Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord - Volume 1 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Hidden Boss Attends the Academy

In the week since I had been called to the palace, I had become pretty popular at the Academy. Even right now, I was being radically flirted with.

“...and that’s how we would rule our neighboring nations as colonies. As I said, all you have to do is destroy the opposing nations’ armies. As your husband, you can leave all the political stuff to me.”

Correction: a radical was flirting with me. The boy who was passionately speaking on the wonders of colonialism was the most intense out of all the radicals I had met in the past week, so much so that grouping him together with the others felt like an insult to them.

As the queen expected, the day after I had been summoned to the palace, the children of high-ranking aristocrats were lining up to speak with me. Most of the moderates were relatively easy to get along with. The guys greeted me with treats and tried to make small talk while the girls invited me to tea parties. I assumed their goals were to maintain some level of contact, but they never openly discussed any political topics.

Once I began interacting with the upper-level students, my fellow first-years, who had been avoiding me since the incidents of the previous days, slowly began to talk to me. Up until that point, they had apparently thought I was a dangerous person who couldn’t be reasoned with.

On the other hand, the radicals began aggressively attempting to recruit me. One person tried to gift me expensive gemstones, while another asked for my hand in marriage. Naturally, I politely declined both offers. Through Rita came a message from my parents regarding an arranged marriage. The royal decree had only prohibited marriage, not engagement. Of course, my parents included that hair-splitting point in their message as well. I naturally ignored it but felt sorry for Rita, who was caught in the middle.

While speaking with some of the radicals, I came to the understanding that their faction was just made up of a group of people who were unhappy with the way things currently were. It felt like they mostly wanted me to make their house stronger, rather than to win wars. They were probably only advocating for war in the first place so they could get credit for some accomplishment or obtain a new domain.

“...and at the end of it all, we’ll take over the entire continent. Don’t you want in on this?”

His speech finally appeared to be over. He probably introduced himself in the beginning, but he had been talking for so long that I had no idea what his name was.

“No, thank you.”

I usually threw in social pleasantries like “That sounds wonderful” and gently turned down the advances by adding, “Unfortunately...” along with some reason to refuse, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that with him.

“It’s not a bad deal for you either. I mean, you get to be my wife even though you have black hair. I’ll even buy you as many dresses and gemstones as you want.”

There were condescending people among the moderates and radicals, but he was on another level. He was also the first person to say something discriminatory about black hair to my face.

I decided to deliver my finishing blow. “I’m only interested in people who are stronger than me.”

I came up with it a few days ago, and it worked on everyone. It was my ultimate weapon.

“In this day and age, you can’t just get by with brute force. What’s important is how smart you are, and I’m pretty gifted in that area.”

Well, it didn’t work. And on top of that, his argument was sound.

It’s kind of pissing me off that he’s right. Why is the guy trying to use me as a human weapon saying something logical?

“I see. Then I’ll make sure to avoid doing anything violent, like going up against armies or suppressing rebels,” I countered.

As soon as I said I wouldn’t fight, he got flustered and panicked about potentially not being able to achieve his goals.

“People who are only good at fighting like you should mindlessly listen to smart people like me!”

“You say that you’re smart, but are you at the top of your class?” I asked, slightly sarcastically. That shut him up for a moment.

“Intelligence can’t be determined by test scores...” he mumbled.

He’s still not giving up, huh? Let’s try a different approach, then.

“You mentioned taking over the continent, but who exactly would be in charge once that happens?”

“Me, of course,” he said with a smug look on his face. “I’m confident in my governing skills.”

“Governing? So, you would rule over the entire continent?”

“Exactly. And that would be possible if you were to become my wife.”

“Ruling over the entire continent means you would be ruling over the royal family, the rulers of this kingdom, correct?”

“What?”

“That would mean you plan to commit treason against the Royal Family of Valschein.”

His eyes widened. “W-Wait, no, that’s not—”

“According to the laws of this country, I believe treason is punishable by death.”

My line of questioning led him right into my trap. He became pale and was frantically looking around to see if anyone had been listening in on our conversation.

I didn’t think he’d fall for it that easily. I’m glad the self-proclaimed genius is actually quite stupid.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pretend this conversation never happened. There may be some people who overheard us, though, so it’s probably best if you refrain from interacting with me,” I said seriously. “Otherwise, you may be falsely suspected of something just by being with me.”

“Y-You better not repeat this conversation to anyone!” he said, terrified. With that, he ran off down the hallway. He must have bumped into someone when he turned the corner because I heard a pathetic scream soon after.

Now that I’ve finally gotten rid of that annoyance, I should get back to my dorm. Though, holing up in the library sounds good too.

As I thought about my plans, I ran into a group of female students led by Eleanora Hillrose, the daughter of the premier radical, the Duke of Hillrose. She had blonde ringlets and was adorned with a variety of resplendent accessories—even in uniform, she didn’t look anything like a student.

“Oh, Yumiella, what a coincidence. I was just thinking about how I wanted to speak to you. You have some time right now, don’t you?”

Her ringlets bounced around as she spoke in a tone that insinuated she wouldn’t take no for an answer. It would have been easy to run from her, but I couldn’t keep avoiding my classmate.

Better to accept my fate now, rather than later...

I did my best to hide my displeasure as I responded. “Yes, I was actually just thinking about what I would do with my spare time.”

“Splendid! We’re having a tea party prepared in the parlor. Please join us!”

“Thank you so much for the invitation, Lady Eleanora.”

We had made our way to the Academy parlor and were now chatting with tea in hand. I didn’t have much social contact growing up, but I could at least keep up with simple conversation. By making use of “Really?” “That’s wonderful!” and “Please tell me more,” I was able to keep up with any topic that baffled me, such as dresses or perfumes. In fact, these phrases were how I got through the last week.

“I only use perfumes from Parfeu.”

“Really?”

“I was quite impressed with the founder’s vision.”

“That’s wonderful!”

“The story of when he created his first perfume is very romantic.”

“Please tell me more.”

Behold the three sacred treasures of small talk! Incredible!

I barely heard a thing she was saying, but a perfectly acceptable conversation was taking place.

Did she really invite me just to chitchat?

I stared intently at Eleanora as she continued talking. With her long blonde ringlets and entourage surrounding her, Eleanora looked much more like a villainess than I did. I would have loved to loudly point out this casting error.

There was no end in sight to the current topic, that is, until one member of her entourage whispered something in Eleanora’s ear. She immediately stopped talking about perfume, and a serious expression came over her face.

Looks like we’re finally getting to the main purpose of this invite.

“Yumiella, you must give up on getting with Sir Edwin.”

“Are you talking about Prince Edwin?”

“Who else? If you give up, I will allow you to join my faction.”

A puzzled look came over my face. I had no idea what she could be talking about.

“Don’t play dumb!” Eleanora exclaimed. “I know that His Majesty proposed that you get engaged to Sir Edwin! You aren’t worthy of him. If you don’t concede, you’ll be making an enemy of me.”

I think you should be having this conversation with Miss Heroine, not me.

I hadn’t spoken to Alicia directly yet, but every time we made eye contact, she would glare at me as if she was trying to shoot me with her mind. Even though she hated me, I had no recollection of doing anything to make her despise me. The whole situation was baffling. But unfortunately, I ended up speaking to the love interests at the entrance ceremony, so my grand plan to avoid the game characters as much as possible had essentially already failed.

