After the commotion was settled, the entrance ceremony proceeded without a hitch.
Most of the students seated in the auditorium sat as quiet as mice, worried that another thunderous roar that seemed to tear their eardrums apart might ring out, while a small handful of students kept glancing in my direction.
Or, more precisely, at Lynn Edinburgh, who was staring blankly at the ground, shocked by the president’s attitude.
“...What rudeness is this… Father must be told… No, now that I have already enrolled here, I am no longer…”
Oh dear. Was the shock so great that she’d started muttering to herself?
Well, after I first hurled abuse at her, and then the president said something like that to her as well, it wasn’t strange for her, a noble, to be that shaken.
Especially since, unlike me, she wasn’t from the capital. She probably never imagined that she, a noble, would hear such words from the president, who was of common birth.
Even in our territory, no matter how successful a commoner was, groveling before nobles was the default setting.
But what Lynn Edinburgh heard from the president went beyond simple verbal abuse. It must have been a shock that cracked the very world she was made of.
Wouldn’t it feel like being an explorer who discovered a dinosaur in the jungle, when everyone thought they were extinct?
“...And with that, the Academia entrance ceremony is concluded. Students of each faculty will now proceed to their respective dormitories under the guidance of their faculty professors—”
From her perspective it must have ended in the blink of an eye, and even from mine, the entrance ceremony ended fairly quickly.
The only unusual things during the ceremony were when the representatives of each faculty swore an oath as first-year representatives, all pledging at the same time to display the dignity and conduct befitting students of Academia from now on, and when President Den Brown said something like words of encouragement to each of them. What was strange was how every faculty representative who heard his words looked surprised.
Just what had he said to make Isil, whose expression almost never changed, and Hwalyeong, who maintained an unshaken face through most things, react like that?
“...Ha… If Father learns of this, he’ll be disappointed. How should I—”
“How long are you going to keep muttering to yourself like that?”
“...You.”
Taking my eyes off the student representatives, who were coming down from the platform and chatting amicably among themselves, I spoke to Lynn Edinburgh.
“Professor Ran will be coming down soon to lead the Department of Mysticism. Are you going to keep mumbling in that unsightly state until then?”
“...I do not wish to speak with someone who uses such vulgar language. How can you dare say such things to me and still address me with that shameless face?”
“What’s the problem? We’re both students. Students can curse each other out.”
“Curse… each other out?”
She looked at me as if to ask whether the word she’d just heard was truly that vulgar expression.
I answered Lynn Edinburgh with as calm an expression as I could manage.
“If we were facing each other noble to noble, then what I did would certainly be rude. But right now, you and I aren’t nobles, are we? So words like that are just everyday speech among people who aren’t nobles.”
“...You are saying that insulting someone’s parents is everyday speech?”
“What, have you never gone out to inspect the lives of the people in your territory?”
“...Do not look down on me. I am a proper member of the Edinburgh family. Of course I am thoroughly aware of the lives of those beneath us.”
“Mm-hmm. So you’re saying you haven’t really gone out on inspections much?”
“You!”
I looked at Lynn Edinburgh, who reacted as if I’d struck a nerve, with an exasperated expression.
“If you had much experience patrolling your territory, you’d know right away whether what I said was true or not. What are you, not even a flower in a greenhouse? How did you grow up seeing only such nice things?”
“A flower… in a greenhouse?”
“Hm?”
I’d clearly said it to mean she was pathetic, so why did she suddenly look pleased?
I had no idea why the phrase “flower in a greenhouse” had put her in a good mood, but at any rate, she, who had been hanging her head until now, straightened her posture as neatly as when she had first introduced herself and looked at me.
“Ahem, ahem. It is true, as you say, that I have rarely gone outside the castle where I live. Even when I had to go out, the Captain always escorted me.”
“Right. I’m not sure why you’re admitting it so readily, but if you had experience hiding your identity and blending in with the people of your territory, you’d immediately know whether I was lying. Among ordinary people who aren’t nobles, what I said actually falls on the polite side.”
“...I cannot believe it. Such… such vulgar words are on the polite side?”
