The Academy Entrance Ceremony
The Dairos Academy was an educational facility located within the academy’s special territory. The entire district was packed with shops catering to the academy, and among them were dormitories for prospective students waiting to enroll. Of course—as a high-ranking noble, I had no need for any of that. I had bought an entire mansion in the academy territory outright. With both the Count and the Duke contributing, its size was arguably the finest in the entire academy district.
“But don’t people who live at the academy have to stay in the dorms anyway?”
“Students with their own homes are allowed to commute.”
“Hahaha, Yuri. You still don’t get it, do you? The real charm is living in the dorms and barely making it to class on time.”
“And how would you know that, Kyle?”
“……I heard it from someone.”
When Yuri asked how I could possibly know about something I’d never experienced, I quickly changed the subject. Come to think of it, I was still a complete newbie who hadn’t even enrolled in an academy yet. Yuri gave me a strange look, as if wondering why I was talking like I’d gone through it all myself, but I stubbornly played dumb until the end.
Knock, knock—.
“Young Master Kyle?”
Right on cue, as if she’d been waiting for the perfect moment, the mansion’s maid knocked on the door. I told her to come in, and the door opened. The maid held out a letter with both hands.
“It’s from the academy.”
“Oh, finally.”
I darted over and snatched the letter from her. There were two letters—one for me, and one for Yuri. After handing Yuri hers, I immediately broke the seal and checked the contents.
Inside was the long-awaited news of my academy acceptance.
Kyle Meyer
Congratulations on your acceptance.
Please be sure to bring this acceptance letter with you to the entrance ceremony.
“As expected.”
It was only natural, but people tend to get nervous even over things that are practically guaranteed. I was rejoicing over my acceptance when I noticed the two letters in Yuri’s hands and tilted my head.
Two letters? I only got one.
“Yuri, what’s that?”
“My acceptance letter.”
“There are two of them?”
“Ah, this one. Want to see?”
Yuri handed me the second letter that I didn’t have. I quickly scanned its contents. My eyes widened the moment I read it. To summarize:
“It says I’m the top student.”
Yuri Grace had taken the top spot in this year’s academy entrance exam.
After receiving our acceptance letters, the time until the entrance ceremony flew by in the blink of an eye. I had wanted to go to school with Yuri, but—she was called in early for the oath-taking and other rehearsal events because she was the top student. In the end, I had no choice but to head to the academy alone. It felt a little lonely.
The day of the academy entrance ceremony.
It wasn’t just me who had been waiting for this day. A huge crowd of people were all heading toward the academy. The roads were packed.
“Out of the way! Do you even know who’s riding in this carriage?!”
“You’re the one who should know whose carriage this is!”
As expected of the academy, there were far more nobles than commoners. The nobles, finding even this short distance too bothersome to walk, rode in carriages toward the academy. With so many carriages converging at once, the roads were completely jammed. If human-driven cars get frustrating in traffic, horse-drawn carriages were even worse. The horses that couldn’t stand still began to act up, and the already chaotic roads turned into total mayhem.
‘Walking would’ve been faster.’
Thinking that, I cut through the gridlocked road and headed for the academy. In the distance, I saw countless students walking toward it just like me.
The first thing that caught my eye was people suddenly being flung through the air near the entrance.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah—!”
“??”
At first I was confused, wondering what the hell was going on, but I soon figured it out. The people flying through the air were all failures pretending to be accepted students. Anyone without an academy acceptance letter couldn’t even enter the grounds. Some kind of magic prevented it.
Only then did I understand why the letter had stressed that we must bring it. ‘If you don’t have it, you can’t get in at all.’
Of course, I had my acceptance letter, so it was different for me. Receiving envious glances from the rejected failures, I stepped inside the academy and encountered students meticulously checking letters at the main gate.
‘If they’re going to check anyway, why set up that magic in the first place?’
I couldn’t understand it, but I obediently got in line and had my letter inspected. The student checking—whose head only reached my chest—stared blankly up at my towering frame before blinking as if she’d forgotten something and asked for my details.
“Ah, um— your name?”
“Kyle Meyer.”
“Kyle Meyer, Kyle Meyer… Here you are. Yep, confirmed. You may enter!”
“Are you a senior?”
“Huh? That’s right! I’m Lil Pine, second-year. Nice to meet you, junior.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
I took the hand she offered and shook it up and down. She was a cute senior, but I felt zero attraction. And that was because…
‘Her chest is small.’
I have no interest in women with smaller breasts than mine. After passing the cute senior, I headed inside. Upperclassmen in uniforms were guiding the new students toward the auditorium.
Following their directions, I entered the auditorium where the new students who had arrived earlier were already seated, waiting for the ceremony to begin. I picked an empty seat and sat down. Shortly after, someone plopped down in the seat next to me.
“Hey there.”
I turned my head slightly to check who had sat beside me. The moment I saw her, a wide smile spread across my face.
A rare platinum-blonde beauty with an impressive chest had taken the seat next to me.
“Oh, hey.”
“You’re pretty big. Knight Department?”
“Yep. Knight Department. You?”
“I’m in the Art Department. My specialty is singing.”
“Singing? That’s impressive.”
I’m a cold man toward flat-chested girls, but a warm man toward those with big breasts. Back in Korea, there weren’t many women with larger chests than mine, so I was always irritated. But this world was different. Since the original was a game, there were far more big-breasted girls than flat ones. In this world, I could finally be a sweet guy.
