The Academy's Shady Merchant Does Business
“Hey. Why the hell are you doing classical music? The kid who was just stomping on the podium and screaming her head off—what part of that is classical?!”
“Th-that was something I had to do because Master Nikolai made me…!”
“Don’t give me that crap! We can’t let that insane talent rot away in the stuffy classical music scene with those pretentious snobs!”
“We can tolerate being called stuffy snobs, but we absolutely cannot tolerate that talent being wasted on classical music!”
“…Can’t you people just say you couldn’t stand it like normal young adults?”
“This junior’s got rock spirit running through her bones! Grab her! Kidnap her right now and make her fill out the transfer application to the Popular Music Department!!!”
“Hieek?!”
The moment Rine sensed danger, she whipped around and sprinted toward the auditorium exit.
“Wait, junior! Transfer! If you transfer, you get a private practice room every month and free premium string instruments!” “Catch her! We can’t let the classical snobs steal that genius!” “The present and future of the Popular Music Department is right there!”
In the middle of the chaos, the orientation TA grabbed the microphone and irresponsibly declared, “And with that, we’ll wrap up the freshman welcome ceremony. Have a great semester, everyone!”
What was even more shocking was how everyone began cleaning up as if this were completely normal.
Is this everyday life at the academy? Is that how it is?
I just wanted to attend the academy!
“Ughhh, why are they doing this to meeee!!!”
Cursing the absent Master Nikolai with all her heart, Rine fled toward the dense forest paths of the academy with tears flying from her eyes.
Unfortunately, as nothing more than an ordinary Bard major, Rine’s stamina was pathetically low, and she was soon gasping for air.
The silver lining was that her pursuers were in even worse shape.
It was a relief that the seniors in charge of choreography had skipped the welcome ceremony to go drinking. Those people were stamina monsters. There were even rumors they’d beaten the Knight Department in a pure endurance contest.
Even so, she faced several close calls, but her rural instincts—honed by a lifetime of playing in the fields—allowed her to shake off the pursuit with flashy, erratic movements.
Once she confirmed the area was quiet, Rine collapsed onto a rock beside a trickling fountain to catch her breath.
That was when it happened.
“Fatigue recovery potions for sale~.”
“What the—?!”
Startled, Rine jumped in place and looked toward the sound. There, crouched on a shaded rock beside the fountain with a mat spread out, sat a strange girl.
How long had she been there? Rine was certain no one had been at the fountain when she arrived.
The mysterious girl had a very youthful face, but one of her eyes was replaced by a brilliantly glowing red magic stone.
“You buying a fatigue recovery potion or not?”
“Haa… huff, how much… for the fatigue recovery potion?”
When Rine asked while clutching her chest, the magic-stone-eyed girl rested her chin on her hand, stared at her intently, then clicked her tongue.
“Hmmm. Tsk. I can tell at a glance—you’re completely broke, not a single coin to your name!”
“…Excuse me? How did you know I’m broke?”
“There are ways of knowing these things.”
The girl snorted and began pulling all sorts of bizarre items from the pockets of her worn coat and the folds of her clothing, lining them up on the mat.
“Let’s see, what’s useful…”
With a series of clinks, she laid out suspicious pink powder bottles, bizarre heart-shaped tools, and liquids with disturbingly suggestive colors that screamed danger at first glance.
“This is a special aphrodisiac that paralyzes the target’s reason, this is magic oil that amplifies the ‘lover’s swing-bridge’ effect by 700%, and this is… oops, why is this erotic book mixed in here? Anyway.”
“Um… you’re running a rather peculiar business, miss…”
When Rine began slowly backing away with a disturbed expression, the girl tossed her a transparent green potion bottle.
“First purchase is on the house. Drink that and you’ll get a burst of energy that’ll let you run like a horse.”
“…Thank you.”
Though suspicious, Rine felt like her body was about to fall apart, so she uncorked the potion and gulped it down.
Gulp—
“Oh?”
Strangely, it felt like a cool breeze passed down her throat, and the heavy fatigue weighing down her legs vanished like magic.
“It really works! Thank you, weird magic-stone-eye sister!”
“I’m not your sister, I’m—… Never mind. You’re noisy, so get lost already.”
The girl waved her hand in annoyance. Rine, now light on her feet again, left the forest path and headed for the dormitory, only to realize—
Oh no, I didn’t even ask who she was!
Unlike the trends in modern novels, Rine had received a strictly home-schooled education. She firmly believed that any favor received must be repaid. So she immediately turned around to at least learn the girl’s name.
But…
“…Huh?”
There was nothing beside the fountain. No mat, no bizarre potion bottles, no magic-stone-eyed girl.
As if no one had ever been there, only a leaf blown by the wind fluttered down onto the fountain’s edge.
Rustle—
“Found her! The dream and hope of the Popular Music Department is right there!!!”
The moment she saw the silhouettes of seniors holding torches appear around a bend in the forest path, Rine didn’t have time to dwell on the mystery and screamed.
“Kyaaaaaaa?!”
After running for a long while once more, she finally reached the dormitory.
This was thanks to the terrifying school rule that said any act committed inside the dormitory was innocent, no matter what it was. Privacy inside the dorms was absolutely guaranteed.
