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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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Inside the office of the head of the Cruel family.
Sword Saint Eleiya threw the dozens of reports onto his table with a thud, then let out a long sigh.
Having just finished reading all the reports about Edgar Fix, he stared at Ed’s face on the front page of the report with a complex expression.
The only thought he had about the boy was that he was a person who was regrettable in many ways.
“A regrettable one… Such a shame.”
…A shame.
That was Eleiya’s first impression of Ed.
That boy was simply too much of a loss.
That was because the boy’s abilities were outstanding.
Personality, appearance, skill, diplomacy, political calculation.
He was a rare talent with all-around exceptional abilities.
He was the new face of this era with the most promising potential, to the point where he wanted to take him as his son-in-law if he could.
“……Still, it won’t do.”
But decisively, he was a commoner.
He had more than enough ability to lead the Empire, but in the end, he was of lowly birth, born between commoners.
No matter how outstanding his abilities were, there would inevitably be a limit.
“But still, that’s my daughter. She has an eye for talent.”
But if he were to find a redeeming point in this situation, it would be that his daughter’s eyes were not mistaken.
At first, he thought that his daughter had been charmed by Ed’s pretty, girlish face, but after looking into it, he found that he was a rare talent with not only a good face but also a good personality, skill, and intelligence.
Eleiya smiled contentedly at his daughter’s ability to see such a talent beyond the limitations of his social status.
“But Enya, he won’t do. No matter how talented he is, he can’t overcome the limitations of his social status.”
Eleiya, head of the Cruel family, knew this well—from his own experience and from the examples set by previous generations.
That commoners with abilities beyond their station would end up being used by the nobles and would die young.
As proof of that, while he was in seclusion, other ducal families had already placed a shackle on the boy.
In fact, the monthly equipment demonstration, attended by three inspectors dispatched from the imperial family and the academy faculty, was rigged.
They had set a condition that the equipment the boy made had to pass the standard at the demonstration in order for him to maintain his status as an academy student.
And the three judges dispatched from the Imperial family were clearly from the Bernhard Ducal Family, the Elmar Ducal Family, and the Graham Ducal Family.
Even if she was the Princess, to make a commoner an academy student, she had to make deals with the ducal families that had provided a lot of funds to build the academy.
“He can’t be my son-in-law… but.”
Therefore, Eleiya thought.
If the boy didn’t covet his daughter, he would be willing to take him in.
In fact, he valued Edgar’s talents so highly that he considered grooming him as his right-hand man.
If he could take him in as Enya’s advisor and engineer, who would someday lead the Cruel family, the Cruel family would become the strongest family that no one could challenge.
Eleiya organized his thoughts and stood up.
As he stepped out of his office, he spoke to the adjutant waiting nearby.
“Prepare a carriage. I will go to the academy.”
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Monday morning dawned.
Having spent the night researching the components of the Ungoliant spider silk I had collected in bulk, I hadn’t gotten much sleep.
With disheveled hair, I scratched my head and struggled to pry open my eyes, which felt glued shut.
Barely managing to face the morning sunlight, I stretched and let out a big yawn.
“Haaah~”
It seemed I had overdone it yesterday.
As I was researching the Ungoliant spiderwebs with Fix, it had gone past 3 AM.
But thanks to that, I was able to learn the spiderweb’s components and secrets to a certain extent.
It was a liquid protein that the Ungoliant stored in its body.
In the process of releasing it to the outside, elastic protein molecules and hard crystal molecules would combine, and when exposed to air, they would cause several chemical reactions, resulting in a solid spiderweb.
Therefore, by analyzing and applying these properties, I was able to create a high-elasticity, high-strength wire.
I had developed a device that was very similar in function to the web shooters in Spider-Man.
“Now, if I just tweak the propulsion system a bit, three-dimensional maneuvering won’t be a problem at all.”
The Devil 1 suit was gradually being completed.
Fast mobility using three-dimensional maneuvering, ranged suppression using plasma beams, and close-range defense using the Plasma Mana Shield.
It was evolving into a well-balanced combat suit in many ways.
Of course, it was still far from the suit that I envisioned for the future.
But with my current skills and abilities, this was satisfactory.
“Anyway, that’s that.”
It was Monday again.
The grueling schedule of taking classes from 9 AM to 10 PM had started.
But there were things to enjoy even in this high-intensity schedule.
Taking classes with the NPCs that I had only been able to see beyond the monitor was a very refreshing and exciting experience.
