I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 47

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Thanks for lending the carriage. I express my gratitude once again.”

“Pardon? Ah, yes…”

Schlus and his attendant got off the carriage, and the door slammed shut.

Left alone inside, Iris was still puzzled, unable to close her slightly open mouth.

“What, what was that…?”

Did she see it wrong?

No, there was no way.

She definitely saw it clearly.

Schlus patting his attendant’s head.

And without a moment’s hesitation at that.

Both the one patting and the one being patted showed reactions as if they were used to it, as if this wasn’t the first time.

“Is it normal…?”

An attendant and an employer.

Since they interact the closest after family, it wouldn’t be strange for them to be intimate.

So is patting the head natural to that extent?

“There’s no way…”

For a moment, such a thought occurred to her, but Iris shook her head in denial.

Even if it was between women, it couldn’t be natural between the opposite sex.

No matter how she thought about it, even if they were close, they were excessively close.

Then could it be.

“Are they…?”

A smile hung on Iris’ lips.

Schlus’ attendant was certainly pretty.

Even though her face still looked youthful, her mature body made one imagine that she must have shaken the hearts of many men.

If one lived under the same roof with such a person, wouldn’t their heart be stolen in an instant?

Even if there was a difference in status, both Schlus and his attendant were commoners, so there would be no reservations.

“And at that time…”

Moreover, Iris recalled the future she had seen not long ago.

The future where the single dormitory room was attacked by someone.

In that future, Schlus had succeeded in intercepting the attacker.

However, there was one thing he couldn’t protect. It was his attendant.

In that future, Schlus suddenly barged into the dormitory and came to find Iris.

Holding his attendant with limp limbs, he begged with tears to save her.

When she told him that she couldn’t revive someone who was already dead, Schlus wailed as if he had lost the world.

Thinking about it now, those tears, that desperation, were definitely those of losing a loved one.

“Haa… It’s so sweet.”

Iris smiled, cupping her cheeks with both hands in ecstasy.

To think she would witness such pure love.

She thought she had done well to hint at saving the attendant.

“But it’s not unrequited love, right?”

Recalling one possibility, Iris’ expression instantly turned serious.

What if only Schlus was in love?

What if his attendant had no particular feelings?

With the beauty of Schlus’ attendant, it wouldn’t be strange for nobles to line up to propose to her.

If she pursued money and stability and chose a noble’s lap…

That couldn’t be allowed to happen.

Schlus’ earnest love would end before it even began.

“Alright. This wasn’t in the plan, but… I’ll help out a bit.”

Iris clenched her fists and made up her mind.

To help Schlus’ love come to fruition.

At the very least, she needed to let his attendant know how sincere his love was.

“Hmph. Do I have to help with this too? You don’t even know to be grateful…”

But for some reason, Iris felt a bitter feeling in the corner of her heart.

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“Let’s go.”

“Ah, yes!”

Following Schlus, who was striding forward, Emilia took a deep breath and began walking.

Yet she didn’t forget to steal glances at Schlus’ face.

‘Why. Why is he acting like nothing happened?’

However, she couldn’t find any agitation in Schlus’ eyes or gait.

Even though that just happened, was Schlus unfazed?

Emilia’s cheeks were already flushed red.

‘It was an act…’

Showing nervousness in the carriage was an act.

When the Crown Princess visited the mansion, she made mistake after mistake because she was too surprised by the unexpected encounter.

So in order to maintain consistency, she judged that she had no choice but to pretend to be nervous this time as well.

In reality, she wasn’t nervous at all.

But the moment Schlus’ hand touched her head.

The moment that warm touch descended, Emilia felt her body heat up.

At the same time, even her minimal tension dissipated, and her rough breathing stabilized.

Even though she had been trained to be extremely vigilant and wary of others’ approach and physical contact.

Strangely, Schlus’ large hand seemed to have an unknown power that made people feel at ease.

‘But is he really unfazed…?’

In frustration, Emilia glared at Schlus’ back.

To show physical contact between the opposite sex in front of others and act like it was nothing.

There was only one reason Emilia could think of for that.

Schlus didn’t see her as a woman.

Otherwise, there was no way he would boldly do something that could cause a scandal in front of others.

Perhaps he thought of her like a little sister or a daughter.

In the first place, a plan like seduction had no chance of success from the start.

Feeling a bit hurt in her pride and resentful, Emilia wanted to hug Schlus from behind right now.

As if asking if he could still not see her as the opposite sex.

How would Schlus react then?

Would he get angry, saying what was she doing after coming all the way to the Imperial Palace?

