Chapter 42

༺ The First Letter (42) ༻

It has already been a day since the clash against Senior Elsie’s gang.

A lot happened in the meantime. Not only did Celine admonish me about how I could do such a dangerous thing, but I also had to listen to the Saintess’ preaching after I visited the temple for a checkup.

I insisted it was inevitable since I had to protect my honor as a noble, but in return, I had to listen to a sermon professing how honor is less important than life.

The priests of the Holy Kingdom didn’t know how important honor was to the nobles. To them, life was like a gift given to them by the God Arus.

So when I carelessly tried to throw away that precious life while raving about ‘honor’, I must have looked like a fool. Because, even if it’s the nobles who take the risks, it’s entirely the priest’s responsibility to save their lives.

In the first place, it was inevitable since each Kingdom has a different culture. After all, no matter how hard I tried to persuade her, it was impossible for me to change the Saintess’ mind. Thus, in this situation, there was only one correct course of action.

I listened to those old-fashioned sermons while nodding, seemingly impressed, as her preaching went in one ear and out the other

After doing this for about a few minutes, most priests would nod their heads with a satisfied smile. And even the Saintess was no exception.

“Ian Oppa, I am glad that you were so impressed with my words. Imperial nobles usually don’t want to listen to me. You are the only exception, Oppa. This also must be Arus’ grace.”

As she said that, there was a sense of pride that couldn’t be hidden in her pale pink eyes. She straightened her shoulders, feeling bubbly, accentuating her overwhelmingly prominent cleavage.

I sighed and averted my gaze while coughing. I then clasped my hands.

Arus, forgive your sinful son.

However, the Saintess seemed to have misunderstood my gesture as a sign of faith. I could tell just by a mere glance at her subtle movement as a result of her excitement.

Thanks to that, her imposing breasts bounced, as if to boast to the world about their amazing elasticity. I gulped and made a cross with my hand once more.

Arus, come to think of it, isn’t it thanks to you I was born as a male? I’ve just realized that this as well must have been a gift from you. Emmanuel.

Having eventually come to terms with myself in an instant, I sneaked a glance at the Saintes. Only a benign smile lingered on her.

“Ian Oppa, even though recently you have gained a lot of fame, you still have such deep faith, the Lord in heaven must be pleased. I hope we can chat in the future. Emmanuel.”

Then she glanced at me and smiled. At the last moment, I couldn’t bear to face the Saintess’ gaze due to my creeping sense of guilt.

According to mythology, Heavenly God Arus and the Evil God Omeros created humans. However, it is said that the human body still retains the sinful nature, due to the fact that Heavenly God Arus created the soul, while Evil God Omeros created the body. Now that I think about it.

That was truly a sinful body.

Not mine, but the Saintess’.

I soon left the temple with those immoral thoughts crumpled into one corner of my mind.

Other than that, there was a lot of work to do. First of all, the gaze and gossip that follows me wherever I go.

It made me reminisce about the day I first opened my eyes after having lost an entire week worth of memory. In a way, this time it was even worse than it was back then.

The rumor of me defeating Seria in a duel was unrealistic, moreover there were only 100 or so witnesses. I was lucky it was a rumor which didn’t get talked about a lot.

However, the place where I attacked Senior Elsie was literally in the middle of the academy. It was rare to see such a spectacle within the academy where violence was nominally banned, and even less so was seeing a third-year student defeating a fourth-year celebrity.Expplôre uptodate stories at no/vel//bin(.)com

In addition, the fact that the opponent I defeated was Senior Elsie also contributed to the range the rumors spread to. After all, she was “The Elsie Rinella”, the one who bore the title of ‘Loli Gangster’?

In fact, if you were to utter even one letter of the word ‘loli’ in front of her, you would have to be prepared to face her retribution, but behind her back, that nickname was already widely used.

Small in stature, and her doll-like appearance. From the outside, she certainly looked like a cute and lovely girl.

However, her tendency to swear, brazen personality, and her behavior of running a gang and intimidating students gave her the opposite image. Because of their actions, they seemed no different from street gangs.

