Chapter 17: Two Sides of a Coin

Emilia was quite content with how things seemed to turn out, even with the various countermeasures the principal took to keep her rising 'fame' in check.

Just from observing the stares of both adoration and fear being directed her way, she had to admit her plans were even more effective than she could have ever imagined.

Most students seemed to now believe Emilia to be a somewhat irrational but good hearted girl, who took action to enact justice herself when no one else dared to.

Even if it discouraged many of them from looking at her as a true 'peer', Emilia didn't mind. She didn't need to be friends with everyone, after all.

And even if there was someone she wanted to get close to later on, it was always easier to change respect and fear to friendship than it was to change friendship to respect.

Perhaps the only unwanted side effect was that most people completely forgot or stopped caring about the hero's rumors. Her light was too strong, and it seemed like the spotlight would remain on her for quite a while.

But Emilia knew this was quite inevitable. After all, the hero hadn't actually done anything to make the rumours worse, and they were quite baseless to begin with.

If not for the hero's irrational and obvious show of hatred towards Emilia and arrogance towards his peers on the first day, they would have been outright dismissed from the start.

Emilia had to admit that the hero wasn't so easy, however, as he had been laying low and seemed to focus on his studies since that day.

Like a diligent student who could care less about the rumours. No wonder that the interest in gossip around him had been dying down rapidly.

And once Emilia started shining so brightly in the student's eyes, the hero who had been laying low seemed to completely vanish from their sights.

But Emilia didn't regret it.

If she wasn't shining so brightly, then there was no guarantee when the hero would suddenly reverse his momentum, regardless of how low he had sunk.

After all, he had both a formidable background and outstanding looks. A deadly combination that could muddle many otherwise sane minds.

How many girls sported an unreasonable crush on arrogant, conceited and bad-mannered men who were rich and good looking? Too many to count.

And once the hero really reversed the situation, it was possible that she wouldn't even get the opportunity to shine at all. The hero would easily cover her up in mud using his own reputation and resources as a weapon, and she could only struggle in futility.

Before that happened, Emilia might as well make the first move.

The school was only a stepping stone. Many of these children were well on their way to entering the high society, and even if they didn't take charge soon, they could still influence their parents.

Thus, the reputation she established here would give her a stable foundation on the bigger, grander stage.

Probably the biggest problem for Emilia these days was that even though she spent so much time trying to learn things on her own, and even had Cynthia help out wherever she could, the speed at which she progressed was far from what she would like.

"Ugh, Emilia, you're already doing pretty well. There should be no problem passing the exams at this rate. Don't stress yourself so much."

Emilia shook her head at Cynthia's words, most of her attention still on her maths notes.

Dixy was similarly trying to keep up with her efforts, and even helped her out from time to time when she got stuck on a problem. Koko seemed to not care about studies at all, but at least she focused on gossiping with the students on the second bench instead of disturbing them.

'It's not enough. Danielle was home schooled and has no official records, so this is a great chance to prove my excellence in academics right from the start. I guess it's a good thing she didn't try for the entrance exam like the hero. Barely passing will just waste this golden opportunity.'

Cynthia rolled her eyes. Why is it that her villainess was looking more and more like a diligent heroine? Shameful!

"Does it even matter if your grades are good or bad?"

'It does, and that's why I'm trying so hard. Hopefully Crystal's tutoring won't disappoint me.'

There could be no nick in her armour for the hero to exploit. Even her school records had to be impeccable.

Cynthia couldn't help but pout. As a super rich villainess, wouldn't it make much more sense to bribe the school to change her records instead? What villainess went to the heroine to study?! This is clearly just Emilia favouring that hussy!

"I guess she must be good. Better than me, at least."

Emilia's pen paused, completely losing track of her maths problem. But even if she was annoyed at having to review it again, she couldn't get angry at Cynthia.

'No… you know you've helped me a lot already, Cynthia. C'mon, don't be like that.'

