von Iris.”
A shy girl was giving her name.
Iris ducal house.
Renowned for swords.
In noble society, not knowing her meant you were a spy, and it wasn’t a joke.
‘All golden spoons.’
Huh?
Everyone but me is a golden spoon.
“I’m Neru, nya.”
Nope.
There was one more.
‘Fine.’
There was no need to think more.
And there was no reason to go up there and smile.
Expecting that from me was impossible anyway.
Just head to the dorm and meditate.
‘Self-intros?’
I can’t do that.
‘Despite appearances, I’m super shy.’
Beyond that, I’d seriously puke blood standing at that lectern.
‘Ugh....’
Imagining it made my stomach hurt.
‘Honestly, it’s not mandatory, right?’
I already know all of you.
So I just need to know you.
You don’t need to know me, right?