Chapter 6. 3. Please Respect Privacy (2)
"No, that's..."
"What do you mean 'no'? Did you see it yourself? That bastard fighting?"
"Well, no..."
"This bastard didn't even see it. Does that make sense? That empty-headed bastard beat up mercenaries?"
At the large boy's words, the two sitting beside him burst into laughter.
The freckled boy's face turned red. He had come running in surprise, but now felt slightly indignant as his words were treated as nonsense.
But he couldn't fight back. The other boy had high status and was stronger than him.
The only reason he, a commoner, could live his academy life in relative comfort was because of that boy. The freckled boy laughed awkwardly and continued.
"Yeah, sorry. That doesn't make sense. Maybe I heard wrong."
"Right. That cowardly bastard would wet himself just making eye contact with a mercenary. No way that happened."
"Exactly."
"Obviously."
"But... he definitely changed somehow. That's for sure."
"Hmm. Really? What changed and how much?"
This time, the large boy didn't criticize the freckled boy. The freckled boy quickly described the atmosphere he had sensed from Rumian. After hearing the whole story, the large boy sneered.
"Did he learn a thing or two from his family during break?"
"Come on, what's there to learn in a rural territory?"
"Who knows. Maybe he scraped together all the money from the warehouse and got private tutoring from a famous knight. Well, we'll find out tomorrow. Hmm, what if he got incredibly strong and I can't even compete with him anymore?"
At the large boy's joke, the surrounding children burst into laughter. The large boy's cheeks also rose slightly as if he found his own words funny.
They exchanged a few more silly jokes before returning to their respective quarters.
And so, the first day of the new semester dawned.
***
'The class location... is over there.'
Rumian walked steadily as he entered the magnificent building.
As a knight cadet, he had expected outdoor activities, but that wasn't the case. Indoor theoretical education was scheduled to continue throughout the morning.
'From today, second year... the class size was the same, right?'
Probably.
Classes at Tarazan Academy typically remained the same until graduation. Unless there were special circumstances like repeating a year or skipping grades.
This was supposedly to foster a sense of community within the class and competitiveness with other classes. Through this, knight cadets would feel like they belonged to a single knight order while engaging in healthy competition.
Of course, this had nothing to do with Rumian.
'Community spirit my ass, I've just been bullied.'
He had lived so timidly that everyone's faces were blurry except for the kids who bullied him and a few others.
So he had no way of knowing what the girls in his class looked like. Rumian stood before the door with an anxious expression.
'If I open this door... and the female students facing me bring me disappointment...'
Then what would happen to me?
Would I lose the strength to continue academy life?
For the remaining six years, would I live day by day without motivation, sighing with a depressed expression?
"Please."
In his desperation, he muttered to himself without realizing it. Rumian took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut, and opened the door.
*Slide*
Then he slowly opened his eyes.
Looking left and right, rolling his eyes to check his classmates' faces, Rumian closed his eyes again.
A gentle trembling spread throughout his body.
'It worked, it worked...!'
Not a bad result. No, it exceeded expectations.
There were far fewer female students than male students. About a quarter. But each and every one of them had quite decent appearances.
Of course, to him who possessed the memories of a 60-year-old knight, they looked somewhat young, but that was fine.
He thought it might have its own charm to watch them grow and see what kind of ladies they would become.
'I like how they look healthy and vibrant, different from ordinary noble girls...'
"Ahem, hmm."
Rumian cleared his throat unnecessarily as he opened his eyes.
He was worried that his appearance might look lecherous. He quietly sat in a corner seat and opened his textbook. Then he deliberately put on an expressionless face.
'First, let's not stand out too much.'
Rumian was an outcast.
He had been targeted by some mischievous kids and bullied, while receiving cold treatment and disregard from others. Sometimes he heard mockery too. He always had to keep his head down.
For someone like that to suddenly act boldly and hit on girls would look extremely strange.
'First, let's properly digest the class content while getting rid of my old pushover image.'
Revealing his ambitions could come after that.
It definitely wasn't because he had no confidence to talk to girls right now.
'Absolutely not. At times like this, I need to act cautiously. Exactly.'
A resolute energy emanated from Rumian as he sat in his seat.
Seeing this, the freckled boy whispered quietly to the large boy.
"See. I told you his atmosphere has definitely changed?"
"Hmm."
"He really has changed somewhat. Though he still looks scrawny."
"I wonder what happened?"
The large boy groaned, and the other two also showed surprised reactions.
The freckled boy had a personality of blowing small things out of proportion. So they hadn't paid much attention to what he said yesterday.
But now that they could see something had changed even to their eyes, they couldn't help but be interested.
It wasn't just them. The children already in the classroom, as well as those who arrived somewhat late, all wore intrigued expressions at Rumian's changed atmosphere.
