漫画大王

Chapter 182

There wasn’t much difference in my individual tutoring classes either.

Tuesday: Swordsmanship Theory II, Swordsmanship Practice II, Swordsmanship Practical.

Wednesday: Meditation II, Supernatural Power Control, Supernatural Power Practical.

Friday: Mana Attunement Training II, Comprehensive Martial Arts II, Demonic Ecology.

Most of my classes were similar, with only a change in instructors. The only differences from the first semester were the subjects Demonic Ecology, Supernatural Power Practical, and Swordsmanship Practical. These were the two additional practical classes I was taking.

The practical classes involved summoning creatures via summoning magic or illusion magic, and then battling them or subduing them. In Swordsmanship Practical, we subdued enemies using Swordsmanship, and in Supernatural Power Practical, we did it with supernatural powers.

The two classes were effectively the same to me, since the practical application of my supernatural power was to enhance my physical ability and increase close combat performance.

Demonic Ecology was a lecture that provided basic knowledge about demons.

Since I spent all of Tuesday learning Swordsmanship, it seemed like I would be stuck with Ellen all day.

After classes ended, I returned to the Royal Class dormitory. I stopped by the Class B dormitory to return the imperial emblem to Charlotte.

“Thanks for letting me use it,” I said.

She took the emblem from me with a slight smile. “You seemed to have put it to good use, didn’t you? Ignoring the queue at the warp gate, and flashing it whenever a dispute arose.”

Charlotte sneered at me as if to say, “Did you feel like royalty?”

“H-How do you know about all of that?”

“Reports are going to come in when you start brandishing the imperial emblem everywhere, of course.”

Since it wasn’t something just anyone carried around, it seemed each time the emblem appeared it was reported, even in the Dark Land.

“I mean, wasn’t that what you gave it to me for?”

“That’s right,” Charlotte said as she laughed and covered her mouth, as if she had just been teasing me.

Indeed, the imperial emblem had been the most helpful item among all the things we had brought with us. It not only saved us time but also helped us avoid unnecessary quarrels, and it had even shielded us from potential murder charges.

Because of this emblem, our journey in the Dark Land had concluded safely, and I recognized just how much Charlotte had really helped us.

“I read all the incident reports. You really worked hard out there, Reinhart.”

Just as Vertus seemed to possess knowledge of our journey, it was only natural that Charlotte was fully aware of what we had gone through in the Dark Land.

“Shall we go for a walk?” Charlotte asked. It’s been a while.”

I had no particular reason to reject her suggestion.

***

Charlotte and I walked through the park in front of the dormitory. There were hardly any people around the Royal Class compound, so we rarely bumped into anyone.

Come to think of it, now that the vacation was over, would Charlotte ask me to deliver a letter to Baalier? I had been acting as her messenger pigeon, and without me, she wouldn’t have been able to send letters, since she wouldn’t have sent her own people to Eleris’s shop.

“It must have been tough. It wasn’t any ordinary incident,” Charlotte said quietly as we walked.

“... I’d be lying if I told you that it wasn’t tough.”

Ellen and I had both suffered quite a bit of trauma, and we were only just starting to get over it.

“Ellen... Artorius...” Charlotte mumbled the name quietly.

Only Charlotte, Vertus, and I knew Ellen’s real name. She seemed to savor the surname, as if saying it for the first time.

“The fact that she’s the hero’s sister... I always knew she would be extraordinary, and she certainly is... but to acquire Mana Reinforcement on her own...”

Charlotte seemed genuinely impressed, as if she hadn’t thought it was possible.

“Ellen Artorius might not be remembered as the hero’s sister. Instead, Ragan Artorius might be remembered as Ellen’s brother,” she continued.

Ellen might become so strong that her achievements could surpass her brother’s, pushing Ragan Artorius and his fame into the background. Charlotte seemed to think that such a scenario was possible.

“You ventured into the Dark Land with such an incredible person and came back unscathed. That’s no small feat,” Charlotte remarked.

Ellen had the weight of expectation on her while I had none, and I had still come through the journey with Ellen safely. Charlotte seemed to think that meant I was no ordinary person either.

“... I’m just glad I didn’t get in the way.”

Charlotte smiled faintly at my remark. “Still, you went on a journey together... Didn’t you have any moments of excitement, or some similar experience?”

Charlotte looked at me with a teasing expression, like a friend probing into a love story.

“... What are you talking about?”

“Oh come on, you never know, right?”

That look on her face... She was surely finding this immensely entertaining.

“The things we dealt with over there had nothing to do with that kind of stuff. Just keeping it together was all I could manage,” I said.

Charlotte’s expression stiffened. “Oh... right. I’m sorry. That was thoughtless of me.”

She realized that it was insensitive to ask if there had been any romantic moments given the traumatic experiences we faced and apologized.

“Thanks to what you guys did, though, the imperial family will soon be taking some measures. In the end, it all worked out for the best.”

“Measures?”

‘Is there something the imperial family needs to act on?’

At my question, Charlotte tilted her head as if wondering why I was confused.

“The Adventurer’s Guild receives support from the imperial family. How do you think the imperial family will feel, knowing that adventurers tried to steal assets from that guild?”

