Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Making Friends at the Academy
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Unfortunately, my efforts to shut him up had all been in vain.
Because it seemed like every kid passing by the cafeteria had heard his voice!
I let out a massive sigh and shook my head at Leonhardt.
‘Looks like I can’t make any friends because of Leonhardt’s overprotectiveness!’
But I had no intention of just killing time studying at this academy.
I wasn’t some ordinary kid, and I knew that the Mirmod family would be brought down by the temple that appears in [The Life of Melodia].
Now that I knew the saintess and the pope had headed to the Path of Light, I needed to recruit talent to protect the Mirmod family.
‘Gotta steal away every kid who’ll become part of the temple’s forces in the future.’
A genius in swordsmanship and strategy.
Later on, he even gains holy power and becomes someone the temple covets as a holy knight. In the end, he becomes the sword protecting the crown prince—the boy with purple eyes, Martin!
If I could snag that boy, it’d have a great effect on my school life right now too. Because he was the top student at this academy.
“……What should I do.”
And right then—
Someone took the empty seat near our table.
It was a boy with wildly tangled hair matted like rice cakes, and flies buzzing around him.
Leonhardt stared blankly at the boy wearing thick, round glasses and muttered.
“What the heck is that?”
“No idea.”
He didn’t seem to care about us at all. I glanced at the boy grinning like an idiot as he shoveled in his hamburger, then froze.
“Hehe. Why’s there nothing here.”
‘He really seems like a total idiot…….’
“Hamburger patty’s delicious. Lettuce is delicious. The best!”
Leonhardt, sitting next to me, asked.
“Scared, Sien? Should I take care of it?”
Acid followed up resolutely.
“If you need, I’ll send him somewhere else.”
I shook my head while observing him.
In a situation where no one else came near us, I didn’t really want to chase away the one boy who’d sat down next to us.
I turned my gaze sideways and stared hard at the boy sitting alone. In his hands were a hamburger and a small notebook.
“Hehe, hamburger’s delicious.”
‘……Is he just an idiot?’
How did a total idiot even get into this academy?
He must have at least one outstanding talent, I thought, and then I spotted the rapidly flipping pages of his notebook and gasped.
‘Those look like some seriously complex formulas?’
“Hamburger diameter. Cylindrical hamburger. Delicious. Pi. Nice.”
The sporadic words drifting over made me doubt my ears. It was the first time I’d seen someone recite pi while talking about hamburgers and cylinders.
‘I thought math wasn’t that advanced in this world…….’
I narrowed my eyes and examined his appearance.
Messy black hair and eyes like fresh green sprouts. But his gaze was as clear as a madman’s.
‘His name…….’
I spotted the name tag dangling from his chest and gasped.
‘How is a person’s name Burger?!”
……Even more shocking was that I’d thought the same thing before.
Even if he looked like a complete hamburger-obsessed moron right now, he’d grow up to be a genius in accounting and taxes.
But due to the trauma from school violence in his childhood, he hardly did any public-facing work and ended up joining a dark guild……
‘He might be useful to me, probably.’
I absolutely needed Martin, the swordsmanship genius.
Of course, if I could recruit this little hamburger fanatic as a two-for-one deal, even better.
And to do that, I had to stop Burger’s school bullying.
For the sake of justice, of course.
***
Burger was shockingly elusive, considering his size!
Over the past week, I’d launched Operation Find Burger and failed spectacularly. Seeing him in the cafeteria the other day felt like a miracle.
‘Can’t find him, you slippery one.’
Whenever I checked his class, he’d already hidden himself.
So, reluctantly, I put off finding Burger for a bit and focused on getting close to Martin first, even putting off hanging out with Leonhardt and Acid to keep approaching him relentlessly.
But……!
“Phew, another failure today…….”
Martin didn’t seem interested in me at all—no, he seemed to be avoiding me, not even meeting my eyes.
When I approached him to talk……!
“I’m busy right now.”
……He’d put up an iron wall like that and brush past.
‘Hmm, what should I really do? I can’t even meet either of them easily!’
But I, Sien Mirmod, am a woman who doesn’t know the word quit!
I was hustling down the halls again, searching for Martin and Burger, when suddenly a black shadow fell at my feet.
I looked up to see the boy in front of me.
My eyes sparkling, thinking maybe it was Martin.
“Huh? Acid? I thought you were Martin.”
“Ah……. You’ve been looking for that kid you, uh, like lately…… right?”
Acid squeezed his eyes shut then open, flustered. He moved to say something, lips twitching, but my eyes caught something else.