The potion’s effect of letting her run like a horse had been real, too.
But seriously, what was the identity of that strange merchant?
“Sob… how am I supposed to attend the academy starting tomorrow…”
After many twists and turns, Rine finally shook off her pursuers completely. She opened the door to her assigned lodging and let out a deep sigh.
Rosen Academy 4th Outer Temporary Dormitory.
A two-story wooden house full of the marks of time, located deep in the quietest part of the forest boundary.
Because large pine trees hung over the roof and dropped countless pinecones, students called the rundown building Pinecone Villa.
As a thorough commoner whose living expenses were always tight, Rine had been assigned to this place with the cheapest dormitory fees.
You could upgrade your dorm if you donated extra, but where would she get that kind of money?
Click—
The moment she opened the old door with her worn key and stepped inside, Rine tossed her bag aside and collapsed onto the shabby living room sofa.
“Ugh… what an exhausting day.”
Her entire body was a mess of sweat and dirt.
Rine caught her ragged breath, stood up, roughly stripped off her sticky clothes, and headed for the bathroom door.
“I should wash up first…”
But through the crack of the bathroom door came the faint scent of warm steam and refreshing soap.
Did I leave the hot water on when I arrived this morning?
Already dreading the upcoming utility bill, Rine absentmindedly flung the bathroom door open.
“Ah, that feels good.”
Parting the thick steam, a man walked out leisurely, towel-drying his wet hair.
Messy curly golden hair, broad shoulders honed by training, and tanned skin.
And above all—
Completely naked. In the state he was born in.
“Eh?”
Silence fell.
It was so quiet that the sound of water droplets rolling down the man’s firm abs was clearly audible.
The man’s gaze met Rine’s wide, round yellow-brown eyes.
In a situation like this, common sense said the woman would be the one to scream, but unexpectedly, the one who screamed first was the man.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
A high-pitched, girlish scream echoed throughout the entire old Pinecone Villa. The man hastily covered his lower half with the towel and bolted back into the bathroom.
Bang!
Staring at the violently slammed bathroom door, Rine stood there blankly and rubbed her eyes.
Why is there a man in the dormitory?
“Hwaaang… I’m ruined for marriage now… How can I ever face my parents again…”
A short while later, the golden-haired man—now wrapped tightly in a thick bathrobe up to his neck—sat curled up in the corner of the sofa, sobbing pathetically.
“Um, excuse me? I’m really fine, so please stop crying. What did I even do?”
“You crazy bitch, you saw me naked on purpose.”
It wasn’t like she had intended to peep. She had only opened the bathroom door to wash up, yet she had somehow become a shameless pervert who stole an innocent knight-aspirant’s chastity.
But apart from that guilt, Rine’s mind was surprisingly calm.
Hmm. Honestly, is a naked man’s body really that big of a spectacle?
Having grown up deep in the rural forests, Rine had seen the village boys strip naked and splash around in the streams every summer until she was sick of it.
Thanks to that, no matter how hard she searched her heart, she felt neither shame nor shock.
If anything, it was a hundred times more fascinating to see a guy that huge crying like he had lost his country.
The real problem giving Rine a headache was something else.
‘Due to the absurd excuse of insufficient budget and land, starting this year, some temporary dormitories will be co-ed.’
What on earth is the Chairwoman thinking?
The first floor shared a common living room and kitchen, while the second floor was strictly divided into male rooms (double occupancy) and female rooms (double occupancy). Still, it meant four hot-blooded young men and women had to share this entire rundown wooden house.
And why apply it retroactively starting this year of all times!
With the creak of wooden stairs, voices drifted down from the second floor.
“Looks like the last resident has arrived, judging by the commotion downstairs.”
“It seems the poor lamb has finally stepped into this treacherous sanctuary.”
Rine’s gaze naturally turned toward the staircase.
One was a boy with silky black half-curls, captivating tanned skin, and deep, profound hazelnut eyes.
Beside him stood a girl with long silver hair and flawless, clear blue eyes.
Two people with exceptionally striking, glamorous appearances even among Rosen Academy’s freshmen.
And then—
“It’s the crazy bitch.”
“It really is the crazy bitch.”
“…Pardon?”
She was being called a crazy bitch right after meeting them.
“We’ve heard the rumors. The mad top student of the Arts Department who stomped on the podium during the entrance ceremony and screamed like a banshee…”
“So the story about her corrupting the entire student body’s minds with some bizarre spell called ‘hell’s rock spirit’ was true. To think we’d end up sharing a dormitory with that madwoman.”
From her very first day, had she been branded as the perfectly flawless crazy bitch of the continent’s greatest academy?
“Ugh… hwaaang…”
In the center of the living room unfolded the bizarre scene of the male victim and female perpetrator sitting side by side, crying together.
The boy from the Black Magic Department, wearing flashy earrings, shrugged and clicked his tongue.
“We were waiting quietly in our second-floor rooms because it felt awkward to introduce ourselves before the last person arrived.”
The boy sat crookedly in the armchair across from the sofa.
“Since we’re all here now, shall we get around to introductions?”