Chapter 39
Chapter 39
“You, Ribera?”
“······!”
Leysias’s two eyes widened like oil lamps.
Because I whispered quietly so only she could hear, the others wore curious expressions, wondering what I had said.
Tap.
When I let go of her mouth, Leysias staggered back a few steps and eventually collapsed onto the floor.
The sight of my finger marks vividly reddened around her lips was almost amusing, but she couldn’t say a word, only looking up at me with trembling eyes.
Sooner or later, my identity would spread.
If so, it would be better to use it more effectively.
“Hm.”
A good idea suddenly came to mind.
A party could include up to two mages.
Yuria was a mage specialized in one branch.
In that case, Leysias, who possessed excellent all-around ability, was the perfect fit.
“Alright. Then I’ll do exactly what you’ve been wanting so badly.”
I walked over to Leysias, who was sitting on the floor, crouched down, and met her gaze.
Even if she was the scion of a prestigious magic family, right now she was nothing more than a greenhorn without real combat experience.
When I lightly raised my momentum and applied pressure, she nodded with a pale face.
“Good. Then that settles it.”
As I clapped my hands and stood up, everyone stared at me with blank expressions.
I waved my hand at them, telling them to do what they needed to do, then approached Yuria and spoke.
“I’ll explain the details later, so listen then. That’s it for now.”
With a concise wrap-up, I finished what I had to do and left the classroom.
Countless gazes stuck to my back, but no one dared to speak to me.
“Huuk.”
One afternoon after all the classes had ended.
With my assignments done and the dungeon exploration party formation finished, I was deeply immersed in training.
To be honest, lately I had been a bit negligent with my training.
I had been busy with various things, but becoming lax wasn’t good, so I picked a day and resolved myself to swing my sword in earnest.
Woooong-
As light burst forth from the magic circle laid on the floor, the sensitivity of gravity increased.
Enduring the heavy sensation pressing down on my entire body, I clenched my teeth and swung my sword.
Ten times, fifty times, up to a hundred times.
After finally finishing my goal, I deactivated the magic circle and lay down in the center of the training ground, pouring out rough breaths.
“This thing really works wonders.”
Gravity training was a famous training method of the Bayern Academy.
By activating a gravity magic circle with high-grade mana stones and standing on it, one trained the body under load.
Because it yielded high effects in a relatively short amount of time, it was said to be something everyone desired.
However, installing and maintaining it required an astronomical amount of money.
Of course, the Imperial Palace had one as well, but back then I hadn’t had the leeway to think about things like this.
After that, I had seen it a few times in the Sword Saint’s territory, but unfortunately, it hadn’t been permitted on the grounds that my posture would collapse at my level.
But inside the Academy, there was no one who could say anything to me.
Using the gravity training ground required either top-tier grades or a permit, but since I was both the top student and had brought the dean over to my side, I fell under both categories and could use the facility without issue.
“Still, at this rate, I don’t know when I’ll reach Sword Master.”
The biggest purpose of using the gravity training ground was to push up my stagnated realm.
“Status window.”
[Status Window]
Name- Leios von Ribera
Race- Human
Religion- None
Titles
-Ribera Empire Third Imperial Prince
-Cursed Illegitimate Child
-Child of a Prostitute
-Academy Top Student
Martial Arts
-Sword Expert (Highest)
The Flower of Battle (Fiore di Battaglia)
-Fourth Class (Master)
Skills
-Eye of Truth (A)
-Super Recovery (A)
-Contempt for the Weak (C)
There had been some changes compared to when I first possessed this body.
First of all, when I lifted the Curse of the Veil, the stats that had been sealed were restored to their original state, and new entries appeared under the Titles and Skills sections.
Academy Top Student was something I had obtained during the entrance ceremony, and Contempt for the Weak was a skill I had acquired through countless battles in the Sword Saint’s territory.
Its effect was this: when fighting someone inferior to oneself, there was a certain probability of destroying the opponent’s weapon.
The reason I had been able to break Eriksen’s spear during the entrance exam and cleave through Alice’s greatsword was precisely thanks to this skill.
“Mm.”
I let out a low hum as I looked at the status window.
Nearly a month had already passed since I entered the Academy, but the only thing that had changed compared to when I first enrolled was the single title of top student.
“···It’s not that there’s no method.”
[SYSTEM: Would you like to activate Fiore Style (The Flower of Battle:(Fiore di Battaglia))? Y / N]
When I selected The Flower of Battle under the martial arts category, a familiar system message appeared.
I had experienced it only once while at the Imperial Palace, but with that alone I had been able to leap straight to the realm of Sword Expert (Highest).
According to the Sword Saint, if he hadn’t stopped me, I would have ultimately reached the realm of Sword Master, and immediately afterward my balance would have collapsed and I would have met my death.
“······.”
After undergoing countless training sessions since then, was I ready now?
The tip of my finger wavered, unable to decide, but in the end, I pressed N.
There was still plenty of time.
Even if I didn’t force myself to become stronger here, the Academy arc would probably pass smoothly.
Moreover, I wasn’t alone now.
From Alice close at hand to Yuria, who had newly joined the party this time.
The bond was still so thin it looked like it could snap at any moment, but if time passed and its weight accumulated, it would be able to exert sufficient strength.
Pshhhk.
My head had gotten complicated, so I thought I’d at least take a shower.
As I came out of the training hall, there was a group of people in the lobby.
They looked like seniors, and since running into them in the current situation wouldn’t do me any good, I was about to ignore them and pass by, when someone from that group shouted toward me.
