Ariel Dalton Wants to Graduate

The smell of alcohol wafted through the banquet hall. It looked like some lunatic had drunk some non-alcoholic fruit punch at the banquet. While most of the students had already staggered to their seats, the professors turned on the light in their eyes and went around looking for the culprit.

“Is it yours?”

“What?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You said your dream is to have a drink at a school banquet.”

When I asked Kyle, who had come to my side without me noticing, he shrugged his shoulders with a shameless expression.

“What would you do if you failed to graduate because of doing this kind of prank?”

“Well, can’t I joke around a bit? I’m a member of society after all.”

“Didn’t you say you were going to the Magic Tools Managing Department at Talon City Hall?”

The magic tool managing  department, especially at the Talon City Hall, was famous for its strict discipline. 

“Yeah, I’m going to try make flowers bloom on the wasteland.”

“How romantic. Amazing”

At my soulless praise, Kyle twisted his body in shame. I want to hit him, even once.

I couldn’t resist the urge and raised my fist, but suddenly, in the distance, I saw Brianna Mosley. With her nose red from drinking too much alcoholic fruit punch, she comes out and spots Kyle.

“Kyle Villard!”

“Bree, my God, why did you drink so much?”

“Thank you for your concern, Ariel. Some smartass put alcohol in my punch.”

“You’re welcome.”

Kyle exaggeratedly expressed an acknowledgment.

“Anyway, Rosemary Blossom is looking for you desperately.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. What the hell is your relationship with the student council princess? I came here out of curiosity.”

When the story of Rosemary Blossom came up, Kyle’s face suddenly darkened.

She is a transfer student at the beginning of this year and became a celebrity by getting specially admitted to Fitzsimmons Academy, which only nobles can attend, despite being a commoner.

She was said to have excellent grades but looking at her grades after admission, it seemed not to be the case, so the story that the academy, which suffered from corruption in hiring professors two years ago, let her in to renew its image, became more orthodox.

However, there was something else that made her name known above all else.

Student council princess. 

It was a title that got attached to her, not even a month after she transferred.

The Fitzsimmons Academy was a city-state; in other words, it was governed by several countries bordering on each other. It was ambiguous to apply the laws of any particular country, so they made their own set of rules.

As a result, an atmosphere was created that treated any student fairly, regardless of whether they were powerful aristocrats or not, a royalty of a powerful country, or a royalty of a country on the verge of ruin. It was something like that.

However, even in the midst of this, it was impossible to ignore the life that had been lived with preferential treatment for more than ten years in a class society, so over time, a gap began to form among the students.

And it was the student council that reached the pinnacle.

The crown prince of Illestia and the student president of the academy, Keran something Illestia, whose name was so long that it was difficult to even memorize, and his aide, Marquise Bolton.

The two youngest princes and also the apple of the eye of the Kingdom of Nadon, Bryce Rosemary (surprisingly, Blossom’s name coincided with the prince’s middle name and mother’s name!) Nadon and his twin brother, Duke Edgar Ramos.

Milua’s dragon knight, Jaden Spencer.

The student council, which consisted of five people, was made up of nobles among nobles and became the object of envy of countless students, and it seemed that they knew it, so they did not easily recruit more people.

Until Rosemary Blossom entered the school.

Blossom took the position of the student council’s secretary exactly two weeks after getting admitted. No one knew what the heck she had done to break through the impregnable student council. However, rumors spread that the student council members fell in love with her charm.

Rumors soon became reality. There were reports of Rosemary Blossom holding Keran Illestia’s hand on several occasions along the hallways. It was also said that Marquis Bolton, known for his cold-bloodedness, pulled a chair out for her at the student cafeteria and gave her an eye smile.

On her birthday, Nadon’s twins throw a banquet for her by renting a magic ship(I was caught red-handed by Professor Houston for trying to help Kyle get a drink at that banquet.).

Pedro Cantrell, who openly criticized Blossom for not being a nobleman, said that he had nightmares for a while after getting beaten with a wooden sword by Jaden Spencer under the guise of a test in a swordsmanship class.

Anyone could see it. Rosemary Blossom was the princess of the student council.

But that Rosemary Blossom is looking for Kyle? Do I feel excited? It was very interesting news to me.

“Kyle Villard, did you peel the pumpkin seeds* without me knowing?”

*( This proverb is used to make fun of or ridicule a woman who appears to be a gentle lady who never meets or dates a man on the outside but is already having an affair with another man on the inside. In this case, Ariel is using it to accuse Kyle of dating behind her back.)

“What pumpkin seeds are you speaking of?”

Kyle waved his hand as if he was annoyed. Brianna pointed to the back as if she was curious

“But why is she like that?”

At the tip of Brianna’s outstretched finger was the rumored Rosemary Blossom. As if worthy of the name, she was wearing a pink dress and a tiara decorated with flowers and jewels.

With ambiguous brown hair and a bright skin tone, I would be stuffed* for a long time in the Fitzsimmons Times if I dressed like that, but Blossom’s sparkling blonde hair, frilly dress, and excessive decoration matched amazingly well.