I should probably focus on clearing up this misunderstanding with Eleanora.

I opened my mouth hesitantly. “Regarding the engagement to His Highness, I have already told His Majesty that I respectfully decline his offer.”

“You’re lying! After your audience at the palace, you met up with the queen, didn’t you? You must have told her then that you wanted to marry Sir Edwin!”

“No, I did not. As proof, it’s been one week, and there hasn’t been anything announced. I haven’t even spoken to His Highness.”

The last part was a lie—a few days after my audience, I had spoken with Prince Edwin just once. Accompanied by William and Oswald, he begrudgingly apologized and left before I could say a word.

Bringing that up would only make things more complicated, so she doesn’t need to know that small detail.

After a pause, Eleanora spoke again. “That’s true... You do seem to know your place. Very well. If you vow to stay away from Sir Edwin, I will allow you to join my faction.”

Eleanora seemed to be easily convinced, so now, all that was left was turning down the invitation to her faction.

“That sounds wonderful, but I would like to respectfully decline this offer.”

She looked at me in disbelief. “What? Why? I-Impossible. You’re just pretending to be uninterested so that you can still go after Sir Edwin, aren’t you?!”

Jeez, what’s her problem? She’s so annoying...

According to her, marrying the prince and joining the duke’s faction were of equal value.

I don’t want to do either... What a pain.

“I believe there are people much better suited for Prince Edwin than I am. I think you and His Highness would make a lovely couple, Lady Eleanora.”

“Well! You certainly have good judgment. In fact, I have danced with Sir Edwin on multiple occasions, and each time, he’s been absolutely wonderful, and...”

My completely disingenuous flattery immediately put her in a good mood, prompting her to endlessly list all of Prince Edwin’s wonderful qualities. It appeared as though she really was in love with the prince. She hadn’t approached me because of her family—it was simply because of her crush on the prince.

Well, that was easy. Sorry for calling you a pain.

I continued to listen to Eleanora’s ramblings about Prince Edwin, and the tea party eventually came to an end, with the matter of joining her faction left ambiguous. I ended the day exhausted after dealing with two very intense people, but I hadn’t considered the possibility that an even bigger pain could be waiting for me tomorrow.

◆◆◆

As I was having lunch in the Academy dining hall, Alicia, the main character, appeared. Her pink hair swayed adorably with each step she took in her march toward me.

When she reached me, Alicia’s voice echoed throughout the dining hall as she loudly declared, “You were the resurrected Demon Lord, Yumiella?! I won’t lose to you!”

Everyone in the dining hall, including myself, seemed stumped.

How does she know that the Demon Lord is going to be resurrected? Could she have memories of a past life and knowledge of the game like I do?

The resurrection of the Demon Lord was something only a handful of people were supposed to know about. Seeing that we were in a public setting, I pretended to be clueless about it.

“The resurrected Demon Lord?” I looked at her questionably. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb! Ed told me that the Demon Lord will be resurrected in two years.”

Ed? Oh, Prince Edwin. It’s only been a week since you met, and you’re already using nicknames... Aren’t you moving kind of fast? But that’s beside the point. Looks like the idiot prince blabbed about classified national information to Alicia. 

“By Ed, do you mean Prince Edwin? Did His Highness say that I am the Demon Lord?”

“No, he didn’t. He just said that in two years, the Demon Lord would be resurrected, but I can tell! You’re the Demon Lord, aren’t you?”

Nope. I may be the hidden boss, but I’m not the Demon Lord.

The entire dining hall buzzed in response to hearing that the prince said the Demon Lord would be resurrected. Although some people seemed to believe her, most thought Alicia was lying.

So, I leaned into that to cast even more doubt. “I have no way of knowing if His Highness really said that, but the resurrection is supposedly happening in two years, no? Do you have any proof that I’m the Demon Lord?”

“I mean, you have black hair! Only bad people have black hair and use dark magic!”

Wow, I can’t believe that the cheery and optimistic Miss Heroine is a bigot...

I intently observed her as she spoke, but she seemed to be completely serious.

I guess more than being a bigot, she just can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality.

In this world, the villains in picture books classically had black hair and used dark magic—they had a similar position to an evil queen in a fairy tale or a man sitting in a large chair stroking a cat on his lap.

“I think you may be mistaken,” I said slowly, denying the accusation once more. “We aren’t living in a picture book.”

But Alicia showed no signs of giving up.

“But you have black hair, and you use dark magic...”

Are those two qualities her only pieces of evidence for proving I’m the Demon Lord? I was just born this way... I guess the Demon Lord was born that way too, though I’m unsure of the specifics.

“Both the color of my hair and the element of magic I use are qualities I was born with. Are you implying that I was born evil? Have I been evil since I was an infant?”

For someone like Alicia, who probably believed that people were born good, this was probably a difficult question to answer.

“That’s...um... You’re going to become evil in two years.”

“Do people with black hair become evil as they grow older? If that’s the case, shouldn’t people with black hair just be killed while they are still infants?”

She gasped. “How could you say something so horrible?!”

Alicia seemed irate by my comment, but she was also saying horrible things.

“You were the one who brought up black hair being the sign of evil. If you truly believe that I’m the Demon Lord, you should show proof of my evil deeds.”

As expected, she had no proof of any evil deeds. Alicia fell silent, looking down with teary eyes.

I haven’t done anything illegal...yet.

Wanting to avoid any more trouble, I thought about making my exit, but it seemed that I was too late—the three love interests had entered the dining hall. William, the hotheaded swordsman, was the quickest to notice that something had happened here.

“Hey, you! What are you doing? What did you do to Alicia?!”

If we’re being honest, it’s more like she did something to me.

The other two quickly followed, immediately checking if Alicia was okay.

“Now that we’re here, there is nothing to worry about, Alicia,” Oswald consoled her.

The trio had been in low spirits after the incidents on the first day of classes, but Alicia had apparently cheered them up. They still avoided me over the past week but seemed to be back to their usual selves.

“She was making preposterous claims, saying the Demon Lord is going to be resurrected and that I am the Demon Lord. I merely denied those claims.”

The resurrection of the Demon Lord was to be kept under wraps—even though Alicia said she had heard it from the prince, everyone would believe him if he denied it.

C’mon, just say that the stuff about the Demon Lord is nonsense.

“It is true the Demon Lord will be resurrected in two years, though it’s something only a few know about.”

There was an uproar of confusion at the bombshell the idiot prince had just dropped.

Why would you admit it if you know that it’s something only a few people are aware of?

William and Oswald appeared to be unfazed by this information, likely having already heard it from Prince Edwin.

“I see, so you’re the Demon Lord.” The prince seemed convinced of Alicia’s claims. “As a member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Valschein, I won’t let you have your way with this country!” he declared, pointing his finger at me.

How was it possible that the idiot prince was pulling something like this again? I don’t think he was this senseless in the game, though. Was he okay?

“No, I’m not,” I denied again. “Isn’t the Demon Lord supposed to be resurrected in two years? I’m here right now, so how could I be the Demon Lord?”

“You’re probably going to commit acts of evil in the future. You can’t fool me.”

The prince had developed a theory similar to one Alicia had earlier—perhaps their similar thought processes were what led them to become friends.

I sighed before responding. “This country doesn’t have any laws to try someone for future crimes, does it? It would be a different story if you uncovered a criminal plan of some sort.”

