Chapter 30

“Hello, Sage!”

For a moment, I thought I’d walked into the wrong classroom.

My department was the Magic Department.

And the girl sitting next to me, cheerfully greeting me like that, couldn’t possibly belong to the Magic Department.

There’s only one girl in the world with a small frame who calls me “Sage”.

Saintess Lucia.

The girl sitting beside me was unmistakably Lucia.

“…Why is the Saintess in this class…?”

Alesia Academy had three departments in total.

The Knight Department, where Aslan and Ariel belong; the Magic Department where I, Lumina, and Leena belonged; and finally… the Clergy Department where Saintess Lucia belonged.

And this was a Magic Department classroom.

It was not a place where someone from the Clergy Department should be.

“Oh, I’m in the Free Major program. Whether it’s the Clergy, Magic, or Knight Department, I can take whatever classes I want.”

“.…..”

There was a program like that?

I’d never heard of it.

“There’s no need for me to stick to the Clergy curriculum. I already learned everything at the monastery. Honestly, I might know more than the professors here.”

“Well… yes, that may very well be true.”

Lucia had lived as a Saintess in the monastery since she was a child.

As she said, her knowledge of the scriptures might surpass that of most professors.

“The Magic and Knight Departments have always had their share of conflicts. As the Saintess, I want to meet students from both departments and try to understand them better.”

The conflict between knights and mages wasn’t anything new, after all.

Reikhardt, who was now under my command, had once lost his life due to the betrayal of mages.

In that sense, the conflict between the two departments within the academy was intense.

Even more so if there were students who symbolized and represented each department.

The princess of the Magic Department, Lumina Crayte.

The noble daughter of the Knight Department, Ariel Prodentia.

These two, who stood at the top of their respective departments, were more than enough to escalate the conflict between the two factions to its peak.

That peak was reached in Chapter 1, where Ariel Prodentia appeared as the boss.

[Chapter 1 Boss, The Girl in the White Snowfield, Ariel Prodentia.]

Anyway, that was that. What mattered right now was Lucia.

“May I sit next to you and attend the class together?”

“If it’s for the purpose Your Holiness mentioned, I don’t think sitting next to me would be particularly helpful.”

Not for any other reason but because of my reputation.

When people thought of Ethan Bernard, the first thing that came to mind was, of course, “good-for-nothing”.

Well… maybe something had changed in the memories I’d lost, because while it wasn’t the worst anymore, my reputation was still scraping the bottom.

At least Lumina would occasionally talk to me during class, which kept things from getting too boring. But that, in its own way, was a burden too.

“It’s an honor to be able to attend class with Her Holiness the Saintess.”

And then it happened.

A student from the Magic Department, who had been sitting elsewhere, approached us and greeted Lucia.

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you,”

Lucia responded with her usual clear and bright smile.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, perhaps you’d consider sitting with us for the class…”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve already promised to attend the class with someone.”

“But still…”

“Yes, please return to your seat. You’re disturbing the other students.”

Lucia always greeted people with a clear, bright smile, but that didn’t mean she was someone to be taken lightly.

She had long since become familiar with the emotions of countless people, and she had experienced all the power struggles within the monastery herself.

When it came to dealing with people, there was likely no one more skilled than Lucia.

However—

“Wow~ So this is the book the Sage is studying!”

—when it came to me, things were a little different.

Gone was the cautious demeanor from earlier; now she was completely disarmed, sticking right next to me.

Maybe she found the class boring, but during the entire lecture she doodled in my book, tapped my shoulder, and eventually leaned against me and fell asleep.

It was hard not to question whether she was really a Saintess at all. This lively girl had a strange ability to awaken a protective instinct in people.

Her behavior toward me had already made waves at the academy, and there were plenty of rumors about students who’d been heartbroken just from seeing it.

“If you act like this, it draws too much attention from the other students.”

“So what? I’m just enjoying academy life in my own way.”

…Enjoying academy life, huh?

That’s great.

If only I wasn’t caught between a princess, a saintess, and a duke’s daughter.

To outsiders, it might seem like a dream academy life. But if they experienced it themselves, they’d likely change their minds.

“It’s time to get up now.”

