Chapter 54
Chapter 54
For the first time today, I realized that I had wanted my “father” to praise me.
“…Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for? Just drink. The food here is pretty good for the price.”
As I tipped back my glass, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘Drinking with my father. This is something I never got to do before, either.’
In my previous life, my father had been addicted to alcohol and gambling.
Thanks to him, my childhood had fallen apart. Later, I lost contact with him and didn’t even know whether he was alive or dead.
I hadn’t realized it, but I suppose I’d been starved of a father’s affection.
At least, judging by how sweet the drink tasted right now.
“But don’t get the wrong idea. This latest mess you caused was only possible because you’re an Ecclesia.”
“What’s wrong with getting a little help from my family? The fact is, I am an Ecclesia.”
“I’m telling you not to act rashly. I can’t always help you. If necessary, the cold-blooded Ecclesias will cast aside even their own blood without hesitation.”
Bang!
Father set down his glass.
“Still, after seeing you today, I don’t think you’ll cause trouble like that reckless little brat you used to be.”
Maybe it was because I’d heard those words, filled with faith in me.
After our casual drinking session ended, I decided to stick my nose into something, despite it being completely out of character for me.
“Are you returning to the Free City right away?”
“No. There’s somewhere I need to stop by first.”
“I see. Until next time.”
Duke Huam didn’t ask anything more. He turned away, and I headed for a place I hadn’t expected to visit.
A place I’d never wanted to come back to: the Prestigious Magic Family’s estate.
“……”
I hesitated for a moment, then started walking.
Rustle.
First-Star Invisibility Magic took effect, concealing me from view.
The estate was crawling with mages, but not one of them saw through my invisibility spell. I made my way deeper inside.
The garden behind the estate.
I left the path that ran through it and headed into a thicket of overgrown brush.
It was secluded, but I’d come here countless times while progressing through the scenario, so I knew exactly where to go.
“Sniffle…”
I heard someone sobbing.
In a small clearing among the bushes, Joanna was crouched down, crying.
‘This is the secret hideout where Joanna’s been coming to cry since she was little.’
I hesitated.
I’d come here on impulse, but now that I was about to speak, I found myself wondering whether I should.
‘…Maybe I should just go back.’
But it was too late.
Joanna had noticed me, even though no other mage had detected my concealment!
“Who’s there?!”
“…It’s me.”
“…Ban the Trash. What are you doing here?”
“…I got lost.”
“……”
“……”
Silence fell for a moment.
Joanna obviously didn’t believe me.
Still, she didn’t seem to have any idea why I’d come here.
‘…Was coming here a mistake?’
But I shook my head.
‘It wouldn’t be right to leave Joanna to suffer through her frustration without doing anything. There’s a good chance she’ll fall behind if she hits rock bottom.’
In other words, this wasn’t just me sticking my nose into other people’s business. It was me sticking my nose into things for the sake of the world’s future.
More than anything else—
‘I hate the saying that hardship makes people grow.’
There was something I’d heard after I’d become the Sales King.
That I’d succeeded because of the difficult past I’d endured.
Personally, I thought it was an utterly vile load of bullshit.
The less pain there is, the less pain there is.
That was true even if someone was a hero destined to save the world.
“Actually, there’s something I want to tell you.”
“…Ban the Trash, what could you possibly have to say to me?”
“What’s so terrible about what just happened that you’re sitting here bawling your eyes out?”
“!!”
Joanna’s face flushed with anger.
Just before she could burst out at me—
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“……”
Joanna abruptly closed her mouth.
“I just wanted to tell you that. You didn’t do anything wrong, so don’t blame yourself for no reason.”
That was right.
Of all the wounds Joanna had received today, none of them were her fault.
Not the ones she’d suffered in the past, nor the ones she was suffering now.
And not even the wounds she would suffer in the future.
“…Who do you think you are?”
“Yeah. I’m sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.”
I didn’t deny it.
“Even if you’re not at the same Academy as me, it’s a professor’s job to stop a student from going astray. So I thought I’d meddle a little.”
“……”
“…I’ll be going now.”
I turned away.
I could feel Joanna glaring at me, but I didn’t look back.
Even if it was just me sticking my nose where it didn’t belong—
I hoped that, amid the frustrations she would face in the future, those few words might offer her a ray of comfort.
Just as I’d once hoped someone would comfort me when I was young.
When I returned to the Academy, everything was in an uproar.
Rumors had spread far and wide that Viscount Conrad and his accomplices had been taken down.
The students who had assaulted Libel were also punished properly.
All five of them were expelled from the Academy for good.
It was a satisfying resolution, but there was a problem.
“…There are still no applicants for your class?”
“…Well, after all that commotion, what did you expect? Do you know what they’re calling you around the Academy now, Senior Ban? A tyrant.”
“……”
More precisely, they were calling me “Ban the Tyrant Trash.”
In other words, my image had changed from a harmless piece of trash to a frightening one.
“They’re spreading rumors that anyone who gets on Senior Ban’s bad side will be expelled, so nobody should go anywhere near you.”
I frowned, guessing at what lay behind it.
‘Someone’s deliberately spreading malicious rumors.’
The possible culprit? There were too many to count.
‘It could be the professors who see me as a thorn in their side. It could be the Rapalt Ducal House. It could even be Director Karak.’
Honestly, it wasn’t that big a deal.
If I kept my head down, the rumor would die down soon enough. And if it came to it, I could always start counter-rumors to improve my image.
The problem was the timing.
Recruitment for the Welcome Class had closed.
