Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Enjoyable Club Lessons
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Having a fun class with the club members... or at least, that's what we were doing.
We were focusing solely on content related to the first-year midterm exams, and everyone was smoothly following along.
Ivana Nordal had suggested including some practical exercises, but since written exams were a bit more important anyway, and there was a lot of material... we stuck with the lecture format for now.
"What's this about..."
"......."
Except for one person.
Karen was a third-year, and Lize was just there to assist me, so truly, aside from Grace, the situation was going perfectly smoothly.
I wasn't sure about topping the class or anything, but I was confident they'd all get great scores.
Everyone except Grace.
Ella and Ivana Nordal, who were actually attending the class with us, were understanding things well and solving the problems I'd prepared, along with textbook ones, more easily than before.
But Grace was still struggling quite a bit.
"...Hey, this problem. What's the answer?"
"Number 3. It's from the section I mentioned yesterday. Still tricky?"
"........"
Grace fell silent at my words.
The literature problem she was working on seemed pretty tough.
She'd made some progress in mana studies and history... but she kept really struggling with Imperial Literature.
Truth be told, she wasn't excelling amazingly in the other subjects either...
"Hmm... Let me explain it again. The problem you're on is chivalric literature, for starters."
I left Ivana Nordal and Ella to their work and focused on Grace.
The two of them seemed like they'd handle things fine without any more input from me... but Grace was particularly worrying.
Truth be told, even without my help, she'd get decent scores, but Grace didn't seem satisfied with that level.
"The core of chivalric literature is the protagonist's actions and the love, encounters, farewells, and such that arise from them—basically stories like that. Most of them are."
It was a topic I'd explained once yesterday, but I continued.
Truth be told, I thought the chivalric literature section was relatively easy, so I couldn't quite understand why she was struggling with it.
It was just stories about a cool knight protagonist slaying dragons, hunting monsters, winning one-on-one duels, and then meeting a pretty lady, right? The end.
That said, the problems didn't only cover those stories.
They included the Empire's situation when the work was published, why the author wrote it that way... lots of stuff separate from the plot.
"And during the time this work came out, the north—now the Northern Region—was full of raiders stationed there, which influenced the author..."
I went through explanations of the work and key concepts right in front of Grace.
I figured grasping these basics would help her solve problems better, and she seemed clueless about them anyway.
"Out of the choices, the dog is way off from chivalric literature concepts altogether, and option 2 is..."
I spent about ten minutes explaining the problem Grace had asked about.
All to help her tackle literature problems on this topic more easily.
It was practically one-on-one tutoring, so I hoped it'd be extra helpful for her—especially since she'd asked me first.
Of course, I'd help the others too?
*
"Whew..."
"She's working harder than expected."
"You think so?"
"You usually just sleep all the time, do nothing, and lounge around. But this time, you're actually putting in real effort."
"Ah."
Ella's point made sense.
I definitely hadn't shown this level of diligence often.
"It's not like I sleep and slack off every single time."
"Well... true, but seeing you like this at the Academy is pretty surprising."
After Ivana Nordal and the Rosaki Sisters headed back to their dorms, I was lying on the bed chatting with Ella.
Ella was a bit tired from studying, and I was worn out from intensely tutoring Grace.
Meanwhile, Lize was diligently cleaning up...
"...But doesn't the Nordal Lady seem more engaged in the lessons than expected?"
"You think so too, Ella?"
"Yeah. Honestly, it was surprising enough that she joined this club out of nowhere. The Nordal Lady, no less?"
"True."
Truth be told, I was curious too.
Like, why exactly?
It wasn't like she'd been dragged here by a book like Grace—she'd come just because of something I'd said... I really had no idea.
"You didn't blackmail her or anything, right?"
"That... probably not...? She's stronger than me anyway."
"Fair. Camellia is tiny."
"...I'm not tiny?"
"Yeah, huge."
"........"
Ella's sudden jab was hard to counter on multiple levels.
But I'd grown a full 5 cm since the last time we measured!
