Chapter 20 – Midterms (1)

===================

Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

======================================

Lately, I’ve been growing sharply skeptical about my own luck. The cliché saying people often use, What sin did I commit in a past life to deserve this…, came to mind.

As an ordinary citizen who clearly remembers my previous life, I could say this proudly. I really didn’t live that sinfully. Seriously.

Even if I gave in a hundred times and accepted that I might accidentally get entangled with the main heroines, that was one thing. Since meeting them could be chalked up to something beyond coincidence, I was at least able to comfort myself somehow.

But fuck.

It had finally happened. If the person in question was the protagonist, Leon van Reinhardt, then the story was completely different. Even though I knew in my head that this too had branched off from a choice I’d made and therefore the responsibility was mine, actually accepting that at face value was another matter entirely.

The moment I heard that Leon was the team leader, I immediately tried protesting and backing out, but apparently the approval had already gone through. When I went to the faculty office to check, it turned out that fox-faced bitch Rachel had already known I didn’t have a team and had applied me to theirs in advance.

I let out a hollow laugh. If I were being honest with myself, it made me want to cut her down in one stroke. If she was going to run around that enthusiastically, she should’ve just led the team herself. Why dump the responsibility onto poor Leon instead?

The feed I’d once happened to see on social media, K-group-project live action, flashed through my mind. Back then I hadn’t gone to college, so I couldn’t relate, but now I knew exactly what that feeling was.

It was fucking awful.

As I sagged back into the chair like I was burying myself in it, Chloe timidly watched my mood and slowly approached.

“Geom-ma, did something bad happen? Ever since that bitch… no, since that blonde lady left, your expression hasn’t looked good.”

“It’s just that being on the same team as Star Class students feels tense and kind of burdensome.”

“There won’t be anyone in Star Class stronger than you, Geom-ma. I guarantee it!”

“…Thanks.”

Clenching both fists, Chloe tried to cheer me on. The feeling was admirable, but it didn’t ease my gloomy mood so easily.

I did briefly think about speaking to the instructor and leaving the team even now, but since Chloe had joined too because of my recommendation, it would be far too irresponsible for me alone to quietly slip out.

Right. Just once. Let’s not look at the situation too negatively. If you thought about it, the team I was now on was made up entirely of cadets from what people called the heavenly tier.

Chloe of House Auditore, whom I’d persuaded into joining and who was part of the family of order. Rachel, the academy’s fourth seat and heir of House Spear Saint. Speed Weapon, said to be in Dragon Class and apparently an acquaintance of Rachel. And Leon, the protagonist and strongest monster in the story.

Wasn’t that a lineup that made your chest swell just hearing it? Other cadets were running around desperately forming teams, and somehow I’d casually joined what was effectively the strongest party in the academy.

This might actually be good.

As long as I could just take the role of someone who quietly cleaned up in the back, that would be enough. My blessing, which was basically only a thirty-second sprint ability, wouldn’t be all that useful anyway.

There was no point regretting it. My academy life drifted around like duckweed on the water, but each time, I’d somehow managed to sort things out and make it this far.

Of course, I did plan to make Rachel pay for having shoved me into the team on her own whims. I didn’t mean filleting her into sashimi or anything…. No matter how reckless I got, I wasn’t going to start brandishing a sashimi knife over something like that.

Looked like that was settled.

Once my mind was made up, a smile of relief spread over my face. Seeing that, a happy smile also spread across Chloe’s face in turn.

“Chloe, what time was our team meeting this afternoon again?”

“Ah, the blonde said to meet at six o’clock at the main building cafe!”

It seemed that, to Chloe, Rachel had now simply become the blonde. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. There were roughly two hours left.

Even though it was only a simple team-project meeting, I felt tense. The reason was obviously Leon. On the first day he arrived, all I had done was see him from a distance mixed in among the cadets. But now I was about to meet a character I’d actually played in person, and it gave me a strange excitement that was hard to describe.

While resting my chin in my hand and thinking, I suddenly spoke to Chloe.

“Have you ever been to the main building cafe?”

“Yes! The avocado smoothie there is delicious, so I go there a lot!”

“How much is that?”

“About fifty thousand won!”

I was speechless.

* * *

Inside the Starbooks cafe in the first-floor lobby of the academy’s main building.

Chloe and I arrived about fifteen minutes before the meeting time. The cafe was packed full of fresh-faced teenage boys and girls. Fortunately, since team leader Leon had reserved a meeting room, our team could hold the discussion in a private room.

…But.

Standing in front of the counter and looking at the menu board made me instinctively clutch my forehead.

What the hell? Why was an Americano twenty-five thousand won? Even the faculty discount only brought it down to the twenty-thousand-won range. Apparently it was an outsourced business rather than an academy-run facility, so the discount rate was low.

No matter how high coffee prices climbed, this was far beyond reasonable. For that much, at the restaurant where I used to work, you’d get the omakase A set.

Once again, I keenly felt how different the sense of money was between nobles and commoners.

This was making me dizzy as hell.

As I stared at the menu board and let out a low noise, Chloe looked at me intently.

“Have you decided what you’re going to drink, Geom-ma?”

“Yeah. Espresso.”

“That one’s way too bitter for me.”

“You still don’t understand. Espresso is the true taste of adulthood.”

“Heh, that’s cool……”

Chloe looked at me with sparkling eyes. I couldn’t very well tell her that I’d chosen espresso only because it was the one thing still priced in the ten-thousand-won range. A man had his pride.