“…Only six? I barely managed to avoid failing.”
Still, besides Katrinne and Libel, four other students had applied. But among the competing professors, my enrollment numbers were the worst.
‘This is bad.’
Recruiting students wasn’t the end of the Welcome Class.
It was only the beginning.
I had to make sure that my class received the highest evaluation score over the two months.
‘The fewer students in a class, the worse off it is in the evaluation. Scores are awarded in proportion to the number of students enrolled.’
In other words, compared to Ballas, whose class had over thirty students, I’d need to score more than five times as many points to win.
That was impossible unless I received an overwhelming perfect score in every single category of the class evaluation.
“What are you worried about? I’m here. I’ll take all the top scores.”
“Ah, no. I’ll get the top scores. For your sake, Professor…”
-Kyuu! Kyuu!
Katrinne and Libel spoke with confidence, and the baby dragon, Marie, cried out energetically as if she wanted to help, too. But instead of feeling reassured, I was even more worried.
‘You two are a problem, too, you know? You’re both hopeless at the common subjects.’
The two of them were the twin main protagonists.
Just as the clichés would have it, they were failing students in their common classes.
Later, when they delved into their faculty majors, their greatness would be brought to the fore, but for the time being, they would only be taking basic common classes.
‘At least the other four need to be decent. Who applied?’
The students who had put off choosing their classes until the very last minute had rushed to apply just before the deadline, so I didn’t know who had joined my class.
‘One of them is a name I don’t recognize. Wilhelm? Surely not that Wilhelm?’
For an instant, a chill ran down my spine.
He was a notable student.
The son of the March Count of the North Sea.
The problem was—
‘He’s the worst dullard ever. And he’s got a rotten personality, too, so he gets expelled after causing trouble.’
He was such a useless guy that his nickname was Van the Wretch the Second.
My vision went dark, but my trials didn’t end there.
‘…Julia? Surely not that Julia?’
My vision went beyond dark and turned hazy.
She was a notable student, too.
‘Why is the Mad Dragon’s disciple in my class?’
One of the Empire’s Five Greatest Swordsmen.
A level-eight knight, and the Mad Dragon’s prized disciple, had chosen me.
Her being famous wasn’t the problem.
‘…She’s a villain.’
She was one of the central villains in the Rubiness Academy scenario.
‘Her personality is just as hopeless as Joanna’s, too.’
By this point, I was getting seriously uneasy.
‘…Who’s the last one?’
The final student had submitted their application a mere five seconds before the deadline.
I opened the application and checked the name. My face fell as if I’d lost my country.
The twin main protagonists, Katrinne and Libel? Van the Wretch the Second? The Mad Dragon’s disciple? None of them were anything compared to the name written before me now.
—Mikhail Reinhardt.
Reinhardt.
It was a surname everyone knew.
After all, it was the name of this Empire.
And there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know the name Mikhail, either.
He was one of the most famous people in the Empire. Even more famous than me, Ban Trash.
The Third Prince.
The one destined to become emperor by offering up the blood of his siblings.
The most ominous man in the world.
The Demon Blade.
The Main Protagonist of the Humanities Faculty.
Those were the descriptions used for Mikhail Reinhardt.
On the roof atop the towering spire of Rubiness Academy,
a young man with refined features stood with his eyes closed, letting the wind wash over him.
“Didn’t I tell you it was dangerous to sleep somewhere like this? You don’t even have any particular strength to speak of.”
“Yaaawn. Well, what does it matter?”
The young man let out a long yawn.
“Everyone wants me dead anyway.”
“Your Highness!”
“It’s true, isn’t it? Unfortunately, this stubborn life of mine won’t end so easily.”
The young man—the Third Prince Mikhail, known by the ominous epithet of the Demon Blade—smiled slyly.
“Please don’t say things like that. When are you going to attend class?”
“It’s a bother. Having to go to the Academy at my age…”
Unlike the other first-year students, seventeen-year-old boys and girls, the Third Prince Mikhail was a full twenty-three years old.
He had entered the Academy late due to personal circumstances.
“Why on earth did you apply for Young Master Ban the Wretch’s class? There are plenty of other distinguished professors.”
“Thought it’d be more relaxed? He was the Academy’s biggest piece of trash back in the day, so maybe he’ll let me skip class.”
“Haah. You know His Majesty the Emperor has his eye on you, Your Highness. Please, at least try to behave.”
“Yeees, yeees. I understand.”
Mikhail shut his eyes as if he didn’t want to listen, and his attendant shook his head before leaving.
Afterward, Mikhail’s eyes snapped open.
“Ban the Wretch.”
The sharpness in his gaze was completely different from the indolent look he’d had just moments earlier.
“This should be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”
His muttering was impossible to decipher.
Mikhail wasn’t the only one among Ban’s students who spoke in ways that were hard to make sense of.
Susan.
Among the students in Ban’s class, she was the only one Ban had dismissed without a second thought.
Her name belonged to no protagonist, no notable student, and no supporting character.
In truth, she was a girl with such a plain appearance that she seemed like she wouldn’t stand out no matter where you put her.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!”
“…I’m sorry.”
The girl walked along, her head bobbing repeatedly.
But something was strange.
The place she headed after leaving the Academy was the Slum in District Six.
The Free City’s worst criminal district, bordering the Four Dragon Fortress in District Seven.
And that wasn’t all.
Rustle.
With every step she took, her appearance began to change, little by little.
From plain and unremarkable to bewitchingly alluring.
Which meant her original face had been a disguise!