“Hwaaam~.”
There was a young man yawning broadly as he listened to the birds chirping outside the window.
“Ah... an unfamiliar ceiling.”
The young man with ash-gray hair murmured that while lying in bed, then smiled.
He was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, yet he felt no bewilderment at all.
If anything, all he felt was joy.
“In my previous life, getting my own home was something I might not have managed even if I worked like a dog my whole life, but here, it only took three years. This really is a romance fantasy world.”
The young man got out of bed and looked around.
It was not a particularly spacious place, but it was undeniably his home.
His own private space, one he had only just moved into yesterday.
That was why the unfamiliar ceiling of his own house gave him such immense satisfaction.
“Though, to be precise, it took me three years just to obtain this.”
He picked up several paper documents and a small card lying on the table.
The paper documents contained the details regarding ownership of the house he was staying in.
And on the small card, along with a photograph of the young man, these words were written in tiny letters.
Status: Commoner
Name: Mel Zerna
“Zerna. From now on, I’m Mel Zerna. This is my new identity.”
Mel Zerna.
Mel recalled the hardships he had endured for three years to obtain this small card.
No, to be precise, it had been ten years plus another three.
Thirteen years ago, he had thought he had died in a sudden truck accident, only to open his eyes and awaken in the body of a ten-year-old boy on the continent of Shangrila, the world of a romance fantasy novel he had read to kill time.
In his previous life, he had read all sorts of web novels as a pastime, so at first, he had no idea what kind of world he had reincarnated into.
Fantasy? Murim?
Until he encountered that girl, even Mel himself had no clue.
The villainess of this novel’s world.
A villainess who, after failing in love, would be corrupted by an evil god that slipped into the cracks of her heart, half-destroy this world, and ultimately be killed by the hero—the savior of the world and the male lead—together with the heroine.
The Ceronis family of the northern Sigrian Empire.
It did not take him long to realize that he had been taken in by a great noble family of the north, one likewise destined to be reduced from the empire’s guardians to destroyers by the evil god and his followers, then exterminated without a trace by the protagonist.
To summarize briefly, he had reincarnated as a nameless extra in a romance fantasy world and been taken in by a villainous family fated for ruin.
Had he lived about thirty years in his previous life?
After reincarnating, when he realized he was destined to die after living barely fifteen years—only about half as long as his previous life—he fell into despair for a moment.
And for ten of those years, he became a servant of the Ceronis family and was worked like an actual dog.
He remembered that when the Mel of his previous life first read that romance fantasy, there had been a comment saying, “If she’s pretty and has big boobs, isn’t everything forgiven?”
And hadn’t Mel himself at the time chimed in with, “Yeah, that’s right”?
If Mel could go back to that time, he was certain he would launch an all-out keyboard war against the guy who had posted that comment, while also blowing off the head of his past self for agreeing with him.
Even in the midst of that, Mel had racked his brain for every possible way to survive.
Now, ten years after he had fled the Ceronis family, and three years after that, Deputy Head Butler Mel of the Ceronis family had finally obtained a new identity as “Mel Zerna” and entered the Academy Territory of the Sigrian Empire.
“But there are still problems left.”
After fleeing the family penniless, spending three years doing all sorts of work to earn money, and using those funds to enter this place, there was one last thing he needed.
“I need money to live.”
He had spent nearly all the money he had earned over the past three years to obtain a clean identity that would not put him at risk of being tracked.
It was fortunate beyond measure that he had scraped together the little money he had left to secure a place to live, but now he was faced with the worry of how he would eat and survive from here on.
Of course, it was not as though there were no options at all.
“At my current age, I could just barely enroll in the academy, but...”
Mel shook his head and erased the thought he had just had.
Of course, if he enrolled in the academy, he would be provided with basic room and board.
Enrolling in the academy, the thing that regressors, possessors, and reincarnators in other academy stories so often did.
And then would unfold a youthful harem story.
But for Mel, that would be an act of suicide.
Because today was that very day.
‘Today is the day of the Sigrian Academy entrance exam. In the romance fantasy, it’s the day the story begins. This is also my first crisis.’
Thinking that, Mel finished washing his face, had a simple breakfast, changed into ordinary going-out clothes, and stepped outside.
There were already quite a lot of people walking in the same direction through the streets.
Mel quietly joined the procession of people and walked along with them.
“I’ll definitely get in!”
“It’s finally today. I’ve worked myself to the bone for this day alone.”
He could hear several boys and girls muttering to themselves, easing their nerves and hardening their resolve.
This procession was made up of prospective examinees aiming to enroll in Sigrian Academy.
In order to gain admission to Sigrian Academy, the finest educational institution in the empire—no, on the entire continent of Shangrila—people gathered from every corner of the empire, and even from various nations across the continent and the noble families belonging to them.
Because of that, processions like this formed over the course of several days.
But less than half of these people would be admitted into the academy.
As the undisputed greatest educational institution in the world, the competition was that fierce.
A considerable number of those present here, as well as the many applicants who would arrive later, would be shattered to pieces at the entrance to the examination grounds visible ahead.
