The Demon Prince goes to the Academy

Chapter 182

This was my schedule for the second semester:

Our common classes still took place on Mondays and Thursdays, and the subjects also remained the same.

There wasn’t any significant change in the individual professor’s classes I chose either.

Tuesday – Swordsmanship Theory II, Swordsmanship Training II, Swordsmanship Application.

Wednesday – Meditation II, Supernatural Power Control, Supernatural Power Application.

Friday – Mana Sensitivity Training II, Comprehensive Martial Arts II, Demon Ecology.

The classes I chose were similar, and most of them were just advanced forms. The only differences from the first semester were Demon Ecology, Supernatural Power Application, and Swordsmanship Application, and there were two other practical classes among them.

The content of those practical classes was to subdue or fight beings summoned through summoning magic or something similar. Swordsmanship Application entailed subduing one’s enemy with one’s sword, of course, and the supernatural power class was doing so with one’s supernatural power.

I both wielded a sword and used my supernatural powers to strengthen my body, so those two classes would end up being the same for me.

Demon Ecology was a lecture that taught its students basic knowledge of Demons, and Supernatural Power Application was to test my supernatural powers in a practical setting.

On Tuesdays, I’d probably spend my whole day with Ellen as I only had swordsmanship lessons on that day.

After classes, in the dormitory.

“It was useful .”

I stopped by Class B’s dormitory to return the Imperial Crest to Charlotte. She smirked as I handed it over to her.

“So you thought it was very useful? Did you now? To skip the queue to the Warp Gates? As soon as you picked a fight, you pulled it out right away, didn’t you?”

How did it feel like being treated like royalty? With that massage, Charlotte gave me a stern look.

“Y-you know all that?”

“If you keep flashing the Imperial coat of arms like that, of course, I would know everything you do with it, don’t you think?”

There was no way just anyone could carry around something like that, so it seemed like all reports about what we did at the Warp Gates came back to her. The same went for when I used it in the Darklands.

“Well, didn’t you give that thing to me so that I could use it at times like those?”

“That is true.”

Charlotte laughed while covering her mouth, saying, “I was just teasing you for a bit.” Certainly, the Imperial Crest was one of the most useful items we had taken with us. Not only did it help us to save time, but it also helped us to avoid unnecessary conflicts and situations in which we might have faced murder charges.

With just that little crest, we had managed to end our journey to the Darklands safely, so Charlotte had been a great help.

“I’ve read all the incident reports. You’ve worked hard, Reinhardt.”

Just like Bertus knew what happened, it was only natural for Charlotte to also know what we went through in the Darklands.

“Shall we take a walk after such a long time?”

There was no reason for me to reject Charlotte’s offer.

* * *

Charlotte and I walked around the park in front of the dormitory. There were hardly any people in the vicinity of the Royal Class’ dormitories, so the chance that we would run into someone was rather low.

By the way, since the vacation was over, I thought she would ask me to deliver more letters to Valier or something. Charlotte wouldn’t be able to send him any letters without me around to deliver them; she couldn’t go to Eleris’s store with her own people.

“It must have been hard. It wasn’t an ordinary incident.”

Charlotte still walked as she let out those words.

“…I can’t even deny that.”

Certainly, both Ellen and I had suffered a lot of trauma ever since that case. I felt like I was finally getting over it.

“Ellen Artorius…”

Charlotte let that name softly roll out of her mouth. The only people who knew Ellen’s real name were Charlotte, Bertus, and I.

Charlotte was speaking slowly as if she was savoring the surname Artorius as if she was saying Ellen’s name for the first time.

“She’s the sister of a hero. I thought she would be someone outstanding, and she was more outstanding than I thought… Realizing Magic Body Strengthening on her own…”

Charlotte seemed to admire her a lot, speaking as if she never would have thought it to be possible.

“Ellen Artorius isn’t just a hero’s younger sister. In the end, Ragan Artorius might end up being remembered as just Ellen Artorius’s older brother.”