The imperial family provided the guild the necessary support for exploring the Dark Land, and now, adventurers had tried to wrongfully appropriate that material support for themselves. This greatly displeased the imperial family.

“We need to tighten the system for managing materiel at the Egxian base and the Adventurer’s Guild. While we might not eliminate incidents like this entirely, we should at least make them less common.”

The imperial family supported the Adventurer’s Guild, but they were unaware of the state of the Egxian Forward Base. This incident, and the way in which we had resolved it, had brought the situation to the attention of the prince and princess, and thus to the entire imperial family.

Originally, the bandits had planned to loot the guild’s resources and disguise it as demon activity. Because we’d thwarted that plan, the imperial family now saw the necessity of tightening the management of the Egxian base and the Adventurer’s Guild.

“The guild is severely understaffed, and there are too many drifters, which opens the door to many crime rings too. Thanks to what you and Ellen did, Egxian will be safer than it was before.”

Charlotte was saying that what Ellen and I had done was more beneficial than we realized.

Smack!

Charlotte suddenly slapped my back.

“Ouch!”

“So, don’t you or Ellen be so gloomy,” Charlotte said.

“... Was it that obvious?” I asked.

Charlotte smiled, bringing her finger to her lips. “You two walk around acting like you committed some great sin in the Dark Land, yet keep pretending like nothing happened. Of course it was obvious.”

Whenever we were asked about our journey to the Dark Land, both Ellen and I told everyone that our venture had borne no results. Charlotte, who knew what had really happened, was telling me about these follow-up measures to reassure us.

Because of our intervention, the crime rate among adventurers at the Egxian base would likely decrease from now on.

“Then, we should probably head ba—Argh!”

Charlotte, who had been speaking casually, suddenly covered her right eye with her hand and stopped. She bent over slightly, her body trembling a bit.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh... No, it’s nothing. Hold on. Just a moment.”

“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

“No, just... hold on... Just a moment...”

Covering her eye, Charlotte took a few deep breaths, and after a moment, she sighed and lifted her head. She was sweating a little.

“It’s okay now,” she said with a relieved sigh.

“What happened?”

“Oh... it’s nothing. This happens sometimes.”

Charlotte tried to act like everything was fine, but she didn’t look fine at all.

“It’s just an aftereffect of my time in the Demon King’s Castle.”

I wondered if it was something like a panic attack, but Charlotte insisted that it was nothing and told me not to worry about it.

Although it didn’t seem like nothing, she didn’t seem inclined to explain further. Charlotte said she needed to rest, and suggested we head back to the dormitory.

As we walked back, she pulled a letter from her coat.

“... Sorry for always asking you to do this.”

“It’s nothing. Really.”

This time, Charlotte’s expression looked a bit sad as she handed me the letter.

***

The contents of the letter were similar to the previous ones. Charlotte wrote about what she had done during the vacation and the various events that occurred, and also asked how I was doing.

I was getting increasingly used to writing replies filled with clumsy lies. The more accustomed I became to these deceitful letters, the more my guilt towards Charlotte grew.

After writing a reply in the upper room at Eleris’s shop, I went down to the first floor.

“Your Highness, what should we do with this?” Eleris asked as she placed a large pouch on the table. It contained the proceeds from selling the precious metals we’d obtained from the Dark Land through the Thieves’ Guild.

The total amounted to roughly 3,500 gold coins, equivalent to about 3.5 billion won. Since this treasure was initially supposed to have been enough for the twenty adventurers that made up the initial expedition, such a colossal fortune wasn’t surprising.

Since it was being split three ways, each share came to over a billion won.

“Leave my share with the Rotary Club. I’ll take Ellen’s portion back.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Use your share to find a house or an apartment. Don’t invest it in the Rotary Club.”

“Is... is that really okay?”

Eleris seemed unsure whether it was appropriate to use such a vast amount solely for herself. Though I had told her to do so, seeing such a tremendous sum in front of her seemed to be making her dizzy.

Any money I was going to spend would be on matters related to the Rotary Club, so I didn’t need my share of the money immediately. I considered it as capital for any future ventures. The only share I planned to take back with me was the portion meant for Ellen.

“Wow. This is really heavy.”

Clink.

‘Money is great, but it’s so damn heavy!’

“I... I should have exchanged it for platinum coins... But going through financial institutions could be problematic as well... They might ask about the origin of the funds, which could be inconvenient... So I just brought it over like this...”

“That’s fine. I’ll just consider it as a form of exercise.”

After all, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t manage the weight.

***

Tuesday came around, and I had a full day of classes related to Swordsmanship. Despite being upset with Ellen, I’d ended up registering for the same lectures as her.

I was like that common, clingy guy who was easily upset yet was persistent. What even was I? If such a character were a supporting role instead of the main character, people would leave comments like, “Ah, I can’t stand this guy. When will he die already?”

Swordsmanship Theory, Swordsmanship Practice, and Swordsmanship Practical.

These subjects were bundled together, with a break for lunch scheduled for after the practice session. The instructor for this semester was different from the first, which brought about some changes. In the first semester, Ellen had been the only other Royal Class student taking Swordsmanship classes with me.