*(Become a big topic that will eventually get remembered for a very long time, usually due to incidents or embarrassing moments.)

If it were not for the small face that looked as if she was about to cry, calling her a flower goddess would not be an exaggeration.

Blossom began to approach this way, perhaps finally knowing where we were, thanks to Brianna’s pointing fingers and her voice that was like a foghorn. She was accompanied by her five handsome bridesmen, who surrounded her throughout the day.

It’s been a long time since my eyes experienced such delight. I squinted at Kyle, who looked troubled and only nodded my head to see Brianna off, who fled to her seat in surprise.

“Hi, Kyle.”

“Hello, Blossom.”

Blossom called Kyle by name, but Kyle didn’t.

“Today is the graduation ceremony. Do you know?”

“I know. I received this after all.”

Kyle picked up the diploma in his arm as if to say the obvious, along with the gift from my parents, which I heard was a high-end magic tool.

But without a letter to their daughter. No matter how much it said that I was to inherit the entire guild, they can not even give me just one magic tool. 

“By the way, do you have anything to give me?”

“None.”

It was a sharp response. Not at all like Kyle.

The dragon knight’s eyes became ferocious, as if he had noticed the rudeness carried there. But he didn’t do anything more than that, which was a bit strange in retrospect.

He crossed his arms and took a step away from Blossom and Kyle as if that wasn’t his place to intervene, but of course, with an expression as if he was going to kill someone.

And he was not the only one. Keran Illestia, who said he would return to his home country to marry Rosemary Blossom once he graduated; Marquis Bolton, who, as the crown prince’s aide and Illestia’s paladin, wanted to worship Rosemary Blossom at the risk of blasphemy; Nadon’s twins, who had given up their long life as playboys for Blossom;  stood by her side stupidly but did not disturb her, as if it were their role assigned to them. Even though their princess was in tears.

Among them, Rosemary Blossom, perhaps not getting the reaction she expected from Kyle, suddenly bit her lip and let out a scream.

“Why, why? What’s the problem? I have planted all the flags I can plant!”

What flag? My question did not come out as a sound. It was because I too was standing about a foot away from the stage she and Kyle created as if I had moved there together with the men of Blossom, unconsciously.

Before long, a muttering, which was indiscernible as to whether it was to herself, to Kyle, or was some kind of curse, leaked from Blossom’s pretty lips. The voice was very low and gloomy.

“I took magic science in the 1st semester and the theory of magic tool operation in the 2nd semester. My grade was B or higher. Just in case, I finished targeting other characters by September. I also filled in the number of confirmations of liking… I  have given you enough gifts… .” 

“… … .”

“It’s ridiculous. This isn’t right. Is it a bug? The level of difficulty can’t be this high. You’re just a sub-character, Kyle Villard, not the main.”

“… … .”

“Or, perhaps, is it because of that?”

Blossom’s head bent at an odd angle. Her dark purple eyes were looking straight at me.

Me? Why me?

The moment the question hit my head, I lost consciousness.

And when I opened my eyes again, it was that day in March. It was the date Rosemary Blossom entered school. 

***

As soon as I woke up, I almost lost my mind. Aside from the fact that time has turned back, it is because my dream of graduating has been shattered.

At first, I thought Kyle or someone had moved me to the dormitory after I had drunk too much. But if that were the case, what you would see when you opened the window would be students moving around with their suitcases or shiny reindeer decorations, not a banner that read ‘Opportunity and hope, truth and faith, welcome to Fitzsimmons’.

Every year in March, the academy used to put up a banner at the front gate that said “opportunity and hope” to reassure naive first-year kids and their parents. It was from this year that the ridiculous phrase “truth and faith” was added. This was because the number of freshmen decreased noticeably last year due to the corruption in hiring professors the year before.

I quickly realized that I had fallen behind in March, in the first semester of my fifth grade and I was in despair.

My parents owned a small-scale guild in Milua. Even if it was small, their only daughter was not lacking in living while playing around, so I’ve been looking forward to graduating from the day when I entered Fitzsimmons, pushed by the threat of “Don’t you think an owner of a guild should have a degree?”

The Academy is not the place to lock up a free spirit like Ariel Dalton. It was a complaint she had made out of habit to her childhood friend, Kyle Villard, who had similar views.

Kyle, despite having a free spirit, was suited to studying (Talon City Hall was the top place civil exam takers would want to go). Since I had no intention of studying enough to barely stay in the middle of the ranking in the whole school, my desire to graduate was no different from the driving force that kept me moving at Fitzsimmons.

But with graduation just around the corner, I was suddenly back to the first semester.

“Oh, you scared me! Dalton, did you have a nightmare? Why are you screaming so early in the morning?”

“Sorry, Bree. Did I wake you up?”

“Then do I seem like I wasn’t awake to you?”

Brianna, with whom I share the same room in the dorm, glanced at me with a coy look on her face.

“And why do you call me ‘Bree’? As far as I know, we’re not at that stage of closeness. Did you suddenly change your mind?”

Oh right. I was stunned for a moment by the unfamiliar annoyance of my best friend and soon remembered that I wasn’t very close to her at the beginning of the semester.