02. Rank
02. Rank
+++
"How can there be so much commotion already~? It's only been one day."
A woman drinking hot coffee with her back ramrod straight.
The way she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear was incredibly beautiful.
Truly beauty that transcended ideals.
Even Sihwan couldn't help but be impressed.
"Right?"
"..."
That didn't mean she was acting politely, though.
She furrowed her brow slightly.
The human in front of her was the cause of this commotion—the freak who had caused the biggest incident on the first day of Academy enrollment in history. And yet he was this nonchalant about it. It was absurd, infuriating, a complicated mix of emotions.
"I have a question—mind if I ask?"
Sihwan, completely oblivious to... no, utterly uninterested in her feelings, jumped right in with his question.
"That blue gem on your earring—what the heck is it? It looks so weird. I even asked Bari, but she didn't know."
"...Did you just ask if you could ask...? And then you just ask anyway?"
"Can't I?"
"Sigh..."
The woman.
Academy Chief Instructor Ha Yeon-seo let out a sigh.
She'd heard about him, but he was even more arrogant than expected.
Somehow, this meeting felt like it was going to be exhausting.
"Keep that up and it'll be a problem~. How about showing some manners?"
"You too, huh? I'm being super nice right now."
"..."
It was infuriating and nose-blockingly ridiculous.
This was him being nice?
"Isn't that right?"
He turned to Bari, but she shook her head side to side.
"Why? It's not?"
"I've been preaching it to you steadily since we got here, but you really haven't heard a word. I'm impressed."
"What's with the 'impressed'?"
Human and doll.
Unless it was a special circumstance, they wouldn't even be allowed to sit at the same table as the 『Advanced Races』, let alone the high-ranking 『Noblesse』—not even make eye contact.
Yet those two were chatting so casually, even joking around.
'Especially that guy named Sihwan.'
The doll Bari was somewhat better. She showed zero reverence for superior races even if you washed your eyes looking for it, but at least compared to her owner, she had common sense and made judgments fitting the occasion.
The problem was Ryu Si-hwan.
He didn't consider any of that at all.
This was a one-on-one meeting with Ha Yeon-seo, a 『Noblesse』 and the Academy's Chief Instructor. Unless it was 『Dragonia』, extreme courtesy was mandatory, but he treated her like a servant or a friend.
The prime evidence was Bari's position.
Normally, servants or maids don't sit with their master—they stand behind them.
Masters with masters.
Servants with servants, facing the situation eye to eye.
That was basic etiquette.
But he had grabbed Bari, who was about to stand, and made her sit right next to him.
Extremely unpleasant.
But as a 『Noblesse』, nitpicking something so trivial wouldn't be elegant, so she magnanimously let it slide. The fact that he seemed completely unaware played a part in that judgment too.
Mountains beyond mountains, who knew he'd even use informal speech.
She'd heard about it.
He'd stuck to informal speech with his homeroom instructor Yu Ina the whole time, even getting called out on it.
But she never imagined he'd do it to her, the Chief Instructor.
'Should I just squash him?'
In the Tower as a whole, A-Rank trainees were a dime a dozen. And there'd be plenty more in the future. No need to put up with this and let him into the Academy. Especially since he was a human with inherently low racial limits.
But the doll was different.
She was intrigued. What made it mess up the ranking evaluation and catch her eye?
It had a cocky Ego, but since it was an inanimate object, she could forgive that.
"This earring..."
After some deliberation, she decided to let it go.
Getting mad was easy, kicking out the human was easy. Killing him was even easier.
But building honor was hard.
The most essential virtue for a Tower Warrior was strength.
Those with strength, or those destined to have it, deserved respect. That was the Tower's principle.
"This is too advanced for you to know right now. I'll tell you when the time comes."
"Aw, too bad. Tell me later then."
Sihwan didn't dig deeper and backed off.
It was just mild curiosity. Nothing worth probing into.
"Then can I ask a question?"
"What?"
"I heard you're completely clueless... Has human society regressed that much? No basic education at all."
"Dunno. I'm not from here."
"All humans from inside are servants. So you're from outside, right?"
"Outside, yeah, but like, way outside."
"Then from the outer edges of the continent?"
"Nope. Different planet."
"Planet?"
They seemed to be talking about the same thing, but it wasn't clicking.
Feeling something off, she tilted her head.
"You wouldn't get the details anyway. Just know I'm not from this world."
"Not from this world..."
She mulled over his words, lost in thought.
With her arms crossed under her chest, her two hills jutted out prominently.
"Well, fine. Origin isn't that important."
After a few minutes of thought, she nodded.
"Then for now—,"
"My turn now, right?"
"Yes?"
"『Noblesse』—how strong are they exactly to act so full of themselves? You, that instructor, everyone."
Sihwan cut her off perfectly.
"..."
Looks like she needed to drill in some very basic manners.
+++
"Does interrupting feel that bad?"
On the way out after the meeting with Ha Yeon-seo.
Sihwan muttered, replaying the memory.
Yeonseo had answered everything one by one.
The power gap between Outer Races and 『Advanced Races』, and the innate differences within the 『Advanced Races』.
The weakest of the 『Advanced Races』, the 『Dwarf』, and the next, the 『Elf』, had similar power levels, but the gap between them and the 'Outer Races' was smaller than the gap between them and the 『Demon Race』.
In other words,
『Demon Race』 >>> 『Elf, Dwarf』 >> 'Outer Races'
And since the 『Noblesse』 were far superior even to the 『Demon Race』, though grouped as 『Advanced 7 Races』, it wasn't an exaggeration to say the 『Elf』 and 『Dwarf』 were protected by the upper races. That's why they had no choice but to bow to the top race, the 『Noblesse』.