Or would he give her a playful smile and flick her forehead?

Or would he blush and be flustered…?

She wanted to check, but she couldn’t.

Because she was afraid her relationship with Schlus would change.

‘That’s right. This is to continue the Intelligence Agency’s mission.’

As an agent of the Intelligence Agency, she was afraid the surveillance situation would change, so she couldn’t do it.

Yes, that was it.

Emilia repeated to herself in her mind as she walked.

Following behind Schlus.

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“Miss Emilia. From now on-”

“Yes. I understand. I will conduct myself properly and never do anything to embarrass Mr. Hainkel.”

“…”

Somehow, Emilia had been strange since earlier.

Was it because I accidentally patted her head?

She seemed quite sulky.

After all, Emilia disliked physical contact…

I should be careful next time.

A quest window appeared in front of my eyes.

All I have to do is enter the hall and it’s over?

What kind of quest is this?

Is someone going to grab me by the collar and stop me from entering?

It was a quest with an unprecedentedly easy difficulty.

“Schlus Hainkel.”

“Yes. Your identity has been confirmed. You may enter.”

We had no trouble when entering the palace.

The paper the guard handed me had ‘Medal Conferment Ceremony Attendee’ written on it.

Since it was still a secret that I was the recipient of the medal, it seemed they decided to let me pass this way.

Then there would be no more instances of us being stopped by the guards.

If I could clear the quest for free, I was happy.

“Who is that?”

“Isn’t that the rumored commoner who ranked first in the Imperial Academy?”

“Is he attending as an attendee? It’s the end times for even commoners to come and go in the Imperial Palace.”

My overly sensitive senses kept collecting the whispers around me.

Damn those arrogant nobles.

You bastards are also descended from peasants.

I wanted to rebuke them loudly, but I held back.

It was almost time.

Ignoring the gazes pouring in from all directions, I headed towards the hall with Emilia.

“Wait.”

“…?”

The moment I tried to pass through the door, a scabbard blocked my way.

Clicking my tongue and looking to the side, a knight was smiling and extending his arm.

No, two. There was another one on the opposite side.

Was it because of these guys that the quest appeared?

“You can’t pass here.”

“I came to attend the medal conferment ceremony.”

“I don’t think you understand, but this is not a place where the likes of commoners can enter. I don’t know which noble you bought the ticket from, but we can’t let someone like you inside. Go back before you see something unpleasant.”

“…”

Judging by their silver full-body armor, they weren’t part of the Imperial Guard.

Perhaps they belonged to the Imperial Knights.

It seemed these damn bastards weren’t properly informed about me.

Wow.

What should I do with these guys?

It’s so absurd that I’m not even angry.

“It would be best to step aside before something big happens.”

“Ha. Something big? Don’t say such nonsense. The real problem is letting a dirty commoner like you breathe the same air as nobles, you bastard.”

“… I think I’ve given you enough warning.”

Looking at the time, it was 5 minutes before the start.

Now I had to pass through here no matter what.

As I clenched my fists, they seemed to notice something was off and started to assume a stance, extending one leg.

“Has this bastard gone mad? Right now, to a knight…!”

Bam!

I predicted the trajectory of the fist by looking at the shoulder and dodged. And then a smoothly connected counter punch.

Striking a hook to his jaw, the guy’s legs gave out and he collapsed.

“You piece of… Prepare yourself, commoner!”

The remaining guy’s face turned red and blue, and he threw away his sword and charged at me.

It was a lightning-fast charge speed as if he had activated his internal circuits, but…

‘What? Why does it look so slow?’

His movements were too simple and predictable, so I could sufficiently deal with them without even using my abilities.

Was it because I had become accustomed to the physical abilities of monsters like Hertlocker and Trie?

I just lowered my body, deflecting the guy’s attack while simultaneously striking his side.

“Ugh!”

Unable to control his own speed, the guy spun around and crashed into the wall.

Judging by the way he was holding his waist while getting up, it seemed he had taken quite a bit of damage.

I hoped he would give up and collapse soon. Like that guy over there, drooling and snoring.

“You think you can get away with touching a knight!”

“…!”

The guy started charging.

But the problem was that it wasn’t towards me, but towards Emilia.

And what’s the problem, you ask… Emilia was far superior to me in basic hand-to-hand combat.

At first, Emilia looked at me with a surprised act, but soon she seemed to realize that I was too far to help her, and her eyes changed dramatically.

They were the eyes of a cold-hearted assassin.

“First, the woman…! Wha-what?!”

The guy charged at a tremendous speed once again, but Emilia grabbed his arm and slammed him into the ground, using his own speed against him.