‘Acid, have you grown so much taller? Or am I imagining it…….’
He used to always hunch his shoulders, so I called him ‘baby,’ but he’d changed a lot. More than that, he seemed to be picking up on my feelings now too.
Impressed by that, I giggled and answered.
“Was it obvious I like Martin?”
To be precise, it wasn’t ‘like’ but ‘like because he’s necessary for me and Dad’s survival,’ but close enough!
Acid’s face grew complicated as he fidgeted with his hands.
“…….”
I smiled brightly to change the subject and grabbed Acid’s sleeve, shaking it.
“More importantly, Acid! You’ve grown a ton since I last saw you!”
His cheeks flushed red, then settled to cherry blossom pink. Seeing his face turn that rosy made me want to tease him.
But Acid looked at me seriously and said.
“Yes, I’ve…… grown a lot.”
Hearing his sincere words about growing a lot made my heart thump oddly. I quickly hid my hands behind my back and said playfully on purpose.
“You’ve grown a lot! Yeah, impressive!”
“Yeah. Do you…… not like it?”
He mumbled shyly, and I shook my head, beaming.
“No? I love it! You look cool!”
Acid nodded and said.
“Th……then I’m glad. As long as I look cool to you, Sien.”
Looking into Acid’s earnest eyes……. I felt choked up.
I nodded and slyly shifted my gaze, only to lock eyes with Leonhardt in the hallway next to us, spitting orange juice from his cup all over.
“……Leonhardt?”
“Uh, uh……? I didn’t see anything. Keep going!”
‘Keep what going?’
I tilted my head, but Leonhardt said nothing.
I grabbed both their hands.
Giving up on catching Burger and Martin for today, I decided to play with Acid and Leonhardt.
“Let’s go to the path behind the school!”
But……!
***
When we reached the path, we came upon a scene where boys with fists the size of grown men’s were threatening another boy.
I couldn’t see the boy’s face clearly, but his voice rang out vividly.
“How much money’d you make today?”
“My fist is crying, seriously.”
“Beat him. Everywhere but the face!”
It was school violence in the flesh. My body trembled as I thought.
‘A noble academy, and bullying like this is rampant!’
Burger aside, witnessing this scene of evil school violence was intolerable for someone on her second life as a kid.
I clenched my fists, ready to charge in, then froze. I’d seen the face of the boy in the middle getting beaten!
“The guy under the jerks! It’s Burger!”
“Burger?”
“Yeah! My friend!”
No, the kid who’s gonna be my friend!
I clenched my fists even tighter.
And right then—
Leonhardt flew in first. Fresh from swordsmanship class, he even had a small wooden sword in hand.
“Sien, you’re too righteous for this—I’ll handle it!”
“Leave the back to me, the healer! Sien, keep watch! It’s dangerous!”
Acid and Leonhardt dashed in ahead of me. Well, ‘dashed’ isn’t quite right for this situation. Leonhardt led with his fist, not words!
Thwack-!
The cheek of the bully met Leonhardt’s hand.
The delinquent who’d looked like a mountain terrorizing the math genius Burger now looked like a dried twig.
‘Huh. But.’
With Leonhardt and Acid moving, I was free.
I took it upon myself to keep watch so the violent counter-violence wouldn’t get caught.
And in that moment of watching—
I spotted Martin, the boy with purple eyes, near the path. Martin stared at me and tilted his head.
He looked at me, then his hand twitched.
‘Come to think of it…….’
In the original story, Martin was the crown prince’s and temple’s ally, using his strength for holy causes.
He claimed he’d lived without shame before the gods, except for one thing.
That was overlooking and tolerating the school violence at the academy.
‘It was an episode showing how righteous Martin was, and that the protagonist he helped was righteous too.’
It clashed completely with our family’s image, but that didn’t matter.
Seducing someone who values one goal above all isn’t that hard.
I stared straight at Martin, who kept his cold expression but couldn’t tear himself away from the iron fence.
His wavering gaze met my steadfast one in the middle.
“Hi, Martin.”
“……Sien Mirmod?”
I took a step toward him. Luckily, the commotion nearby seemed to wrap up easier than expected.
I stood tall and ran toward him.
“You’re a pretty righteous kid too, huh?”
I opened with that.
No one realized the ‘cold and cynical’ Martin had righteousness deep inside, so stabbing straight at it was super effective.
He flinched.
“……Not really.”
“You came to save Burger, right?”
“……Not especially.”
I offered my hand for a shake and said.
“Let’s be friends! I believe school violence in the academy needs to be rooted out too.”