#39
“Mr. Crusay. What do you think you’re doing?”
“You’re being noisy. Please go on your way without disturbing the other students.”
“Noisy? How could that be? Did I make too much noise?”
When the noble shouted loudly, the students standing around didn’t answer and quickly moved to attend their classes. Only then did I notice Yutis, who had just finished his class and come out into the hallway. Soon Rikin would appear too. With Yutis already here, where could Iria be? I missed Iria’s face, which made me feel good just by looking at it.
“Yes. You were noisy.”
I wasn’t Iria. I didn’t have the power to properly persuade him, nor could I withstand his force. So this was all I could do. In a way, I was returning exactly what he had done.
“Your voice is making me feel bad.”
I appropriately mixed informal and formal speech.
At my words, his eyebrow twitched. He must feel upset about being dismissed by Andelion, who’s called a fool. But this noble seems to have completely forgotten. The surname that follows the name ‘Fool Andelion.’
I was one of the few people who could trample on his greatest weapon, his status as a noble.
“Who do you think allows you to live and attend school like this? Why are you being so noisy? I told you to leave. Should I say it again?”
I returned exactly what he had said. I couldn’t believe he was leveraging what the Duke had done. It felt like another soul was possessing my body. With each word I spoke, the noble’s face contorted.
“You…”
“‘You’? You should address me properly. ‘Young Master Crusay.’ Next time, I hope you’ll address me correctly.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Call him properly.”
Rikin, who suddenly appeared, joined in, sticking to my side. Now all the characters needed for the event were gathered. Except for Iria… I suddenly felt a bit melancholic.
“If you value status so much, you should definitely use our Young Master’s title correctly.”
Seeing Rikin’s face, the noble’s face turned pale. It’s interesting that the name of the Parten family’s son had more impact than the name of the Crusay Young Master. I wonder what rumors are circulating about me. It was almost scary to find out.
“Senior Parten.”
“Wow, now I’m ‘Senior’? Why? If you want to be treated according to your status here, you should properly greet me and Ana. Right? Right, Ana?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Rikin’s increasing closeness didn’t please me, but I decided to go along with him for now. The noble gritted his teeth and trembled. Finally, after taking a deep breath, he bowed his head.
“Parten family’s son, hello. I am Karn from the Kampani family.”
“Good. Now, how about apologizing to Ana for being noisy?”
The noble gritted his teeth with all his might. He clenched so hard that you could see his jaw tightening. The noble turned toward me and politely bowed his waist.
“Young Master, I apologize for being noisy.”
“Alright. I hope you’ll be more careful next time.”
As soon as I finished speaking, the noble quickly fled the scene. Watching his receding back, I clicked my tongue briefly. His every step was filled with anger. Since it wasn’t properly resolved, he would probably do the same thing again.
If there was something fortunate, it was unfortunate for the boy behind me. I turned my head to look at the fallen boy. The boy looked up at me with a dazed face. I didn’t speak to him further and walked away.
Comforting the boy and offering my hand wasn’t my role.
“What? You’re just going like that?”
“Class is about to start. Senior, you should go too.”
“Don’t you have time to talk?”
With class starting soon, I don’t know what he wanted to talk about. I casually ignored Rikin’s words and walked away. Understanding what I meant, Rikin didn’t follow. Thanks to Rikin’s sudden appearance, the situation could be somewhat resolved. But I shouldn’t keep receiving help like this every day.
Currently, I was living day by day with the help of others. It was a situation I couldn’t have imagined in my previous life. Being unfamiliar with it, it kept bothering me and felt as uncomfortable as wearing ill-fitting clothes.
At that moment, I saw Yutis, who had been watching the situation from a distance, approaching me as I walked to my next class.
What is it now? I don’t know what instructions he received to come to me. I looked at Yutis with a tense face.
“Why did you do that?”
Yutis was questioning me.
“You didn’t have to go that far.”
It seemed he didn’t like how I used my position to wield power. It hadn’t been long since I said there’s none of that in school, yet I disrespected someone else by putting my family first. From Yutis’s perspective, this reaction was understandable.
Maybe Yutis didn’t expect an answer from me, as he just said that and moved away. It seemed the image he had of me had worsened.
What could I do? This was also something I had to bear. Ignoring the piercing pain I felt in my stomach, I moved on to attend my next class.
* * *
“Let’s drop out.”
The sword abruptly said after hearing about my day.
“Drop out? That’s going too far.”
“Starting with the teacher, the guy attending class with you, the noisy one, the annoying one, the one who followed you—I don’t like any of them.”
Though it didn’t directly name anyone, it was easy to guess who was who. I didn’t respond to the sword’s words and just smiled.
“It’s not that difficult.”
“You’ll say that.”
I meant it sincerely, but how could I make it believe me?
Afterward, the sword continued to expound on why this school was bad for a long time. Thinking it would be better to listen silently rather than constantly arguing, I kept my mouth shut and waited for the sword to finish its story.
Of course, I didn’t forget to interject occasionally, lest the sword feel bad if I was too quiet.
“You’re going to cancel that class, right?”
I couldn’t immediately tell the sword that I would cancel it. Although it was a class I hadn’t even thought of taking, Yaksi’s class was quite informative.
No one had ever covered demons in such depth before. Most people just called demons evil and a threat to humans. To discuss the commonalities between demons and humans—if the Temple knew about this, wouldn’t they be in an uproar?
“What’s the difference between demons and humans?”
“Haah, so you’re going to keep attending that class.”
“There’s still some time. I’ll think about it until then.”
My heart was already half swayed, but I didn’t tell the sword that. Adding one more word might only upset the sword.
“Do you know how demons and humans differ?”
“How would I know? I’m a sword.”
Yet that same sword had explained the magic circle so well. After seeing the magic circle that day, the sword had told me about it. The explanation wasn’t different from what Yaksi had provided, but there were a few things Yaksi hadn’t mentioned.
The magic circle drawn underground seemed intricate at first glance, but in reality, it was extremely sloppy. The most important aspects when trying to summon something with a magic circle are specifying what being to summon and when to summon it. Those two things were accurate, but it seemed they hadn’t specified the quantity.
The power imbued in the magic circle alone couldn’t summon so many magical beasts. The sword explained that there must have been another medium. Despite explaining in such detail, I don’t understand how it can now claim to know nothing.
“Tell me. Please?”
“Ah, really.”
The sword’s voice was clearly annoyed. But when I showed no intention of backing down, the sword clicked its tongue briefly and told me what I wanted to hear.
“Demons and humans use different powers. Demons can control magical beasts.”
“Is that all?”
“Seems like nothing much? It’s actually much bigger than you think.”
Humans, too, could summon and control animals or spirits through magic, if not magical beasts. It seemed the story didn’t end with just having different powers they could wield.
“Think of it as having different driving forces.”
“Driving forces?”
“To use magic that humans can’t handle, like magic circles, you need a circular power. Demons have that circular power. But humans are different. Humans are square. Would a square fit where a circle should go? That’s the difference. Because the shapes are different, they can’t use each other’s magic.”
Now I understood because it was explained simply. Nodding, I recalled the magic circle that had been activated during the entrance ceremony.
“So that means a demon has entered this school?”
It was a demon intrusion I had never seen in the original work. I had no idea when or how they entered. Why would a demon come to this school? I don’t know when things started to deviate from the original work. First, I needed to find out who the demon hiding in the school was.
Just as I was about to ask how to sense that power difference, the sword spoke first.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
