No sound could be heard from inside.
Just then, an alert sound sent by Elias ca through the artifact enchanted with invisibility magic.
Beep—
“Why?”
[Luca! Are you done with the consultation?]
“Yeah.”
[Ah~ Okay. You're coming now, right? Leo and Narce are here to see you too.]
He must be asking if I'm coming to the dormitory....
After experiencing a normal spar like others have, I couldn't face Leo.
I was genuinely grateful he had improved my skills, but my fists had a different opinion than my reason.
It seed better to express my gratitude after I managed to control my heart so my fists wouldn't ‘cry’ when seeing Leo.
“Sorry, I can't make it. I'm visiting Hans right now.”
[Huhh?!]
“Hanging up.”
Knock knock—
I knocked on the door again.
Honestly, I was a bit hesitant.
Because the guy probably wouldn't want to see my face right now.
‘I'll just knock this one last ti, and if there's no answer, I should leave.’
Not to the dorm, but to the club.
The mont I removed my hand from the door, the guy's voice ca from inside.
[Co in.]
“……”
Click—
Hans was lying on the bed. The friends sitting next to Hans stared at , frozen.
Actually, in my opinion, it wasn't severe enough to be hospitalized.
‘Well, still….’
He must have co because he was in pain, right? I should just accept it as it is.
And the reason I was okay was because I had adapted, thanks to Leo diligently pounding my openings. It's natural for ordinary people not to be okay.
I pulled out a chair and sat down, asking.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“……”
Hans just shrugged without answering. Whether it was out of embarrassnt or lack of anything to say, the guy subtly avoided my gaze.
I took two bottles of Elixir from my bag and tossed them. Hans caught the bottles and asked suspiciously.
“…What are these?”
“A get-well gift.”
“……”
The guy looked at the bottles back and front with a complicated expression.
“It's Wittelsbach dicine.”
“Yeah. You need to get better quickly.”
“…Thanks, but I feel a bit awkward accepting this. You bought it, so you should drink it.”
Is it because of the price? I have plenty rotting away in my room, so it's no problem.
If the guy doesn't listen during the conversation we're about to have, I'll have to push him one more ti, so it's better to lay down this much of a cushion before any ill feelings escalate to the extre.
I put on a serious expression and shook my head.
“I already have plenty. Just accept it, Hans.”
“……”
“I don’t want today’s spar to affect your 1st and 2nd exams.”
Hans nodded reluctantly.
I smiled and gestured.
“Drink it now. It’ll help you recover.”
“…Hmm, okay. Thanks.”
Perhaps because he didn’t want his condition ruined before the exam either, the guy drank the dicine with less hesitation than expected.
“How is it, better, right?”
“Yeah.”
Drinking it after a spar fully restores your Health the next day.
Maybe this was why Leo felt free to strike my openings with a wooden sword.
Once again, I suppressed the reflexive urge to clench my fist and opened my mouth.
“Alright, so….”
I need to find out if he still intends to object to my grade assessnt.
And whether he still holds ill feelings towards , or intends to escalate the issue.
Honestly, just thinking about Pleroma and my brother is overwhelming enough, so I need to end this school matter here.
The mont I crossed my arms and leaned back against the chair, the guy opened his mouth.
“You were good.”
When I looked at him silently, he avoided my gaze.
“…Honestly, I didn’t believe it. Since you hadn't learned for long, I thought it was normal for you to be bad…. Also, to my eyes, it looked like you were just getting by with your sheer amount of Magic Power.”
He fixed his gaze on the blanket, lowered his head, and continued.
“But it seems I lacked judgnt. Thinking about the skills you showed today, yeah. The professor, Leo, and Yulia must have recognized your skill within those 58 seconds.”
“……”
“…You probably already knew, but I asked for the spar to challenge your grade. I thought you received a grade higher than your skill deserved, so I thought poorly of you too. You probably knew everything… Sorry for bothering you unnecessarily.”
The guy shrunk more and more as he spoke.
Clean.
I'll judge that no more problems will arise from this guy.
Watching Hans, who still couldn't et my eyes, I replied appropriately.
“As long as you understand, that's enough.”
At those words, Hans flinched.
As if there wouldn't be guys like you.
The bottom-ranked student who got in through donation admission suddenly received a 1 overnight – I never expected all 1,000 students out of 1,000 to believe that grade.
I'm just grateful there were guys like him who ca on strong. Didn't they provide a stage for to prove it myself?
Hans slightly raised his head and looked at .
He hesitated before speaking.
“Thanks.”
“For what. There aren't many friends who admit things as coolly as you do. If anything, hearing you say that makes my heart feel much lighter.”
And thanks to you, I swept up 120 points.
I put on a good-natured smile. Hans seed flustered, his eyes darting around before he pressed his lips firmly together and lowered his head.