It wasn't like I hadn't grown at all—I really had, and getting teased even then felt a bit much.
Sure, I was still just a tiny bit—really just a smidge—shorter than Ella?
"So, how did you really get her to join? I figured the Nordal Lady would go for the Academy's fencing club."
"Hmm... I just said I'd grant her a wish, that's it..."
"A wish?"
"Yeah, a wish. I said I'd grant any request she had. Nothing else. It's not like I could offer her a ton of money or something awkward like that."
I did have quite a bit of money... but I couldn't exactly buy the Nordal family's silence with cash.
It's a ducal house, after all?
And lately, no family was doing as stably well as the Nordals.
Plus, if I foolishly tried bribing her and then scary Northern assassin sisters showed up on my way home swinging axes... that'd be terrifying.
"Well... she accepted somehow."
"Hmm... something feels off."
"Yeah, it does."
"For the famously renowned 'Flower of the North' to accept your offer... Hmm... Maybe she has some ulterior motive?"
"You think?"
Maybe?
I definitely felt like Ivana Nordal must have had some reason for accepting my proposal.
Otherwise, why would she bother with something like that?
It wasn't even a grand offer—just join the club.
"Hmm... ulterior motive... Like kidnapping me to sell as a slave?"
"...Did all that literature studying fry your brain?"
"Just spitballing. Worst case, she'd just shake me down for some cash."
I didn't know Ivana Nordal's mindset yet, but I didn't think she had any truly malicious intentions toward me.
She was quietly attending lessons and solving the problems I'd made well, right?
If she'd had bad intentions from the start, she'd have done something by now.
"...Wouldn't pulling something like that at the Academy be a bit much?"
"Yeah, probably."
"........"
Anyway, the conclusion was that Ivana Nordal probably didn't have any evil intentions.
Just speculation, though.
"Ugh... Lize, all done cleaning?"
"Yes, Young Lady. I've sorted the Ladies' notes and pens, and wiped the blackboard clean. Anything else?"
"Nope. You rest too, Lize. Wanna lie down here?"
"I'm fine."
Rejected flat-out.
Well... with Ella resting beside me, it might be awkward for her maid Lize to just flop down like usual.
When it was just us in the room, Lize would lie down quietly... but I got it.
"By the way, Ella, how's your studying going?"
"Hmm... I think pretty well. I've covered all the material already. Just need to memorize hard and understand even harder."
"Good to hear. I was a bit worried since I've been focused on helping Grace lately, but no need to fret over you."
"Hehe, what do you take me for?"
"Ella, obviously. What else?"
"...You need to give more compliments here."
Ella whined at me in a slightly pouty tone, but it was just her usual self.
She'd always been pretty diligent anyway.
No real need to worry about Ella at all.
"Hmm... Feels like we've rested enough. Ella, wanna grab dinner?"
I sat up and turned sharply toward her as I said it.
I hadn't eaten anything since lunch!
We'd had tea Lize brewed in the club room, but drinks like that obviously don't fill you up.
And after all that intense explaining and teaching to Grace... now I was starving!
"Get up already!"
"...You're the one who said to lie down and rest first!"
"Don't care, let's go eat dinner. We've got Academy tomorrow too!"
I grabbed Ella's arm and tugged her along, ending up having dinner on the way back to the dorms.
The midterm exams two weeks away were still nagging at me, but I decided to fill my stomach first and think later back at the dorm.
"Oh."
...Come to think of it, good exam scores meant a dormitory upgrade, right?
"......."
"Camellia? Why'd you stop? Aren't we getting dinner?"
"Oh, yeah. Let's go."
...I'd completely forgotten, for a while, the reason I had to ace these midterms.
I'd been groaning about that issue since the first day I left home and arrived at the Academy, but lately I'd overlooked it... Was I enjoying Academy life more than I thought?
Things had definitely gotten more fun since starting the club.
Would it be even better if I got closer to the club members?
I had a gut feeling it would, but ways to bond more with them weren't coming to mind easily.