Chapter 7 : Dropout (1)

Evelyn, fresh out of the shower and wearing a robe, gazed out the window.

She could see the Imperial Academy, Arcana—the very place where she had just dueled a certain man.

No, more accurately, she’d been completely overwhelmed by him.

She had lost her duel to Wade.

Thus, she had to give up on her interest in Kallian entirely and put all those feelings to rest.

“Do you think it’s that easy to set one’s heart aside?”

She felt disgruntled. It was unfair.

She’d promised to grant him any request if she lost, never believing she would really be defeated. And the result was painfully clear.

Wade Silverain, was it?

When he had barged into her conversation with Kallian, devouring the gift she had prepared and rambling on about “counterfeits,” she had wanted to kill him.

Figuring out her true feelings and then holding them hostage—it was unsightly and vulgar.

And then what else had he done?

He acted as though he were Kallian’s protector, warding off the interest of any other women who got close.

Later, when they met privately, he had the nerve to say she lacked character and was a total mismatch for Kallian.

So she decided to teach him a lesson.

Some lowly commoner was overestimating his abilities—she thought it was the perfect opportunity.

After all, people like that usually fall in line once they’re crushed by force.

But in the end, she was the one who was crushed.

He wasn’t just strong; he was on a completely different level. She couldn’t even begin to gauge his depth.

At first, she rejected the idea, convinced such a thing couldn’t be true. Then she raged because nothing went as she wanted. Finally, she realized this was reality.

Why was he hiding that incredible power?

“Please keep everything that happened today a secret. Unless, of course, you want me to kill you.”

When he threatened to kill her if she blabbed about his secret, she felt chills crawl over her entire body.

Never in her life had anyone treated her like that. Not counts, dukes, or even members of the imperial family.

Even now, whenever she recalled his words, a sharp electric current seemed to jolt through her.

What was this feeling? Anger at the insult, or fear of death?

“Heh.”

A man who treated the future successor of a prestigious family like a child, coolly exercising—and then retracting—his power over her life and death.

Just picturing Wade waving at her made Evelyn laugh in spite of herself.

“Who’s out there?”

“Is there something you need, Lady Evelyn?”

She called in her personal maid, who had been waiting outside the room.

“I’ve got someone I want to look into. Wade Silverain—investigate him for me in as much detail as possible.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, and… one more thing.”

“Yes, my lady?”

“Character. What do you think is the best way to cultivate a good character? You’ve seen plenty of people as a noble yourself, so surely you have some insight.”

Evelyn neither refused to accept the outcome nor hung around Kallian’s vicinity underhandedly. She withdrew cleanly.

Rumors spread that she had damaged the dueling arena, but her powerful family connections must have smoothed that over. Running away was clearly the right call.

Meanwhile, my life goes on as usual.

I’m still keeping women at bay from Kallian and doing everything I can to help him overcome his fear of women.

Now, female students have begun bringing me tributes.

Ever since word got out that “to get close to Kallian, you have to get on Wade’s good side,” more and more people have been trying to win me over.

“Lord Wade, here, take this.”

“What’s this?”

“Just a small token of appreciation. It always looks like you’re working so hard… It doesn’t mean anything special.”

“I see. Thank you.”

I stuffed the gift into a sack.

That bag was already full just from the presents I’d received this morning.

If someone saw me, they might mistake me for Santa Claus with all these gifts.

You’d think they’d realize bribes won’t work anymore, but apparently not.

Maybe it’s because they’re nobles—gems, jewelry, all sorts of fancy sweets, they’re bringing them to me like it’s no big deal.

I put those items to good use somewhere meaningful.

“All right, time to get going, don’t you think?”

“What are you up to?”

“Kallian, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

After stashing away the sack of gifts, I took Kallian to a very special place.

In this world, besides the ‘villainous heroines’ and extras that I have to deal with somehow, there are also ‘heroic heroines’ who need to be paired with Kallian.

Today, he’ll finally get introduced to one of those heroic heroines.

“Huh…? You said we were meeting someone. So why’d we come here?”

Upon arriving at the location of the first heroic heroine, Kallian glanced around, puzzled.

This place was the academy’s trash dump—a spot where waste from the school, several affiliated facilities, and nearby shops all ended up in one place.

Fitting for an academy attended mostly by nobles, even the dump was relatively tidy—but a dump was still a dump, so no students ever came around.

I pointed to the center of the trash heap.

“Over there. That’s who I want to introduce you to.”

There, a woman with shoulder-length black hair and orange eyes was organizing the trash.

She looked grimy from the ash and dust around the incinerator, but she was wearing the same academy uniform as us.

“That person…?”

“What’s wrong? Don’t want to get closer?”

“No, it’s not that. I’m just wondering why a student is cleaning up trash. Don’t they hire people for that?”