It was unfortunate, but that was reality.
‘Of course, that has nothing to do with me.’
Thinking that, Mel slipped out of the crowd.
He had only joined the procession because the road was the same up to a certain point. From the beginning, Mel’s objective had not been enrollment, and his destination was not the entrance examination site.
“Is this the place...?”
Mel looked up at the building that matched the simple map written on his memo.
When he saw the words written at the entrance of the building, he became certain that he had found the right place.
Having spent all the money he had saved in order to move to the Sigrian Academy Territory, what Mel needed most was living expenses for the days ahead.
And what he needed in order to earn those living expenses was, in other words, a job.
“Whether in a previous life or a reincarnated one, as long as you’re born human, you need to eat to live. And to eat, you need money. And that money is obtained through sacred labor.”
Murmuring an absolute, unchanging truth that applied in any world, Mel entered the building.
.
.
.
“Oh, beautiful lady. Have you perhaps lost your way?”
“.......”
A man with a greasy voice, as though his throat had been slathered in butter, spoke to the woman before him.
The woman, with silk-like black hair and jewel-like crimson eyes, possessed a beauty so striking that the people nearby could not help but turn to look at her at least once.
On top of that, the slender curves of her body were more than enough to stir the hearts of men.
“Sigrian Academy is vast beyond measure, but even in a place as vast as this, my lady, you stand out at once. If you need assistance, I, Philod Ranken, second son of Count Ranken, can offer you a great deal of help.”
The man who introduced himself as Philod Ranken gently extended his hand.
But the black-haired woman did not give Philod in front of her even a single glance. As though he did not exist, she slowly turned her head, searching for something.
No matter who looked at it, this was not simple disregard, but complete and utter dismissal.
From the surroundings, perhaps because someone could not hold back their laughter, muffled snorts began to sound one after another.
And upon hearing that ridicule, humiliation surged up in Philod Ranken in an instant.
To think she would so completely ignore him, a scion of a count’s family. On top of that, the woman looked younger than him at a glance, and Philod felt anger flare up within him.
“...You bitch, how dare you ignore the second son of the Ranken family?”
His greasy voice and attitude from just moments ago vanished without a trace, and Philod immediately revealed his true nature, spitting out harsh abuse.
“........”
But the woman’s attitude still did not change.
At her behavior, as though she had not even perceived him, Philod snapped.
“You damned bitch!”
In the end, unable to suppress his rage, Philod raised his thick hand.
It was at that moment.
“Guhk?!”
His vision flashed, and his body collapsed against his will.
Then red liquid gushed from his nose.
The moment he realized that his nose had been broken, excruciating pain surged through his mind and formed a rough scream.
“Kuaaaak!”
At some point, a dark-colored rod had appeared in the woman’s hand.
It did not take long to realize that the rod was a sword still in its scabbard.
In other words, the woman had struck the man in an instant with a sheathed sword.
“Y-you crazy bitch...! D-do you know who I am...?!”
Blood pouring from his nose and tears streaming from his eyes, Philod glared at the woman.
However...
“?!?!”
“Wh-what is this?”
Philod suddenly felt as though the surrounding temperature had plummeted.
And it seemed he was not the only one who felt it, as even the people watching the scene from nearby shuddered.
Only then did the woman’s crimson eyes look down at Philod.
“H-hiiik!”
The moment Philod met the woman’s crimson gaze, he felt as though the blood in his body had frozen solid.
“If this sword had not been sheathed, what do you think you would look like right now?”
The woman asked Philod the question in a beautiful voice.
To that question, Philod could not give any answer.
“Why are you silent? Your head is still attached, isn’t it? Did I hit you with the blade? Then why can’t you answer, as though your throat had been cut by a sword?”
At the woman’s indifferent question, Philod felt overwhelming fear.
His body trembled regardless of his will, and a stain appeared on Philod’s trousers before spreading larger and larger.
“W-wait, that sword... There’s a black lion engraved on it.”
At that moment, a voice came from the surroundings.
Just as the people said, the sword in the black-haired woman’s hand was ink-dark. And on the guard beneath the blade of that sword, the figure of a black lion was engraved.
Nobles often engraved their own distinctive features on things like clothing or accessories according to their family.
Generally, those were the family’s symbols.
And if a family could openly display such a symbol with pride,
then among the countless noble houses, it was surely one of the very few treated as a so-called prestigious family.
We are a famous prestigious house, so if you lack the standing, crawl away on your own before you get hurt.
It was for the sake of spreading that message and avoiding any possible unforeseen incidents.
And among them, if there was a noble family that engraved a black lion upon an ink-dark sword?
In the minds of everyone watching this commotion, one family began to surface in common.
“Ceronis... You’re saying that’s the symbol of the Sword Duke?”
The northern part of the Sigrian Empire. A prestigious family of the north that was always mentioned without fail when naming the strongest among the empire’s military powers.
“That woman is Sisne Ceronis, the daughter of the Sword Duke?”
The countless people who reached that answer could not hide their astonishment.