Ellen might become a lot stronger than Ragan Artorius and achieve feats far surpassing her older brother as well as his fame.

It seemed like Charlotte thought things might end up like that.

“It’s not easy for someone like you to come back unscathed after going on an adventure with such a great person.”

Ellen had great potential. I, however, didn’t have any expectations placed on me, but I had still completed that journey with Ellen unharmed, so Charlotte seemed to think that I definitely wasn’t some ordinary person either.

“…I’m glad that I didn’t get in her way.”

Charlotte smiled at my words.

“Still, you two went on a trip together… so, have you ever felt something like palpitations?”

Charlotte’s expression changed as she was asking about her friend’s love story.

“…What are you talking about?”

“No, but, well, you never know, right?”

What was with her expression? It was so weird.

“What we did over there was far from those kinds of things to begin with. All I could do was try to hold on to my senses, you know?”

Charlotte’s expression hardened at my words.

“Ah… That’s right. Sorry. I made a mistake.”

Charlotte apologized to me, as it was a rather thoughtless question to ask someone who had just gone through a rather traumatic experience if they had a fling while at it.

“By the way, thanks to what you guys have done, the Imperial Family will soon take action. In the end, everything will be fine.”

“Taking action?”

‘Why would the Imperial Family take action?’ Charlotte tilted her head at my question.

She seemed like she was saying ‘Why wouldn’t we?’

“The Adventurers’ Guild is an organization supported by the Imperial Family, isn’t it? But some adventurers actually dared to steal supplies from the Guild. Isn’t that quite shameless?”

They provided support to develop the Darklands, and yet there were people coveting those supplies. It seemed like that greatly besmirched the Imperial Family’s goodwill.

“We have to tighten our grip on the Exian Outpost and their adventurer management system. Although we can’t prevent such stupid things from happening ever again, we have to make sure that it doesn’t happen too often.”

The Imperial Family was supporting the Adventurer’s Guild, but they had no idea how the Exian Outpost was run. And with news of the resolution of that case reaching the Prince and Princess, the state of the Exian Outpost also reached the ears of the Imperial Family.

Originally, the bandits would have tried to rob some guild supplies and disguise their actions as the doings of Demons.

However, because we managed to intercept their plan, the Imperial Family saw the need to fine-tune the Exian Outpost’s management system as well as their Adventurer’s Guild.

“There’s a huge shortage of manpower, while there are a lot of people around, so it seems like there are a lot of criminal organizations ruling the place from the shadows, so we sent them more manpower. Anyway, thanks to what you guys have done, Exian will become a little bit safer than it used to be.”

What Charlotte seemed to say was that what Ellen and I had done was much greater than we actually thought.

-Slap!

“Arg!”

Charlotte suddenly slapped me on my back.

“So, neither you nor Ellen has any reason to be so depressed.”

“…Did we look like that?”

Charlotte smiled with her index finger close to her mouth.

“Both of you have been acting as if what you did in the Darklands was a huge sin, saying things like, “nothing happened at all”. What do you think it looked like?”

Nothing happened in the Darklands—that was what Ellen and I had told everyone who asked us. Charlotte knew what we had done; that was why she told me about the results of our actions.

Because of what we had done, the crimes committed by adventurers in Exian would be greatly reduced in the future.

“Well then, I shall return… Urgh!”

“…What’s wrong?”

Charlotte, who had been talking calmly, suddenly stopped, covering her right eye with her hand.

Charlotte trembled slightly with her back twisted.

“Urg… Ah. It’s nothing. I just have to w-wait.”

“What’s the matter? Do you feel sick?”

“No, just wait… Wait a bit…”

Charlotte took some deep breaths while she covered her eye, then sighed and raised her head after some time. It seemed like she had sweated a little.

“Phew. I’m fine now.”

“What happened?”

“Ah… It’s nothing. I’m just like that sometimes.”

Charlotte pretended to be fine and as if nothing happened, but she didn’t look fine at all.

“It’s just something of an aftereffect. It’s been like that ever since I came out of the Demon King’s Castle.”

