Chapter 22
Chapter 22
The Imperial Capital Guard was an organization responsible for maintaining public order in the capital.
Even a fairly influential noble was formally obligated to respect their actions, and once one rose a bit in rank, they wielded such immense authority that they even possessed the right of summary judgment.
However, the imperial family was the exception to all of that. To put it extremely bluntly, even if one were to commit murder outright in the middle of the street, ordinary guardsmen would not be able to lay a single finger on them.
At best, someone holding a captain-level position would have to come out just to barely ‘intervene.’
And in the midst of that, I had even been attacked.
As long as the guards weren’t blind, they would surely recognize that the ones who attacked me were assassins.
Anyway, no matter how I thought about it, there was nothing that could become an issue.
Rather, the problem lay elsewhere.
‘The question is how these bastards knew I was here.’
I had teleported directly from the Sword Saint’s territory to the outskirts of the capital.
The only ones who knew my movements were the Sword Saint’s close aides and Parsi.
The Sword Saint was not a careless man who would fail to manage the people around him.
In that case, it was reasonable to assume that the information had leaked at the point when contact was made with Parsi.
“Ah, I couldn’t even see Parsi’s face before leaving.”
It had already been a month since I had greeted her briefly, saying I would be gone for a moment, before being dragged away by the Sword Saint.
Once I sided with the Academy, there would no longer be any reason to return to the Imperial Palace, so I wanted to secure a base quickly and bring Parsi out.
“…No, wait a second.”
Would Parsi even want to follow me? Working at the Imperial Palace carried great merit.
Not only was one’s livelihood guaranteed, but a generous salary came in every month.
There was no particular reason for her to leave the Imperial Palace and come over to my side.
Still, if she truly refused to come to me, I felt like it would hurt my heart.
“Let’s at least send a letter.”
The choice was hers.
No matter how much of an imperial I was, I shouldn’t dictate someone else’s life.
I carefully packaged the letter I had written at length and even stamped it with my seal.
Since it would take some time for a reply to come back, I decided to think about my base in the meantime.
“Alright, then.”
With the Academy entrance exam now only three days away, it was about time to change my appearance.
This long, flowing blond hair and deep blue eyes were unique traits of the Ribera bloodline. If I went to the Academy like this, there was a high chance I’d be recognized.
The question was how to change it. If this novel’s genre had been modern fantasy, everyone would have had black hair and there would’ve been no need to worry, but since it was fusion fantasy, there were people with all sorts of colorful hair.
“No, wait, what about the reverse approach—black?”
In a fantasy world, black hair was actually rare.
It wasn’t like I’d be treated as a demon race like in some novels, but it was definitely an uncommon color.
On top of that, the protagonist who had transmigrated here from Earth also had the typical appearance of a Korean man. If I shared the same coloring, it might help close the distance between us.
“…No, let’s just go with the original.”
In the end, after much deliberation, I decided to follow the choice Leios had made. If I recalled correctly, he had gone with a light, common shade of brown.
Without delay, I activated the artifact and changed the color of my hair.
Looking at myself through the mirror, the once-radiant blond hair shifted colors in real time.
I had originally planned to change my facial features as well, but just changing my hair color made me look like a completely different person.
Unless one looked very carefully, it would be hard to recognize me as myself, so I left my face alone.
“The Academy, huh.”
I never thought I’d be going back to school at this age. And inside a novel, of all places.
Still, I was looking forward to it, probably because this was the chapter I had enjoyed reading the most.
I hadn’t particularly liked academy stories, but the characters’ personalities had been so good that I’d read it with interest.
Since it was a male-oriented novel, there were many female characters, yet the protagonist, true to harem tropes, either had no sexual desire or was completely dried up, as he kept avoiding them.
I had swallowed my regret, thinking that if I were in his place, I’d have carpet-bombed the place—but wait? I had ended up entering it myself.
If the story proceeded as planned, there wouldn’t be any particularly noteworthy events at the beginning of the term.
If I had to pick one, it would be the most classic of classics—the main heroine’s route.
The target was Elysia Pendragon Britain, whom I had seen earlier.
On the first day, due to an accidental incident, the protagonist ended up seeing Elysia’s underwear.
In her shame, she challenged him to a duel to punish him, but thanks to the protagonist’s special cheat-level bonuses, it ended in a draw.
At first, she thought of him as nothing more than a pervert who couldn’t control his frivolous nature, but as time passed and she got to know him better, she fell head over heels for him—a textbook character.
It could be called cliché, but cliché meant it had steady demand.
After all, readers didn’t want something merely new; they wanted something fresh.
Random developments or settings were nothing but a burden from the reader’s perspective. I knew that well, since I was both a writer, an editor, and a reader.
Then why had my writing been so bad?
The day of the Academy entrance exam dawned.
Countless people streamed along Beatrice’s Road.
Watching that crowd—easily a thousand strong—made it truly sink in that I had come to another world.
