Chapter 6
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: After Knight Department Class
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“It's you?”
On the way back after class ended. Suddenly, one female student grabbed my hand.
At first, I thought, Sigh, here we go again. Such is my fate!
Classmates or seniors who wanted to send love letters to my brother. I'd seen plenty of those girls.
Why not just court him openly? Did they really have to go through me?
Grumbling inwardly, my body was still reacting properly all the same.
“If you have something to give, hand it over quick. I can deliver it, but getting a reply back is...”
“What're you talking about?”
Ignoring my cool response entirely, she grabbed my hand and headed to a bench in one corner of the garden.
Then the first thing out of her mouth was, “It's you?” Short, but packing a punch.
“What are you...”
A face I'd seen somewhere before. More importantly, my possession sensor was going off with a sharp zzzt!
Someone I couldn't just brush past. Someone I absolutely had to remember.
I racked my brain, and before long, I reached one conclusion.
Oh, crap. No way?
She'd figured it out already? Impossible. Was there a snitch inside?
Yeah, it had to be Lester running his mouth. Nothing else explained this!
Vowing to snap that guy's neck someday, I hurriedly composed myself.
“Ariete Clozen.”
Clozen. One of only three ducal houses in the empire—the house of the Victory Duke.
I'd heard his daughter had enrolled in the same year as me.
And not just anywhere, but in the Knight Department, no less.
“Don't call me by my full name all stiff like that. I came here without wanting to lean on my family. Just call me Ariete, Richi. You can do that, right?”
They said the duke's daughter had a refreshingly straightforward side despite her status.
I'd figured it was just flattery from duke family fanboys, but apparently not.
She clearly wanted to be treated as just another student, not the Clozen heiress.
“So, what's your answer?”
She flashed a grin and tilted her head slightly.
“Answer to what?”
“That thing a few days ago. When the Officer Department guys stole our Knight Department swords.”
For a split second, I nearly denied it outright with a “Wasn't me,” but I quickly bit that back.
This wasn't some guess on her part. Her eyes held one hundred percent certainty.
No point denying it here—she wouldn't buy it. I was sure of that.
“...How'd you know?”
I gave up early and confessed right away, and Ariete burst out laughing with an “Ahaha!”
Didn't seem like she was trying to look pretty, but damn, she did. Hm? Am I losing it?
“Surprising! I figured you'd deny it at least once!”
“If I denied it here, you'd just hound me with 'Prove it wasn't you'?”
“Whoa! Spot on! You read me that well?”
She kept right on laughing after that, chattering away.
Though the actual content was anything but funny.
“We went through hell because of it. My sword went missing too, right when the seniors were grilling me hard. I'd sworn up and down I had nothing to do with it, but man, it got rough enough I almost wanted to name-drop my family. Kissing the ground wasn't half bad, though. Mmm, the dirt didn't taste great.”
“...”
I was the one who'd told them not to discriminate—steal from baron daughters or Clozens alike.
Still, I had to applaud the Officer Department guys for actually pulling it off.
I'd only meant it as 'don't play favorites,' but they'd really gone and stolen a Clozen sword too?
“So how'd you know? Hm, how to put it? A hunch? Intuition? Honestly, it fits. Word is, there's no first-year in the Officer Department as bold and proactive as that.”
“Officer Department guys would flip if they heard you say that.”
“But it's true, right? Not an easy feat, but they decided fast and followed through with real execution. No one in the first-year Officer Department has that kind of charisma. At least.”
Ariete said it with a sly smile, eyeing me. Why? What?
“Widen the scope to the whole academy, though, and it's not like there aren't guys like that.”
“And that was me?”
Nod, nod—
She nodded without the slightest hesitation, leaving me a bit dumbfounded.
We weren't childhood friends or anything.
Heck, I hadn't even done anything noteworthy enough to inspire that guess.
How'd she jump straight to me with such brazen confidence?
“You're a Reinhardt.”
“Ah.”
“The glorious house that pulled the empire from crisis and fought alongside my father. I figured anyone from the Reinhardts could easily grasp the big picture here.”
In the end, it all circled back to being a Reinhardt. That damn war hero rep!
Anyone hearing that would think I'd fought on the front lines too.
In reality, I was barely past playing with toy swords, let alone war!
Waah! Baby Richi doesn't wanna be a war hero!
“Not exactly thrilled, huh?”
Of course not. Who would be? Getting judged as 'Reinhardt' instead of 'Richi' every damn day.
