Midterm Exams
The professor’s signal echoed through the classroom. “Alright, the exam begins!”
Students grabbed their papers and pens, diving into the questions with fierce concentration. I half-detached myself from their burning energy and lazily scanned the test sheet.
‘I know this one. Don’t know that one.’
Thanks to the education I’d received as a successor since childhood, a few questions were familiar even without studying. I solved those and boldly guessed on the rest, flipping through the pages. The further I went, the harder the questions became, and my pen moved less and less. By the time I finished reading the final question, only twenty minutes had passed since the exam started.
‘Done. Time to sleep.’
I quickly marked my answers, slammed my head onto the desk, and ignored the sharp glares stabbing into the back of my skull as I drifted off to dreamland. The intense training lately had left me exhausted without realizing it; this was a good chance to catch up on sleep.
That was how I breezed through every exam. Before I knew it, Friday had arrived.
Ding— Ding—
“Whoa! It’s over!”
“Don’t forget we’re meeting in the shopping district tomorrow!”
“Jerry, let’s compare answers!”
The moment the bell signaling the end of midterms rang, students erupted in cheers and scattered reactions. I rubbed my eyes as if the noise had woken me, then left the classroom empty-handed.
‘Time to train.’
I had no time to waste on pointless things. My proficiency with Authority Fist had been steadily rising lately, and my form was finally starting to settle. I needed to ride this momentum while it lasted. Thanks to that, even though the training was brutal, I was actually starting to enjoy it.
‘By the way, will Sara come this week?’
After teaching me the basics of Authority Fist two weeks ago, she hadn’t shown her face outside the classroom, probably because of the exams. I was eager to learn new techniques, so it was a bit disappointing.
Later, after finishing my training and returning to the dorm, Yas greeted me.
“Hey, buddy! You’re back?”
“Yeah.”
“Haha! How’d the exams go?”
“……”
“You bombed it? Me too! They were unnecessarily hard. Thinking about it, isn’t the Empire way too self-centered? They don’t study anything about our tribe, yet they expect me to study their country? Right? Don’t you think so?”
He seemed desperate to vent, rattling off all sorts of nonsense. The words “Then don’t come to the Imperial Academy if it bothers you” rose to the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them. He probably didn’t even realize what he was saying.
After rambling for a while, he suddenly made a suggestion.
“Oh, right. We’re all getting together for a party this weekend. What do you think? Abel’s coming too.”
“A party?”
“Yeah. Exams are over, so we gotta celebrate, right? So, you joining?”
“No.”
“Damn, you’re decisive. You at least thought about it, right?”
“Think whatever you want.”
I brushed past Yas and headed for my bed.
‘A party, huh…’
Honestly, I wasn’t completely against the idea. Spending a fun day laughing with characters I’d only ever seen in the game didn’t sound bad. But I couldn’t. It wasn’t just because I might be exposed as a transmigrator. I’d already committed rape once, and I’d have to keep shouldering that sin going forward. Forming bonds with others under those circumstances was terrifying. If someone I came to care about found out and turned away from me, I didn’t think I’d be able to get back up again. So I wanted to prevent that possibility from ever happening in the first place.
They say if you don’t have expectations, you won’t be betrayed. That’s true. I absolutely didn’t want to be betrayed, so I refused to hold expectations for anyone. Of course, that didn’t mean my actual behavior matched those thoughts.
‘Can’t be helped.’
Only monsters could pull something like that off. I wasn’t a monster yet.
*
I arrived at the academy early in the morning and stood before the results posted on the central bulletin board.
[Midterm Exam Results]
1st Place — Skadia Maryland
“Wow, she’s amazing as always!”
“First place again? No one can touch her when it comes to theory!”
My capable fiancée had once again claimed the top spot among first-years, drawing admiring gazes from her peers. Naturally, the conversation soon turned to her flaws.
“But why is she engaged to someone like that…?”
“Right? She could’ve become crown princess if she wanted.”
“Still, Luan’s scores aren’t that bad, are they? I thought he was sleeping through every class and not studying at all.”
“Really? Maybe he did receive some education as a successor after all.”