“Don’t try to muddle things with your technicalities! I’ll punish you myself!” William exclaimed, visibly irritated.

William drew his sword, causing screams to erupt around us.

“Um...do you really think you can win against me?”

I wonder if he already forgot that I sent him flying across a room the other day. Oh, shoot, that kind of sounded like something a hidden boss would say.

William must have also recalled the events of the first swordsmanship class because he stilled and didn’t try to attack.

I gave up on trying to reason with the two idiots and decided to ask Oswald instead. “Just to confirm, do you actually think that I’m the Demon Lord?”

“If that’s what Alicia claims, I will believe her.”

I guess cool-type glasses characters aren’t smart after all. Why does she have such a hold on you?

“When I lost my confidence and felt like I had no magical talent,” he continued, “Alicia cheered me up. I want to believe her.”

In the game, he was a gifted mage but was self-conscious about being physically weak. Alicia comforted him by saying he could just work on his strengths...or something like that. In Oswald’s eyes, I was someone who not only had more physical capabilities but who also surpassed him in the skill he prided himself on the most, magic.

I get why he hates me so much, but I really think it’s just because I’m a way higher level than him...

I thought that Alicia was quick to get the love interests to fall for her, but I realized then that it had been the adversity, in other words, me, that caused the expedited feelings.

“Your strength would also make more sense if you were the Demon Lord.”

Um, actually...never mind. I can’t argue with that when I pride myself on being stronger than the Demon Lord.

“I see. Well, I’ll be excusing myself now.” I felt that continuing this banter would be pointless and tried to leave.

“Hold up. Do you think you can just run from us?” The prince spoke as if to stop me but didn’t actually move closer to me. The other love interests were equally frozen, so I decided to ignore them and make my exit, but then Alicia stood in front of me and blocked my path.

Is she brave or just reckless?

“Don’t run away!”

I sighed again. “If I actually was the Demon Lord, what were you planning to do about it? Are you going to kill me? If that’s the case, I will resist you with everything I have.” I moved close to Alicia’s face while I spoke, causing her to yelp and step back. “You and those three over there are too weak. If you want to take down the Demon Lord, you’ll need to become much stronger.”

I need them to become stronger, so they can defeat the real Demon Lord!

“I won’t lose! I’ll become stronger without using evil methods like you did!”

I raised my brows. “Evil methods?”

“Ed, Wil, and Os all said that you had to have done something evil to get so strong.”

If defeating monsters is bad, then I guess they’re right.

I turned to the trio. “Is that your excuse for losing to me?” They all attempted to refute my statement at once but couldn’t seem to find the words.

I guess I hit the nail on the head.

“I’m sure you guys have the necessary technical skills, so work hard on leveling up. I’ve heard that the Demon Lord uses dark magic, so Alicia should work on her light magic as well,” I advised them. Once again, I turned to leave the dining hall when I was plagued with a passing thought.

Hold on... Was it really okay for me, Yumiella Dolkness, to simply tell them to “work hard on leveling up” and leave it at that? As the self-proclaimed grinding master, shouldn’t I be passing on my vast knowledge about leveling? It might even give them a better impression of me.

Alicia and the others looked confused as I stood in place, not making my exit. Prince Edwin was the first to speak up. “H-Hey, what’s wrong? Do you have something you want to say to us?”

“I do. I’m going to teach you the basics of level grinding.”

“What are you talking about...?”

I began to explain the basics of level grinding to the scared group with an intentionally louder voice so that the other students of the Academy who were trying to eavesdrop could listen in. I gave them all my tips: throw away the amulet of protection and carry an amulet of growth; play a monster-summoning flute as loud as possible and go solo for maximum efficiency; Alicia, who can use light magic, should train in a dark-type dungeon; monsters specializing in offense can be defeated quicker than those specializing in defense.

“That’s how I recommend raising your levels.”

I feel like I really did something here. Now I get to feel accomplished and happy, and everyone here got useful information and was happy—level grinding truly brings happiness to the world.

“A-Are you trying to kill us?!” Prince Edwin exclaimed hysterically.

I was slightly heartbroken at his reaction, given that I meant well, but perhaps I had been slightly too strict—maybe it would be best if I helped them myself.

“Your Highness, I believe that you and your companions will have no problems with these methods. But perhaps, if you are scared, I can come along.”

“H-How dare you make fun of me!”

“Let’s go!” Alicia chimed in. “She’s the Demon Lord—we shouldn’t be taking anything she says seriously!” The boys immediately listened to her words and turned to leave.

Being nice sure is difficult.

I looked around the dining hall, and the students who had been listening in turned their faces to avoid eye contact.

I’ve been so kind and generous. How is my reputation not skyrocketing right now?

I decided to listen in on everyone’s whispers.

“Aren’t monster-summoning flutes dangerous? Even a member of the Knight’s Order would be at risk using one.”

“Do you know of any dark-type dungeons? I didn’t even know something so horrifying existed.”

“That’s probably where she came from. Do you think she’s planning on taking the prince there to kill him...?”

“She wouldn’t do that...or would she? It might not be totally implausible.”

Oh, this isn’t good.

The other students had started to grow more comfortable around me, but now we were back to square one.

◆◆◆

Alicia might have been reincarnated like I was. There was no guarantee that I was the only person with memories of my past life who reincarnated into this world. The person with the highest chance of having been reincarnated was Alicia since she often acted unusual—though she may have just been acting strange because of the unusualness that was me.

If she was reincarnated and only roughly remembered the game’s story, it would make sense why she was so hostile toward me. Perhaps she got so close to the prince and other love interests so quickly after entering the Academy because she understood her position here.

After school, I observed Alicia.

“She’s just a nice kid,” I whispered to myself.

In the game, she had a cheery and genuine personality and entered the Academy in hopes of helping people with her magic. She had trouble learning the habits of aristocrats, and at times, her genuine personality would harm her instead—the love interests would then come swooping in to help her, leading her to gradually open up to them.

After reflecting on the in-game character, I turned my attention back to the real-life Alicia in front of me. She was crouched down in the Academy garden and feeding a stray white cat.

So cute...

The cat, of course. As for Alicia, she was also nice to everyone in real life. She acted the same when no one was looking and was kind to animals. I was the only one who seemed to bring out her hostility.

“Bye-bye, kitty,” Alicia said sweetly before getting up and heading inside a building. I had to follow her, but there was something I needed to do first.

I jumped down from the tree I had been hiding in and inched closer to the white cat.

Remember, Yumiella. Avoid eye contact so it won’t be alarmed, only make small movements, and don’t make any loud sounds.

The cat hadn’t noticed me yet, so I called over to it so as not to startle it with my presence.

“It’s okay... Don’t be scared.”

The cat had been cleaning itself after filling its belly, but as soon as it noticed me, it let out a sharp hiss and ran away.

I guess I should’ve expected that.

I exhaled deeply, and my shoulders dropped in disappointment. Ever since I had been reincarnated as Yumiella, animals hated me—or rather, they were scared of me. I gave up and decided to go after Alicia, only to find that when I turned toward the building, a male student was standing behind me. He had gray hair and, if my memory served right, was a first-year student like me.

His name was, uh, something I can’t remember.

I waited a moment before speaking up.

“Did you see that?”

