Chapter 27
Chapter 27
I gathered my thoughts.
I have to pass Joanna and fail Katrinne and Libel.
Wasn’t that too selfish of me?
It’s not just for my own benefit. It’s the best choice for the trials to come, too.
Let me say it again.
Hero Academy had sixteen protagonists and four academies.
Each academy had four faculties.
In other words, one protagonist had to be assigned to each faculty at each of the four academies.
But three additional protagonists have applied to the Magic Faculty at Rubiness Academy, so that means the other academies will have that many fewer protagonists assigned to them.
This was a serious problem.
Each academy had a different scenario, and all four protagonists had to be there in order to resolve those scenarios.
So the protagonists had to be distributed appropriately.
There’s a reason in particular that Joanna has to stay. If things go wrong, she’ll become a deadweight character.
Katrinne and Libel were the top two.
No matter where you left them, they would grow just fine on their own.
But not every protagonist was like that.
Some protagonists would “fall behind” if left alone.
Joanna was one of them.
If this is Normal Mode, I could give up on Joanna.
But what if—
What if, as I feared, this really was Hard Mode? Then the difficulty of clearing it would rise dramatically.
In Normal Mode, all you had to do was make sure the four Main Protagonists grew properly.
But in Hard Mode, no fewer than eight essential protagonists had to develop properly.
Joanna was a “Sub-Main” protagonist, one of those eight.
So this is a choice for the sake of the world. It has absolutely nothing to do with my selfishness.
My conscience was bothering me for no reason, so I emphasized that to myself again and again.
The problem is, failing Libel is no ordinary challenge.
As I’d mentioned earlier, making Katrinne fail was easy.
But Libel was another matter.
She got first place on the preliminary examination, too. Her score was way higher than Joanna’s, and Joanna comes from a Prestigious Magic Family.
For the record, Joanna was a blood relative of the Klein Ducal House, a Prestigious Magic Family.
Katrinne was also from a Prestigious Magic Family, but unlike Katrinne, an illegitimate child, Joanna was a true direct-line heir and a genius.
One of the leading candidates to become the next head of a Prestigious Magic Family.
That was how far Joanna’s reputation went, yet the preliminary examination score Libel had earned was so far beyond hers that she couldn’t even compare.
That’s only natural, considering Libel’s true identity. He was born a being akin to a “calamity.”
Remembering Libel’s “past,” I frowned.
All sixteen protagonists had tumultuous pasts of their own, but Libel’s was excessive even by those standards.
If I’m not careful, I could lose.
No, it wasn’t just that.
If Libel fought with all his strength, I would lose. One hundred percent.
I have to get as strong as possible before the entrance examination. Strong enough to make Libel fail.
I made up my mind.
Again, what I was doing wasn’t just because I wanted to take it easy.
It was for the future of the world.
Really. Truly.
The problem was figuring out how to get stronger.
There wasn’t even a week left before the entrance examination.
That was far too little time, even for me.
I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to get the Heartstone of the Frozen Sea before the entrance examination.
I needed another trick.
As it happened, a good idea came to me.
“Linden, are you preparing well for your graduation exam?”
“Y-yes? I-I am!”
“…You look like you’re slacking off.”
“…I was looking at stock charts. Ah, I was only looking! I’m out of money now, so I can’t do anything anymore!! I can’t get a loan either, since I have bad credit. Sob.”
Linden had decided to take the additional remedial graduation exam.
It was scheduled for just before the entrance examination.
Even though it was right around the corner, he still didn’t seem to have come to his senses.
“This won’t do. I’ll tutor you for the exam myself.”
“…Y-you will, Senior?”
“That’s right. I’m a future master professor, so consider yourself honored. But there’s one condition.”
I curled the corners of my mouth upward.
“You must do exactly as I tell you. No matter what I teach you. I’ll make sure you learn everything properly from the basics.”
That was right.
My plan was to use Linden.
I intended to study indirectly by watching him struggle beside me.
With my Grandmaster ability, I figured I could make explosive progress even this way.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
As I went back and forth to the academy, I noticed that the way people looked at me had changed a little.
“That’s Ban the Trash. Is he really going to become a professor?”
“Looks that way. Between that black magician incident the other day and everything else, has he really changed?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t call him Ban the Trash anymore.”
“No, I still can’t trust him. Isn’t all of it just a scam?”
“Right? I heard he still hasn’t even reached First Star Rank, so how did he stand up to Puppet?”
“I heard he’s been bullying Linden lately. I saw Linden the other day, and he was skin and bones!”
So, “a little” was how much things had changed.
Doubt and suspicion, both at once?
He had a terrible reputation to begin with, so it was impossible for it to change overnight.
It didn’t matter.
Once I become a professor, I’ll quietly tuck myself away in a corner and just take it easy.
I headed for the Admissions Office in the center of the academy.
There was a meeting among the professors serving as examiners.
The place was bustling, since they were in the middle of accepting entrance applications.
“Come on, one at a time! Submit your applications in order!”
“Don’t cut in line!”
I was making my way toward the meeting room, avoiding the corridor that sounded like a marketplace, when I heard a startling noise.
Smack!
The sound of a slap.
I turned to look. A girl with striking looks was fuming with rage.
“You filthy beggar! How dare you step on my shoe? Want me to cut off your foot?”
My eyes widened in surprise.
I knew her.
Joanna!
The protagonist I had to pass.
It seemed someone in the marketplace-like crowd had offended her.
She was already one of the worst-behaved protagonists. Who is she tormenting? Don’t tell me—
A wave of dizziness washed over me.
Shabby clothes.
A small frame and a timid expression.
A filthy face, grimy as a beggar’s, as if she hadn’t been able to wash properly.
