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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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This guy was clearly a reincarnator like me.
I was already shocked as if I’d been hit on the back of the head when he mentioned the concept of exchange students, which didn’t even exist in this world.
However, I couldn’t know the circumstances of his reincarnation.
Whether he had possessed the body of a native of this world, reincarnated like me, or had his body reconstructed and thrown into a similar age group – there were too many possibilities to guess.
At the very least, I could tell he wasn’t brought over wholesale through dimensional travel, judging by his good looks and artificial appearance that didn’t match any people from my previous life’s countries.
“Who are you to dare stop me?”
His quick-tempered reaction and the tone full of desire for self-aggrandizement, along with his apparent attachment to the title of hero, suggested that he was likely the expected age, not someone who had come here after aging a bit like me.
Above all, seeing how shamelessly proud this kid was who was late because of his own lust, it was clear his head wasn’t fully developed yet.
“I am Eldmia Egga, attendant and secretary to Margrave Lagnis Lien da Levien. It’s nice to meet you, Hero. But as I just said, you smell, so I’d prefer to postpone the handshake to another opportunity.”
I released his hand and stepped back before the Hero could push my hand away, gritting his teeth as if about to spit in my smiling face.
This left him looking as if he was waving his hand in the air.
The kingdom’s position?
A situation unfavorable to the Hero?
None of that mattered.
I could be certain that once he entered as an academy student, none of our actions would be diplomatically disadvantageous.
The sight of those students, nobles and commoners united, was proof of that.
But what about the Hero?
Could the Empire remain proud even after what was meant to be a show-off quickly turned into a disgrace?
“You seem to think you’re something special? Quite confident, aren’t you?”
“Not as confident as you, Hero.”
Honestly, if he hadn’t died unfairly like me and gotten a second life, I could understand him being twisted.
If I had been living a normal life and someone suddenly said, “Save the world, Hero,” killed me by hitting me with a truck, grabbed me by the hair, and forcibly settled me here, I might be have been willing to join hands with the Demon King and drive the world to the brink of hell rather than save it.
But right now, he didn’t know anything, did he?
Rudeness was just rudeness.
This young brat.
“This is interesting. You know this class is practical, right?”
“I was actually looking forward to that, and searched for you, Hero. You appeared suddenly, like a space-traveling demon. I’m very excited.”
Unlike me, who was smiling faintly, the Hero was grinning, showing his teeth.
How did I look in his eyes right now?
A mere extra?
A punching bag to show off his strength in front of Lagnis?
“This should be fun for a change. Everyone here is such a weakling, it’s been boring.”
“Sieg! Watch your language!”
“Alright, alright.”
This guy seemed to be Korean.
His vocabulary reeked of the same hellfire peninsula.
Despite his fierce grin at the noble-looking woman’s rebuke, the Hero obediently stroked her head and took a step back.
He then raised his hand in a light greeting to Lagnis before approaching the students.
“What an impudent man.”
Whoa, damn!
It was the first time I’d gotten goosebumps just from someone’s voice, and I never imagined it would be Lagnis!
Startled, I turned my head to see Lagnis glaring at the back of the Hero’s head as if she had already torn him to pieces five times with just her eyes.
“Margrave, you need to manage your expression.”
“Ahem! Y-yes, that’s right. By the way, o-our attendant is doing a good job, isn’t he? Not being intimidated even by the Hero?”
Whether she had a bit of a tsundere side or if all nobles were like this, I didn’t know, but Lagnis showed an unpredictable emotional roller coaster and grinned broadly.
At times like this, she really resembled the dorky Levi I used to know.
“I’ve already assessed the situation. That’s why it’s strange. Why did the Empire bring us into a situation that can only be disadvantageous to them?”
“I didn’t expect you to figure that out… The first possibility that comes to mind is that they might be trying to create a situation where they can forcibly control the Hero by making him commit a blunder.”
The content of our whispered conversation as we followed Gidley, who was starting to lead us while calming the unsettled atmosphere, was unpleasant in many ways.
But since we couldn’t just whisper between ourselves with all eyes on us, we decided to continue our contemplation about the Hero another time, and act according to our status as temporary students.
We started to split up and chat with the female and male students respectively.
The first to rush towards me was, of course, Etenera, approaching with a hand gesture that clearly expected a high-five.