The freckled boy said.
"What should we do? Like usual?"
Doing it like usual. It was an ordinary phrase, but for the old Rumian, it meant the start of a day like hell.
Two boys, their interest piqued, looked at the large boy. It seemed they were already getting restless.
The large boy nodded. There was no reason to hesitate. Just as he smiled and was about to rise from his seat—
*Slide*
"Hmm. Second-year knight cadets, right? Class E, correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"...We'll do it during break then."
At the professor's appearance, the four children made disappointed expressions and returned to their seats.
Rumian glanced at those guys from the corner of his eye.
His face crumpled slightly.
'Those bastards, they were planning something again.'
He wasn't worried at all.
Thanks to the aura cultivation method performed throughout the day, Rumian had become a completely different person.
His body no longer trembled when he saw those guys. He had more than enough ability to beat them to a pulp if they came at him.
'But if I do that openly, my reputation in the academy will get worse...'
It seemed better to give them special education in a quiet place. Either way, it was an issue that needed to be addressed once.
As he was having various stray thoughts, class began before he knew it.
Rumian turned his gaze toward the elderly grandmother professor.
Having never experienced academy life before, the current situation felt quite fresh to him.
'History... learning about the history of Tarazan Kingdom?'
He knew nothing about it. So he was even more interested.
Rumian's eyes lit up. Holding his pen as if to take notes, he looked more like a scholar than a knight.
But his attitude crumbled after only about 20 minutes had passed.
'Damn... sleepy...'
He was sleepy.
Extremely sleepy. Rumian struggled to keep his eyelids from closing.
It wasn't easy. He had already stayed up all night due to the aura cultivation method, and the professor's teaching style was incredibly dull.
What's more, he already knew all the content. The professor wearing large glasses wasn't talking about the history of Tarazan Kingdom, but about the Empire that unified the continent 500 years ago.
This was like general knowledge for knights. As a former 60-year-old knight, he could recite what came next even with his eyes closed.
'Still, falling asleep in the first class is too much.'
Being singled out by the professor was a problem, but he was more worried that the female students might look down on him.
Actually, he had considered a lazy genius concept—sleeping in class but getting good test scores. But that was impossible due to Rumian's reputation from last year.
Last year, he had no skill and no spirit. He was a noble, but his father's title wasn't particularly high. It meant an insignificant guy spent an insignificant year showing only insignificant aspects.
For someone like that to fall asleep in the very first class?
Rather than a lazy genius, he might end up with the image of an irredeemable loser.
'That can't happen!'
Thinking of the unpleasant future, his mind cleared slightly. Rumian bit his lip hard. Then he started scribbling wildly in his blank notebook.
No, actually it wasn't note-taking but doodling. To resist the overwhelming sleepiness, he wrote down things completely unrelated to the class.
Seeing Rumian like that, the grandmother professor wore a satisfied expression.
History class didn't mean much to knight cadets. It was just a general education subject that only required not failing to graduate.
Watching someone listen to such a class with wide eyes and even take notes diligently, she couldn't help but find him endearing.
'A rare sight these days. I should remember him."
"Rumian."
"Yes?"
"Your class attitude is admirable. I hope you continue to strive forward."
With those words, the professor finished the class and left the classroom with a smile.
Rumian stared blankly at her retreating figure and thought.
'...This is the first sign of interest I've received from a woman at the academy.'
The problem was that she was a grandmother. No, considering his age, wasn't that not such a big difference?
Just as Rumian was having these pointless thoughts—
The freckled boy, receiving a signal from the large boy, quietly rose from his seat. Then he cautiously approached behind Rumian.
Normally, Rumian would have sensed the presence, but he couldn't do so now. He was confused by his own confusion at receiving attention from an elderly female professor.
Thanks to this, the freckled boy was able to safely approach behind Rumian and see the doodles he had made.
[Ah, I want to date a pretty girl.]
[I'll be able to date one before graduating from the academy, right?]
[I want to have sex. Ahh, I want to have sex.]
[Sex, mating, intercourse!]
"..."
Extremely shocking content.
With an absurd expression, the freckled boy reached for Rumian's notebook and said.
"Hey, what is this? What kind of se..."
"Aaaaah! Don't say it!"
*Thud!*
"Guh..."
*Thump*
"..."
"..."
A sudden incident.
Everyone's gaze turned to Rumian, and to the freckled boy who had been struck in the jaw and fainted.
Silence fell, and Rumian wore a bewildered expression.
Even so, his hands moved busily. He folded the open notebook and stuffed it into his bag, then glared at the fainted freckled boy.
'This bastard doesn't know what privacy means.'
Is it okay to look at someone else's notebook without permission?
Rumian thought to himself.
Even though he threw the first punch, he felt no guilt whatsoever.