“No, I didn’t see anything,” he said after a pause, awkwardly looking away from me.

He definitely saw the cat run from me.

“It didn’t run away from me. If I wanted to, I could have caught that cat, but I let it go. I believe that would be the correct explanation of what occurred here.”

My excuse only seemed to make things worse. Without waiting for his reply, I quickly fled the scene.

Though I had lost sight of my subject of observation, she couldn’t have gone too far. As expected, I found Alicia in the library. I couldn’t just enter the library through the door, though, so I headed back outside of the building.

“The library is on the corner of the third floor... There it is.”

I jumped up toward the vicinity of the third-floor window and held onto the small cracks and protrusions on the wall.

Oh shoot, I made a small crack. I hope no one finds out.

I carefully moved to the nearest window while sticking close to the wall and peeked into the library. Alicia was heading toward a desk with Prince Edwin.

“Um, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this before,” Alicia said.

“Ah, right, this is something you would probably be unfamiliar with. They’re technically laws, but they are more like dos and don’ts for the aristocracy of Valschein.”

Alicia seemed to be studying with the help of the prince. They were probably talking about the preamble in the lawbook. Alicia’s eyes beamed as she listened to the prince speak—I couldn’t feel an ounce of malice coming from her.

Though she appeared to be friendly with the other two love interests, from the outside, she appeared to be the closest to Prince Edwin.

It looks like she’s probably headed for the Edwin route. I’d love it if she could support the prince and her people as the saintess who saves the kingdom.

It seemed like I wouldn’t be getting anything out of continuing to observe her, but just as I decided to wrap things up, Alicia found a book and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, this picture book!”

“Is there something special about that book?” the prince asked curiously.

“This is the book that was read to me as a child. The evil witch in this story was so scary, but when I found out I could use light magic, I thought I could maybe take down the witch.”

I could feel a strong sense of determination from Alicia’s words.

Why is she so aggressive toward me when she already has enemies, like the Demon Lord and the witch in the picture book? Hold up... The witch in the picture book...

“It couldn’t be, could it?”

I waited for Alicia and the prince to leave before entering the library from the window to find the book she pointed out. I picked it up and flipped through the pages, looking for an image of the villainous witch.

“She looks like...me, I guess?”

Besides the fact that the witch and I both had black hair, there was something about her that seemed familiar. Could it really be that this picture book existed in Alicia’s subconscious, and that caused her to see me as the enemy?

A wave of fatigue came over me as I realized that the result of all my observations was one measly picture book.

◆◆◆

The following day after school, I headed to the Academy drawing room after being told that the headmaster wanted to see me.

I wonder what the old man wants with me.

But when I reached the drawing room, the person waiting for me wasn’t the elderly headmaster I had been expecting.

“Hello, Yumiella. I’m Ronald, the new headmaster.”

“Hello, I’m Yumiella Dolkness. But, um, what happened to the previous headmaster?”

“He’s left the position for certain reasons. You probably won’t be crossing paths with him ever again, so it’s nothing you should be concerned about,” he said with a smile.

Ronald was completely different from his predecessor. He was young, probably not even thirty years old, and his smile felt fake as if he was replicating a textbook example of a reassuring smile.

“I’ve come to the Academy under His Majesty’s orders. I’m also aware of the current topic of gossip, the Demon Lord, so you don’t have to worry about that.” He was probably the person the queen was referring to during our conversation. The fact that he knew about the Demon Lord must have also meant that the king’s faith in him was strong—though I found him pretty suspicious.

“His Highness is quite the troublemaker,” he remarked. “I never would have thought he’d spill the kingdom’s classified information in public. It must have been rough for you too.”

Prince Edwin had declared that the Demon Lord would be resurrected in two years. On top of that, Alicia had accused me of being said Demon Lord, and this incident had already spread to every student at the Academy. I grimaced, remembering that almost every student at the Academy was currently avoiding me, but Ronald didn’t seem to notice.

“His Highness isn’t usually so shallow-minded, but recently he’s been quite troubled, or should I say, unstable. Even his two friends, who are usually there to support him, are similarly distressed.”

“Did something happen to them?”

There must have been something that happened recently to make them unstable, but it was more than likely just me.

“Ha ha, you’re really going to ask that?” he laughed. “Well, let me give you a little context. His Highness and his two friends have never experienced any setbacks. They were all exceptional from a young age and always outperformed their peers. Their egos were quite large as well, but while they were winning, it never harmed them. But then, someone appeared and crushed that pride of theirs. They probably didn’t want to believe that could happen, at least enough to try and keep their sanity intact by allowing themselves to believe that person to be the Demon Lord.”

I guess it was my fault, after all.

Due to my actions, the current situation was quite different from the game’s story. I never thought that things would go according to the game’s story, but the fact that things had gone so differently from the beginning up to this point might have had a large effect.

“I understand their situation, but is there anything that can be done about the other students being scared of me?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of a rumor that has already spread. The official position of the kingdom will be to deny allegations of the Demon Lord’s resurrection, but many will still believe it’s true. It would be wise to understand that you’re in a similar boat, especially since the rumors about you aren’t totally unbelievable, given your strength. There are even those in the palace who think you are dangerous and have misgivings about you.”

I get it. From the outside, I’m just a level 99 rando who appeared out of nowhere.

“I believe there are only a handful of people who aren’t afraid of you. Even I’m a little scared.” Contrary to his words, Headmaster Ronald showed no signs of fear. “Rest assured, His Majesty knows it’s impossible for you to be the Demon Lord.”

I would have understood if the king thought the Demon Lord had been resurrected two years early, but it seemed I was never suspected in the first place.

I wonder if he has some undeniable proof that I’m not the Demon Lord.

I cautiously observed every movement the headmaster made, no matter how small, in an attempt to figure out his thoughts.

It’s useless. I can’t tell what he’s thinking at all.

“Does the royal family have details regarding the Demon Lord?” I asked.

“No comment,” he responded, his smile widening.

Isn’t that basically telling me yes?

Headmaster Ronald knew about Prince Edwin’s childhood, what the king was thinking, and information that only prominent figures of the kingdom would be privy to. As young as he was, he most likely held a very important position, so I was also curious about why he hadn’t shared his family name when he introduced himself.

He seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. “I’m just a headmaster,” he said frankly. “I’m also the liaison to you and His Majesty. If you ever want to ask His Majesty anything, just let me know. Depending on the topic, I might be able to give you an answer right away.”

The fact that he could potentially answer immediately probably meant that the king allowed him discretionary power—he was definitely someone of high standing.

“I see. You’re not just all brawn, are you? I can see why Her Majesty is fond of you. It also makes my job easier.” Ronald’s eyes were wide as he spoke, appearing to be genuinely enjoying himself.

Darn, he read my thoughts again. But I could have sworn I didn’t say anything that could give away my thoughts or change my expression in any way.

It felt like Ronald could be the one to figure out the secret of my past life. I didn’t like him.

“Well then, let’s jump into what happens now,” he said excitedly. “Today was more about introducing myself, but I wanted to add a little extra. I would like for you to help run the outdoor training that will be starting soon.”

The outdoor training was basically just level grinding, where the Academy had students hunt monsters safely. My thoughts went to the prospect of helping the prince and his friends, aka the Demon Lord suppression squad, with their level grinding.

“Understood. Will I be supporting His Highness and the others then?”