“Why, should I recite some of the coarse things I’ve heard right here and now?”
Hoo… Should I awaken the blood of my previous life after so long?
There are a few words I’ve kept quietly sealed away because I thought they’d be too stimulating for the residents of this fantasy world, saving them for when some bastard I really wanted to verbally demolish showed up.
Especially since the imperial language I’m speaking now is similar to Korean from my previous life, so I can let them hear it with almost no distortion.
“N-no. That’s all right. I believe you.”
“Ah… Really?”
“Looking at that expectant gleam in your eyes, I have a feeling I would be opening something that must not be opened.”
“Tsk.”
What a shame.
I swallowed back the words that had risen all the way to my throat and smacked my lips for no reason.
“...Um, if you’re done talking, shall we go?”
“Hm?”
“Pardon?”
As I was smacking my lips and looking at Lynn Edinburgh with regret, a sudden voice rang out nearby.
When I whipped my head toward the direction of the voice, there stood a silver-haired girl, Isil, quietly watching us.
Isil? When did she get this close?
Perhaps she noticed my puzzled gaze.
Before I could even ask, Isil opened her mouth and explained the situation.
“...I came down from the platform quite a while ago and have been here since. The other students besides you two are already lined up over there.”
Just as Isil said, I could see the students who had been seated near Lynn Edinburgh and me all standing in a single line under Professor Ran’s guidance, waiting by the auditorium doors.
“Wow, no one told us to come along? How is it that not a single person said anything? The Department of Mysticism kids have no warmth.”
“...Maybe they just didn’t tell you because they didn’t want to get involved with you two?”
“Don’t cowardly answer with the truth, Isil.”
“...?”
I quietly looked at Isil as she tilted her head at my answer, then suddenly rose from my seat.
Then I stretched out and spoke as naturally as possible.
“Ugh, then I should get going too. Lynn, do you want to come along?”
“...Lynn? Are you calling me?”
“Why, do you want me to tire my mouth out and call you Lynn Edinburgh by your full name?”
“...That is not what I mean, but I do not think we are close enough to call each other by name.”
“Come on, after everything between us, don’t say something so disappointing.”
“And what exactly is between us?”
“We’re in a relationship where we showed each other our true feelings for the first time.”
“Eh?”
I spoke to Lynn Edinburgh, who was genuinely flustered by my words, with a serious expression to show her as much of my sincerity as possible.
“When I first saw you, I thought I wanted to rap you on the head with my knuckles. You’re the first girl my age who’s ever made me feel this way. That’s why I couldn’t hold back and ended up cursing you out. So, Lynn, did my sincerity reach you?”
“...You are irritating.”
“Ha ha.”
I answered Lynn Edinburgh, who was quietly glaring at me, with a genial laugh, then naturally began walking toward the students waiting for the auditorium doors to open.
All right, then I’ll just naturally—
“...? Where are you going, Jin?”
“Hm? Well, the entrance ceremony is over now, so I should head back to the dormitory. My body is exhausted, and I really want to lie down in bed.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
I froze.
At Isil’s firm tone, I stopped without realizing it and looked back.
For some reason, a chill ran down my spine.
“You’re coming with me. Hwalyeong is already waiting.”
“Hm?”
“...You really are acting exactly as Hwalyeong said you would. You were trying to slip away by yourself with that shameless face.”
Shameless face? Who are you talking about?
“Hurry and follow me. We have to go meet the professors.”
“...Ah, come to think of it, you people did appear late to the entrance ceremony, didn’t you? I briefly forgot that you were the culprit who caused such an unprecedented incident.”
“...Do you want to come too?”
“I refuse. I have no hobby of holding a torch in my hand and jumping into a pile of straw.”
After saying that, Lynn Edinburgh rose from her seat and hurried away from us in quick little steps.
As if she didn’t want to get involved for even a single moment from now on.
“Wow, she disappears like the wind.”
As I was admiring her swift escape skill, Isil, who had grabbed the end of my sleeve, called me.
“Jin.”
“Hm?”
“Let’s go.”
“...Yes.”
And so, feeling like a cow being dragged off to be sold at market, I was pulled away in Isil’s grasp.