Class 1-A
The day had finally arrived.
The day I would officially enroll in the Academy.
Every new cadet walked toward the Academy with a heart full of excitement and nerves.
The class assignments were posted on a large bulletin board right at the Academy entrance. Since it displayed every cadet’s name, assigned class, and exact ranking for all to see, the board became a natural magnet for the entire crowd.
“……Class B!”
“I’m in B too!”
Some students cheered at results better than they had hoped.
Others, however, were clearly devastated.
“Damn it…! I’m in C?”
“This can’t be happening……”
“My father’s going to kill me……”
It was easy to spot those crushed by rankings lower than expected.
Amid the swirling mix of joy and despair, a few people stood out for how calm and composed they remained while checking the board.
“A. As expected.”
Class A.
The true elites among elites. The core members of the so-called Golden Generation that the world kept talking about.
They accepted the result as perfectly natural and began to walk away. Yet among them, a handful of girls lingered unusually long in front of the bulletin board.
[Allen di Boerger: Class A.]
A sudden variable that had never existed in the previous timeline.
A new variable has appeared.
It felt heavy.
My steps toward the Academy felt unbearably heavy.
…This is seriously exhausting.
After pushing myself through brutal training for the past several days, my body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. My recovery rate wasn’t slow, but I had overworked it so badly that the exhaustion was inevitable.
I arrived a little later than most and simply walked past the dense crowd gathered at the bulletin board.
There was no need for me to check it myself. I had already confirmed my placement in Class A through Elcia.
In the last three days, I had become entangled with three of this world’s main heroines.
One had helped me. One had received my help. And one had become my master.
I wasn’t sure whether I should be happy that our relationships had progressed faster than I expected, or worried that the future had already begun to change…
The important thing is what happens from now on.
Elcia, Selena, and Aspilia were all perfectly aligned with the forces of good. Even if my connection to them might make others view me unfavorably, I knew they would never harm me.
Of course, labeling anyone as purely good or purely evil was strange in reality… but that was how things worked inside the game’s logic.
It was highly likely that Selena and Aspilia’s relationship remained unknown to others. Neither of them had loose lips. That didn’t mean Elcia was talkative either; it was simply that too many eyes were constantly watching her.
“This is going to be a headache.”
Since this flow of events had never happened before, I had no idea how the others would react.
If I had known in advance, I could have prepared. The fact that I couldn’t made things troublesome.
Still.
That doesn’t mean I’m going to roll over and take it.
Genius. Golden Generation. Talent that appears once in a century.
No matter how many fancy titles you piled on them, they were still just seventeen-year-old boys… and girls. I had zero intention of looking pathetic in front of kids like that.
Though getting crushed by power and authority would be a little scary.
After all, a fallen noble like my playable character couldn’t rely on family backing the way others could. Even if I tried to fight people whose power mostly came from their houses, right now I would never be able to match them.
The key was to be careful not to cross any lines.
Lost in those thoughts, I soon found myself standing in front of the classroom where I would spend the next year, assuming nothing went wrong.
I lifted my head slightly and looked at the words written above the classroom door.
[1-A]
Class A.
A place I had never reached in my previous life. To be precise, a place I had never even dared to dream of reaching.
This life had gotten twisted in a big way, but I had still arrived here surprisingly easily. A small smile slipped across my face at that thought as I opened the classroom door.
Creak…!!
Innate talent?
So what.
No matter how talented they were, these kids lacked real combat experience. Even if they trained like hell for three years, they would still fail to stop the Demon God’s descent and end up slaughtered by the Salvation Sect’s underlings.
There was no reason at all to be afraid of them.
“……”
I opened the door boldly and stepped inside. The previously noisy classroom fell into complete silence in an instant.
Feeling twenty pairs of eyes turn toward me, I slowly swept my gaze across the room.
The main characters of this world.
I took in each of their faces one by one and greeted them in my mind.
Nice to meet you, you little shits. I’m going to work you to the bone for the next three years.