Unlike me, Chloe smoothly ordered her usual avocado smoothie. The price was forty-eight thousand won.

Insane.

A little later, with our drinks in hand, we went into the meeting room made of translucent glass. Inside was a long rectangular table and an antique atmosphere. We awkwardly took seats as far into the corner as possible.

“Looks like nobody’s here yet.”

“I guess that’s because we’re still ten minutes early?”

“Well, maybe.”

Right then, almost as if on cue, the glass door opened.

“Oh, Geom-ma and squirt. You were here early.”

Rachel greeted us brightly with a wave, an iced Americano in one hand. The two male students who came in right behind her were her acquaintance she’d mentioned, and Leon van Reinhardt.

Rachel’s acquaintance was a handsome guy with two-tone hair and a rough, delinquent sort of impression. He gave a casual nod, then walked over to one of the empty seats and dropped into it.

A punk?

My gaze was immediately pulled toward Leon as if by a magnet. Seeing Leon van Reinhardt up close, his face was honestly…

It made me naturally understand why the heroines set off flags just from meeting his eyes. Golden hair flickering like sunlight, vividly shining blue eyes. And on top of that appearance, he was even kind by nature, so how could women possibly avoid swooning?

While I was quietly marveling to myself, Leon smiled brightly and held out his hand for a handshake.

“Nice to meet you.”

Perfect dignity settled into that intelligent voice. I clasped the hand Leon offered me.

“Kang Geom-ma.”

At that, he showed me another pleasant smile and took his seat.

“The subspace duel you fought a few days ago was impressive. It’s reassuring to have you on the same team, Geom-ma.”

A textbook protagonist way of speaking. But when Leon said it, it didn’t feel awkward at all.

“Should we start with introductions?”

“I agree!”

Rachel, who had been industriously chewing on her straw, raised one hand high in approval. Her acquaintance sitting beside her also gave a silent nod.

“I’ll introduce myself first since I’m the team leader. I’m Leon van Reinhardt of Star Class. I somehow ended up taking the leader role. I’m lacking in many ways, but please take care of me during this exam period.”

“Everyone already knows me, so I’m skipping mine!”

With a giggling laugh, Rachel skipped her own introduction and turned her eyes toward the punk.

“Speed Weapon, Dragon Class.”

Speed Weapon… For a name that sounded like it should come with an amazing explanation, he was a pretty taciturn character. Just as Leon had explained earlier, Chloe introduced herself next.

I’d thought she’d be more shy, but Chloe introduced herself more briskly than expected, and everyone except Leon looked mildly surprised.

Then all of them snapped their gazes toward me. Scratching the back of my neck, I opened my mouth.

“Kang Geom-ma of Wolf Class. Same class as Chloe.”

Once my introduction ended, Leon gave me a smiling look with his eyes, then pulled a laptop out of his bag and opened it.

After clicking the mouse a few times, light burst from the top of the laptop and projected a holographic image. It was one of those moments that made me really feel all over again that this wasn’t Earth.

The hologram was a map of the island where we’d be taking the exam.

In the lower right corner, there was a figure showing the island’s total area. It was an enormous island measuring 163.6 square kilometers.

Maybe because it was the greatest academy in existence, even the scale of an ordinary first-year midterm was on another level.

After asking whether everyone could see properly, Leon began explaining.

“At lunchtime today, our homeroom instructor distributed a file to the team leaders. This is the map of Scopuli Island, where we’ll be taking the exam.”

Leon moistened his throat with a sip of coffee and continued.

“First, on exam day, we’ll move to this island through a subspace gate. However, only the gate is subspace. The island itself is a real location, which means you can receive actual physical injuries from demonic beasts, so keep that in mind.”

As he said that, Leon tapped at the keyboard and enlarged the hologram even further.

“The area assigned to us is that northeastern coastline. Including our team, three teams will be hunting mermen in that zone. The key to this exam is which team subjugates the larger number out of that limited population of beasts.”

A steady tone and a way of speaking that made the listener naturally nod along. As expected of protagonist material. I only listened quietly from the side with my arms crossed.

“All right. Any questions?”

When Leon turned his head to ask what everyone thought, Speed Weapon, who had been listening in silence, slowly raised his hand.

“If it’s Scopuli Island, then mermaids also appear in that region. What about the danger from that?”

“The instructors already finished a preliminary survey on that point, so there’s no need to worry.”

“I see.”

“Next question?”

Unexpectedly, Chloe quietly raised her hand after watching the mood carefully.

“…Um, is there any chance of ambushes or fighting between teams assigned to the same zone?”

As expected from someone from an assassin family, the way she thought was definitely unusual. At Chloe’s question, Rachel and Speed Weapon both looked baffled. In contrast, Leon gave that protagonist-like smile and answered.

“The point of this exam is firmly centered on subjugating demonic beasts, so combat between cadets is likely to be treated as disqualification. Does that answer your question?”

Chloe nodded once or twice in small motions to show that she understood.

“Good. Then that’s it for today’s meeting. We have one week until the exam, so let’s all work together and make sure we get a strong result.”

The moment Leon finished speaking and began packing away the laptop, everyone rose from their seats and left the meeting room one by one. Since I had been seated deepest in the corner, I waited until the others had filed out first.

And just as I was standing in front of the door, Leon, having finished tidying up, called out to stop me.

“Hey.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Geom-ma, where are you from?”