In this semester, there were about fifty students in the class, and among them, four of us were from the Royal Class, including myself: Ellen, me, B-2 Scarlett, and B-11 Ludwig. And so, I ended up attending classes with the main protagonist.

“Reinhart!” Ludwig said in greeting. “We’re in the same class this time!”

“Seems like it.”

“Oh Ellen, you’re here too! Hi!”

Ellen answered with a silent nod.

Our ever-energetic and cheerful protagonist was still as lively as ever. Ellen seemed utterly disinterested.

Ludwig naturally took a seat next to me. I had Ellen on my right and Ludwig on my left.

‘Was Ellen supposed to take classes with Ludwig during the second semester of the first year? I don’t think they did.’

Things were developing slightly differently from the original plot. It was probably supposed to be only Ellen and Scarlett in this class, but because of me, Ellen’s circumstances had changed too much for her to act the way she did in the original story.

“Scarlett! Over here! Let’s sit together.”

“Oh... O-Okay.”

Scarlett, who had been sitting far away, came over and sat next to Ludwig, but her awkwardness was evident. When our eyes met, Scarlett gave a small nod to acknowledge me, as if that was the most she could manage.

These were the differences from the original story:

In the original story, Ludwig was supposed to rescue Scarlett from being bullied and become friends with her during the first semester. However, it was Charlotte who had resolved the situation with Scarlett. As a result, while Ludwig wanted to be friends with her, Scarlett still found him intimidating. The fact that she still addressed him formally was proof of that.

A major event involving one of the main heroines had been removed, resulting in this situation. Although Scarlett didn’t seem to dislike Ludwig, they just weren’t close.

Consequently, Ludwig’s presence in the narrative had become insignificant—practically like air.

But honestly... Why did I have to care?

I had enough on my plate without worrying about the narrative significance of the original protagonist. No matter what I did, the gate was destined to explode, regardless of Ludwig’s actions or inaction...

Anyway, the current situation had been included in the main story.

—Wow... There are four Royal Class students in this class.

—And two from Orbis Class as well.

—This class must have incredibly high standards...

This was supposed to be the part of the story where, at the start of the second semester, Ludwig and his classmates encountered the students from the Orbis Class for the first time. Because I was following Ellen, though, I ended up witnessing this situation firsthand.

***

The Temple had dozens, perhaps hundreds, of different uniforms, each with a unique design. Of course, I wasn’t familiar with most of them. The only one I knew well was the Royal Class uniform that I wore.

Among all the uniforms, though, only two uniforms stood out as being the most famous, as if they were business cards and identification badges rolled into one: the uniforms of the Royal Class and the Orbis Class.

Both Royal and Orbis Classes had no more than twenty students per grade, making them an elite few. Naturally, everyone was buzzing when six of these elite students were in one lecture together. Some seemed abuzz with anticipation, while others were already lamenting about how their grades would undoubtedly plummet.

For me, it was the first time I was seeing the Orbis Class uniform.

‘So that’s what it looks like.’

I still thought the Royal Class uniform was prettier.

The theory lecturer entered and took attendance, calling out names one by one. People raised their hands in response.

“Royal Class A-2, Ellen.”

“Here.”

“Royal Class A-11, Reinhart.”

“Here.”

“Royal Class B-3, Scarlett.”

“Here.”

“Royal Class B-11, Ludwig.”

“Here!”

.

.

.

The names were called one by one.

“Orbis Class A-8, Adler Belkin.”

“Present.”

“Orbis Class B-3, Nilsonia.”

“Here.”

Like the Royal Class, the Orbis Class also used A and B classifications, which divided the special class into two ranked groups. It seemed only natural that the Orbis Class used the same system.

Among the fifty or so students in the class, four were from the Royal Class and two were from the Orbis Class.

As Harriet had mentioned before, the Royal Class didn’t pay much attention to the Orbis Class. However, the Orbis Class subjected themselves to rigorous training with the specific goal of never losing to the Royal Class. Since their positions were earned through hard work, relentless effort was their daily routine, and they were a class that despised those born with talent.

Therefore, it was no surprise that the two Orbis Class students glanced at us—Scarlett, Ludwig, Ellen and I—with disdain in their eyes.

In the original storyline, only Scarlett and Ludwig were in this class. Ellen and I weren’t supposed to be here. Because of this, I wasn’t sure if the plot would diverge or not.

After the theory lecture would be the Swordsmanship Practice class. In the original plot, Ludwig suffered a humiliating defeat during a sparring session with an Orbis Class student. It was a scene meant to highlight the contrast between the hard-working Orbis Class and the supposedly talent-reliant but lazy Royal Class.

The Orbis Class students had skills that those in the Royal Class like Erhi and Kaier couldn’t hope to match. Their blind jealousy and hatred towards the Royal Class was central to their introduction as villains of the story in the second semester.

Now that Ellen and I had joined the class, though, there was a chance that either of us might be selected for the sparring session instead of Ludwig. Me being selected would be fine, but if Ellen was chosen, it could break the spirits of the Orbis Class students immediately.

‘Is this really okay?’