Chapter 12: I Was Voluntarily Enlisted in the Academy - 2

It felt as though the part of my brain meant for thinking had temporarily gone missing.

Why was I supposed to be going to the academy?

Ordinarily, Dolnesia should have been the only one from the Logres family enrolling in the academy, shouldn’t she?

"Who said that?"

"Who else? The family head."

The family head had put me into the academy?

Why?

The person referred to here as the family head was...

Marshall de Logres.

The current Grand Duke of the North, and one of the five dukes who supported the Empire.

He was Cassian and Ian’s father, as well as a Sword Master who, like Alfred, stood in the realm of superhumans.

Unlike Alfred, who had long since passed his prime, he might have been elderly, but he was still actively serving. In that sense, he was perhaps the true superhuman.

Though his skills had declined from their peak now that he spent his days sitting at a desk handling documents.

Even now, removed somewhat from his prime, whenever people started arguing over who was the strongest person in the Empire, his name was always brought up.

In politics, he had stepped away simply because it was bothersome, and instead holed up at the northernmost frontier, grinding magical beasts and barbarians into dust.

Perhaps because of that, his favorability had gone through the roof, and his reputation had spread even to foreign nations.

There were rumors in the back alleys that he was a monster who ate hearts, but that was a setting that only briefly appeared early in Dolnesia’s story, so I could not be sure.

More importantly, how?

And no matter how deeply I searched my memories, Ian had never taken an academy entrance examination.

"The enrollment procedures are already complete, so you only need to go."

"Why are they complete? What about my opinion? I never agreed to this."

"He says he will not listen to the opinion of a son who does nothing but consume food."

Why was I a son who did nothing but consume food?

That was not me. That was Ian before I possessed him.

Oh, the injustice.

The family head says I am no longer useful, so what reason have I left to live?

Bring forth the lunchbox at once.

"If you refuse to go... he says he will put you in an open infantry slot..."

"Oh. Then I should go."

Come on, then. Off to Lumea Academy.

An academy overflowing with youth and romance awaited me.

Anywhere was better than the military.

Besides, unlike South Korea, where enduring for just a year and a half gave you an escape route called discharge, this was a world where discharge did not exist.

I would be going to another world for real.

And not just any place—the fucking freezing North. The front line.

In other words, I would have to be stuck at a guard post where it snowed all year round.

Now this was dark fantasy.

I did not need to look far. Dark fantasy was right here.

The business Dolnesia had brought me was some invitation.

An invitation bearing a message addressed to me and a splendid royal seal.

Apparently, it was an invitation sent out to every academy freshman.

After handing me that invitation, Dolnesia returned to her room, while I merely stared at the invitation left alone on the table.

Because I needed to think.

In any case, the reason they had sent this invitation to me through Dolnesia was surely to tell me to show my face at least once.

If I defied them, I would immediately be starring in The Wise Life of an Infantryman.

This invitation was for a banquet hosted directly by the royal family, something like a semester-opening assembly at a Korean university.

Though honestly, it was only called an opening assembly. It was practically a social gathering where nobles split into factions.

It felt like it had been made just so the nobles could throw a drinking party among themselves.

Perhaps for that reason, these invitations were not sent to commoners.

After all, even if a commoner came here, they would hear nothing pleasant. From their perspective, even if they received one, ripping it up on the spot would probably be the better choice.

Though, for the record, actually tearing it up was a serious crime.

This banquet was fairly important in the game.

That was because, in Dawnstar Academia, this banquet served as something like an interview where the male leads presented themselves to the heroine—in other words, the player.

Most of the male leads attended that banquet, and in the game’s video, whenever they appeared one by one alongside the opening theme, their names, positions, and characteristics popped up at the bottom of the screen. If that was not an interview, then what was?

Here, Dolnesia was supposed to find a guy she liked among the men shown in the opening, go up to him, work her buttery, greasy tongue, and shoot his favorability through the roof. Or she could walk around talking to every male lead, spreading her efforts evenly among them.

Or focus on conquering the male leads with top-tier performance.

I could not help her here.

I might be playing Dolnesia Maker right now, but this was reality, not a game.

It was not as though I could lose my mind and tell Dolnesia she absolutely had to seduce that guy.

Besides, every single one of them was a big shot.

The moment word reached the family head, the academy would be canceled and I might get shoved straight into a guard post for a snow-shoveling ending.

Now that was a real bad ending.

I thought Dolnesia was the only one with a bad ending. Who would have thought I had one too?

#

The train steamed as it cut through the snowy roads.

And sitting aboard it, staring out the window at the snow pouring down with a thoroughly fucked expression on my face, was me.

Because...

The tuxedo was fucking tight.

It was not just my level that had grown by leaps and bounds in Dreamland. My biceps had grown huge too, and as a result, my height, which had been 190 centimeters, was now approaching the insane figure of 205 centimeters.

At this point, I could honestly be called a barbarian.

Maybe that was why.

The tuxedo I was meant to wear to the banquet tore the instant I put it on.

It had been custom-made, of all things, but I had grown fifteen centimeters taller and my muscles had gotten even more swollen. All that effort put into tailoring it had become useless.

Unlike my everyday clothes, apparently treated as starter equipment that grew along with me when I got taller, the tuxedo did not do that. It simply ripped and burst apart the moment I wore it.

No matter how expensive or high-quality the tuxedo was, once it passed through my hands, it immediately became a rag.

If I went like this, my wild charm would not make me look manly. I would just look like a fucking animal.

Since we had to leave for the banquet today, there was no time to have another one made.

And thus, Ian de Logres’s fashion show began.