Just as I found that reaction puzzling, white text appeared before my eyes.
Tiring—!
Favorability 7
For a mont, I almost choked.
‘Wait… He’s just handing out 7 points like this? Seriously?’
I opened the favorability window.
Hans Fritzi
Favorability 5 [Capturable (Stage 3/5)]
What's with it sneakily displaying 'Capturable'?
Moreover, feels like the function has increased?
As soon as I thought that and scrunched up my face, that part vanished before my eyes.
“……”
If you're going to display it while being sensitive, why not just not display it at all. And does this thing actually have consciousness?
‘Show it again.’
I need to check out any new functions first.
As I stared at the reappeared text, a new window popped up.
Stage 3: A surprisingly decent friend
‘Is this how he thinks of ?’
This is alright.
It's like a trial version of the Insight ability, nice.
If it gives information, there's no reason to refuse.
I pulled out a gentle tone I didn't even use with my friends and spoke to Hans.
“We're done talking now, right? Don't keep worrying about it and focus on recovering. The exam is just 3 days away.”
“…Yeah.”
I gave a rough nod and got up from my seat.
“I'm leaving now. Club ti is soon.”
“Lucas.”
“Hm?”
Standing by the door, I turned back. The guy averted his eyes for a long mont before speaking.
“Thanks for today. I'll be cheering for you in the second exam.”
Hmm.
For so reason, it really feels like I'm in high school.
I smiled lightly and replied.
“Yeah. You do well too.”
* * *
Just accepting his greeting properly earned another point.
‘Thanks, but at this point, it's scary.’
How can it increase so rapidly?
Perhaps I received 1 point each from his friends too, because thanks to them, I've already passed 210 out of 300 points.
I continuously dismissed Elias's connection request alerts ringing incessantly in my ear and listened to the club president.
“Now we’re going to pick roles. You all know we don’t have many actors compared to other schools, right? There are only eight of us, so soone will have to take on two roles.”
The president spoke enthusiastically, tapping the chalk against the blackboard.
Our club was deciding roles for the upcoming regular performance.
It felt like a strange ti for this, but the school actively encouraged club activities to advertise that they cared about students' ntal health.
I had only suspected it before, but I beca certain after an editorial praising the student welfare of the Imperial Second Academy appeared in the Imperial Newspaper recently.
‘They really must hate getting criticized.’
Of course, thanks to this, a stage was set, aning another venue to gather favorability points opened up, so I welcod it.
‘I really need to raise the Charm Trait as soon as possible.’
It's only been three days, but my brother isn't the type to stay quiet like this.
Considering my brother's pathological perfectionism, the guy must have at least considered the possibility of sothing like this happening.
‘In my opinion, he might try to invalidate the test results by thods such as fabricating another murder case.’
I could counter that with Nicolaus, but it's better to reveal such a good card later.
Since I don't know how things will unfold, it's crucial to drastically increase my favorability so the public won't believe my brother's false rumors.
Also, if sothing happens that can't be resolved by Impression value alone, I'll need to turn back ti to gain an advantage, so I need to level up the Retry Trait too.
While I was letting the words flow past , lost in various calculations, the president clapped his hands and asked.
“Alright, first, who wants to play Rosalind~?”
No one raised their hand.
The play the club decided to perform this ti was Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’.
And that role was one of the characters who could be called the lead.
Perhaps because the lines were the most nurous and the weight was heavy, everyone was just glancing around.
‘Since the club runs sester by sester, there must be people who ca without intending to take a lead role.’
Resting my chin on my hand and looking blankly at the blackboard, the president pointed at with sparkling eyes.
“Mr. Askanian, would you like to do it?”
For a mont, I wondered what I had just heard.
Is Rosalind a man despite the na? I had already read the script, so I knew for sure she wasn't.
‘Hmm….’
Although I was briefly flustered, thinking calmly, it wasn't a particularly problematic suggestion.
Unlike for the old humanity, for the new humanity who have no apparent gender differences externally, it was common practice to assign roles that best fit their acting style.
As such, the president probably picked for the role with the most lines because of my morization skills.
However, since the period I lived as the old humanity was overwhelmingly longer, I didn't particularly want to take it.
“No. Since this is my first sester here, it would be better to entrust it to soone else.”
“You don't need to worry about that! Skill is everything~”
“No. I will take another role.”
The president nodded as if disappointed.
More importantly, sothing has been bothering since earlier.
Adelbert hadn't co to the club.
I looked around and asked.
“Is the friend who didn't co today not taking any role?”
“Ah, I sent a letter saying we'd be deciding roles, but he didn't co. He really should have co today….”
The president narrowed his eyes with a troubled expression. Then he gestured to a first-year student.
“Daniela, you said you're in the sa class, right? Could you go and relay the ssage now?”
“Ah…. That person hasn't attended classes for two days either.”