Guys gunning for promotion by riding family coattails might love it.
But not me. I just wanted to live quietly—and happily.
To me, being the Reinhardt war hero family's second son was way too heavy a burden.
Excessive expectations, burdensome stares—I wanted to avoid it all.
Honestly, huh? This wasn't some power fantasy.
I couldn't even summon a status window! What was I supposed to do?
Better to lay low than strut around and drop dead.
Just in case, should I yell for it one more time? Status window! Status window!!
Nothing happened! Whew! Gotta stay low-key!
“It's burdensome.”
“Burden some?”
“I know myself best. I can't become like Grandpa, Dad, or big bro. To me, the Reinhardt name feels more like a burden than pride.”
“Hmm...”
Ariete pondered for a moment, then nodded like, Yeah, fair enough.
“No need to force it. This is...”
“No, I get it. Really. I'm kinda the same.”
Same? I looked straight at Ariete.
“I wanted to be a knight. Not because of family influence or Dad's inspiration. Just purely, even if I'm not strong or talented—just one knight.”
“The Victory Duke is the knight ideal, after all.”
“That's why it was tough. Everyone around me had sky-high expectations. The vassals, my big bro and sis, even Mom and Dad. I was doing it for me, but they all thought I wanted to follow in his footsteps?”
That sounded... suffocating. The pressure must've been crushing.
Even I got chills and wanted to bolt from vague expectations tied to the Reinhardt name and family—without ever touching war.
The duke's daughter dreaming of knighthood with a near-perfect knight like the Victory Duke as her dad.
“So?”
“Do I care? Of course. Burdened? Absolutely. How could I not be? But I try anyway. Ignore everyone else and focus on myself. So I asked my classmates and seniors to forget Clozen, Kainel dukedom, Victory Duke—all that.”
How 'bout that? Pretty wise, right? What do you think? She asked, hands on hips, smirking.
“...If this got you in trouble...”
“Huh? Nah! It was fun. Kinda fresh. Even learned that all the honor talk's worthless if you lose the war! Now I get why they call the Knight Department stuffy!”
“Don't say that when you're in Knight Department too. Confusing.”
“Is it? Ahaha!”
Ariete's bright smile as she looked at me burned itself into my mind.
Her blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight, her swaying golden hair—sure, those helped.
But above all, her unyielding stance amid the pouring expectations and pressure? Incredibly cool.
“Hm. Can't just let it slide, though... Yeah. Keep my secret, and I'll ask one favor. Help out Knight Department this time.”
Help? So steal the Officer Department swords now?
But those guys weren't total idiots—they'd be on high alert from now on.
I'd overheard them whispering that Knight Department might even steal their underwear next.
Nothing dumber than getting a taste of their own medicine.
They knew that, so they'd be fully prepped. How?
“What're those eyes? Think I'm asking how to steal swords?”
“...Aren't you?”
“Of course not! Who falls for the same trick twice?!”
Uh, Koenihesen guys. Their brains seem to be devolving lately.
After getting pummeled by Grandpa and smashed by Dad, all their brain cells must've died.
“Knight Department has an event coming up. Needs music, and tradition is for freshmen to make the class song together and use it till graduation.”
First I'd heard of that tradition. They make their own class anthem?
Knight Department really was ridiculously stuffy.
“But no matter how hard we try, nothing decent comes out.”
“...And you're asking me for that?”
“Yup.”
She nodded so boldly it was getting scary.
Why me? There's a Music Department. Why skip them for an Administrative Department guy like me...?
“Didn't you say you like music?”
“When did I say I like mu— Oh. Yeah. I like it. I do.”
Why music out of nowhere? When I entered the academy, I'd said I was into music.
Reason? To dodge expectations. Avoid the future war hero label!
If I liked music, they'd think, Oh, he's not into military stuff. My desperate bid for survival.
And now it snowballed back at me. Great.
“I get the gist, but... liking music doesn't mean a song pops out of nowhere.”
“Aw, c'mon. I bet you could. That cat operation? Heard you planned it in less than a day. Can't do it?”
Damn it. Who spilled that much detail?
Find 'em, and I'd make 'em pay. Thank the stars there's no cold cucumber soup or mint choco here.
would've force-fed it to them for a week. Traitors!
“Still, this seems tough...”
Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.
Knight Department class song. Knights, knights... Wait, didn't I know some knights?
They used something other than mana—Force, was it?
And they had one killer march.
The evil empire's main theme, but... whatever.