I scratched my ears to shake off the comparisons trailing after me like a tail and turned to the next board.
[Second-Year Midterm Exam Results]
1st Place — Isis Priuli
2nd Place — Regina Solias
Familiar names. As expected, the crowd was heaping praise on the two of them while the usual criticism toward me spread. One comment in particular stood out.
“Wouldn’t it be better if Lady Isis became the head of the Priuli family?”
“I think so too. We can’t decide based on gender alone. If Young Master Luan takes over, it’ll be a huge disaster.”
“If Lady Isis were more ambitious, it’d definitely be possible… but she’s so stubborn at times like this.”
Worrying for nothing. Even if I were in their position, I’d hand the family head position over to Isis. If the chance to become head ever came my way, I’d kick it aside without hesitation.
‘Why would I want that headache?’
There was a high chance I’d return to Earth before that anyway, and even if I couldn’t, I had no desire to bury myself in paperwork and suffer. I let the surrounding murmurs wash over me and left the bulletin board behind, heading for the classroom.
When I opened the door, the atmosphere was noticeably more relaxed now that exams were over. Students chatted freely. It had been nearly a month since enrollment. Thanks to that time, no one flinched in surprise anymore when I entered.
I took my seat and immediately rested my head on the desk, organizing this week’s schedule.
‘No major episodes in particular…’
Even in the game, there were downtime periods between events, so nothing urgent needed my attention right now. By the way, I heard on Sunday that Abel awakened Sword Aura during the exam period. He supposedly gained enlightenment while organizing the experience from his fight with Yuni. Good for him. The problem was that he apparently chose the Sword-Shield tree. The Sword-Shield tree couldn’t carry alone. Almost all new skills would focus on tanking, and offense would rely entirely on party members. That’s why most players avoided it except for a small minority.
Well, that was a problem for later. For now, the immediate crisis had been averted, so that was a relief. I hoped things would stay peaceful like this.
*
Thud!
A sharp fist traced an arc, broke through my guard, and slammed into my side.
“Guh!”
I groaned and staggered back.
“Why is your body so damn hard? Take more! Take more!”
Alissa, apparently enraged that I was still standing, flailed wildly and rained punches down on me. But her attacks didn’t break me easily. It wasn’t that Alissa had gotten weaker. I had simply grown stronger. Especially in durability.
I had finally reached the starting line. A month after enrollment, the other students had grown too, but I was now nearly at the early-game average of level 50. Of course, the difference in potential meant my stats were overwhelmingly superior.
‘I’ll surpass Alissa in endurance soon.’
Alissa was the type who dumped all her points into Perception, but even so, the level gap was nearly double. This was an incredible growth rate. And my other stats weren’t falling hopelessly behind either.
“Die! Die!”
Meanwhile, Alissa’s fists continued to tear through the air, targeting my entire body. I took a long, deep breath.
‘Now!’
I attempted the technique I’d been trying against her all this time.
Bang!
“Huh!?”
Alissa’s fist collided with the back of my hand mid-swing, sending her trajectory veering sharply off course. Her body naturally tilted in the same direction. A clear opening.
“Hup!”
I didn’t miss the chance and immediately threw a punch. Gender had no place in a fight. I could practice gender equality anytime I wanted.
In that moment, I was certain.
‘She can’t dodge this!’
Her body had completely turned, and to regain her balance she would have to stop completely. By then, my fist would already have smashed into her face. Or so I thought. That was nothing more than arrogance from underestimating Alissa.
She wasn’t the only one who had grown.
“How dare you!”
Instead of correcting her balance, Alissa used the momentum to spin around, dodging my punch, and drove her toes straight into my solar plexus. It felt like being pierced by an awl.
“Kuhak!”
I didn’t go flying pathetically like before, but I still clutched my abdomen and dropped to my knees. A shadow fell over my head.
“You blocked my punch? Let’s see you block this too!”
“W-Wait—”
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Countless fist shadows filled my vision. Alissa was furious that I had deflected her punch and unleashed a new level of Authority Fist. After that, I couldn’t even collapse and had to endure her relentless assault while suspended in midair.