After laughing and chatting for a while, I realized I hadn’t even asked her name.
“Now that I think about it, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. What’s your name?”
“I’m Aria.”
“I’m Kyle Meyer. Nice to meet you.”
I smiled and held out my hand. Aria tilted her head with a puzzled look.
When I stared at her as if asking what was wrong, she pointed at herself and repeated her introduction.
“I said Aria.”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time.”
“Hmm— are you pretending not to know? Or is this an act?”
“Are you famous or something?”
At that, Aria burst into laughter. She laughed so hard that tears actually welled up in her eyes. Clutching her stomach, she wiped her tears and waved her hands, saying that wasn’t it.
“No, I do want to become famous, but right now I’m just an ordinary student.”
“Hmm, then you’ll have to work a little harder.”
“Hahaha! You’re really funny, aren’t you?”
Then—she explained why she had been laughing so hard.
“You don’t get it even after seeing I don’t have a last name? I’m a commoner.”
“So?”
“So? You’re a noble, aren’t you? Even if a noble gets along with a commoner—”
“I don’t really care about that stuff. Besides, this is the academy.”
It was an educational institution where all students were equal. So equal, in fact, that a commoner player character could date the empire’s prince while laughing and chatting happily. But after hearing my words, Aria seemed to think I was some goody-two-shoes who strictly followed school rules. She let out a skeptical hum and gave me a sideways glance.
“Riiight. Okay. I like you. Wanna be friends?”
“Friends sound good. I’ve always wanted a girl friend.”
“Hehe, but not a girlfriend?”
“Ah, that’s a bit…”
I pointed toward the front of the auditorium, where a sharp, murderous aura had been stabbing at me for a while now. Yuri was standing there, glaring fiercely in our direction.
I explained to Aria why she couldn’t be my girlfriend.
“She’s my fiancée. So a girlfriend is kind of off the table.”
“Whoa, you’re quite the player, huh? With a fiancée that pretty.”
“That’s just how nobles are.”
“Right, right— feeding one extra commoner must be nothing to you, then?”
“Probably.”
Hearing my answer, Aria grinned and began stroking my forearm.
“How about me?”
“I always welcome women with big breasts—”
“—is what I was about to say! But messing with a guy who already has a fiancée would probably get me stabbed, right?”
Aria looked at me with a mischievous smile. It was obvious she was just teasing me. I slightly hardened my expression and looked down at her.
“Take back what you just said.”
“Sure, if you buy me dessert.”
On my very first day at the academy, I got shaken down by my new friend. If only her chest had been small, I wouldn’t have fallen for it…
Academy top student.
It was a position countless nobles would envy, but Yuri Grace was not pleased with it. Because it meant she had to be separated from her fiancé, Kyle Meyer, throughout the entrance ceremony.
‘……What is he doing right now?’
Yuri glanced toward where her fiancé was sitting and confirmed that some platinum-blonde girl was seated right next to Kyle. She didn’t consider herself the type of woman who would get jealous just because another girl sat beside him, but objectively speaking, the distance between the two of them was suspiciously close.
‘Get away from him.’
Yuri narrowed her eyes and glared at Kyle. As if sensing her gaze, both of them turned to look at her at the same time. Their eyes met in midair, and Yuri saw the platinum-blonde girl smirk at her.
That unknown wench was approaching Kyle. She was stroking his arm, pressing her chest against him. Rage surged up to the heavens, but what infuriated her even more was that Kyle wasn’t doing anything to stop it.
‘……Kyle.’
No matter how free nobles were when it came to romance, flirting with another woman right in front of his fiancée was insane. Yuri kept clenching and unclenching her fists in anger when a voice calling her name snapped her out of it.
“—Miss Yuri Grace?”
“……Yes.”
“The entrance ceremony is about to begin. Just do it exactly as you practiced.”
“Understood.”
Even while answering the professor in front of her, Yuri’s eyes never left Kyle. Even after the ceremony started and she stood on the stage, Kyle continued flirting with the nameless girl beside him.
“Wow… How can he cheat right in front of his fiancée?”
“……?”
At that moment, the girl standing behind her spoke up. Yuri turned around to look at the student who had spoken to her. She was definitely the academy’s second-place student…
“Ah, maybe you don’t know my name? Ahem— I’m Kim Sera.”
“Kim Sera?”
“Yep. Ah, Kim is my family name, and Sera is my given name, so you can just call me Sera.”
“Kim…… What family is that from?”
“The Gimhae Kim clan… which generation was it again…?”
Yuri tilted her head at the family name she had never heard before in her life. Looking at her black hair and Eastern features, she didn’t seem to be from the empire.
“Anyway— nice to meet you, Yuri Grace.”
“……Yeah, sure.”
Thinking it wouldn’t hurt to get close to a talented foreigner who had taken second place, Yuri returned the greeting. As she slightly lowered her head, she instinctively realized that at least she wouldn’t have to worry about Sera stealing Kyle from her.
After all, her chest was far too small.
“By the way— isn’t that going too far?”
“Who?”
“That guy, Kyle Meyer. ……Wait, has Kyle always been that muscular?”
“You know about Kyle?”
“Of course I do.”
Sera gave a confident thumbs-up.
“From his birthday to what he likes— it’s all stored right here in my head!”
“……Oh, really?”
Yuri immediately took back what she had thought earlier. She shouldn’t get too close to this girl. With that in mind, she subtly put some distance between herself and Sera.