Chapter 8: Afternoon Class(1)

Sacred Academy classes were usually divided into two types.

Morning classes focused on theory.

Afternoon classes focused on practice.

If you asked me which one was better, I would have chosen the morning classes without a moment’s hesitation.

The reason was very simple.

“It’s boring.”

Since the practice classes usually focused on sparring with opponents, there was no one willing to practice with Sacred’s rascals no matter how hard I looked.

I would just sit on a bench and watch other students practice.

This was my daily routine that started as soon as the outdoor classes started, and it was one of the reasons I skipped the afternoon class yesterday.

I’d rather have boring theory classes.

If class is boring, I can just think about something else, but this is so clearly detached.

Even the professor teaching the class didn’t pay attention to me, so I really felt the weight of the name Lian Trice.

I wondered what it was like at first.

Before I was possessed.

That is, before Lian Trice earned the title of a loser, in the first semester of my first year.

But back then, wouldn’t there have been someone to practice with?

Because no one would have known then.

Because no one would have known that Lian Trice was the world’s greatest loser.

Of course, there are unique cases like Elena, who had been watching Lian up close since she was young as her fiancé, or Ellis, who had already gathered information on everyone who had entered the academy.

But not all students are like that.

Not all freshmen would have come in knowing Lian’s true identity.

To put it simply, the current situation was the karma created by that damn Lian Trice.

In a situation where all the freshmen were strangers except for a few, Lian’s karma for completely destroying her image.

I was the one who was receiving that karma.

And I didn’t even know where the one who should have received that karma disappeared to.

It couldn’t be more unfair.

‘……No. Rather, my situation is worse.’

Furthermore, if I had to argue here, the current me was in a situation where I was more isolated than the past Lian.

“You can’t even stop this? That’s why you’re called an idiot.”

“What did you just say? Say that again with that dirty mouth.”

Those idiots who fight and curse at each other over there.

Those problem kids who were in the same club as Lian before I possessed her.

Lian must have had them.

“I called you an idiot. Are you dissatisfied?”

“Oh. There are quite a few of those too.”

‘……Maybe it’s better without you?’

Of course, I’ll have to think about whether it’s really good to have those guys by my side.

In any case, it meant that my situation was more isolated than Lian’s.

Chaeng-

“……..I lost.”

“Good job. Ellis Akstra.”

And, on the other side of those idiots, Ellis had just dropped her sword at the hands of Princess Layla.

“Whew, I guess I’m still not strong enough to fight on equal terms with Her Highness the Princess.”

“No, you have the ability to become stronger enough. Ellis Akstra. If you train more here, you’ll be able to fight on equal terms with me someday.”

“……Is that so?”

“Let’s work even harder from now on.”

“……Thank you for your words, Your Highness, the Princess.”

Between us was quite far, but I felt like I could hear Ellis gnashing her teeth from here.

‘Even in the original, Ellis felt inferior to Elena and Layla!

The difference in title, the difference in talent.

In these two areas, no one could match Elena and Layla in the original.

Ellis, the person involved, knew that better than anyone else.

Because of this, the original Ellis was even more absorbed in what only she could do.

Becoming the queen of the underworld under the name of the Marquis of Akstra.

The original Ellis Akstra easily accomplished what the crown princess Layla and the righteous Elena could not even attempt.

‘……She was the only heroine who could help in that direction.’

She supported the protagonist in ways that only she could do in that position, ways that other heroines could never do.

It wasn’t for nothing that she was the heroine who came in second place in the author-approved popularity vote.

It wasn’t for nothing that Ellis’s fans fought with Elena’s fans, who had completely opposite personalities, in the original comment section.

Hmm. That comment war is still dizzying when I think about it again.

There were readers who didn’t open the comment section because of that crazy Battle, so it was easy to predict how intense the fight was.

When I was reminiscing about the original and reminiscing, “What are you doing here alone?”

“…”

“Ugh, this is hard.”

Sweat Ellis, who had come close to me, sat down next to me, making a strange noise.

“Why have you been like this since lunchtime? You said you wouldn’t pretend to know me in front of others because you were afraid of strange rumors.”