“No, we’re planning on having you join a different group.” I thought that was strange, given that we would eventually have to fight the Demon Lord together, but then Ronald threw a question back at me. “Let me put it this way, would you be able to cooperate with them in battle?”

Ah, I see. Even if I tried to help them, they wouldn’t accept it right now.

“It’s definitely a problem we’ll have to solve at some point,” Ronald clarified, “but we won’t be able to do anything about it right away.”

If things continued like this, we probably wouldn’t be able to take down the Demon Lord together. When the opportunity arose, I would eventually have to convince them that I’m on their side.

“Understood. Though, I do think there will be some fighting over the groupings.”

On one side was the popular prince, and on the other side was me, the one regarded as the Demon Lord. It was clear which side students would want to be on.

“We’re planning grouping students as we have done in the past, by splitting them up into central aristocrats and provincial aristocrats. You’ll be in the provincial group.”

“That seems like quite a haphazard way to group the students,” I remarked.

“There’s a proper reason for it,” Ronald explained, “You see, there’s a big difference in motivation toward level grinding between central and provincial aristocrats.”

Once Ronald brought up that incentivized difference, his intentions became clear. It was likely that only a handful of central aristocrats would be proactive about level grinding, since most of them would take over their households or obtain a government position after graduating from the Academy. In other words, there was no benefit to them reaching a high level. In contrast, for provincial aristocrats, particularly those with small domains, it wasn’t uncommon for the heads of domains to handle monsters themselves, and second-born sons or younger would often become soldiers. Naturally, even central aristocrats needed to be at a decent level if they wanted to become a military officer or join the Knight’s Order, but as far as I knew, they weren’t as desperate as provincial aristocrats.

“Will His Highness and the others be all right in such an unmotivated group?”

“We have a personalized plan just for them, so they’ll be prepared in two years. We’ll have them at level 40 by then, at the very least.”

Hearing that they would be level 40 to fight the Demon Lord made me nervous—in the game, the appropriate level was around 60 to 70.

“Level 40... It would be better if they could be at least level 60.”

“Commander Adolphe, with all his experience, is level 60. Getting them to that point in two years is unreasonable.”

Huh, I guess if you put it that way, they’d be working extremely hard just to reach level 40.

I nodded. “I understand. So, what exactly should I be doing?”

“The training will be held in the forest just outside the Royal Capital, so there shouldn’t be any issues, but I’d like for you to handle any emergencies with the lead instructor.”

The forest outside the Royal Capital... That’s probably the first stage in the game. I’m pretty sure all the monsters there are weak, so I doubt there’ll be anything for me to do.

“So, I should just stand there and watch over the battle?”

“You could say that. I heard that you have some fairly strange methods for level grinding, so try not to do anything too weird.”

Huh? What does he mean by strange methods? I guess not using an amulet of protection and battling solo could be considered a little strange...but it’s normal to loudly play a monster-summoning flute, right?

◆◆◆

The day of outdoor training had arrived, and I joined the provincial aristocrats, as Ronald and I had discussed. Everyone kept their space from me out of fear, so I stood alone and watched the training from a distance.

I’m bored...

There were around twenty students participating in the training, but only three wolf-type monsters appeared. On top of that, there was no tension from being in a forest because we had set up shop in an open field with a cliff and a great view. There were several students swinging at or landing multiple spells on a single monster—it felt like it was slightly overkill.

“I’m so bored that I might yawn,” I thought aloud.

“Me too. This is definitely not efficient,” a voice responded.

Someone was listening!

I turned in the direction of the voice to find a gray-haired boy watching the battle take place with disinterest, the same boy who saw the cat run away from me. This was our first conversation since then.

I remembered his name from the entrance ceremony after my embarrassing encounter with the cat. It was Patrick Ashbatten. His father was a margrave, and just like William, he had reached level 10 before entering the Academy. Relative to other students, he probably had more experience fighting monsters.

“I think there could be more monsters,” I said, opting to act as if the incident with the cat hadn’t occurred.

“I agree. If they split up into a vanguard and rear guard and worked together, I think they could handle a few more.”

He spoke normally, surprising me. A student willing to talk to me, in general, was a rare occurrence. I was slightly pleased to be talking to someone my age for the first time in a while.

“Do you split up into vanguards and rear guards when leveling at the Ashbatten Mark?”

“Yup, the vanguard will hold down the monster while the rear guard attacks. That’s our standard formation.”

I titled my head in confusion.

Experience points are distributed based on the damage done... Wouldn’t that cause everyone’s levels to increase unevenly?

I voiced my confusion. “Wouldn’t the vanguard have trouble leveling up?”

“We also switch it up and have the rear guard hold down the monster with magic while the vanguard attacks. Though, it’s less stable like that.”

I see... I’ve only explored efficient solo level grinding, but things were different when done in a group.

“Would we be able to do that with the people here?” I asked.

I looked around, taking count of the students, and found there were roughly half who could be in the vanguard and half who could be in the rear guard. With everyone being aristocrats, there were potentially those in the vanguard who could use magic, making for a good balance of teams.

“I think we could do it, but it wouldn’t matter since there are barely any monsters,” Patrick responded, confused.

“If the lack of monsters is our only problem, then I have something that can solve it,” I said, pulling out a monster-summoning flute from my pocket.

The headmaster told me to just watch over the training, but it’s probably fine for me to help out a little...right?

For some reason, Patrick had gone pale and began fumbling over his words. “What is—hold on, is that a monster-summoning flute?! Don’t play that—”

But I didn’t hear the rest, as I had already taken a large breath and started playing. The teacher was the first to notice the sound of the flute and attempted to jump in front of the students to protect them, but I stopped the instructor before they could.

“Even with the flute, this level of training is too tame. Besides, Patrick offered to take command,” I said, pointing to Patrick. Upon being named, he hurried over to the other students and immediately began instructing them.

“Split up into a vanguard and rear guard! If you’re in the vanguard, focus only on keeping the monsters in place! If you get hurt, immediately fall back and get healed with a potion. Those in the rear guard with more mana, use area attacks! The vanguard will hold down any other monsters, and the rest of the rear guard will attack!”

As I stood there, impressed with Patrick’s clear instructions, the bushes in front of us began to rustle. A herd of monsters was coming.

◆◆◆

As expected, everyone was able to survive the wave of monsters without any injuries. With Patrick commanding them, the students were able to coordinate with no unnecessary actions. Having no knowledge on group battles, I was continuously impressed throughout the fight. The students’ energy appeared to be completely wiped out from the battle, with some even sitting down, looking like they had run out of mana.

“Hey, Yumiella! Why’d you go and do that out of nowhere?” Patrick exclaimed angrily, making his way toward me. Despite being in the vanguard and holding down more monsters than anyone else, he was still full of energy.

What is he so upset about? Oh, right, he was in the vanguard. Maybe he’s unhappy because he couldn’t raise his own level?

“Don’t worry. I’m sure there are students who ran out of mana, so I’ll keep the monsters at bay.” I smiled. Patrick stared at me quizzically, seeming confused at my reassurance that I would help the vanguard level grind.

You really don’t have to worry so much.

I played the monster-summoning flute loudly for the second time. Everyone turned to stare at me skeptically, so I explained my actions properly. “I will stop the monsters in their tracks, so the vanguard can take their time finishing them off.”

The forest rustled, making everyone’s faces twitch.