Did she just call a classmate ‘that person’?
Moreover, didn't Adelbert skip grades, making him a year younger? Quite remarkable.
‘But earlier, it looked like he was in his seat.’
It's a pity he didn't co.
It's customary for the person who didn't show up to get the role everyone else avoids.
Thinking that, I was scanning the roles written on the blackboard when the president called cautiously.
“Mr. Askanian, by any chance, are you acquainted with that junior?”
* * *
I suspected he singled out because of the commonality of being from a ruling family.
Compared to general nobles, we inevitably et more often in high society.
Since the president asked to relay the ssage, instead of being in the club room, I ca to the Magic Departnt dormitory.
‘Today is almost entirely a day for finding people.’
Earlier, the favorability gain was quite substantial.
It would be nice if it turned out that way now too, but the possibility of being turned away at the door is likely high.
Of course, it doesn't matter to .
Once I relay the ssage, I get free ti.
Because my role has already been decided.
‘A lead role again.’
Fortunately, I got a character with fewer lines than Rosalind.
Since it wouldn't take much ti to prepare, and I intended to use the stage as an opportunity to build favorability, I didn't refuse.
And, as expected, no one wanted to take the role of Rosalind with her many lines. It wasn't confird yet, but when I last checked, it was the only role left vacant.
Knock knock—
I knocked on Adelbert's dormitory door. I stood in front for a long ti, but heard no sound.
When I focused Magic Power into my senses, I could hear the guy rustling inside.
Knock knock—
“Adel….”
When I knocked again, the door opened.
‘He opened it?’
Just then, Adelbert muttered with hollow eyes.
“…Senior.”
I briefly suppressed a hollow laugh. His appearance was a complete wreck.
Unopened letters were scattered at the guy's feet. It seed he hadn't opened the letter from the drama club either.
‘That's why he didn't co even when they said they were deciding roles.’
Still, he might have checked Nicolaus's letter....
It probably wasn't much comfort.
A strict gag order is placed on the Prince's life. It's been like that since enrollnt.
So Nicolaus, being an outsider to the school, essentially gave advice without knowing what grades Adelbert received. It's understandable that it wouldn't particularly resonate with Adelbert.
‘I didn't expect one line sent to resonate anyway.’
But should I let this channel to directly hear news of the Emperor and Crown Prince slip away?
With my current face, it's a bit difficult, so I should try arranging a eting with Nicolaus.
“My club friend said you wouldn't open up, but you did.”
“…Because of the Magic Power.”
Adelbert muttered.
It seed he ant he recognized by the Magic Power I used to amplify my senses.
More importantly, the focus of the conversation was drifting.
Perhaps his brain wasn't working; the guy stood still, staring sowhere into the void.
“Aren't you going to let in?”
“Why are you here?”
Adelbert asked weakly, as if telling to state my business and leave.
The shock of the 3 must have been significant.
‘It’s not good for emotions to fluctuate so much in tis like these.’
He's probably taking the distributed purification dicine properly, right?
Thinking that, I opened the window.
Adelbert Hohenzollern
Favorability -5* [Capturable (Stage 1/5)]
Co to think of it, this one's a gold mine too. Lots to raise.
Should I check how he thinks of ?
‘It's obvious it'll co out as sothing like 'An unclose senior'.'
Stage 1: Vampire
“……”
No, this bastard….
It's so absurd I can only laugh.
I glanced at my wristwatch.
It's still 4 o'clock.
The ti I agreed to train with Tsheringen is 6 o'clock, and I'll go to Bavaria at 7 o'clock after dinner, as always.
‘That leaves 2 hours.’
Seeing the letter the guy wrote to Nicolaus convinced once more.
The Emperor urging him to get into Team 1 is likely because of Elias, but the guy didn't ntion Elias in the letter.
Communicating through Nicolaus and letters has its limits in digging out the Emperor's intentions further.
And crucially, the next exam is less than 3 days away.
He can't fail the exam by being discouraged like this. His passing will enrich the amount of information received by the Emperor.
So, since I have ti, to combat the guy's lethargy and escape that obnoxious Stage 1....
‘I'll raise his favorability before I leave.’
First, I need to get inside to talk.
When I showed no reaction, Adelbert tried to close the door.
I dismissed the window and held the door.
Adelbert sighed deeply and frowned.
“…I want to rest now, Senior. If you're not going to say anything….”
“No. You received the club script last week, right? Have you checked the line count?”
“…Huh? Yes.”
Adelbert replied, narrowing his eyes.
I smiled and said.
“I ca to congratulate you in advance for getting the role of Rosalind.”
The guy stared at blankly, then his jaw dropped.
Success. It was the most powerful reaction I had seen from him so far.
I pushed past the silently shocked Adelbert, entered the room, and locked the door.
“Shall we talk about the script?”
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