For me, who had clearly heard Ellis’s comments in the past, this was a truly absurd situation.

Of course, Ellis opened her mouth naturally, as if she didn’t care about me.

“Oh my, did I say something like that?”

“Oh. I heard it clearly.”

“You’re really petty. A man who hangs on to a woman’s words is usually unpopular?”

“…”

“I’m joking. I remember that too. That I said something like that. Remembering what you say is an important habit.”

I was really relieved.

If I hadn’t heard the last sentence, I probably wouldn’t have been able to hold it in.

As if Ellis had read my expression, she slightly curved her lips and said, “Lighten up a bit. I told you it was a joke.”

“I’m glad it was really a joke. It was hard to hold back just now.”

“I’m feeling a little shaky right now. You saw it all while sitting here. How I lost so badly to the princess.”

“The distance was far, but you definitely felt my gaze?”

Ellis added in a small voice.

Was it an illusion?

I could feel a slight sadness in that voice.

No, it probably wasn’t an illusion.

The current Ellis was saying things she would never have said to me if she were in her normal state.

The original Ellis Akstra was more calculating and cold than anyone else.

However, the woman sitting next to me was expressing her feelings to me more emotionally than anyone else.

Was this a delicate side of Ellis that wasn’t revealed in the original?

Or was the character ‘Ellis Akstra’ in the novel affected by the changed ‘Lian Trice’?

I don’t know which of the two is true.

“Well, I think you might win if we fight properly again.”

“……Huh?”

Maybe because of these thoughts, words of comfort that I would never have said normally began to flow out of my mouth.

“The longsword isn’t your main weapon in the first place.”

“…”

“It’s unconscionable for someone who’s only trained in assassination with daggers his whole life to try to defeat the princess, a swordsmanship genius, with a longsword that he doesn’t even use.”

“Ha, how did you know that my main weapon is a dagger?”

“……Ah.”

“You know me much better than I expected?”

Oh, that’s right.

I shouldn’t have said that.

In the original work, Ellis’s main weapon is a dagger, and no one except the main character knows that.

Where did the expression on Ellis’ face, who had been focused on what I was saying until just now, go?

Just looking at her expression had turned into a creepy smile.

Something that wasn’t in her destiny.

It was a situation where I made a mistake by forcing myself to comfort someone who wasn’t in my destiny.

The world was so unfair.

I tried to do something good for nothing and ended up in big trouble.

As I endured the terrible silence for a while, waiting for Ellis to finish speaking, it was then that I heard an unexpected laugh from Ellis’ mouth.

“Alright, it’s fine, take it easy!”

“…”

“You already found out a bigger secret, and you’re going to kill me just because I know this much? I’m not that weird?”

‘……Looking at you now, I seem like a weird person.’

I muttered this in my head, fearing the retaliation that would come later, but it was a sentence filled with sincerity more than anything else.

The person who had been depressed and about to die just a moment ago, now rising in energy after being comforted by a loser, seemed weird enough to watch.

“……What’s with that unpleasant expression? It’s like you think I’m a weird person?”

The weird person was even quick-witted.

How on earth did he know?

Seriously, I only moved my lips for a moment.

As expected, the woman in front of me was no ordinary woman…

“Thank you. For comforting me.”

“….Huh?”

“I meant it when I said thank you. Maybe I just wanted to hear comfort up until now.”

“Because no one around me has ever spoken to me like you.”

Ellis made an expression as if she was reminiscing about the past.

I knew Ellis Akstra’s past well.

[The Sword of the Academy] is a novel that tells the heroines’ pasts better than any other novel.

That’s why I just sat quietly on the bench.

Because I knew better than anyone else how important it is to have someone who will listen to your story.

I could only guess that Ellis had probably experienced the same thing as me when I was possessed.

“Oh my. Isn’t this our traitor, Lian Trice?”

“…”

“Lian Trice? Are you talking about that cowardly guy who abandoned his colleagues and ran away?”

“Yes, that guy. That cowardly guy who had the most fun when we were together, but ended up running away alone in a cowardly manner.”

It was then that the troublemakers who suddenly shattered this peaceful feeling I had been feeling for a long time appeared.