Of course, there were the 『Dragonia』 too, but their numbers were extremely low, and they didn't show themselves in the world.
Ultimately, the 『Noblesse』 were the top race.
Yeonseo had explained kindly and in detail, but even the obtuse Sihwan could sense the displeasure in her tone.
And right before he left the room, a parting shot hit his back.
"Don't interrupt from now on~. It makes me really want to kill you."
"..."
Coming from someone who'd started by killing 300 people, it wasn't something to brush off as a joke.
"Hmm... Bari, you think—,"
"That could be."
"Wha—,"
"Everyone wants to speak, after all."
"Me—,"
"Getting interrupted creates displeasure, I think."
"..."
"..."
Whenever he opened his mouth to speak, Bari immediately opened hers.
When he closed his, she did too.
"...Got it. Makes me want to hit you."
Bari smiled brightly.
After buying some simple food in the city and heading back, it was early evening, with red sunset hues seeping through the clear sky here and there.
"Bari."
"Yes."
Sitting on a bench in the wide training field, Sihwan hesitated a bit.
"You too... uh..."
Unlike him, he dragged out his words.
It was so rare that Bari's eyes widened a little.
"Feel bad?"
"...You mean about the interrupting?"
Bari's lips curved into a slight smile.
His nodding face somehow felt cute.
"What you do doesn't make me feel bad."
"Really?"
"I'm your AI, after all. But..."
His gaze locked onto her lips as she trailed off.
"If someone other than you did it... it'd be pretty unpleasant."
"I see."
Sihwan nodded.
"What're you doing? Sit. Time to eat."
"Yes."
She didn't need to eat, but he'd bought extra for her anyway.
"The inn food was meh—wonder how this is."
Skewers and fried stuff you could buy by the copper unit at the market.
There were even foods made from intestines, like blood sausage.
Of course, no idea what animal they came from. Even knowing the name wouldn't tell him what it was.
"Sihwan-nim."
"Yeah?"
As he finished one off with a so-so verdict, Bari spoke up.
"Do you... think I can feel emotions?"
"What's with the random question?"
"You asked if I felt bad."
"Yeah."
"Normally... people don't ask AIs that. Even creators treat humans as just machines."
"True. You're a machine."
"But you ask me about my feelings. Do you think I can feel them?"
"Nothing saying you can't."
"But—,"
"You're an idiot."
"Huh?"
Sihwan grabbed both her cheeks and squeezed.
"Eek?!"
"See? Total idiot face."
"I-I'm not an idiot! Even with reduced performance, I'm incomparable to living things—,"
Poke.
Sihwan pressed the tip of his finger into her nose.
"Look at you getting mad."
"..."
"How can you watch this and think there's no emotion, no feelings? That's what's amazing to me."
"...You don't think it's just... a simple algorithmic response?"
"Dunno. Don't care."
"But..."
"Aren't AIs modeled after human brains anyway?"
"...Early models were."
"Then it's the same."
Sihwan pointed at her head and his own, twirling his index finger.
"This or this."
"..."
"So don't overcomplicate it. You're just my AI. That's all you need to think about."
"...Yes."
She turned her head forward and lowered it.
Then,
"Um... Sihwan-nim."
"What? More weird talk?"
"No, it's..."
"?"
She turned back with a serious face.
"Your head and my head have different performance."
"..."
"Very different."
"..."
"Sky and earth."
"..."
+++
"You were right. Super cocky. Whether he knows or not is beside the point."
After the A-Rank interview, Ha Yeon-seo called Yu Ina over and said that.
Context-free words, but not hard to understand.
"He's fundamentally clueless."
"Yeah... seems like it."
Ryu Si-hwan.
The hottest topic in the Academy right now.
Some even whispered suspicions of backroom deals since a mere human passed the test early for A-Rank.
"What will you do?"
"You already lent him 30 gold."
"Pfft, no need to take back that measly 30 gold."
Yeonseo quietly sipped her coffee.
"You want that guy gone, huh?"
"Personally, yes."
"You were gonna assign Luna to him."
"That hasn't changed. Personality aside, he has superior strength for a human. Better to produce excellent offspring. It'd be good for Luna too... But teaching at the Academy is a different story."
"True."
Tok.
She set down her coffee cup and steepled her fingers in front of her chest.
"As a human, even A-Rank has limits. Plus... his stats themselves were nothing special. We gave him A because of the doll."
"Definitely an amazing item. On a whole other level from regular golems or ego-holders."
"Right? I want it. Makes me curious... Anyway, he passed because of that doll, so as long as the doll stays, who cares what happens to the human—better if he's gone, that cocky thing."
But that wasn't possible right now.
Regular golems were one thing, but the doll named Bari only obeyed orders from her owner, Sihwan.
That wasn't all. She treated all other lifeforms like insects, except him and herself. Exactly the look a 『Noblesse』 gives a human.
No way she'd stay without Sihwan.
"Sigh... Even so... Someone who rightfully got A-Rank enters the Academy without a test. That's history here. It's the rule. We have to follow it. No matter how I feel."
She concluded reluctantly.
"Oh, right... Aren't you curious?"
"About what?"
"How well that doll fights. There's special training for a month anyway—make a plan."
"You mean send them on an expedition?"
"With fresh newbies? What if something big happens? Especially after that incident... No, something like ranking matches or whatever."
"Not even in a Guild yet, and already doing that?"
"Better to do it early."
Yu Ina nodded as if she got it after a moment's thought.
"Understood. We'll do that then."