*
“You’re awake?”
I opened my eyes to the sight of that magnificent bust, as always, and sat up at the sound of her gentle voice.
“I’m always in your debt.”
“If you know that, then be more careful. Who are you sparring with every day to come back this injured?”
“A woman who really hates me.”
“Hmm… I’m curious. What did you do?”
“Can’t tell you that.”
I especially didn’t want to tell the Saintess about the rape. If I carelessly revealed the truth, I’d lose the massive breasts that played such a huge role in why I kept getting beaten to a pulp every week yet never broke. I decided to change the subject and ask something I’d been wondering about for days.
“Saintess, may I ask you something?”
“What is it? Nothing perverted, okay?”
“It’s not that. Anyway, has there been a bald patient who received burn treatment in the recovery room over the past month?”
“Bald?”
“Yes. Bald.”
On the day Yuni awakened, while trying to deduce the identity of the bald man whose trail I’d lost, I suddenly recalled an incident. The fight between the fire mage and the swordsman in the underground waterway on the first weekend. Back then, the traces had already been completely destroyed, and meeting the Saintess had prevented me from investigating properly, but the two of them were highly likely to be transmigrators. Connecting that to the bald swordsman led to the conclusion that his hair had been burned off by the fire mage.
Of course, this was a huge leap. There were plenty of bald people in the world, and stories of young men parting ways with their hair were common. But I needed to dig into the matter somehow. ‘There’s no guarantee he’ll stay bald forever.’ If his scalp hadn’t been completely burned or if he’d already received treatment allowing hair regrowth, this clue would soon become useless. So I needed to find the bald swordsman before that happened. The first step was asking the Saintess if she’d ever treated a bald patient.
If he tried to get treatment outside, the cost would be enormous, so he’d probably come here if at all possible. ‘Even if he hasn’t, that’s fine too.’ If he hadn’t been treated yet, his hair wouldn’t have grown back, and the clue would remain useful for a long time. I needed to secure it before it lost its value.
Under the tension, the Saintess opened her mouth.
“No? I don’t think there’s been anyone like that.”
“Really? A bald swordsman. He was probably wearing a wig.”
“I’m sure. Honestly, there are a few bald patients, but none of them are swordsmen. They’re not even wearing wigs.”
“…I see.”
“Yes. But why are you looking for him?”
The Saintess’s eyes were clear as she asked. Those golden eyes, filled with nothing but pure curiosity and no hidden motives, exerted a pressure that made it difficult to lie. It was one of the Saintess’s most powerful weapons.
“It’s nothing important.”
“Really? You’re not planning something strange, are you?”
“What do you mean by something strange?”
“W-Well… how am I supposed to say it?”
The Saintess’s cheeks flushed red. Forgetting even the fact that I couldn’t let information about the transmigrators slip, I frowned at her reaction.
“What kind of strange misunderstanding are you having?”
“But last time you didn’t touch my chest even when I told you to… and you have unusual tastes…”
It was cute how she was being cautious, but there was no way I could let such an absurd misunderstanding slide.
“That’s not it. I like women. You already know that, Saintess. You know how much I love breasts!”
“Do you? Then show me proof.”
“Proof?”
When I tilted my head, the Saintess glanced around, then subtly pushed her ample chest forward. I understood her meaning without words.
“……”
“Go on. Prove it!”
“Didn’t you just say no perverted stuff?”
“W-Well, that was because you suggested it earlier. Now I’m the one suggesting it, so it’s different!”
“What kind of nonsense is that…”
“Hmph! Stop talking and prove it already!”
I really couldn’t understand. Why was the Saintess so desperate to shove her breasts into my hands? Did she like me? But we hadn’t known each other that long, and we hadn’t even experienced anything particularly special that would build affection. With a sigh, I gave up.
“Forget it. Think whatever you want.”
“Ah! You’re really not going to touch them? I’ll misunderstand!”
“Misunderstand all you like. I’m leaving.”
I turned my back on the Saintess and left the recovery room. In truth, even though she’d said that, her misunderstanding had probably been resolved to some extent.
…Probably.