"Yeah yeah, I know."

Emilia bit her lip, wondering if she had been ignoring her partner too much these days. She just listened to her lectures silently, and only responded when Cynthia asked her something.

Maybe she should summon her out again, when they're alone. But of course, first she should just console the stupid airhead.

'I wouldn't even know what a car or camera is if not for you teaching me these things every day, right? I'll be completely out of touch with this world, and forget about making a change, it would be good enough if people don't eventually start thinking I'm slow in the head.'

"Ahahaha… that would be quite funny though, right? I'd love to see the look on your face if someone said that."

' … '

She definitely needed to be summoned out, alright.

"A-Ahem, I meant to say, there's no way it will happen, okay? I may not know everything, like I don't know how the television works, but I know what it is, and how to use it. It's totally enough to not make you look like a moron!"

'You know, Cynthia… why is it that every time you speak, it sounds as if you want to get your ass beat more and more?'

"Eek!"

But despite the roll of her eyes, Emilia was still grateful to Cynthia's half baked lectures. She didn't know how long her 'system' had been alive, or how many worlds she had observed for her to know so much.

Even if it was all surface level knowledge, it was still vast enough to be mind boggling.

Compared to her, Emilia felt like a frog at the bottom of a well. Or perhaps an ignorant wanderer who had spent her entire life in the woods, but suddenly stumbled into the capital.

The more she learned, the more she realized how little she knew.

----------

In contrast to class S and class C, the atmosphere in class B was perhaps the gloomiest in the entire freshman year.

Not only had someone from another class simply barged in and beat up their classmates right in front of them, but it just so happened to be someone from their most hated class — the one that was full of privileged rich brats.

It was not wrong to say that everyone is class B hated the very existence of class S on some level. And this was true not just for freshmen year, but even their seniors and future juniors.

This hatred stemmed from the way in which admissions as well as division of the classes was done by the Imperial Academy.

As one of the best schools in the country, the academy received hundreds of thousands of applications each year, and each one of them was full of glowing remarks and excellent results.

And from these 'excellent' students, the ones that received the best treatment, the best facilities, the best teachers and the most freedom were rightfully the top students based on nothing but merit — class A.

The people in class B were envious of them, and hoped to improve their results to move up next year, or the year after.

As for the 'trash' in class C? It was not by a little bit that they missed being the best. The only way those people could call themselves 'excellent' was when they were surrounded by morons in their backwater schools.

They were nothing but jokes in the eyes of class B students, and the thought of dropping down a grade to class C was simply nightmarish. A great humiliation.

And then there was class S. Everything they had was the same as class A, but they weren't there because of their results. Oh no, they were there based entirely on the 'donations' their parents had made to the school.

The students in class B were also quite diligent on regular days, always focusing on self study once the first two periods were over. But today, most of them weren't focusing on their books at all.

"How can that dumb bitch just get away with beating people up like that?"

"If you have money, I guess you can get away with anything."

The feeling of helplessness and injustice was clear in their eyes.

"I thought the Imperial Academy would be different, but it's even worse!"

"Isn't it obvious who's the one bullying and who's being bullied? Everyone saw that bitch barge in and just violently swing the teacher's chair around to hit innocent people, and then she justified it with some hypocritical words and left."

"Just because she's rich, the principal even made a whole committee to lick her boots instead of punishing her."

To the people in class B, there was nothing more hateful in the world than those students in class S.

They were dumber than them, but received better education than themselves despite all the blood, sweat and tears they had put into reaching all the way here.

They personified the discrimination this world had between the rich and the poor. Their existence itself was proof that the world was unfair.

Normally, this sentiment was buried deep in their hearts. They all knew what was in their hearts, but none of them expressed it out loud.

But today, all of these negative sentiments had burst forth like a raging tide. The hatred for all the injustice they had ever seen in their life seemed to direct itself towards this singular target.