“Yaaawn… Oh, is class over already?”

“It ended while you were asleep.”

“Then it must be lunchtime? Shall we go eat?”

“By any chance, is the lunch menu…”

“Oh, the Saintess likes meat too, you know?”

That was easily the most satisfying answer I’d heard so far.

***

The first weekend at the academy had arrived.

There weren’t any regular classes.

Of course, there were supplementary lessons, but those didn’t concern me.

No matter what, my grades weren’t that bad.

As for Aslan, he did qualify. At the academy, supplementary lessons usually involved elite students acting as mentors to those with lower grades.

Naturally, Ariel was the mentor, and Aslan the mentee.

This was the connection point between the two of them after the practical training class.

However, thanks to my interference, much of the story had already gone off course…

“Young Master, it’s about time now.”

“Ah…”

I really didn’t want to go.

Last night, I received a message from Ariel through Leena.

She wanted me to come to the knight department’s training ground on weekend afternoon.

The reason was something vague about how I needed physical training.

Honestly, I could’ve made an excuse and just not gone.

But the fact that Ariel had sought me out meant something had gone wrong with her mentoring of Aslan, and I needed to go in person to find out what.

“Do you have anything scheduled today?”

“Oh, not really! I’ll probably clean your room and then head back to the dorm and read for a bit.”

“What about your friends?”

“I’ve made quite a few friends similar to me. Still, it’s only the beginning of the semester, so we’re not exactly close yet…”

Leena said with a faint smile.

In the novel too, Leena had a lot of friends.

She’d probably made plenty of like-minded ones again this time.

“Alright, take it easy.”

After a brief chat with Leena, I slowly made my way to the knight department’s training ground.

When I arrived, I saw Ariel dressed not in her usual school uniform, but in something a little more comfortable.

“You’re late.”

I checked the time. I was about three minutes past the appointed hour.

Was that really considered late? I hesitated for a moment, but since I was technically late, I decided to apologize.

“…Sorry.”

Things still felt awkward between Ariel and me.

I was fine with people like Lumina or Lucia, who approached me warmly, or Leena, who treated me casually.

But Ariel’s personality didn’t really lend itself to easy familiarity, so there was still some distance between us.

“But… am I even supposed to be here?”

I glanced around as I spoke.

The moment I stepped into the training ground, the eyes of countless knight department students zeroed in on me.

How dare a mage student set foot in our sacred knight training ground.

That was roughly the kind of look they were giving me.

“It’s fine. No one here’s going to say anything to you.”

Even as she said it with a smug expression, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

I knew all too well that rumors about me had been making the rounds lately.

Given that the saintess was always around me and the imperial princess kept calling for me, it would’ve been stranger if I hadn’t drawn attention.

And now, on top of that, I was spending time with Ariel, the top student of the Knight Department.

I wondered how I must look in the eyes of the other students.

“Aren’t you supposed to be mentoring for the extra class?”

Anyway, since I was already here, I needed to figure out what was going on first.

Weekends were originally reserved for Ariel and Aslan’s supplementary lessons.

But the fact that Ariel was with me now meant something had gone off track.

“That’s not mandatory. I do it if I feel like it, and if I don’t, I don’t.”

“So?”

“I said I’m not doing it.”

Hmm.

I see.

Then… who’s helping Aslan right now?

Ah.

When I turned my head, I spotted Aslan running laps around the training field.

And there was someone watching over him.

Edel?

A small girl with green hair.

But despite her small build, she wasn’t someone who could be underestimated. She was the second-ranked student in the entire Knight Department.

And while she held the status of a regular student, I knew her hidden identity.

A member of the imperial family’s elite assassination squad, Nightmare.

Well, not exactly a full member. She was more of a trainee.

Looks like she listened to what I said.

Not long ago, I had recommended Aslan to Lumina.

She must’ve taken my suggestion and assigned Edel to oversee Aslan’s training.

It was a shame Ariel couldn’t continue mentoring Aslan, but even so, Edel should be more than capable of drawing out his potential.

“What are you doing? Not running?”

Ariel shot me a glare as she tied up her long silver hair.

…Never mind.

Just drag me along.