‘Damn it. It’s Libel.’
The strongest overpowered protagonist I was wary of!
Of all things, two of the protagonists had gotten into a fight!
And that wasn’t all.
“What on earth were you doing standing there?! You couldn’t even stop something that filthy?”
Smack!
Joanna slapped the girl standing beside her.
Katrinne, a protagonist who would one day become humanity’s hope.
An incredible three protagonists were making a scene.
And the situation kept getting worse.
“You’re the child of a filthy whore, and you can’t even do a job like this properly?”
Joanna and Katrinne were sisters.
But their circumstances were as different as heaven and earth.
A noble direct-line heir and a filthy illegitimate child.
Brilliant talent and the worst kind of dullard.
“……”
Katrinne said nothing. She only bit down hard on her lip.
Apparently displeased by that, Joanna raised her eyebrows.
“What? Got a problem?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“What did you say? How dare you! I feed and clothe a filthy thing like you, and you should be grateful!”
Smack! Smack!! Smack!!
Joanna slapped her again and again.
Perhaps this was familiar to her, because Katrinne didn’t even resist.
Katrinne’s cheeks swelled red and hot.
‘Agh. It’s even worse seeing it in person.’
Villainess.
That was the one word that described Joanna.
People called her the “Toxic Young Lady.”
It was no wonder she’d come in first in the least-favorite-character poll.
‘Though she eventually repents in tears.’
Joanna was the kind of protagonist you played while gritting your teeth and thinking, “Just you wait. I’ll see when that attitude of yours gets broken.”
“P-please stop….”
Just then, Libel stammered and stepped forward.
“Where do you get off butting in, you beggar?”
Joanna’s eyes flashed up at her.
This time, she looked ready to lay hands on Libel.
I was horrified.
‘No! If you mess with Libel the wrong way, he’ll “explode”!’
Don’t let that clumsy-looking act fool you.
If Joanna was a “villainess,” then Libel was a “bomb.”
I had to stop this.
“Hold on. Stop. What is all this commotion?”
“!!”
“Be careful, unless you want to be disqualified before the exam even begins.”
I tried to mediate as smoothly as I could.
There was nothing to gain from getting too deeply involved with the protagonists for no reason.
But things didn’t go the way I wanted.
Because of the Toxic Young Lady, Joanna.
“Young Master Ban the Wretch? Who are you to butt in?”
“Mind your tongue. I’m a professor here.”
“Ha. You’re a professor? In that case, apologize to me.”
“…What?”
“You accepted a filthy beggar like that as an applicant and besmirched my nobility. Apologize to me as a professor of the Academy.”
For a moment, I felt a vein bulge on my forehead.
‘I want to flick her on the forehead.’
I calmed myself down.
‘Be patient. I need to get along with Joanna.’
As I’d said time and again, I planned to pass Joanna.
Even if she was unpleasant, Joanna was a better bet than Katrinne and Libel, who would go through all kinds of tumultuous events in the future.
I’d have to keep seeing her, so I should make a good first impression….
“Fine. I apologize.”
“Yes, hurry up and—”
“Considering your atrocious character, I should have put you in special isolation. Instead, I’ve let you inconvenience the other applicants as well.”
“!!”
Oh, damn it.
The Black Flame Dragon had caused trouble again.
‘If I can still smooth this over…!’
…There was no way.
“You spoke of nobility? Is the way you’re acting now the nobility of the Klein Ducal House? You should be ashamed. Nobility and grace come from one’s actions.”
…I’d done it.
Joanna trembled with rage.
“You wretch…!”
But.
The moment her eyes met mine—
A flicker.
Joanna’s face went pale, and her mouth snapped shut.
I hadn’t really intended to, but it seemed she’d been overwhelmed by the Black Flame Dragon’s Charisma, stirred up by anger.
Maybe after she awakened in the future and became known as the Sculptor of the Radiant Veil, but the Black Flame Dragon’s Charisma wasn’t something an immature seventeen-year-old villainess could handle.
“Damn it!!”
Joanna clenched her teeth and stormed away.
I stared after her in a daze.
‘Ah… She holds a grudge.’
I was supposed to become friends with Joanna, but things had already gone wrong right at the start.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
“Who asked you to help me? I didn’t need your help or anything!”
It was Katrinne.
“B-but thank you. I’m not really grateful or anything; I’m just thanking you out of politeness, so don’t get the wrong idea!”
I was taken aback.
Her words were prickly, but her face was deeply moved that I’d stepped in for her.
I wasn’t mistaken.
-You helped Katrinne (Hero Candidate)!
-Katrinne’s “Affection” has increased!
I looked at Libel, who was now frozen in place too, wearing a troubled expression.
“Your name is Libel, right? You weren’t blameless either. Even if it was an accident, stepping on the foot of a young lady of the Ducal House was a serious offense. If this hadn’t been the Academy, you’d have had no grounds to complain even if your foot had been cut off. Be careful from now on.”
I wasn’t saying that just for show.
Early on, Libel’s clumsy side caused him to clash with a lot of people.
‘Libel is one of the most important people who must be made to work for the world, alongside Katrinne. I can’t let unnecessary trouble arise.’
But then—
“…Th-thank you. I’ll make sure to remember your words… spoken for my sake.”
“……??”
“P-professor, you’re a kind person.”
…What kind of nonsense was that?
I soon realized why.
-You offered sincere advice!
-Libel (Disaster Candidate) recognizes your concern!
-Libel (Candidate for Calamity)’s “Affinity” has increased!
It was a maddening message.
Just then, Libel lifted his head and looked at me, then said something that made my heart sink.
“I-I absolutely… want to learn from you, Professor. I’ll make sure to pass the entrance exam for Rubiness Academy.”
No. Don’t.