“She volunteered to earn her tuition. You’ve seen the job ads posted around Arcana, right? She’s a commoner.”

“Oh.”

Kallian, tilting his head, finally seemed to understand the situation after hearing my explanation.

The academy doesn’t discriminate between nobles and commoners when it comes to skill—tuition is another matter.

So it’s pretty common for students from less privileged backgrounds to work jobs like this to cover their tuition.

“Her name is Lumia Sorel. She actually enrolled a year ahead of us, but she failed a grade, so now we’re all in the same year.”

“Failed…?”

“Why do you look so surprised? That’s all the explanation you need, so let’s go talk to her.”

“W-wait. I’m not mentally prepared yet…!”

Ignoring his protests, I gave Kallian a shove forward.

Lumia, who had been quietly burning trash, flinched at the sudden appearance of outsiders.

“Ah… uh…”

“Um… ahem. We were just wandering around nearby and got curious, so we came in. Didn’t expect to see a fellow student here—nice to meet you.”

Though Kallian stumbled a bit, he managed to open the conversation decently enough.

“My name’s Kallian Bright. Sorry if we startled you by barging in; we didn’t think anyone would be here.”

“…It’s fine.”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Lumia Sorel.”

“That’s a pretty name. This guy here is my closest friend, Wade.”

He introduced me as well.

“Hi there.”

“Uh… hello…”

When I greeted her casually, Lumia withdrew even further. Apparently, the sudden influx of people was overwhelming.

But it doesn’t matter if she’s shy—because right here, we’ve got the invincible man himself, Kallian.

Sure enough, while Lumia couldn’t even look me in the eye, she kept stealing glances at Kallian.

This was exactly the moment I’d been waiting for.

“It looks like we jumped out of nowhere and might be bothering you. Is there anything we can help with?”

“I’m fine…”

“I’d feel bad otherwise. Let Kallian and me give you a hand.”

I started picking up trash alongside Kallian and throwing it into the incinerator.

After hesitating a bit, Lumia resumed cleaning as she had before, without voicing any more objections.

She glanced at Kallian and asked,

“If you stay here too long, the smell will stick to you. We’re nearly done, so why don’t you stop?”

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, there’s still a mountain of trash to deal with. And even if there is a smell, how bad could it be?”

Kallian responded smoothly enough.

So far, so good. At this rate, I can get him close to Lumia without any major hitches.

“Hey, wait—is that really Kallian?!”

But life rarely goes exactly how I want.

Right then, a group of troublemakers showed up—some female students who followed Kallian around every day.

They had trailed him all the way here.

“Kallian, what are you doing in a place like this?”

“Oh? Uh… hello?”

“This is the trash dump. You, of all people, shouldn’t ever have to come here…”

They came over to Kallian.

Startled by their unexpected arrival, he glanced at me, but I stepped back to see how things would play out.

The girls surveyed the piles of trash with wide eyes and then covered their noses in distaste.

Eventually, they focused on Lumia, standing next to Kallian.

One of them sized her up from head to toe before speaking.

“Who are you?”

“Huh?”

“Ugh, you look filthy—definitely a commoner. You reek of garbage, too. Better back off from Kallian while I’m being nice.”

“…What?”

“Didn’t you hear me? Go somewhere out of sight and keep doing whatever menial work you do.”

Lumia’s shoulders slumped so much, she practically wilted into the ground.

Surrounded by well-dressed girls flaunting expensive accessories, she seemed on the verge of disappearing.

“I think that’s a bit harsh.”

It was then that Kallian stepped in.

The girls, who had been all but burying Lumia, jumped in surprise at his remark.

“Well, cleaning up trash might cause a smell, sure—but isn’t it unfair to be so critical? Don’t you think that’s a bit cruel?”

“Uh—wh-what? I… yes?”

“I believe it’s not right to look down on someone doing a necessary job. Lumia is handling work that someone has to do.”

“Ah… well… of course! You’re right. We just misspoke!”

Flustered, the female students hastily reversed their attitudes.

Lumia, who had been completely deflated, stared at Kallian in surprise.

Perhaps she never imagined that someone—especially him—would defend her.

Excellent.

Perfect, even.

At this rate, Lumia and Kallian are practically guaranteed to become close.

We’ve gotten off to a great start.

But if he had just stopped here, it would’ve been fine.

Driven by his desire to protect Lumia, Kallian launched into an even longer speech.

“Personally, I think this task—disposing of trash—is both important and honorable.”

“Uh…”

“How could anyone hate a person who takes on such vital work? Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, absolutely!”

Though their response was incoherent, the female students nodded fervently at Kallian’s speech.

In the aftermath, nobles everywhere started fighting tooth and nail for the academy’s trash-disposal jobs.

The pay didn’t matter; they just wanted to gain Kallian’s favor.

They even offered extra money to get the job.

And so, Lumia ended up losing her position.

—End of this chapter—