The Masochistic Noble and the Top Student
I received a grace period from the two professors for the maid situation. It was only until next Tuesday, but having time to think was a relief. My brain just shuts down under pressure.
“I seriously thought I was going to lose my mind,” I muttered, leaning back against the sofa in the cafe.
Ailee stayed silent for a moment before her smartwatch finally buzzed.
“It’s basically choosing between Deep in a butler uniform or Deep in an engineer uniform, right? Give me a second to think this over.”
Ah, right. She wasn’t normal either. Surrounded by nothing but weirdos, I’d started thinking Ailee was the sane one.
I was staring blankly into space when I sensed someone approaching. It was just my spatial awareness acting up again. When I turned my head, a maid came into view. She sat down in the chair the two professors had just vacated.
“Are you, by any chance, Cadet Deep?”
Black hair and garnet eyes. A neat bob cut and an overall refined, elegant aura. Her hair was the same color as Lan’s, but the texture was completely different. It screamed nobility. Even better maintained than Aaron’s, who had the same black hair. It wasn’t even close to my type, yet the words graceful and beautiful popped into my head without permission.
“H-hello.”
“There’s no need to be so formal. While we’re inside this cafe, I’m nothing more than a maid serving the guests.”
Was she really just a maid? Her speech sounded far more like a refined young lady than a servant. It was miles away from anything resembling a typical maid. My reaction must have been amusing, because the maid in front of me smiled and lifted the teapot, refilling my empty cup.
Honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference between any tea’s flavor or aroma. I’d already decided to treat it as just another way to wet my throat.
“It seems you don’t know the taste or aroma of tea at all, and are simply treating it as something to moisten your throat.”
“H-huh?”
Did I really give it away that obviously? Before I could even formulate a proper response, the maid spoke first.
“Observing and understanding the intentions of the one you serve is an essential skill for any maid. I know that Cadet Deep is somewhat clumsy at communicating with others, so I made an extra effort to read your thoughts.”
The maid picked up a pair of tongs, took a sugar cube from the bowl beside her, and dropped it into my teacup.
“If you cannot taste the tea, make it sweeter. If you cannot smell its fragrance, soften it with milk. A maid does not insult the dignity of the one she serves. She obeys without question and supports them quietly.”
“Are you… promoting the club?”
“I am the president of this club, after all.”
The maid stood up, pinched the hem of her skirt, and bowed. It was an incredibly old-fashioned, almost impossibly refined curtsy—the kind you’d rarely see anywhere.
“My name is Ayla von Dis Pater. I serve as the representative of the Servant Club.”
Dis Pater. The northern front of the empire, the battlefield ruled by Duke Dis Pater. When my eyes widened, Lady Ayla smiled and sat back down.
I couldn’t hold back the question. It made no sense.
“Why… would a duchess… join the Servant Club?”
Professor Zeke had said the Servant Club also considered cases where lower nobles were employed by higher ones. But there had to be limits. The eldest daughter of the duke who ruled the entire northern front becoming a maid for another family? It was unimaginable.
At my bewildered expression, Lady Ayla smiled and answered.
“Because a cute maid is justice.”
These people had no sense of normalcy whatsoever.
“I understand that many gentlemen are quite fond of maids. Do you not share that preference, Cadet Deep?”
If we were talking strictly about likes and dislikes, I would definitely say it fell into the “like” category. But there was no way I could admit that out loud. She was a noblewoman. How could I possibly confess something like that?
Yet Ayla seemed to have already read my mind. She nodded with a satisfied expression.
“To think I’ve found a student who understands me so well. In that case, I have no choice but to strongly recommend that you join our club, Cadet Deep.”
“Strongly?”
“Ah, it might be a rather embarrassing answer. Do you still wish to hear it?”
N-no. Please, no.
Without giving me time to respond, Ayla smiled and continued.
“But what’s the point in hiding it? I, Ayla, am ashamed to admit that due to my noble bloodline, I have never once received orders from lower nobles or commoners.”
I didn’t want to know this.
“However, if Cadet Deep joins our club and we work together, I will inevitably have the chance to serve you as practice for maid duties.”
No. Seriously. Please stop.
“As a noble, I desperately wish to experience what it feels like to obey the commands of a lowly commoner. That is my reason.”
Ayla’s eyes sparkled brilliantly as she spoke, her excited lips flushing a deep red. Her clear gaze remained fixed on me.
Graceful. Calm. Beautiful.
“Ah, I’ve become far too excited, haven’t I? Please just remember that I, Ayla, sincerely hope you will join our club. That would make me very happy.”
