Entrance Ceremony (2)
"Hey, Jessica. I've always wondered—doesn't it get heavy lugging around those massive rolls on both sides of your head? What if you accidentally make the right one bigger? Doesn't your head just tilt that way?"
"……."
I kept peppering Jessica with questions about her roll-bread hair that I'd always been curious about, but she just stonewalled me with silence.
Jessica kept her eyes shut tight, like she couldn't even be bothered to look at me.
If it were anyone else, that level of ignoring would've crushed their spirit. But my iron heart, forged in the fires of Battōjutsu, didn't waver a bit.
They say even a steady drip can wear through rock.
If I kept at it without giving up, eventually this urge to tease Jessica and kill time would get through to her.
"Do you tip your maid extra for setting it up? Must be a real ordeal getting those rolls perfect every morning from dawn."
"……!"
Jessica's face flushed redder by the second, cartoonish veins bulging on her forehead.
"Jessica~ Jessica~ My cute little Jessica~! You're making me so sad ignoring me like this—I'm gonna cry!"
"Enough already…!"
Finally reacting, Jessica whipped around to face me. I'd been propping my chin up, waiting for just this moment, and I shot back:
"Took you long enough to look my way."
"You little—!!"
The instant Jessica raised her fist in fury, the hall's brilliant lights flickered out all at once, as if to block her swing.
The sudden darkness sent students—including Jessica—murmuring and glancing around in confusion.
Me? I'd binged the novel enough times to know this scene inside out. Calm as ever, I turned toward the stage where the lights would soon reignite.
"It's the stage."
"The stage? What about it?"
Jessica snapped back curtly without thinking, then turned her head just as lights bloomed atop the dais.
Snowflakes like white eyes began drifting from the ceiling, and in the dark, those glowing flakes drew gasps from the crowd.
The atmosphere thickened like the opening of a grand play, everyone tense. Then the snow gathered on stage, shaping into a human form.
Attention-whore past her prime.
Having seen this spectacle in the novel a dozen times, I narrowed my eyes, waiting for the woman to emerge from the frozen mass.
The piled snow hardened like ice, then cracked bit by bit.
Moments later, shattering the icy shell, appeared a white-haired woman in a witch's hat.
She stood tall with a faint smile, owning the stage like the star of the show. Her name: Marina Snowwhite.
She looked mid-thirties at first glance, exuding the aura of a noblewoman not to be approached lightly.
Grand Archmage... Impressive up close.
As the academy's head and guardian, Marina was one of those powerhouses who held up even in the novel's late-game inflation.
The setting was that the academy stayed safe because she protected it... but.
What's the point of a setting if it's always getting breached anyway, with Leon cleaning up the mess every time?
She wasn't outright evil, but she was on the list of characters whose skulls I'd one day cleave open for the endless evolution of Battōjutsu.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all for the first time."
Marina's voice rang out—cool yet honeyed, filling the entire hall.
Judging by the mana laced in it, not just amplification magic, but something to sweeten her tone too.
"On this fine day, I am truly delighted to welcome you all—the kingdom's new future—to our academy."
What came next in the novel...? Something about history, I think.
While I pondered, Marina continued in her steady tone.
"I, and the heroes whose names grace the kingdom's history, all grew here—sometimes clashing, sometimes cooperating."
For the record, the side story revealed Marina had zero friends back in her academy days, always holing up in her room to study alone.
Maybe that's why she turned into this spotlight-loving showboat—a rebound from her ignored school years.
"Some of you must be proud descendants of those legends."
A few students—and Jessica right beside me—puffed up their chests with smug pride.
Unlike low-rank nobles like me with our short lineages, high nobles took fierce pride in their blood.
"Never shame those ancestors. Mind your conduct always—trampling those beneath you on their achievements is as good as smearing mud on their faces."
"Hear that, Jessica? Smearing mud on faces!"
"……Shut it."
"Furthermore."
Marina paused briefly, then resumed. Jessica and I both focused on her speech.
"While we forbid flaunting status here, don't forget the outside world and act recklessly. Especially... avoid the folly of chasing fleeting thrills and discarding your future."
That last bit aimed at commoners, maybe?
Sure enough, in the novel, a commoner outdid a noble in bed and got beaten as "discipline."
That commoner being a heroine got the noble expelled, but any other? No such luck.
This was her roundabout advice to the commoners.
Of course, the real key was preventing such incidents—but Marina couldn't control what happened off-campus.
Hori's here to snag a sponsor anyway, so she'll watch herself.
And if anyone picked a fight, I could just duel them out—nice custom, this world.
Lost in that thought, I felt a poke from the side. Jessica grinned smugly.
"Heh... Did you catch what she said earlier?"
"Huh?"
Thinking it over, I realized she'd thrown my own words back at me verbatim.
"Oh, payback for earlier? Everything you do is so petty and cute, Jessica."
She didn't stop at raising her fist this time—swinging it straight for my face.
-Thwack!
Before she could connect, I grabbed her wrist and halted her cold.
"Starting the ceremony with violence? Your esteemed ancestors would weep."
"Let... go! Ngh…!!"
Trained to swing heavy hammers, Jessica packed real strength.
But even so, without her crude weapon, she couldn't match my grip—limits of low-tier arms.
"My bad, so calm down first."
"Urgh…!"
She growled low enough that no one else heard.
I soothed her like a raging beast, voice steady and firm.
"I'll let go, so drop your hand and go back to being the good little roll-bread lady. Got it? Okay, releasing on three. One, two... three!"
I released, but Jessica didn't lower her fist.
Instead, she swung faster than before. I leaned back just enough—a paper's width from her knuckles.
"Breaking promises? What a disappointing roll-bread lady."
Mid-ceremony, she couldn't yell—could only tremble in rage.
"You... I'll kill you someday, for real!"
"If you're gonna kill me, don't do it yourself—ask someone stronger. I hate wasting time."
"Grrrh…!!"
Her teeth-grinding echoed in my ears—she couldn't hold back her fury.
No idiot would charge me herself. Soon it'd be daddy's tattling or an assassin.
Either way, win-win for me.
Teasing the cute roll-bread lady brings a powerhouse eager to let me swing Battōjutsu all I want?
Anyone passing that up is the type who'd grab just one at a buy-one-get-one sale.
She won't tattle right away—assassin first, probably?
This world crawled with tattooed thug assassin guilds. Which one would she send?
With her symbol-of-wealth roll-bread hair, she'd splurge on the best, no doubt.
After that, Marina's speech droned on, evoking nostalgic school days—but way too long.
Drowsiness hit as I geared up to tease Jessica for an energy boost.
"And finally, to close, we have the oath from our freshman representative: His Highness Euclid von Derpart, Fifth Prince."
Finally—the boredom ending. A grin crept onto my face unbidden.
Just the Fifth Prince's oath and done... wait, what?
"Jessica, who did she say's giving the oath?"
"…Shut it."
Ignoring prickly Jessica, I eyed the stage. A slender man, barely scraping 160cm—way short of 180—climbed up.
He raised one hand, face solemn, and began reading the oath.
"Oath: Representing the freshmen of the 1,243rd class, I consider it an honor to join the Royal Academy. With gratitude to the kingdom, I solemnly pledge to pursue knowledge and hone my martial arts with body and soul."
Freshman rep: Euclid von Derpart.
The name hit like a hammer to the skull. My mind blanked.
Who the fuck is this guy?!