I guessed that it was something like a panic disorder, but Charlotte told me that it really was nothing, so I shouldn’t worry too much.

Although I didn’t think it was like that, I felt like she would tell me what was really going on. Charlotte said that she needed some rest and that she would return to the dormitory, so we walked back together.

Charlotte took out a letter while we were on our way.

“…I’m sorry to ask this of you every time.”

“Don’t be. It’s fine.”

However, different from before, the expression on Charlotte’s face as she gave me the letter was a little sad.

* * *

The content of the letter wasn’t much different from before. She wrote about what she did during the vacation and what happened; she also asked me how I was doing.

I was getting used to writing her replies filled with nonsensical lies. The more I grew accustomed to what I shouldn’t, the more guilty I felt towards Charlotte.

After writing my reply in Eleris’s store, I went to its first floor.

Eleris had a large bag on the table.

The proceeds from selling the precious metals from the Darklands we sold through the Thieves’ Guild had come in.

It was a total of 3500 gold coins. That was a huge amount of money, equivalent to about 3.5 billion won. It was said that the amount they obtained from the grave was enough to satisfy a whole expedition team consisting of 20 adventurers, after all. It was only natural that we would get that much, as we took everything for ourselves.

Since we would divide all of that into three equal parts, it would be more than 1 billion won for each of us.

“Leave my cut to the Rotary Gang, I’ll take Ellen’s money to her.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Look for a house or a room with that money. Don’t just invest everything into the Rotary Gang, you hear?”

“Is that… Is that really okay…?”

Eleris seemed to be at a loss for words as to whether she could really spend that huge amount of money just for herself. Although I had told her to do that from the start, it seemed like she felt dizzy with that much money in front of her.

If I were to spend that money, it would just be related to the Rotary Gang, so I didn’t need that money right away. I was thinking of saving it as capital for a new business venture or something.

So the only thing I was going to take with me was the money I had agreed to give to Ellen.

“But it’s way too heavy.”

-Clang

Money is good and all, but it was heavy as hell!

“I… I should have exchanged them for platinum coins, but… if I had gone to a financial institution… It might be rather uncomfortable if they… started asking about how I obtained this money. So, I just brought it here first…”

“That’s enough. I’ll just treat it as a work-out.”

It wasn’t too heavy to carry yet.

* * *

A school day.

I only had classes related to swordsmanship all day.

In the end, even though I was a bit upset with Ellen, I still applied for the same classes as her.

I turned into some character that got upset at the simplest thing but still clung on like some obsessive man. Just who the hell did I turn into? If a side character, who definitely wasn’t the protagonist, acted like that, readers would comment something like ‘I fucking hate him. When are you going to kill him off?’

Swordsmanship Theory, Swordsmanship Training, and Swordsmanship Application.

All of those subjects were one bundle. After the application training, I would be given an extra lunch break.

The classes were taught by a different teacher than the one we had in our first semester, so there was quite a difference. In the first semester, the only student of the Royal Class who took the swordsmanship classes was Ellen.

About fifty people attended the classes in the second semester.

Among them were four Royal Class students, including me.

Ellen, me, B-2 Scarlett, and B-11 Ludwig.

Somehow, I ended up taking the same classes as the main character.

“Reinhardt! Did you apply for the same class as me?”

“Yeah.”

“Ellen is also with you. Hey!”

-Nod

Our lively, allrounder protagonist, who was always energetic, was still more than energetic. Ellen just nodded at Ludwig’s words, who looked rather tense.

Ludwig naturally sat next to me.

So there was Ellen on my right and Ludwig on my left.

Did Ellen take the same classes as Ludwig in the second semester of their first year in the original? I didn’t think so.

I felt like the development had changed a little. Maybe it was just Scarlett who initially took the class.

Ellen wouldn’t act like her character in the original novel because too many things had changed around her because of me.

“Scarlett! Scarlett, come here as well. Let’s sit together.”

“Ah…Yes.”