There was nothing left. She was just a crazy fetishist with a massive inferiority complex. There was no way in hell I was joining this club.
Thus, I was forced to introduce the new club members.
Choice is only possible when you actually have options.
After returning home, Ailee finally snapped out of it and started digging through community forums instead of the academy homepage. She discovered that the Engineering Club, where Professor Sumeragi served as advisor, might have issues with class discrimination. While it couldn’t be stated openly, it was the kind of information quietly exchanged within the community. In the end, checking the academy community first had been the correct move.
Even so, if Professor Sumeragi had approached me, there were only two possible reasons.
The first was that she wanted to use me as the catalyst to change the club’s atmosphere. In that case, I had zero intention of joining. If she wanted to change the club’s vibe with me at the center, it meant she expected me to actively participate in club activities. I had no desire to do that.
The second was that Professor Sumeragi simply had no interest in her own club. It wasn’t uncommon for teachers to be indifferent toward the clubs they advised. Naturally, joining such a club meant receiving zero protection. In other words, she was trying to lure me into a club she didn’t care about just to keep me close. I had no intention of falling for that either.
Come to think of it, the fact that she had casually stuffed her students’ finished projects into her bag was proof enough that she wasn’t particularly invested in the club. So why was she so desperate to make me her assistant?
Once the grace period until Tuesday ended, the only club I could choose without hesitation was Professor Zeke’s Servant Club. Every time Ayla looked at me with that satisfied expression, I felt a subtle chill run down my spine. That wasn’t the gaze of a refined young lady. It was the gaze of a refined lunatic.
“First, allow me to introduce Cadet Deep. I’m sure most of you have seen the videos on the academy community. He is a pilot of considerable skill. For our club, which mainly consists of operator department students, he is a very welcome addition.”
The seniors seated in front of us clapped enthusiastically. That was a relief. The new member self-introductions were mostly being led by Ayla. It might differ between clubs, but at least the Servant Club operated this way.
To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if I could handle club activities. The stares focused on me had completely frozen my body. I was trembling on the inside. Cold sweat ran down my back, making my skin feel clammy and unpleasant. The only thing that moved was the smartwatch on my wrist, vibrating so faintly it made no sound. It was Ailee’s signal telling me to pull myself together. If I could’ve gotten a grip from something like that, I wouldn’t have been a self-esteem-deficient otaku in the first place.
“And second…”
The person standing right next to me had striking bright red hair. He looked somehow familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him. I was sure I’d met him before.
“Revan. Like Cadet Deep, he belongs to the pilot department.”
Revan. Revan? Where had I seen him?
At that exact moment, every person in the room received a notification at the same time. If every smartwatch was going off simultaneously, there was only one possible reason.
“Ah, it looks like an academy announcement has been posted. Let’s check this first.”
If an academy notice was coming out at this exact timing, there were only two possibilities.
“Ailee, could you check it for me?”
The first possibility was a club-related announcement. Lady Ayla had probably considered that too. The expected content would be something like extending the club selection period, or that students who hadn’t chosen a club would be automatically assigned to one.
The second possibility was even more important than the first.
“It says the entrance exam rankings are out?”
It was the announcement everyone had been waiting for—the reveal of the top student. In Bethesda Academy, the title of top student carried considerable weight. That wasn’t my phrasing; it was how Lan had put it. The top student received numerous benefits. They got basic discounts on part transactions within the academy, discounts on facility usage, and could request substantial financial support from the school when trading parts with other students or needing emergency funds.
At this point, it was clear that the title of top student essentially turned one person into a one-man corporation. As a result, proxy purchases of parts through the top student were quite common, and Lan had told me that making any kind of connection with the top student was extremely important. Whether I actually possessed the communication skills necessary to form such a connection was a completely separate issue.
Anyway, once the first-year top student was decided, a ton of people would swarm to build connections with them. It might have nothing to do with me. Still, I was curious who it would be. It could be Princess Saya. After actually fighting her, I knew how insanely skilled she was. I’d gotten my ass handed to me, after all.
Personally, I also wanted to root for Aaron. I hadn’t felt like he was stronger than Saya, but his fundamentals were outstanding and his unit’s customization was unique. There were many other top student candidates as well. Most were impressive, highly skilled nobles. It was only natural for a noble to take first place in the first-year rankings. They were born with the blood of pilots, after all.
“First-year top student… Revan?”
The red-haired student grinned.
Only then did I remember. He was the student who had told me, right before my fight with Aaron, that Aaron couldn’t see well out of his left eye. The one who had said he didn’t have a personal unit and had received one from the academy instead.
No. How?