CH 13

Rumours that Princess Elphines was seeking the throne spread implicitly among the royal family and aristocrats. And it wasn’t just a rumour. Elphines had the ability to do so, so Hazard wanted his sister to become the king, so he was willing to become her footstool (or springboard?). Remburton sighed.

“I will go back to the Swordsmanship Department again. Since the new semester began and the correction period is one week, it’s not strange to enter the Magic Department out of curiosity and return.”

Remburton thought that it would also be bad for Hazard’s sword to leave his side.

“…hmm, I was hoping to make a wizard friend, but it’s too bad. Still, stay for a week and come back.”

“Are you still in doubt?”

“Yes, I doubt it, Rem… It’s not necessarily a need for concern, but somehow it bothers me anyway.”

* * *

“Sigh…”

Nathan couldn’t help but sigh. Leaning against the cold wall, his body trembled from the cold, but he had no energy to straighten up. The cold air from the wall made his cheeks shiver. Closing his tired eyes, he wrapped his arms around his aching stomach.

Nathan couldn’t concentrate properly in class today because he was worried about Remburton all day. He tried hard to concentrate, but he didn’t understand half the words he had never heard before. After morning class, he lost his appetite due to fatigue. He just satisfied his hunger with a thin soup. He was hungry but he had no appetite. He waited for the afternoon class to end. However, his exhaustion continued even after all the classes were over.

As Melkiel said the day before yesterday, Nathan went to see him with his exhausted body right after class was over.

‘Student Nathan has no magical talent.’

‘…pardon?’

Melkiel sighed and said so less than half an hour after his supplementary class had begun.

‘The amount of mana flowing inside your body is below average.’

From Nathan’s point of view, the words like a bolt from the blue were uttered to him rather insincerely. Nathan couldn’t say anything because of the sudden remark. Until just before, Nathan was shoving basic knowledge into his head and feeling the mana in his body following his words as Melkiel, who was standing behind his back, told him to.

The hands on his back slowly helped him feel the mana in his body more closely. It was like Melkiel was holding the hand of a child who was just starting to walk. But Nathan didn’t feel the mana properly. When he fell over while following his words, Melkiel took his hand off his back and said that.

‘You’re better than the average person, but I’m not sure you’re a student of Aurora.’

‘…ah.’

Then he tapped Nathan on the shoulder.

‘If you work hard, you will be better than you are now. Each person has a different amount of mana, but it grows according to how they learn and grind. So you have no choice but to try harder than others.’

What could Nathan say about it?

‘…yes, Professor.’

Supplementary classes continued a little longer, but Melkiel was not idle. Two or three hours after class was the time he could give Nathan. Nathan realized that he had no talent and left the Second Magic Room without making any progress.

“Ugh, my stomach hurts…”

The constant stress ate up Nathan. Thrown into an unfamiliar world, he spent several days struggling during the day and exhausted at night. He tried to think positively, but the unexpected appearance of Remburton and Melkiel’s remarks that he lacked talent made it difficult for him. Originally, this body must have had neurogenic gastritis. As time passed, only his stomach hurt.

He had a cold sweat and a pain in his stomach. Blinking a couple of hazy eyes, Nathan straightened his body against the wall. He had to go to the infirmary. He should ask for some medicine. He staggered as his footing was unstable.

‘Nathan Norbert’ seemed to see why he was last in his later years. As Melkiel said, mana was below average, so the swordsmanship that applied mana must have been terrible. He had no magical talent either.

Wouldn’t anyone expect more if they were faced with this situation?

Wasn’t it unusual and amazing to enter the world of the novel you were reading and live in someone else’s body? Nathan was kind of looking forward to it. He thought maybe he would be more special than the others and had some expectations about it. Anyone would, in the same situation. Nathan was just like that too. He was just hoping, just in case.

He came to a prestigious academy that recognized him, so he thought that the owner of this body would have some skill. If he couldn’t do swordsmanship, at least he could do magic. But it wasn’t like that. There was a good reason why he always ranked first or second to last in the Swordsmanship Department.

“Haha…”

This situation was so funny that he just laughed out loud. He must have been weak, but the amount of mana he had was lower than average… If you asked him if he was going to continue like this, Nathan would answer yes. He couldn’t help it. Nathan had his own goals.

After three years, the world would change drastically. At that time, many things would change and the world would be in chaos. That was the future he knew through the original novel. First of all, the seal of the dungeon that had been sealed for so long would be lifted, and as a result, demons would flourish in this land. People would die without even knowing why they died. The land they lived in for their entire life would be taken away by demons and the lush green land would be horribly trampled, becoming a dead land. Bad luck would bring about more bad luck and everything would spread like a butterfly effect. The peaceful past would not return—only the changed future would await them.

Even if peace came through the protagonist’s actions after all this misery, there would still be more people who would die meaninglessly than those who would survive until peace came. Nathan would also be one of those who would die meaninglessly.

One might look at Nathan now and say he didn’t know anything yet, but Nathan thought that he had to be Hazard’s companion in order to survive. He had to stay by Hazard’s side somehow. But he couldn’t do anything with such insignificant skills. Far from being close to Hazard, he wouldn’t be able to protect himself at all. Nathan didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to, after being left alone in this world, to live without putting forth any effort.

The life of a boy named ‘Nathan Norbert’ was not even mentioned in the novel. He was doomed to crumble and disappear without being able to properly appear among the countless unnamed extras. Many people living here, including him, would die without even leaving their names behind.

It was only the protagonist and his companions who would live to tell everyone their names.

Nathan didn’t want much. He just didn’t like being forgotten and disappearing off the stage like this. He didn’t want to spread his name. He didn’t want to be the main character or the supporting role. He was just an extra, but his name was mentioned once, so he hoped someone would remember him. If no one remembered him, no one would even know that ‘he’ existed here after he died. Wasn’t that so tragic and sad? A person could be said to be truly alive only when someone remembered them. At least that was what he thought. So, if even one person remembered him properly, it would be okay to crumble and disappear after that…

Since then, Nathan had made a steady effort. For the first time in his life, he decided to study properly. There was no choice but to do so. Nathan lacked everything. He had no knowledge, no strength, no stamina, and no money to live in this world. So he had no choice but to try. And it was going to be a struggle.

What was fortunate was that Remburton, who had been bothering Nathan, went back to the Swordsmanship Department a week later? During that week, Nathan visited the infirmary every day because there wasn’t a day without stomach pain. Although he wanted to get to know Remburton, it was difficult to get along with a boy who was several years younger than him. The boy was terribly afraid to close his eyes and pretend to be friendly. He had a face like a nobleman and his actions, speech, and personality were very ferocious. There was no one as aggressive and fierce-looking as him (TN: 쌈닭, referring to roosters in cockfighting. Aggressive, fierce, perhaps carries negative connotations). So Nathan, of course, and the weak students of the Magic Department just watched Remburton from the side. It was only by chance that Nathan had once chatted with him, and when he returned to the Swordsmanship Department, Nathan secretly toasted.

After that, he was studying, studying, studying again. He, of course, secretly wandered around the academy, hoping to run into Hazard again.