Scarlett, who was sitting far away from us, sat next to Ludwig when he called out to her. However, I could clearly see how awkward she felt. Scarlett nodded slightly when she made eye contact with me. That was all she did.

Just what was different from the original?

She should have become close friends with Ludwig after she saved her from her bullies during the first semester.

However, it was Charlotte who settled Scarlett’s situation.

So it seemed like Ludwig wanted to get closer to Scarlett, but she seemed to have a hard time dealing with him.

Proof of that would be that she still spoke rather formally with him.

That situation came to be because one of the major incidents involving a main heroine had completely disappeared. Of course, Scarlett didn’t seem to hate Ludwig, she just seemed to feel uncomfortable around him.

So now Ludwig was nothing more than maybe air to her.

Actually…

What did I care?

That wasn’t enough to worry me. Who cared about the main character, anyway?!

Just like the Gates would always appear no matter what I did, they would also always appear no matter what Ludwig did or didn’t do!

Anyway…

Our situation could still exist in the confines of the main story.

-There are… Four Royal Class students in this course.

-There are also two Orbis Class students.

-The standard of this class is just too high…

Ludwig would meet some of the Oribis Class students right when the second semester started.

After following Ellen there, I suddenly became acutely aware of that situation.

* * *

Temple had hundreds of uniforms with different designs. Of course, I didn’t what school they were part of, even if I looked at them. All I recognized was the Royal Class uniform that I wore.

However, there were two that were the most famous. To those who wore them, they served as both a business card and an identification card.

The Royal Class, and the Orbis Class.

The Orbis and Royal Classes were small groups of elites with, at most, 20 students in each year. There were six such students in that course, so it was only natural that the other participants were rather noisy. Some of them seemed to have high expectations, others seemed to lament the fact that their grades had basically been fixed.

Anyway, that was the first time I saw Orbis Class’ uniform. ‘So that was how it looked like.’

Royal Class’ uniform seemed prettier.

The theory class teacher entered the classroom and took attendance, each student raising their hand one after the other.

“Royal Class A-2, Ellen.”

“Yes.”

“Royal Class A-11, Reinhardt.”

“Yes.”

“Royal Class B-3, Scarlett.”

“Yes.”

“Royal Class B-11, Ludwig.”

“Yees!”

.

.

.

After calling out each name one after the other…

“Orbis Class A-8, Adler Belkin.”

“Yeah.”

“Orbis Class B-3, Nilssonia.”

“Yes.”

Like Royal Class, Orbis Class was also divided into Class A and B. Even within our special class, they deemed one class superior to the other. I believed that the Orbis Class was no different.

Of the fifty students present, four were from the Royal Class and two from the Orbis Class.

As Harriet had said the other day, the students of Royal Class didn’t care about the Orbis Class.

However, the Orbis Class continued to train intensely with the aim of never losing against the Royal Class.

As they obtained their position through effort, going through grueling training was just a daily routine for them.

They were a class that hated talent.

Therefore, it was only natural that the looks in the eyes of the two Orbis Class students, who stared at us, sitting in the order of Scarlett, Ludwig, me, and Ellen, weren’t pretty.

According to the original, Scarlett and Ludwig were the only ones who were supposed to take that class.

Ellen and I were never supposed to be there.

So I had no idea if the development would change or not.

The lesson after the theory class was swordsmanship training.

Originally, during that class, Ludwig would have suffered a crushing defeat in a practice match against one of the Orbis Class students.

It was a scene to give impact to the first appearance of the Orbis Class students, showcasing how different they were from the sloppy Royal Class students, who only believed in their talents and didn’t put any effort into them.

—That Orbis Class couldn’t be compared to guys like Erich and Cayer, and that they were blinded by jealousy and hatred towards the Royal Class.

That was the first appearance of the second semester’s antagonists.

However, since two additional characters had been added to the class, there was a possibility that Ellen or I might have to have a practice match against them.

I wasn’t so sure about myself, but if Ellen ended up having that practice match, she’d blow them away for sure.

Would that be okay?

____