It’s the second time. They should be used to it by now.

“The monsters will be making contact soon.” As soon as the words left my lips, droves of monsters appeared—far more than the previous round.

The moment the monsters prepared to spring forward, their shadows began to make eerie movements, undulating as they spread before a myriad of black arms shot out. The black arms took hold of every monster, completely shutting down their movement. The monsters thrashed in an attempt to break free, but the spell I had used, Dark Bind, didn’t budge.

“Go ahead and attack,” I encouraged the students in the vanguard, but no one moved.

Isn’t it obvious that the monsters can’t move because they’re being held by the shadows?

“Um... Those arms...”

“It’s my magic. The spell is called Dark Bind. I like it because it’s not very deadly.”

“They won’t attack us?”

“Don’t worry. The monsters are completely immobilized,” I confirmed.

“No, not the monsters.”

Huh? There’s nothing else that could attack them besides the monsters here.

As I tilted my head in confusion, Patrick slowly walked up to a monster and attacked, and then turned back to the students. “See? There’s no problem. The shadow arms are safe.”

Once Patrick spoke, the students who were in the vanguard began to swing at the monsters.

Oh, I see. They were afraid of my magic. Is it that scary?

I couldn’t quite understand their point of view because I had grown up playing rock-paper-scissors with Dark Bind to kill time.

Once the monsters had mostly been taken care of and the scent of blood had spread across the open field, the monster carcasses would soon disappear, leaving behind only magic stones.

I’m pretty used to it, but I think it might be kind of hard to watch for aristocrats.

“I guess the magic stones will be divided up on a first-come-first-served basis, then.” Surprisingly, every student immediately began collecting the magic stones. Even female students were cautiously walking up to the monsters’ carcasses to pick up the stones.

I guess provincial aristocrats are pretty tough. I bet centralists wouldn’t be able to do the same.

Once everyone’s hustle for extra money had ended, Patrick came over to me.

“Yumiella, the next time you’re going to play the monster-summoning flute, can you at least let me know beforehand?” He seemed completely exhausted as he spoke.

“Good work, Patrick,” I commended him in response. “Your command was incredible.”

“Well, I guess you didn’t mean any harm,” he said, sighing.

Harm? Did I do anything bad? 

“What do you mean?” My question only seemed to exhaust him even more.

Just then, the bushes behind us made a sound, and as I turned around, a monster was in the midst of lunging toward me.

Patrick is close by, so I’ll have to attack in a way that doesn’t hurt him.

As I considered my next move, Patrick suddenly leaped in front of me, and my mind went blank at the unexpected situation.

Why is he in front of me?

By the time I shook off my confusion and realized I needed to protect him, the monster had bitten Patrick’s arm.

“Black Hole!”

I panicked and accidentally cast my strongest spell, obliterating the monster save only its head. All the trees within a roughly ten-meter radius had disappeared, leaving the ground spherically carved out. It looked as if my main objective was to destroy the forest and that I had just decided to include the monster’s body as an afterthought. I succeeded in not harming Patrick, but I had focused too hard on that and miscalculated the strength of the spell.

“Get a potion,” Patrick groaned. He had removed the monster’s head from his arm and was now moaning in pain.

“It’s okay. I can use recovery magic as well. Heal.”

Generally, Heal was known as a light magic spell, but the same spell existed in dark magic as well. In the game, there were bosses who had minions that could use recovery magic despite being monsters. Yumiella, the character, didn’t use recovery magic, but I was able to use it with no problems. The hidden boss being able to use recovery magic sounded like a recipe for disaster, but I couldn’t help the fact that I was able to use it.

The only issue with the spell was that it looked absolutely horrible. Light magic Heal would envelop the injury in light and cure it, while dark magic Heal would cause flesh to regenerate in lumps out of the injury—the injury would heal with no scars, but the process was extremely grotesque.

“Ugh...” Patrick groaned, appalled at the sight in front of him.

I’m sorry, I promise it only looks bad now.

“I think it should be all right now,” I said when I finished. “But are you in any pain?”

“No, I’m all good now. Thank you.”

I was worried that there would be side effects to using the spell on someone who wasn’t a dark type, so I was relieved by his response.

“Why did you jump out in front of me?”

“Sorry, I just thought it would be dangerous...” he mumbled.

Dangerous...for the monster? No, he probably means me. Why was he worried about me?

“Dangerous? For me?” I asked, confused.

“You need to take better care of yourself!” he yelled suddenly. “You don’t have an amulet of protection, right? You need to be more careful before it’s too late!”

He apparently protected me because he was actually worried about me. This was the first time something like this had ever happened, which made me slightly flustered.

“Th-Thank you.”

“I know you saved me and all, but wasn’t this a bit much?” he continued, pointing to the carved-out forest.

“I apologize, I miscalculated my strength. It’s a common occurrence while level grinding—”

“This? A common occurrence? Yumiella, you really need some more common sense...”

I’ve gotten rid of an entire mountain before. I think in comparison to that, I’ve gotten pretty good at holding back.

Patrick’s lecture on my lack of common sense continued, growing even more heated.

He’s right. Destroying the environment is a bad thing. Perhaps he’s someone who really loves nature...?

◆◆◆

“I didn’t know that there was dark-type recovery magic as well.”

“Yes, it can regenerate at least an entire arm.”

The day after the outdoor training, I was once again summoned by Headmaster Ronald. I got an earful about using the monster-summoning flute, despite already having gotten my fill of talking-tos from Patrick’s scolding yesterday.

“Do you know that from experience?”

“Yes,” I said, pointing to my shoulder. “My arm got slashed off here.” Ronald’s expression surprisingly changed to slight shock at my explanation, twitching through his usual smile.

I recalled that encounter being a really close call—one wrong move, and I could’ve lost my head instead of my arm.

Recovery magic can’t regenerate a head...can it?

“That’s enough about me. How were His Highness and the others?”

“Prince Edwin, William, and Oswald are pretty much on track.”

“I see. No one else defeated any monsters, did they?” Central aristocrats weren’t eager to level grind, so this result was probably inevitable, but Alicia’s name not coming up concerned me. Her light magic was vital to taking down the Demon Lord.

“Yes, they apparently defeated every monster that appeared. Not that it’s a good thing, but the other students just lauded them for it.”

“That’s fine and all, but what was Alicia doing during the training?” Though she was a commoner, Alicia was allowed to enter the Royal Academy due to her talent for light magic. She had to strengthen her light magic. It was imperative that she leveled up.

“Just like the others, she didn’t defeat a single monster. It seems that the three boys instructed her to stay back.”

“Does she seem to have any motivation?”

“Well, she didn’t seem unhappy about His Highness and his friends protecting her.”

I sighed at his response. Alicia had been all over the love interests at the Academy. If things continued like this, she might not ever voluntarily participate in battle.

“I guess she acts the same as when she’s at the Academy. She said she wouldn’t lose to me, but I wonder how she plans to do that.”

“I’m wondering too, but at the end of the day, we need Alicia to become stronger. His Majesty is planning to set her up to be a saintess. I might need your support, so be prepared.”

All right, if it comes to it, I’ll just throw her into a dark-type dungeon. Be happy, Alicia. It’s a dungeon where only monsters you have an advantage against appear.