He must have hit the back of his head along with his back on the floor, as he rolled his eyes back and lost consciousness.

I wonder if she’s killed a person.

Even if he survived, he would have to live as a hunchback for the rest of his life.

Let’s think of it as karma.

“Ah, no! This is, you see…! I learned bare-handed martial arts for a bit in the past!”

“…”

I only looked at her, but Emilia started spewing excuses as if she was rapping, waving her hands.

“Is this the level of martial arts you learned for a bit?”

“Ah, that. Well, you see…”

“Pfft… I’m reassured. I could even entrust my back to you if needed.”

“Th-Thank you.”

Unable to hold back my laughter, I decided to play along with Emilia’s cute lie.

Even though she seemed thorough, she was unexpectedly clumsy.

I was happy to discover a new side of the character I created.

“Let’s go.”

“You’re just going to leave these people?”

“If they know it’s embarrassing, they’ll keep their mouths shut. There won’t be any repercussions.”

The knights were beaten up and knocked out by a commoner college student and a maid.

If they had any pride, there was no way they would blab about it as if it were something to brag about.

So there was no need to worry about trouble arising from this.

Leading Emilia, who kept glancing back, I finally entered the hall.

I also earned coins as a reward for successfully entering the hall.

The hall had a structure like a large theater.

But the size was enormous…

Since there weren’t many tall buildings, it wasn’t felt much from the outside, but seeing the interior size of this building, I newly realized how vast the Imperial Palace was.

There were dozens more buildings like this.

The Imperial Academy was also ridiculously large, but the Imperial Palace seemed to be several times larger.

“His Majesty the Emperor will be entering soon. Please take your seats, everyone.”

We found a suitable spot and sat down.

I couldn’t have Emilia sit in a seat as well.

It seemed to be the norm for attendants to stand together in the back.

As Emilia went to the back and stood, other attendants were giving her sideways glances from all directions.

Surely they wouldn’t cause trouble there, right?

Since Emilia was excellent, I didn’t have to worry about her getting angry and causing a scene.

If anyone should be worried, it’s them worrying about me.

“His Majesty Emperor Gustav Friedrich von Freya is entering.”

An old man with white hair, leaning on a cane, appeared on the stage with Aria.

Then the nobles stood up from their seats to pay their respects.

I tried to stand up too.

Really.

‘Ah, damn it. Why now…? Argh.’

But I couldn’t stand up because my leg suddenly cramped.

The gazes pouring on me in real-time were too piercing.

I wondered if I would be branded as a rebel at this rate.

As the Emperor stood on the stage and gestured with his hand, the nobles sat back down.

Their movements were all disciplined.

As expected of nobles.

“Quite a crowd has gathered.”

Gustav opened the introduction with a chuckle.

Even though no information about the medal conferment ceremony had been disclosed, the number of nobles gathered was considerable.

There were viscounts, marquises… even someone who looked like a duke.

It was because the Emperor had only announced that there would be an important medal conferment ceremony.

Gustav wasn’t the type to use the word ‘important’ very often.

The fact that he deliberately stated it was an important event meant something unusual.

“Before the medal conferment ceremony, I will reveal a piece of news. The death of the Crow, Henderson, has been confirmed.”

The hall began to stir.

The gazes that had been glaring at me were now directed towards the stage.

Although I have a feeling they’ll turn back this way soon…

“Five days ago. The Crow Henderson infiltrated the Imperial Academy and was killed by one person. Today’s medal conferment is to commend the distinguished individual who killed Henderson for their achievement. Then I will announce the recipient of the medal. The recipient is…”

Bang!

At that moment, one of the doors to the hall swung open.

It was the middle-level door we had entered through.

What appeared from beyond it was-

“Schlus Hainkel! That commoner dared to assault the Imperial Knights!”

The two knights from earlier, bleeding from their noses.

To think they would announce being beaten up as a knight so confidently?

Don’t these guys have any sense of shame…?

The knights who appeared with them walked towards me with heavy steps.

All of them had murderous expressions.

“I’m terribly sorry for the interruption. We’ll just take this commoner out…”

“Schlus Hainkel. Come up to the stage.”

The Emperor’s voice echoed throughout the hall.

The hand of the knight, gripping my shoulder as if to crush it, froze.

Looking up, his face had turned deathly pale, which was quite a sight.

“Let go.”

“Ah… Yes!”

Only then did the knight let go and step back.

I got up, brushing my shoulder where the knight’s hand had touched a couple of times.

As expected.

Gazes were pouring in from all directions.

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