I had to find a tuxedo that somehow fit me.

Driven by that single-minded resolve, Alfred, the servants, and I had to put our heads together.

I must have destroyed twenty-nine tuxedos.

Just when I was beginning to wonder whether tuxedos alone would bankrupt the grand ducal house...

At last, one tuxedo chose me.

But this one was fucking awful too.

Like the tuxedos worn by characters in fighting manga, it clung tightly to my bulging biceps and tortured me, while the buttons looked dangerously close to flying off like a spider stopping a train.

So I had to pay attention to every individual muscle, every single movement.

Because if an accident happened and the tuxedo burst, that insane family head might send me to a guard post.

Dolnesia had also gone all out getting dressed up.

She was the prettiest I had ever seen her, but all my attention was fixed on this fucking tuxedo, so unfortunately I could not properly appreciate it.

The slightest bit of tensing up, like Dolnesia was doing, would completely fuck me over.

In any event, thanks to my blood-soaked efforts, the tuxedo thankfully did not burst. The train arrived at the capital, and after changing to a carriage once more, we finally reached the imperial banquet hall after many twists and turns.

Dolnesia said the sights of the capital were beautiful from inside the carriage, but I was so preoccupied with that one tuxedo that I could not look.

Fucking thing.

On the way home, I was going to rip this fucking tuxedo apart and change clothes.

I had brought everyday clothes for exactly this reason.

In any case, what I learned upon coming to the capital was this.

At the very least, the capital was much warmer than the North.

When we entered the imperial banquet hall within the capital...

Chandeliers made of magitech, a convergence of science and magic, met the glittering jewels and ornaments below, shimmering as they enveloped us.

The delicious banquet food and the perfume wafting from noble bodies formed a bizarre harmony.

Soft classical music mingled with the nobles’ cheerful laughter, somehow making it even more grating to the ears.

Was this Lumea Academy’s opening assembly?

Furthermore, the murmuring only grew louder when we entered the banquet hall.

"Is that Dolnesia de Logres?"

"The runner-up in the academy entrance examination?"

"I heard she commands a peculiar spirit with every attribute?"

"Just what you would expect of the Logres family."

The nobles standing here were all talking about Dolnesia.

It was only natural.

The Logres grand ducal house was one of the five dukes protecting the Empire.

She was a spirit mage who commanded two irregular spirits, and talented enough to place second in the entrance examination.

And she was beautiful, too.

Still, there were no brave souls who dared introduce themselves to Dolnesia.

Because next to that beauty capable of toppling kingdoms stood some beast that looked as though it would fold anyone who touched her in half.

Moreover, the tuxedo bulged grotesquely around my muscles, while its buttons looked as precarious as though they were being pulled apart by horses, multiplying the strangeness twofold.

How was this the illegitimate son of the northern grand ducal house? Was he not simply the chieftain of a great northern tribe?

A beauty capable of toppling kingdoms, with a savage-looking barbarian at her side.

It was not even Beauty and the Beast.

"Try smiling a little. Everyone is whispering."

"This is me smiling."

"Oh."

They say one of the important things in life is a first impression.

When I slipped off to the side, a line of young men and ladies formed, all wanting to at least speak to Dolnesia.

Meanwhile, not even a single fucking fly came over here.

Of course, dealing with people was bothersome, so I should have been grateful that Dolnesia was blocking them all. But why did it feel so fucking awful?

It was truly fucking awful.

#

The chilly night wind rose and lightly struck my face.

Listening to the nobles’ bullshit and forcing myself to laugh along was not my style, and the smell of perfume was too much torture for me to eat while using their voices as a side dish.

So I simply grabbed some wine and came outside to get some air.

There was no perfume, backbiting, or anything else here.

Looking inside, I saw Dolnesia brightly and sharply parrying the men’s flirting.

Had the male leads not appeared yet?

As I watched her, I took a sip of wine.

Can I be honest?

It was wine served at a banquet hosted by the royal family, so it must have been ridiculously expensive.

But it did not seem all that different from the wine I had bought at a convenience store out of curiosity.

In conclusion, I could not drink wine.

I would rather have grape juice.

Still, something was bothering me.

I had only heard it in passing, so I had not paid much attention at first, but it was the fact that Dolnesia had placed second in the entrance examination.

Dolnesia should not have been second.

If she only had Sancho, an irregular and a high-ranking spirit, then perhaps.

But the current Dolnesia had two irregulars.

And Rocinante was a supreme spirit who wielded every attribute.

No one should have been able to surpass Dolnesia’s skill—not when she had two irregulars and had already gone through every hardship imaginable on her journey north.

Should she not have placed first, rather than second?

Then why had she come in second?

Had Rocinante run off again or something?

As I took another small sip of wine and gazed at the moon, someone stepped into the place where I had been alone.

I did not care who stepped in.

The balcony was not something I had rented out.

But...

"Sigh... It’s loud. Everything is such a pain."

I could no longer not care.

Those were only insignificant words spoken by the woman in the black dress beside me.

But I had heard that voice somewhere many times before.

Thinking it was impossible, thinking I must have heard wrong, I glanced to the side—and froze on the spot.

A tall figure, long black hair, and ruby-red eyes.

This, too, was the exact appearance I had seen until I was sick of it on the monitor in my previous life.

And then...

[Insight Eye is activated.]

【Angelica de Olivier】

◈ Level: 40

One of the heroines of Dawnstar Academia.

The heroine responsible for the overpowered badass-girl role in this romance fantasy.

Insight Eye was telling me.

That what I was seeing was not an illusion.

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