“Hey! Kingdom Knight! That was quite gutsy! It was so cool!”
His demeanor was so likable that I couldn’t refuse the high-five.
However, it didn’t fit the image of a fairy tale knight I was trying to portray, so I suppressed my desire to give him a high-five like a scene from Slam Dunk, and awkwardly pretended to reciprocate while smiling it off.
“It was just what needed to be done. And I’m not a knight.”
“Wow, you’re that confident without even being a knight? But still, you must be pretty skilled to be the Margrave’s attendant, right? How old are you? I’m 17.”
“I’m 15. So you’re my senior.”
“Holy shit, really?! Hey, guys! This friend here is 15! Are you sure you’re not actually a giant?”
Etenera was truly a mood-maker, bringing together nobles and commoners alike.
Thanks to him, our conversation flowed smoothly, and we were able to chat pleasantly all the way to the stone training ground at one corner of the drill field.
At the same time, I could tell.
These were indeed kids who hadn’t shed their youthful demeanor.
Even the nobles, who could be considered relatively mature, didn’t hesitate to mingle and chat with the commoners while still showing traces of their youth.
We couldn’t see this kind of scene in the Kingdom, is this how the Empire usually is?
If it really is, it was quite impressive.
“Ah. Looks like our Kingdom Knight friend is uncomfortable in this setting? Too arrogant to let commoners approach you familiarly?”
Etenera seemed to have read my mind, but of course, I wasn’t a noble, so I could openly laugh.
“I’m a commoner too.”
“Haha… really?”
“What would I gain by lying?”
Well, I do pretend to be noble-like quite well.
After all, I’m Eldmia Egga with a mental age over 30, right?
If I can just endure the cringe, this much is a piece of cake.
While the male students were all quite surprised, Gidley, who was leading us, climbed onto the training ground and spoke.
“You all know this already, but I’ll explain it once more briefly for today.”
Of course, this was for me and Lagnis.
Knowing this, even the playful Etenera didn’t bother to tease about this part and just shrugged his shoulders.
“My class is strictly practical. That’s how my master, the battle mage Radnelbandes, taught, and it’s what I’m best at. I don’t put any restrictions. But since we can’t let students die, the best teachers in the Empire put their heads together and created this training ground.”
As Gidley infused mana into what I thought was just a simple training ground of stone, it began to glow faintly.
Shortly after, the stone in the center of the training ground seemed to melt into the sky, dripping away to become a transparent crystal sphere that began to float at a height of about three stories.
Just in case, I examined the floor where the crystal sphere had emerged, but there was only smooth stone as if nothing had happened.
“This training ground, which might look like nothing special, is the essence of illusion magic that creates illusions so elaborate that they’re hard to distinguish from reality, from weapons to injuries, through high-level hallucination magic and distortion and refraction via light magic. It’s not just the user’s knowledge and experience, but also the numerous records stored in that crystal sphere floating up there, called ‘Touch’, that read and interpret situations to make the illusions even more solid. It’s safe to say that almost any situation can be simulated.”
While I was genuinely impressed by how amazing it was, a male student next to me snickered and said:
“Can you believe there were seniors who tried to use that for sexual purposes?”
“That’s… a stupid but somewhat reasonable idea.”
“Hehehe. Unfortunately, it was useless because that kind of information wasn’t included, but it really shows how amazing human imagination can be.”
Perhaps the friend who made that surprising attempt was now passionately studying magic to create a virtual ideal type using the magic written there after graduating.
If someday I see something being sold with the slogan “Virtual girlfriend for just 3 gold coins!”, I would think it was that friend.
“The class will proceed as usual! Students with the worst compatibility will fight each other. Of course, there will be some adjustments today as we have two new people. I’ll also change the order a bit to help them understand, so keep that in mind!”
As I turned my gaze from Gidley, who was calling out student names, towards where the Hero was, I found myself meeting the Hero’s eyes, who had already been looking at me for who knows how long.
He didn’t avert his gaze even as he seemed to be listening to the whispers of the three girls he was sandwiched between, fondling their bottoms.
While his gaze was incredibly unpleasant, I couldn’t help but sincerely admire how boldly he engaged in such licentious behavior.
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I can’t wait for the hero to get beat up. I hope he will.
This hero a madman, he needs to be put down IMMEDIATELY