Hair of every color, appearances that blended medieval and modern styles in perfect balance.
Among them, there were probably people whose names I knew. However, what I was looking for was something else.
“Can’t see him.”
Black hair, black eyes.
Unfortunately, a man with the typical appearance of a Korean didn’t catch my eye.
Having observed from the window of my lodging, I headed outside as well. Since even members of the imperial family had to take the entrance exam without exception, it was time for me to go to the Academy.
An exam. An exam, they called it, but there was nothing much to it.
All I had to do was pass the minimum standard set by the Academy, and I was probably stronger than all the instructors there combined.
It was a shame I hadn’t reached Sword Master yet, but there was still plenty of time.
By the time the Academy arc ended and the story truly got underway, I’d more than reach it.
“…Woof.”
As I stepped into the Academy grounds, venerable-looking buildings came into view.
I couldn’t quite say what architectural style they were built in, but in terms of atmosphere, they reminded me of Yonsei University.
I walked along the long, straight avenue.
Around me were not only Academy hopefuls there to take the exam, but also current students in stylish uniforms guiding them along.
“Oh?”
I spotted a familiar face in the distance. Elysia Pendragon Britain. Her figure, walking with glossy hair flowing behind her, was as beautiful as ever.
People around her, regardless of gender, couldn’t help but sigh in admiration as they sent glances her way. But Elysia, without paying any heed to it, simply continued on her path with a proud expression.
‘Let’s put that on hold for now.’
She was one of my recruitment targets as well, but it wasn’t time to approach her yet.
Aside from the commotion with the protagonist on the first day of enrollment, there was no need to get close to her now.
I wandered around leisurely, waiting for my turn to take the exam.
Bayern Academy required applicants to choose one or more majors before taking the entrance exam.
The major I chose was, of course, swordsmanship.
Since I was disguised as the son of some baron from the frontier, everything proceeded without any special treatment. Ah, though I wondered if the headmaster or other high-ranking officials might know?
“In five minutes, the examination for applicants in the five-hundred range will begin. Please do not leave your places.”
Following the guide’s words, I stood in front of the entrance.
Looking around, dozens of students were lined up behind me.
All of them looked visibly nervous, which was rather endearing. Most of them would be eliminated anyway, with only the top few surviving.
As an academy hailed as the best on the continent, surpassing even the Empire, the competition was fierce.
At minimum, one had to be an intermediate Sword Beginner to cross the cutoff line. Was that common at this age?
If every Tom, Dick, and Harry was called a Sword User—or rather, a Sword Expert—and such high-tier combatants were plentiful enough to trip over, there was a risk of power inflation.
Considering that a well-trained elite soldier could exert the strength of an advanced Sword Beginner, that set a reasonable benchmark.
In that sense, this novel had done a good job maintaining balance without making it too obvious.
Excluding the overpowered protagonist.
Ah, of course, the same applied to me.
At this point in time, I was hundreds, thousands of times stronger than the protagonist. I could probably knock him out without even drawing my sword.
At first, I would use that strength to act as a helper when crises befell the protagonist.
In doing so, I would nibble away at the lucky encounters and abilities meant for him and claim them as my own.
Since he was the protagonist, he wouldn’t grow weaker from just that, but if I continued helping him and piled up favors, I would have the justification to pull him to my side later.
In the original work, the protagonist sided with the First Prince, Carius, and fought against the group that threw the Empire into chaos (=Leios). If he stood on my side from the beginning, building my forces and overturning the Empire would be no trouble at all.
Beep.
At the sharp sound of a whistle, my mind returned to reality.
Before I knew it, the entrance exam had begun, and students were climbing onto the many training grounds, eyeing their opponents.
The examiners were mostly composed of upperclassmen from the Academy.
Since the difference in skill was usually large, only one or two out of a hundred could really put up a fight, but the goal wasn’t to win—it was to determine pass or fail based on whether a certain standard was met.
“Get up here already!”
“Eek.”
At the flippant voice coming from the training ground, I looked over to see a man with brilliant blond hair looking down at me.
A handsome impression, sharp features. A tall build that had to be over one-eighty, swinging a reddish spear with flair.
Was his name Eriksen? I didn’t know his surname. He wasn’t a particularly important character, but since he had pestered the main heroine, Elysia, several times and swallowed bitter defeat each time, I remembered his name out of pity.
…No, with looks like that, women would approach him even if he did nothing, so why had he insisted on her?
“I don’t know what’s going on, but this year’s kids are utterly pathetic. You can make this fun for me, right?”
Despite that frivolous personality, Eriksen’s skill was the real deal. He’d even been briefly described as a spear-fighting prodigy.
Being one of the top five in his year, his level was undoubtedly high.
Of course, by student standards.
He pressured me with his own brand of momentum, but it was utterly laughable.
Could I make it fun?
Sorry, but it wouldn’t be fun.
Because you were about to become a sacrifice for my brilliant Academy life.