“Hey, top student!”
“······?”
It was clearly directed at me, so I slightly turned my head and looked at them.
I wondered if they were Darius’s lackeys, but they didn’t seem to be that sort.
When I looked back with an expression asking why they’d called me, a red-haired boy from among them walked toward me.
“Me, remember?”
“···Yes, definitely from the entrance exam.”
Coincidentally, the one there was Eriksen, my opponent from the entrance exam.
He looked like he had just finished training as well, his face blotched with sweat.
I wondered if he’d called me to take revenge for before, but I didn’t sense any malice from him.
“I just called out because it was nice to see you. Looks like you were doing gravity-field training?”
“Yes, well.”
We weren’t close, and it was a connection from seeing each other only once, so it felt awkward to talk familiarly.
To begin with, it wasn’t like I had great affinity with people anyway.
“···About that spear from before.”
There was still one thing weighing on my conscience.
Even if it had been an exam, I had snapped his cherished weapon in half, so there was no way he’d look kindly on that.
“Oh, that? I went ahead and bought a new one. Don’t worry about it, it happened during the exam.”
Saying he had plenty of money, he waved his hand.
In the original work, he’d only shown a trivial side while pestering Elysia, but he seemed to have a better personality than expected.
Still, sorry was sorry, so I figured I should repay him with something later.
“So, since we’re meeting after a while, how about sparring again? I trained like crazy after losing to you. Who would’ve thought you’d be the top student of the entrance class.”
He shrugged, saying his luck had been terrible.
‘A spar.’
In a situation where my realm was stagnating, sparring with someone rather than training alone didn’t seem like a bad idea.
I sparred with Alice occasionally as well.
“What, a spar all of a sudden?”
“Huh? Isn’t that the guy? The entrance top student. Wasn’t his name Ostia or something?”
“Eriksen’s trying to get beaten up again while fooling around.”
Before I knew it, people who looked like his friends had come over and were tossing out comments one by one.
Eriksen swung the spear he was holding around, shooing them away as he shouted.
“Watch closely! I’m not going to lose pathetically this time!”
“Not pathetically, but you’ll still lose, right?”
“Hey, come on!”
I was a little envious of how carefree their relationship looked.
Maybe in reality, but in this world, I didn’t have anyone I was that close with.
“Hmm, still, it’d be boring to just do it, right? Want to put something on the line?”
We went straight to the sparring ground and stood facing each other.
Just as we were about to start the spar with Eriksen’s friends watching, he made a proposal.
“A bet?”
“Yeah. How about we each grant one light request?”
“What is the senior’s request?”
At my question, he opened his mouth with a sly smile.
“You’ve got someone named Elysia in your class, right? The one who’s second after you.”
“Ah.”
Eriksen’s demand was for me to introduce him to Elysia.
It seemed like he’d fallen for her at first sight, perhaps trying to follow the flow of the original story.
“As for me······.”
Even if it was a light request, there wasn’t really anything I wanted to ask of him.
Most episodes involving the seniors were skewed toward the later part anyway.
“Ah.”
Just then, something good came to mind.
“You know that I’m not on good terms with certain seniors, right?”
“Ah, those guys? I don’t really like that bunch either.”
Despite being from a prestigious family, Eriksen didn’t seem to be close to Darius’s clique.
Well, someone as straightforward as him wouldn’t be friendly with a scheming type like Darius.
“If those guys show any kind of movement, please let me know.”
“So, you want me to act as a lookout?”
“It’s not that grand, but it’s similar.”
At my words, Eriksen seemed to think for a moment, then lightly nodded.
“Well, that’s not hard. They’re not guys I want to get involved with anyway, but just keeping an eye out is fine.”
“Thank you.”
“Hoh, you’re acting like you’ve already won. You know granting requests is the victor’s right, yeah?”
With a face determined not to lose this time, Eriksen swung the blue spear he said he’d newly bought.
A sharp blue trajectory was drawn through the air; his skill had clearly improved compared to before.
“Then.”
Well, for now, he was just my ration.
Ten matches, ten victories.
It was the result achieved by responding to Eriksen’s persistent requests for rematches.
Since each bout was decided by a hair’s breadth, he complained about the injustice of the world and kept asking to go again, and it continued until his friends nearby stopped him with pitiful expressions.
He was a guy with a knack for being teased.
His spear technique was fairly good, and each time the sparring continued, it became more creative, sharp enough at moments to make my liver go cold.
‘With that level of potential, it wouldn’t be bad to recruit him as my own.’
He was an unexpected talent.
In the original work, he was just a character who passed by lightly in a humorous way, but his background wasn’t bad and his skill was outstanding.
After that, time passed with almost nothing happening.
This time period was also lightly skipped in the original work.
And for good reason—the lifeblood of a web novel was the opening.
To draw the reader’s interest, provocative early storylines had to catch the eye.
In such a situation, how could there be room for leisurely everyday tales? After the protagonist met a few important supporting characters, it moved on to the next episode.
I wished that, like that, I could skip unnecessary parts, but unfortunately, every minute and second in this world was directly my own time.
So I spent it leisurely.
I listened to classes whose content I barely understood while acting the part of the top student, occasionally went out to have fun with Alice, and even searched for hidden pieces.
To be honest, since coming to this world, it was the happiest time I’d had.
At least for now, I could go to sleep without worrying about anything.
Had I adapted to this world without realizing it?
I suddenly noticed myself, whose memories of my original self had grown faint.