Academy Entrance Exam (4) — What Must Be Remembered

The stares around me burned.

A few clusters of people stood murmuring among themselves, glancing my way and snickering. Probably nobles who'd overheard the earlier commotion.

Even at the Kingdom's Hero Academy, idiots like that had been everywhere. From experience, the ones who traveled in packs even during entrance exams were almost always third-rate trash who couldn't do a thing on their own.

No need to pay them any mind.

As I looked around for the written exam hall with that thought, Louise turned to me with an incredulous expression.

"A-Aaron! What on earth were you thinking, saying something like that?"

"Just something for those morons stupid enough to look down on the great House of Roengram to hear."

I had no choice. To conquer the Empire's Academy, that line had to be the starting point. Not that I could tell her that.

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at me, then she pressed again.

"W-what does that have to do with anything?"

What did it have to do with anything, indeed? I tossed her a suitably vague answer.

"Meaning that I, as Louise of Roengram's knight, will conquer this Academy. Something like that."

I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thrown it out casually. Would she let it slide?

"...That's... nice."

Oh, she let it go without much fuss. This young lady was surprisingly easy. Just as I thought that, Louise suddenly fixed me with a resolute gaze.

"D-don't worry, Aaron."

What was she on about all of a sudden?

"Don't worry about what?"

When I asked with a puzzled look, she wore an expression that said she knew everything.

"You broke that Viscount's daughter's wrist earlier, didn't you? I've known you've been fretting about it this whole time."

"No, not really..."

She cut me off and, with a face that had brightened considerably, placed her fingertips against her chest.

"Don't worry. The Roengram Count family has your back."

This girl still hadn't fixed her habit of interrupting people.

Was the emphasis on "Count" just my imagination? She looked rather smug about it.

I spoke to her, fretting over something so strange.

"There are no ranks at the Academy. Whether commoner, noble, or even royalty—that's common sense."

I didn't think any Academy still upheld that tradition these days, but that was the principle. The principle.

She'd started the fight, and I'd only acted in self-defense. Plenty of people had been watching. Even a noble wouldn't make a public issue of it unless they were a complete idiot.

Private retaliation was possible, of course... but as far as I was concerned, I rather hoped they would try.

There were things I wanted to test, after all...

Louise listened, thought for a moment, then spoke again with renewed confidence.

"There are no ranks at the Academy... You're right, Aaron. But if a real problem ever comes up, you're free to borrow the power of the Roengram Count family."

"..."

The power of House Roengram, Count family. It wasn't that I didn't need it so much as... honestly, it probably wouldn't be of any use.

This was a family that even a Viscount's daughter looked down on, Louise.

I couldn't say that to her, so I smiled and answered.

"I'll borrow it when the time comes that I need it."

As we continued our conversation about things that ultimately didn't matter, we arrived at the place where she would take her exam.

Here, then...

I'd known the Academy was uniquely massive even by Imperial standards, but I hadn't expected the exam halls themselves to be this enormous.

Ironically, despite the Academy's founding principle of disregarding social rank, the exam halls for nobles and commoners were completely separate.

Nobles took their exams all in one vast hall, while merchants and commoners had to move from hall to hall for each subject.

The whole system was structured to favor nobles from the start. Considering most nobles arrived already trained, it was impressive that any commoners passed at all.

Overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the exam hall, she spoke with a stiff body, clearly a little tense.

"Th-this is it. As a place to test me, it doesn't seem lacking."

It was almost pitiful, the way she tried so hard to maintain her villainess pose.

I gave her a light pat on the back.

"If anything happens, don't worry. I'll finish up and be right back."

She nodded.

I escorted her safely to the exam hall, and just as I turned to head for the commoners' testing grounds, she called me back.

"Aaron, I thought you didn't care about things like top rank. I've reassessed you."

She had the wrong idea.

"I don't care about top rank. What I'm after is conquering the Academy—conquering it! And as a bonus, I'll raise the prestige of House Roengram too!"

She laughed with a slightly shocked expression.

"It was a bonus?!"

I turned and waved over my shoulder.

"I'm off."

She replied in a once-again confident tone, every bit the villainess, then entered the exam hall.

"I'll take the top spot and come back."

Good that she'd relaxed. As far as I was concerned, it was better for her to claim the top rank...

Well then, time for me to head to my own exam hall.

With that thought, I walked toward the written exam hall I was supposed to go to.

There was quite a distance between the general exam halls and the noble ones. Even after walking for a long while, the hall still wasn't in sight.

Just how big was this Academy...?

I'd been worried about Louise looking so tense, so I'd insisted on seeing her off despite her protests... and because of that, I seemed to be running a little late.

With no one around, the written exam had probably already started...

Not that it mattered if I skipped the written exam. The Imperial Academy was known for including a few so-called "Arcane Impossibles"—problems that were absolutely unsolvable.

I'd only considered taking the written exam out of academic curiosity, wanting to see what form those problems took.

In that case, maybe I should find somewhere out of sight?

I wandered around looking for a secluded spot where no one would notice me.

This should do.

"Hey. Come out."

...

Nothing came out. Embarrassing.

That was when a short dagger blade, thick with clear murderous intent, thrust toward my side from behind.

I'd known, of course. I wasn't about to let it land.

I deflected the blade aimed at my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠side and drove my elbow into the face of the idiot who'd tried to stab me.

"Gah—!"

A black-faced beastman clutched his nose bridge, blood streaming from his nostrils.

