Chapter 27 [Illustration]
Among the students, equality was the principle, and authority, power, and status outside of the Temple were meaningless.
“Um, excuse me... Uh, Your Highness...?”
“Hey, just speak comfortably. There’s no need to be so tense. Equality is the principle here.”
Unfortunately, this rule only made the lower-status individuals even more uncomfortable.
Which person of a lower status would dare to speak casually to the prince just because it was allowed?
The prince might say something like, “Hey, you seemed pretty comfortable with me back at the Temple, did you really think I was your friend or something?” or “You really thought you could treat me like I was on the same level as you just because of the Temple’s stupid rule?” later when that individual ran into him outside of Temple premises.
Students wouldn’t dare to do what the rules allowed them to, for fear of such consequences.
Of course, Vertus wasn’t one to act that way, but those of a lower status than him were still naturally afraid.
The student council president then informed us about the general rules and told us to refer to the manual that was given.
These general rules mainly included small details like curfew time, mealtimes, permitted and prohibited items, and wake-up time.
We were warned not to walk around after the designated bedtime unless absolutely necessary, but were told to be prepared to suffer punishment if we were caught by any of the dorm supervisors.
“The dorm supervisors are Temple employees who have a lifelong contract, so unless you have the power enough to make an impact on the Temple staff after you graduate and seek revenge on them, it’s better not to fight them,” she warned us.
What a terrible warning.
The Temple was fully prepared even for cases where staff members were overshadowed by a students’ power.
In the smaller lobby on the left, some students I’d seen for the first time today were gathering to chat. I sat a little further away from them and listened to what they were saying.
Vertus de Gradias was originally written to be a villain in disguise.
In the beginning, other troublemakers would pick fights with the students in Class B, and Vertus would portray himself as the kind student from Class A. He was gentle, treated everyone equally, and was even friendly towards the students in Class B.
He even initially concealed the fact that he was a prince. He concealed his status and simply went about his studies as an exceptional student in the Temple’s Royal Class. His shocking identity was then revealed later on to the protagonist and their group. It was that kind of plot.
However, now that Charlotte had enrolled as well, their identities were completely revealed. The plot development that I had written had literally fallen apart.
Nevertheless, even though the plot development was now changed, the overall framework of the academy story remained the same, with classes, lectures, and practical training. The details may now be different, but the essence remained.
“Hey, relax. Treat me like your friend! Or I might end up receiving a warning, you know? Isn’t that more worrying?” Vertus said to a student.
“Um, well... Yeah, I guess...” The student replied.
Vertus, being true to the sly character I created, was playfully teasing the students who found it difficult to interact with him by telling them to relax.
Class A consisted of eleven students, but boys and girls were not separated into different dormitories. The Temple focused more on dividing students into lower-ranked and higher-ranked students, rather than separating them by gender.
Among them was Erhi de Raffaeli, the son of Count Raffaeli, who was currently chattering away, asking the prince various questions. Erhi had talent in divine power and swordsmanship. I couldn’t recall the specific discipline of his divine power, but it was likely oriented toward holy knight abilities.
Since he was a prospective holy knight, I had set him up as a relatively shallow character. A typical character that acted tough when faced by the weak but was a coward in the face of the strong.
He was the one who despised Class B the most, and was practically the servant of the prince.
Hmm... knowing all these details beforehand made me feel as though my reality had been spoiled. I was both liking and disliking this feeling of knowing someone’s inner thoughts.
“Have you ever been to Raffaeli? Oh, my bad, what a silly question. Of course, you wouldn’t have been there...”
“Oh, Raffaeli, the great territory in the northwest. I haven’t been there personally, but I’ve heard that there’s an excellent winery. I can’t drink myself, but I know that the emperor himself enjoys Raffaeli wine,” Vertus said.
“Oh, wow! So you know about it!”
Erhi seemed almost moved to tears at the fact that the prince knew about his small hometown. His reaction seemed overblown, but Vertus’s impressive memory and ability to bring things up when needed were quite remarkable.
Vertus chuckled innocently.
“Well, to be honest, I’ve had a few sips secretly.”
“Oh, r-really?”
“Yes. It was a good feeling. Sorry, I can’t remember it clearly enough to tell you more.”
“Oh, no! No! I should be grateful! But, wow, even the nobles... do things behind their parents’ backs as well...”
“What, you think I’m any different from you? Everyone our age wants to do things in secret. If caught, we get scolded, and that’s it.”
‘What a devious little guy.’
It was unbelievable to hear Vertus manipulating someone to make them his servant in real time.
While they were in the middle of the conversation, Vertus stood up and walked over to someone who seemed to have just finished showering. The person was toweling their hair while walking towards the lobby.
“Hey,” Vertus said.
“...Hi, can I help you?”
“I’m just trying to introduce myself. After all, we’re classmates, so why not? Nice to meet you, I’m Vertus. I saw you earlier, you’re Number 2, right?”
“...Yeah.”
“Oh... I was wondering if you could introduce yourself as well...?”