◆◆◆

My lonely school life slightly changed after the day of the outdoor training because now, Patrick would occasionally strike up a conversation with me. When we needed to pair up for any activities in classes, he would volunteer to be my partner when I was left out, as if he had no other choice.

“I’m sorry, Patrick. I’m sure you have friends you’d like to pair up with.”

“It’s no problem. I owe you one anyways.”

Does he mean from when I healed his injury? What an honorable person.

“Please don’t worry about that. You probably had potions you could use.”

“If you say so. I guess I’ll go pair up with someone else, then.”

“Wait, no, actually, you should worry about it, seeing that I healed your injury and all.”

“Even though you were the one who summoned the reason for that injury?” By now, we had gotten close enough to banter like this—he was probably the person I had gotten the closest with since being born into this world.

It was currently the swordsmanship class, so we stood facing each other with wooden swords in our hands. Even to my untrained eye, Patrick’s swordsmanship looked as if there was nothing superfluous about it. It was beautiful—perhaps pursuing efficiency led to beauty. It might not have been the most fitting word to use, but even the way he took command during training could be described as beautiful. In contrast, despite it being the result of focusing on efficiency, my level grinding was probably hideous and unrefined.

“Whoa!”

“Ah, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry,” I apologized.

My own superfluous thoughts led me to miscalculate the proper amount of force, and I had sent Patrick flying backward. At the very least, it wasn’t as bad as the time I sent William flying. I couldn’t see any injuries, but I still hurried over to use my recovery magic on him.

I won’t make the same mistake.

“Thanks. I’m all right now.”

“I’m sorry. Thank you for being my partner.”

Patrick took a moment to catch his breath before responding. “I must not be much of a partner, though,” he said with a frustrated look.

“No, that’s not true at all. There’s a lot I can learn from your swordsmanship. I’m no match to you when it comes to technique.”

I wish he wouldn’t make that face. I’m really just relying on my reaction speed and strength from being at such a high level. 

“Are you planning on studying sword-fighting techniques as well? What are you trying to fight?”

He made a good point. I could probably defeat the Demon Lord at my current strength, so there might not be a point in getting any stronger in that regard, but we lived in a vast world. There were places that extended beyond the areas of the game’s map—it wouldn’t be strange if there was someone stronger than me out there...probably.

I decided to keep my response simple. “Likely the Demon Lord.”

“The Demon Lord? Is it true that he’s going to be resurrected in two years?”

“I’m not sure. It’s either a delusion of Prince Edwin’s or something the king is hiding.”

That’s a lie, of course. I totally know.

“Both seem plausible,” he agreed.

The prince’s recent behavior had been so strange that no one could say for sure that the Demon Lord’s resurrection was just a delusion of the prince. No matter where they were in the Academy, he and Alicia were always being lovey-dovey with each other. The most recent incident that spread through the Academy was that they were feeding each other cake in the courtyard. As a result, some students began to think that the prince was spouting nonsense regarding the Demon Lord’s resurrection. Despite that, the rumors about me being the Demon Lord wouldn’t wind down. If anything, the rumors were reignited after the outdoor training.

“Patrick, don’t you have any concerns about me being the Demon Lord?”

“Isn’t the Demon Lord a guy?” he asked simply. “Also, I resent that they’re using the fact that you have black hair as evidence.”

I was drawn to his emphatic tone and gave him my full attention. He took notice and continued, brushing his fingers against his hair as he spoke. “When I was younger, I was self-conscious about my hair being close to black after my relatives had commented on its color. My family told me it was nothing to worry about, but I hated my blackish hair.”

To me, that shade of gray doesn’t look quite black. It’s more like...

“I think it looks closer to white.”

“White, huh?” He looked down. “I guess compared to your hair, it might be closer to white,” he said before turning his gaze to me. “But that’s why I respect you for being confident, even with your jet-black hair. I vow never to despise you or have disdain for you based on your hair color.”

I turned away in embarrassment—for a moment, it felt like a romantic confession.

It’s not even close to that kind of conversation.

“Th-Thank you very much. I think your gray hair is lovely.”

“Thanks. I think your black hair is pretty too.”

At that point, I was at my limit for how much embarrassment I could handle and attempted to move on from this conversation. “Oh, um, would you like to go another round?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

Having failed at keeping my calm following that conversation, I once again miscalculated the proper amount of force and sent Patrick flying.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I repeatedly apologized as I cast my recovery magic. The exasperated looks of “she’s done it again” coming my way hurt. Fortunately, Patrick immediately opened his eyes and got up. I felt reassured that he hadn’t lost consciousness.

“I’m all right. There’s no pain left either. I noticed this last time too, but recovery magic feels pretty nice.”

“It does look quite terrible, though.” My response caused him to grimace—perhaps I reminded him of the sight of his flesh swelling up as his injury healed the other day.

“You can even use dark magic without hesitation. You’re really amazing, Yumiella.”

“I was just lucky.” The elements someone could use were basically determined at birth. I used this fact to negate Patrick’s statement, but he shook his head.

“That’s not what I meant. I think, even if I could use dark magic, I would have hidden it. It’s the same with your hair, but you don’t deny who you are. I don’t think that’s something everyone can do.” Patrick’s words suddenly made me realize something.

“Yumiella could use dark magic since she was born?” I asked, mainly to myself.

The game explained that she was able to use dark magic as a result of becoming evil, but that might not have been the whole story. Perhaps the character Yumiella hid that she could use dark magic while she attended the Academy. If that was the case, it would have fed into her hatred for the main character, who proudly used her light magic and was loved for it.

“Huh? You use dark magic, don’t you, Yumiella?” Patrick responded with confusion.

I told him that it was nothing and not to worry, all while continuing to mull over my in-game self.

◆◆◆

Today was the second day of outdoor training. We were walking around the forest near the Royal Capital, but there were no signs of monsters yet. I was currently in the midst of receiving another helping of warnings from Patrick.

“Do not, under any circumstance, play the monster-summoning flute.”

“I’ve already been warned by the headmaster multiple times. I won’t play it anymore,” I reassured him.

“You didn’t bring it, did you?”

I paused. “I did bring it, but you can trust me.”

I promise I won’t use the monster-summoning flute, so can I at least just carry it with me? I think it’s fair since it’s something I always have with me.

I stuck my hand in my pocket and ran it along the object in question as I convinced myself I was right in my mind.

“You can’t just burn down the forest because you’re bored, all right?” lectured Patrick.

“I know. I’m here today as a healer.”

We finally arrived at the same clearing as the previous day of training. I was on standby, ready to use my recovery magic if necessary. But after some time, I found myself in the same position as last time.

“I’m so bored.”

I’m so tired of this... Maybe I could shoot some fireworks or something. Might as well go big or go home, right?

I reached my hand up toward the sky before snapping back to reality.

Oh, that was a close one. I’m supposed to be the healer of the battlefield.

My provincial classmates were consistently defeating the sporadically appearing monsters, but it felt lacking in comparison to the pandemonium that was in the previous session. There was something relaxed about the air around them. In my experience, these situations were the most dangerous because it’s when people get complacent.

“Watch out!”

“Aaah!”

At the same moment that someone called out, the scream of a male student resounded across the clearing. The student was bitten by a wolf-type monster; his pants were shredded and blood was running down his leg.

He was fighting in the vanguard. If he just hadn’t let his guard down, I’m sure he could have handled it.