That was because the beauty of the heroines that I was actually facing was enormous, no less than that of actors or idols.
Just sitting next to them was comforting, and there was a heart-fluttering and ticklish feeling that was hard to explain.
“Ah… Where should I sit?”
However, one concern was that Isabella and Enya were having a strange(?) competition over me.
I was worried if I could use the “Charlotte chance” again this time.
I had glossed over it last time, but it seemed that it would be difficult for Charlotte to step in this time.
No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed like Enya or Isabella wouldn’t just let this pass.
“Haa… I don’t know.”
It was something that would happen soon, but I decided to just think about it later.
Well, it will work out somehow.
After taking a quick shower and roughly drying my hair, I put on my clothes and left the dormitory.
Now it was time to show Professor Gracia my answer.
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Classroom 11, where Professor Gracia lectured.
This time as well, there was a small commotion(?) centered around me, but it was resolved without much issue.
Rather than argue about who would sit next to whom, we decided to just sit together.
Thus, we ended up sitting in the order of Charlotte, Isabella, me, Enya, and Claire.
With me in the center, Isabella and Enya sat right next to me, and Charlotte, who was pushed back by Enya’s and Isabella’s energy, sat at the edge, and Claire, who didn’t have any particular fondness for me, sat next to Enya.
However, if you were to ask if this seating arrangement was the best, it didn’t seem to be.
Even now, Isabella and Enya were bickering with each other with me in between them.
“Commoner, it’s been a while. I was so bored from Thursday to Sunday when you weren’t here.”
“Can you stop calling me a commoner? I have a perfectly good name.”
“Commoner is my nickname for you. You make me want to see you, even though you’re a commoner.”
“Haa…. Ed, just ignore her. She’s just trying to mess with you.”
…It felt like I was just being squeezed from both sides.
Isabella would talk to me while subtly pressing her body against mine, and Enya would glare at her with daggers in her eyes.
Isabella had a tendency to try to obtain anything she liked by any means.
It seemed that she was unable to take any drastic action because Enya was next to me.
“……”
And Claire was observing us with an interesting look.
She was even taking notes.
*Slam!*
At that moment.
The classroom door opened, and silence descended into the noisy interior in an instant.
Professor Gracia had entered the classroom.
“Nice to meet you. I am Sword Master Gracia.”
Soon, Gracia, standing in front of the podium, introduced himself in the same way as before.
And just like last time, he started the class immediately without roll call or greetings.
“Student number 1, Martina Ollet, come up to the platform.”
However, the way of teaching was different from before.
He called the students up to the platform in order, starting from number 1, and had them present their assignments from the last class.
In other words, he wanted them to explain their weaknesses and present the training methods and weapon techniques that would compensate for them to everyone.
“Uh… I’m… Martina Ollet. My weakness is that the mana capacity in my upper body is less than that of my lower body, so I… ”
Thus, the presentations started, beginning with student number 1, Martina Ollet.
After the presentation was over, Professor Gracia would give feedback, give them a score, and call the next student to the platform.
“Edgar Fix, score student number 7, Mason’s training method.”
However, before giving feedback, Professor Gracia would often ask impromptu questions like this.
Some students were flustered by Professor Gracia’s impromptu questions and couldn’t answer properly, but I knew the TMI of this game inside and out.
So, I could answer without hesitation.
“I’d like to give him around 30 points.”
“30 points, that’s quite harsh. Why did you give him such a score?”
“He chose the wrong weapon technique. A spear technique? It doesn’t suit Mason at all.”
“…Why do you think so?”
“Spear techniques require body balance. Student Mason said that he would use the mana capacity in his upper body to perform a powerful thrust, but the strength of his lower body must support that thrust. The strength to kick off the ground and rush towards the opponent, and the strength to gather mana at one point and unleash it on the enemy, both of those strengths must be supported in order for student Mason to be able to perform the thrust that he aims to do.”
Gracia nodded slowly as he listened to my answer.
Soon, a faint smile appeared on his face, which had been expressionless the entire time.
Having heard a satisfactory answer, he acknowledged my answer.
“You saw it correctly. That’s what spear techniques are like. It is a weapon technique that is more specialized for attack, but balance is important for spear techniques as well. As it is specialized in breaking through at one point, mobility is even more important.”
He said that and gave Mason a score.
Then, he told Mason to rethink his weapon technique once more and began to call the next student.
And soon it was my turn.
“Edgar Fix, come up to the platform.”
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