A girl with black hair and black eyes. It was my first time seeing her, but I could tell who she was as soon as I saw her.
“Ellen,” she replied.
That was the only thing she said, and then she tried to walk past Vertus.
“Hmm? Is that it?” Vertus asked.
“...”
“I know about you,” Vertus added.
Vertus smiled mischievously and reached out his hand to her.
“I’ve heard the news, so don’t worry.”
Ellen introduced herself, looked at Vertus quietly, and then shook his hand.
“I’m sorry. I know that you were supposed to be Number 1 in this class, but I think there were others who wanted to put me in that place. I wanted to apologize to you for taking your place.”
Vertus spoke as if he knew something about Ellen.
“...Don’t worry about it.”
Ellen ruffled her hair and walked slowly toward the cafeteria.
“So, she was originally Number 1...?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
A girl who was originally Number 1, but became Number 2 in class A due to Vertus’s enrollment.
Even though she introduced herself as Ellen, Vertus knew that the girl was hiding something. I, too, was aware of what it was.
It was Ellen’s real name, or her family name, to be precise.
Ellen Artorius.
She was the younger sister of the hero, Ragan Artorius.
***
Ellen Artorius.
If Vertus was the villain and had the upgraded version of the protagonist’s talent, Ellen Artorius’s strength was on a level that the protagonist couldn’t even dare to challenge.
That’s why she was the true rival of the protagonist and not Vertus.
Although she was technically Number 2 in class A, she was, in fact, so incredibly talented that even being called Number 1 would be an understatement of her abilities.
She possessed various talents, excelling in weapon mastery, mana manipulation, magic resistance, spiritual attunement, ability resistance, academic excellence, and a bunch of other talents.
Basically, she was a genius and excelled at literally everything.
That was her position in this story.
Because of this, Ellen’s tremendous amount of talent was actually hidden to the external world. This was due to the fact that the number of her talents was far beyond the ordinary.
If I was the one who had infinite potential, then Ellen, whose abilities were not infinite, was born with almost infinite talent.
If proficiency in swordsmanship meant a talent for a specific type of weapon, then weapon mastery was the super talent. It meant having talent in wielding almost all types of weaponry.
Even having just one talent in a specific weapon category would be enough to enter the Royal Class, so Ellen’s talents were beyond count.
In terms of being a warrior, she possessed all the necessary conditions to surpass anyone else. In addition to her martial abilities, she also had the rare talent of ability resistance, which only one other person besides Ellen herself possessed. She also possessed the talent to enhance resistance against supernatural abilities as well.
Since she was a character created solely to be a mountain that even the protagonist couldn’t hope to reach, it was natural for her to be the super overpowered one in the story.
As was often the case in such novels, the protagonist would eventually rise to a position similar to that of Ellen Artorius, though it would be a rough journey.
Vertus watched and smiled as Ellen, who had treated him indifferently and barely given him any attention, walked away.
Erhi was looking at her with a perplexed expression and seemed to wondering, “Who is she to ignore the prince?”.
I’d heard everyone’s names during the introductions, and it was even the name I had chosen, but honestly, not every detail had come to my mind.
There were many individuals who only stirred vague descriptions in my mind, like “the guy who does something” or “the guy with certain abilities.” After all, this novel wasn’t the last novel I wrote, so it was inevitable that my memory would be somewhat foggy.
Vertus stayed in the lobby and greeted each person one by one as though trying to familiarize himself with their faces. I was no exception.
While Vertus was offering a similar greeting to everyone, I tried to memorize the faces and names of the people still present in this room.
“I heard your name is Reinhart. Is that right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Nice to meet you, friend.”
Even though it felt ominous becoming “friends” with him, I didn’t mind it too much. There was no reason for us to be unkind toward each other yet.
The person I had to be most cautious of right then was actually not Vertus. It was Charlotte. I had to be careful so that Charlotte didn’t catch on to my real identity.
I had some suspicions about the possibility of Charlotte enrolling in the Temple, but now that it had actually happened, I was shaken.
I had to be careful not to stand out too much. Charlotte was definitely suspicious of me, regardless of whether she knew if I was a demon or not. She must have noticed something strange about me when I suddenly fled from her without saying a word.
It was annoying that Vertus was in the same class as me, but it would have been more dangerous for me to be in the same class with Charlotte in Class B. It was truly a relief that I ended up being placed in Class A.
That aside... it was about time for “someone” to make their entrance...
“Hey, everyone! Nice to meet you all!”
The person was approaching the Class A lobby with an energetic expression.
It was no other than the person who was in last place in Class B, and also the protagonist, Ludwig.
“Let’s have a good year!”
***
Strictly speaking, the Class A dormitories were not off-limits to students from Class B and vice versa.
However, it was still rare to see students going to each other’s dormitories. This became even more apparent at higher grades.
This was because Class A students perceived Class B students as clearly inferior to them, and Class B also disliked and resented Class A for that exact reason.
The truth was that, as the grades advanced, there would be no change in the composition of each class. So, although rare, there were cases where the Class B’s performance surpassed that of Class A because of sheer hard work. However, this only intensified the resentment between them.