“Yes, yes, I know. I’ll be right there to heal it.” I made my way toward the injured boy and cast my recovery magic. The blood that was running down his leg was now wiggling like an amoeba back into him through the wound.

There we go. Good as new.

“It’s all better now!”

“Whoa...”

The previously wounded student and our peers had gone pale from watching the wound heal.

That’s weird... Aren’t healers usually popular? That’s beside the point. Right now, our problem is this relaxed atmosphere. We need to be more on edge.

I retrieved the monster-summoning flute from my pocket, but someone behind me reached over and grabbed it out of my hand. I turned to find an exasperated Patrick.

“I thought I told you not to use this,” he reprimanded me. “You shouldn’t even be bringing it. It’s dangerous just to have it around.”

“The current situation is more dangerous,” I explained. “Isn’t a certain level of tension needed to keep everyone alert? Everyone here has the skills to keep up. We didn’t even have any injuries last time. Though, it would be even better if we could send everyone alone into dungeons.”

“Better? That’s absurd. It’s ridiculous to suggest sending people into dungeons alone.”

He just negated my entire life. For the sake of my identity, I feel the need to thoroughly protest against Patrick.

“First of all, the current method is way too inefficient. It’s wasteful for multiple people to be attacking a single low-level monster. I think we could be going up against monsters of a slightly higher level. Last time, even you said that the training method was inefficient, didn’t you, Patrick?”

“Well, that doesn’t mean...”

Patrick was still not very receptive to my argument.

I’m not saying we have to use the flute; I just want everyone to be a little more alert...

“Oh! How about this?” I spoke slightly louder so that the other students could hear. “What if we injure everyone on purpose, and then we heal them with magic? I think if everyone understood the pain of getting hurt, they’d all be more on their toes. Oh, and don’t worry about me. I’m pretty certain I can hold back enough not to kill anyone!”

“Huh?”

Everyone was pale with shock at my suggestion.

This is my chance!

“Okay, then, let’s vote!” I exclaimed, shooting my arm into the air. “Please decide between the flute or getting injured!”

The flute won the vote unanimously.

Hooray for democracy!

While watching my classmates battle the herd of newly summoned monsters, I realized that I had spoken quite impolitely to Patrick. I guess I got a little heated since it was about level grinding. As the son of a margrave, Patrick was a higher rank than me, the daughter of a count. The standing of the Dolkness family would go down if the Ashbatten family were to condemn us.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing, considering what my family is like.

The only problem was that the thought of Patrick disliking me made me sad. He consistently went out of his way to talk to me since I was always alone and was the only person to ever call my cursed-looking black hair beautiful.

I kept finding myself looking at him. Currently, Patrick was fighting in the vanguard while commanding the entire group.

Is that...? 

He was using wind magic to deliver his spoken instructions to the other students. At the same time, he was using earth magic to stabilize the ground they were standing on. It was something I couldn’t even dare to imitate. Patrick might have been a genius when it came to battling with a group of people.

Wait, no, that’s not what I should be focused on. I need to think about how to approach him after this.

The students defeated the herd of monsters with no injuries, as expected. Patrick was quickly surrounded by our classmates who were lauding him for his amazing performance, so unfortunately, it didn’t seem like I could go up and talk to him.

◆◆◆

I ended up returning to the Academy without talking to Patrick at all. It was already summer, but my heart felt like it was ice cold.

“What should I do?” I sighed.

If I just thought of it as returning to my post-entrance ceremony self, never speaking to Patrick again didn’t seem so terrible.

It doesn’t seem so bad...yet I don’t feel any better about it.

As I stared out of a window in the hallway, Alicia and Prince Edwin came up to me as if to pour salt into my wound.

“Hey, I heard what you did! About your evildoings during outdoor training!” Prince Edwin exclaimed. “I heard you threatened everyone with your dark magic and forced them to fight a herd of monsters. I bet you were trying to kill someone and call it an accident. Who were you trying to kill?”

It seemed that the events of our group’s training had been exaggerated to the prince, but I was aware that I had gone too far and had no motivation to talk back to him. Someone had most likely ratted me out to the prince, but it was to be expected.

“I heard that you also have a horrible method of healing people!” Alicia chimed in. “And you were manipulating that herd of monsters, weren’t you, Yumiella?”

Their voices of blame began to sound farther than they actually were, and the colors of the world started to fade.

Whatever... I really couldn’t care less right now.

I sighed before finally replying.

“Can we be done already?” I said, raising my right hand over them, feeling extremely heavy.

“Wh-What are you doing with that hand?!”

I felt like I was seeing things in black and white.

I’ll just stop them here and make my escape. I’ll have to get some inconspicuous clothes straightaway and then find an unpopulated route out of this kingdom... What’s next...?

My head felt heavy, and my thoughts wouldn’t stop whirling. I had just decided to cast a spell to bind them here and leave, but then, someone stepped in between us. The student that had come between us had gray hair, a color that I could recognize even in this black-and-white world I was currently seeing.

“Please wait, Your Highness.”

“Patrick Ashbatten, why are you defending Yumiella?”

Colors began to flood back into my world.

Looks like my depressive episode is over. That was quick.

“It’s true that Yumiella used a monster-summoning flute, but she did so out of concern for the students whose defenses were down,” Patrick explained. “She shouldn’t be at fault... Well, I guess she kind of is...”

Patrick’s defense started to fizzle out.

Yeah, you’re right. I’m at fault. I just couldn’t stand seeing such ineffective level grinding, so I took some extreme measures.

It was only natural that I was reprimanded. I couldn’t believe the victim complex I was experiencing a few moments ago.

Man, I was acting like the entire world had rejected me. Why was I worrying so much?

“But I will say this!” Patrick piped up loudly again. “Yumiella’s methods are somewhat popular with provincial aristocrats. She also hasn’t gone against any rules of the kingdom or the Academy, so I would appreciate it if you stayed out of this, Your Highness.”

After a long pause, the prince said, “I’ll back down for now, but that doesn’t mean I approve of this. Let’s go, Alicia.” Prince Edwin had been overpowered by Patrick’s strong wording, so he took Alicia with him and left, leaving me alone with Patrick.

Oh, right, I still don’t know if Patrick is mad at me for my impoliteness... I can feel the colors fading again. Not sure what those two things have to do with each other, though.

“That must have been rough for you too, Yumiella.”

“Thank you very much. Um, but was it all right for you to say that to His Highness?”

“I am the son of a margrave, so the second prince hating me isn’t a big deal.”

“Um...also...are you not upset?”

“I guess I’m more tired than upset. I just don’t think he has enough self-awareness as a member of the royal family,” he responded, complaining about the prince instead.

Wrong person!

I quickly corrected myself, causing an exasperated look to come over Patrick’s face.

“You were worried about something like that? It’s not like you’re one of those big-headed centralists, so just speak to me in the way that’s easiest for you, I won’t mind.”

“What do you mean, ‘Something like that?’”

Hierarchy is important to the aristocratic society. Is it really okay to just disregard it like that?

“You have other things you should be more concerned about,” he clarified.

Oh, that’s what you meant. I understand now.

“Thank you.”

Patrick fell silent for a moment before speaking up again.

“It’s rare to see you smile like that,” he said, slightly tense.

I’m smiling right now? I guess I was pretty scared about being disliked by him. If possible, I’d like for us to be friends, but that’s probably asking for too much.