"How...?!"

One of the beastman servants from the Duke's young lady's group earlier.

A beastman of the Caji race, who took the form of cats. Their specialty was stealth, making them skilled at thievery and assassination.

Back when I was a hero, I'd faced them often—both as enemies and as allies. A familiar opponent.

I could sense a Caji's stealth with mana alone... but honestly, there was no way I'd miss someone approaching while radiating that much killing intent.

I spun the confiscated dagger idly and asked,

"Did that Viscount bitch put you up to this? Must've been pretty pissed—"

Before I could finish, he extended claws from his hands and lunged for my throat.

Unbelievable!

I slammed the back of his outstretched hand down with the dagger, pinning it to the ground.

The Caji screamed, then glared up at me.

"Kyaaaah— What is this...?"

"I'm the one who can't believe this."

As a beastman with naturally high stats, he'd probably never run into a real powerhouse before.

Even rotten, I was still a former hero.

"There's a difference in experience, you know. Experience."

I tapped his head as I spoke.

"So, the short-haired girl put you up to this?"

I needed to confirm for proper friend-or-foe identification.

"This was my own initiative."

Why tell such an obvious lie?

I could roughly picture the situation.

Going after Louise would be risky—even a fallen Count family, having a Count's daughter meet with an "accident" at the Imperial Academy's exam grounds would be a heavy burden.

But me, a commoner? Once I enrolled and became a student, I'd fall under Academy protection... so they'd come to settle the score before I passed. Something like that?

Honestly, I hadn't expected them to actually come for revenge... idiots.

I grabbed him by the hair and asked,

"Listen, kitty. Loyalty to your master is fine, but I don't have much patience."

I twisted the dagger free from the back of his hand and pressed it to his throat.

"Kyaaah!! Th-this is the Academy! Y-you think you can get away with something like this?!"

I yanked his hair back so our eyes met and smiled.

"You kindly followed me all the way out to a place this secluded... and your screams will just blend into the training noise of the Academy students, won't they?"

His face went pale with terror in an instant.

"W-wait! First, p-put that dagger away and I'll talk."

Even if you hate someone, you should give them a second chance to be trusted.

The moment I took the dagger from his throat, he bared his claws again.

Wow, this guy was hopeless.

Before he could even move, I drove the dagger back into the back of his hand.

"Kyaaaah!!"

I sighed.

"Haa... This is why Caji should just be made into carpets."

He looked around, realized there was nowhere to run, and spoke with a rigid face.

"Kyaaah! I'm sorry! I'll tell you everything—just spare me!"

I hadn't actually planned to kill him, but he seemed to feel his life was truly in danger and started begging.

"No loyalty at all! No loyalty!"

"What was I supposed to do...?!"

Or maybe, for a Caji, he'd shown a decent amount of loyalty.

"So, your master ordered this?"

"Yes. She told me to rough up you and that Count bitch..."

?

My prediction had been completely off.

They'd actually planned to go after Louise?

If I hadn't taken this bastard down here, Louise would have been in danger too?

She was destined to become an outstanding villainess mage, but that was only after second year at the Academy.

Right now she was just a weak girl.

I was starting to worry about the intelligence of a Viscount's daughter who'd actually try to carry out revenge like this.

"That bitch really is hopeless."

Sensing the shift in my atmosphere, he cried out,

"I-I told you everything! Let me go now!"

"Right. A promise is a promise."

Well, of course—after I rough him up enough that he can't touch anyone again...

...

"But you didn't just try to rough me up. You came at me like you meant to kill me, didn't you?"

Goosebumps rose along the back of my neck and arms.

He swallowed hard at the changed atmosphere.

"I really was just going to rough—"

I slipped a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hand into my back pocket and fingered the assassination stiletto.

"Louise almost got hurt too. Right?"

"N-no! The order was just to rough you up so you wouldn't act out...!"

The thought of what might have happened to her made my breath catch in my throat.

I never wanted to go through losing someone I cared about again...

"Conveniently, there's something I've been wanting to test. This works out well."

Not understanding what I meant, the Caji just broke out in a cold sweat.

I looked around.

A back alley hemmed in by walls on all sides.

No windows overlooking this place, no sign of anyone nearby.

The Caji's pupils contracted as he saw the stiletto.

"W-wait, what are you—!"

Thud—

I drove the stiletto into his spine. His contracted pupils went slack in an instant, and after a few convulsions, his body ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went still.

Something black began devouring the Caji servant's corpse.

This was the original method of using the Lord of Darkness. In the game, there had been no need to worry about corpses... but it was useful in this regard.

Left no traces, no evidence. The Viscount's daughter wouldn't want to tarnish her reputation over a single beastman servant either.

"Status."

I opened the status window and my eyes went first to the ability section. I'd hoped, just in case, but nothing new. As expected—it seemed you couldn't gain anything unless you killed a major character.

That was the first reason this ability was called trash. In an otome game, you were supposed to go around murdering playable characters and NPCs left and right.

The second reason was that the stats absorbed through this skill were far too meager.

With small fry like this, they barely rose at all.

Without much expectation, I turned my eyes to the stats.

It rose this much...?

Absorbing nothing more than that small fry had raised my stats by this amount.

I'd tested a few skills like Water, and they were identical to the game.

The only difference was the bound skill Lord of Darkness. Why...?

A sudden, skull-splitting headache hit me, and a strange scene began to unfold before my eyes.