Of course, only in my head.
@
Early in the semester. Even though it was only the first day, Class A was quite rowdy.
Most of the students were children of high-ranking nobles. Even those who weren’t still possessed powerful connections. So while they might not all be close, none of them were complete strangers to one another.
Even taking that into account, Class A was far noisier than expected.
The reason was none other than the existence of the twenty-first cadet.
“……Isn’t Class A supposed to have exactly twenty people?”
“I heard the tradition has only been broken once before. Is this guy really that outstanding?”
“……He was ranked 289th, though?”
Those who didn’t know the full story gathered in small groups, passionately debating the mystery of the extra student.
Some claimed he was the chancellor’s secret son. Others said he was the child of someone who had donated an absurd amount of money to the Academy.
But not a single person spoke with actual knowledge of the twenty-first cadet’s true identity.
The vast majority of cadets entering the Academy were nobles. Commoners appeared occasionally, but their numbers were inevitably tiny.
Even with the same talent, nobles received dozens of times more support and resources than commoners while growing up.
The so-called “money flex.”
Only those with truly monstrous talent capable of overcoming that financial gap could enroll in the Academy.
Even then, entering Class A—the class reserved for the greatest of the talented—was incredibly difficult.
To put it plainly, every student in Class A was a noble. And even with their information networks, they still couldn’t accurately identify who the twenty-first cadet was.
Of course, not everyone was in the dark.
“……I heard he has some connection to Chief Professor Elcia.”
While they didn’t know the exact details, quite a few students were already aware that Allen and Elcia had made contact.
A red-haired boy muttered those words and gave a small smile.
He found it quite pleasing that Elcia—who had never once responded to any proposal from someone of his own exalted bloodline—had taken the initiative to approach someone else.
He was also personally interested in the twenty-first cadet who had broken the Academy’s long-standing tradition.
I wonder what kind of guy he is.
He was curious.
And at that very moment—
Creak…!!
The classroom door opened, and a boy stepped inside.
Deep black hair and equally dark black eyes. His unusually pale, snow-white skin made him look like a noble, yet no one had ever seen his face before.
Neatly trimmed hair. Impeccable clothing.
The instant the boy appeared, everyone in Class A came to the same conclusion.
The twenty-first cadet.
There was no doubt he was the boy who had joined Class A as the twenty-first member, breaking the Academy’s ancient tradition of exactly twenty students.
The boy didn’t seem bothered at all by the twenty pairs of eyes pouring over him. Instead, he calmly scanned the entire room with steady eyes.
Hmm……
Leon, the Third Prince of the Empire, watched him and let out a small internal sigh.
Ordinary.
He had expected something special given the connection to Elcia and the sudden entry into Class A, but he couldn’t shake the impression that the boy was far more average than anticipated.
…Was I overthinking it?
Having wondered if there might be something extraordinary about him, Leon quickly lost interest and turned his gaze away.
Strong people carried a certain aura that other strong people could sense. Of course, if the boy were actually stronger than Leon, the story would be different…
But if Leon couldn’t feel anything at all, that would mean the boy had to be overwhelmingly stronger than him, which was impossible.
Most people in Class A weren’t stronger than Leon, and there wasn’t a single person who completely outclassed him.
Just as Leon’s interest faded and he looked away—
“……”
The girls of Class A—the ones called geniuses among geniuses, possessors of transcendent talent—had their eyes shining brightly as they stared at Allen.
…Found him.
Those who had experienced the previous timeline sparkled with recognition at having located the boy whose name they had never even known.
…Who the hell is that?
Those who had not experienced the previous life—or rather, could not remember it—gazed at him with eyes full of complicated emotions.
Even though countless different feelings were directed at him through those stares, he walked into Class A with a perfectly calm and confident expression.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
None of them sensed any ominous feeling from his gaze.
Nice to meet you, you little shits. I’m going to work you to the bone for the next three years.
Allen simply wore a sly smile deep inside his heart.