Hence the nickname ‘Loli Gangster’. It was a rather cute name, but there were quite a few people who shuddered at her viciousness.

Then, even though Senior Elsie personally led her gang, she still lost against one of her juniors.

Elements of surprise, luck, and various circumstances were on my side. However, none of the rumors accounted for all of these details.

By now, in all the rumors, Senior Elsie had become a disgraceful senior who suffered the greatest of humiliation as she wet herself in fear.

That wasn’t even taking into account an aristocrat’s honor. She would have to bear this dark history for the rest of her life.

Moreover, I wouldn’t be surprised if her family decides to personally step in after the rumors of her wetting herself became widespread. She was born with a beautiful appearance, but still, if such a devious rumor were to spread, it would only block her marriage routes.

“Rebellion, to write such treacherous words regarding a noble.......”

After reading that one line, I couldn’t help but mumble like that in astonishment.

Treason was a felony. It was like that in any nation. Therefore, it was common for nobles, whether from an Empire or a Kingdom, to be reluctant to even make use of such words.

And even in the academy, to dare use words like ‘rebellion.’

I was already feeling dizzy. Even more, to define myself as a ‘lower Imperial aristocrat’ implied that a ‘higher Imperial aristocrat’ existed as well

In the world, even if it was in the academy, nothing good would happen if you get despised by the high-ranking nobles, since they had interlaced relationships between each other. I felt mentally only after reading just one line.

However, contrary to my thoughts, Seria spoke to me in a slightly excited tone. Even so, it was only a very subtle difference that others couldn’t tell.

“Senior Ian, to defeat that Elsie Rinella... Amazing.”

“No, I was just lucky.”

I was fortunate that I drew my sword suddenly, not even taking into account the fact that my opponent was careless.

I would have only won against one or two of those thugs if I confronted them head on.

Even that was a generous evaluation I made based on the fact that my skills have been rapidly growing recently and the practicality of the secondary armament called hatchet.

Of course, for a third year student to be talking about winning against ‘one or two’ fourth year meant he was already quite talented. However, on second thought, it was quite unbelievable.

It’s been less than a month since I lost my memory, but my skills have been growing rapidly the more I went through actual battles.

But even that had limits. Even if I was evaluated as being ‘strong in real life battles’, my basic skills and mana had still only slightly improved compared to the past.

In the end, true skill doesn’t rely on variables and surprise attacks, but stems from solid basics and one’s mana reserves. Compensating for this would be the homework I had to solve in the future.

But no matter what I thought, Seria seemed to think that beating a talented senior at the academy was something praiseworthy. A faint glimmer of joy flickered across her eyes.

“Still, it doesn’t change the fact that Ian is great. How did you come up with the idea of a surprise attack at that point?”

“Well, it just came to mind.”

It was a strange remark, but Seria burst into admiration, saying that a true master differs from others in terms of instinct.

By this point, I was almost ashamed of myself. If I were to face Seria now under the assumption of using Aura, in all probability, it would end in my defeat. Being praised by such an opponent, I had no choice but to feel uncomfortable.

I heaved a sigh and then calmed down. When Seria’s curious gaze turned to me, I brought up the topic that came to mind.

“There, I met her.”

“...... ?”

“Your step-sister.”

“Ah,” said Seria, as she heaved a brief sigh. Her expression turned slightly grim. To be a little more precise, her expression suggested that she was ‘panicking’.

To Seria, her step-sister must have been like a huge wall.

She is the president of the Knight’s Faculty among the fourth-year students, the highest grade at the Academy. Even if I had never fought her, I could roughly guess what it would feel like.

Seria inquired cautiously.

“... ... How was it?”

“It was too brief of a meeting to make an assessment. But I guess she was unexpectedly favorable towards me. Oh, and.”

I tapped her palms and told Seria what had transpired back then. A curious light dwelled in Seria’s eyes.

And the next moment.

“Tonight, we decided to meet once more. Alone.”

Seria’s face turned cold.

The light in her jewel-like eyes dimmed at once. It was a dramatic change, so I couldn’t help but panic.

Why is Seria acting like this?