Of course, it was my first day in the Royal Class, but those who had been attending the Temple since elementary school had heard rumors about such things, and were aware of these facts.
That’s why when Ludwig confidently walked into the Class A lobby and introduced himself as Number 11 from Class B, the students couldn’t help but give him looks of confusion. Clearly, they were thinking, “Who is this guy and why is he here?”
This was the event that unfolded after the self-introductions in the dormitories.
Ludwig had stopped by the Class A lobby to simply greet the others, but all he received were displeased expressions.
There were five people in the lobby of class A—myself, Vertus, Erhi (Number 9), Kaier Vioden (Number 10), and Harriet de Saint-Ouen (Number 4).
Apart from Vertus and me, all of them were frowning.
Ludwig confidently reached out his hand to Vertus.
“It’s an honor, Your Highness! Nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you as well, Ludwig. But don’t call me Your Highness. It’s a violation of the rules.”
“Got it, Vertus!”
Vertus shook his hand with a bright smile.
Everyone watched this scene in growing astonishment, as if witnessing an impossible friendship forming.
“Wow, His Highness sure has a good personality.”
I could almost hear the sentiment being whispered from all corners of the room.
After shaking hands with Vertus, Ludwig exchanged greetings with the other students as well.
“Oh, Reinhart, nice to see you again!”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s do our best together this year!”
“Sure, sure.”
I offered a neutral response and tried not to stand out.
Erhi seemed astonished, but he still shook hands with Ludwig.
Number 10, Kaier, let out a sigh as if wondering who this person was, before reluctantly shaking hands as well.
“Hey, get lost.”
“Huh?”
“I said, get lost. This is the Class A dormitory.”
That was Harriet de Saint-Ouen, who straightforwardly told Ludwig to leave.
“Huh... Oh, I’m not supposed to come here?” Ludwig asked, suddenly taken aback.
Harriet let out a sigh.
“I don’t know if you’re not supposed to, but...”
Harriet sighed and pointed to the hallway where Ludwig came from.
“It’s annoying. If Class B students hang around where Class A students live...”
“...Oh, oh...”
“If you understood, get lost now.”
“Oh... Oh, okay. Sorry...”
Ludwig took a step back with a shocked expression.
Vertus appeared, coming to Ludwig’s aid.
“Hey, why are you like that? We’re all friends here.”
Harriet grimaced in apparent surprise, perhaps not expecting Vertus to intervene.
“Oh, uh... well... Um...” she muttered.
She was at a loss for words, a complete contrast to her venomous demeanor just moments ago. She must not have expected the prince to step in and stand up for Ludwig.
Harriet de Saint-Ouen.
The noble of the Duchy of Saint-Ouen. As a noble of the Duchy, she had to make a good impression on the prince.
An ordinary commoner with no name coming into the Class A dormitory had infuriated her, but she backed down as soon as Vertus stepped forward.
It was the same way in my novel—even though Vertus hadn’t yet revealed that he was the prince, his presence alone had overwhelmed her.
It was interesting how, even though much had changed, the early development of the plot was exactly the same as I’d written it.
“Ludwig, be careful from now on, because there are people here who are sensitive. If you have something to say, you can use the communication device, and if you don’t know how to use it, I’ll teach you.”
“Oh, okay. Yeah.... Thanks.”
Vertus cheerfully led the slightly deflated Ludwig out of the lobby.
Harriet’s face was still in disarray, and she couldn’t even speak properly.
She had lived her life recklessly and full of arrogance, and she’d acted in accordance with her personality, completely forgetting that there was a prince right beside her. She may have tried to act all nonchalant about it, but she had only heard about the Temple previously, and it was her first day here.
Witnessing the confrontation between Class A and Class B right in front of me looked harsh. Even though she couldn’t say a word to Vertus, she was still Number 4, and was a strong individual.
Harriet’s main talent was magic.
If weapon mastery was considered a super talent, then “magic” was also a super talent.
In Class B, there was another student who had entered with two magical talents, “alchemy” and “enchantment.” Compared to that, Harriet’s super talent in magic was on an entirely different level.
Anyway, she had the talent to master all types of magic, regardless of discipline.
She wasn’t ranked Number 4 for no reason. And of course, it was just astonishing how there were still three others that were above her.
“His Highness is so generous...”
Erhi, in a state of admiration, referred to him as His Highness and praised him while Vertus was absent.
“Isn’t that right?” Erhi asked me, as if seeking agreement.
Him asking someone else a question to seek validation was such a cliche moment.
“Yeah... you’re right.”
As things stood, although he could have been planning something else in his mind, Vertus genuinely seemed to be outwardly good-natured. Even I, who had set his personality and character, couldn’t distinguish what his true motives were.
A character who deceives even the creator of himself... that surely demanded my respect.
[Achievement - “First Day at the Temple” has been completed.
You have received 100 achievement points]
Perhaps it was because I had witnessed Ludwig’s event, or maybe it was the reward for safely making it through the day.
In the end, I was able to earn some achievement points.
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