CH 9

When I returned to the classroom, I found that it was still full of talk about the engagement of His Highness Alfred to Christina, the Duke’s daughter of Nord-Claudis. Thanks to this, the talk of a duel between me and Dobberwin seemed to have dissipated into thin air. After all, there was no comparison between a confrontation between a mob and a lesser mob, and an engagement between a male lead and a villainess. In the first place, the name value is different.

As soon as I took my seats, Freddy and Lydia started talking about their engagement.

“It seems that His Highness Prince Alfred and Duke’s daughter Nord-Claudis are engaged to be married.”

“Handsome and beautiful, the two of them can balance each other out, can’t they?”

“The royal family and the prime minister’s family. Strengthen their ties to each other and the country will be stable.”

“I don’t see how anyone could object to this engagement.”

I responded to the two people who were saying this and that. But I was annoyed inside. It wasn’t about the engagement itself. It was the way the engagement story was being spread, the way the rumor was being spread. I don’t know who it is, but they seem to be trying to destroy it. As I thought about it, I became increasingly angry.

(There’s no way I’ll let them go.)

Overcome by the whispers of the devil, I stood up, determined to restrain whoever it was that had spread the gossip.

“Who it is. Who started the rumor about this engagement?”

With my hands in my pockets, I dared to speak at a volume that echoed throughout the classroom. I used abdominal breathing and vocal techniques to change my voice to a quality that echoed throughout the classroom.

“This information should have been announced by the royal palace, then by the Duke of Nord-Claudis, and then passed on. Until then, the information was kept secret. In other words, it should be confidential. That is irresponsible gossip!”

My voice echoes through every corner of the classroom, and I can feel the air in the place freeze. Most of the students are looking at me. I shoved my hands in my pants pockets and smirked. They’re probably stunned that I, the lowest of the caste, am being so belligerent. All the people looking at me have a look on their face like a pigeon had been hit by a peashooter.

Both Freddy and Lydia, who were standing beside me, looked up at me and froze. Of course they did. Since I entered the school, I’ve never shown this kind of aggressive behavior. However, this is the difference between me, who has lived for more than half a century combined, and someone who has lived only fifteen years and has yet to enter society.

As I moved my eyes and looked around, I noticed that some of the students were not looking at me. They were the Duke’s daughter of Nord-Claudis and her two attendants, a man named Thomas Frayn and a woman named Sharon Cloral. The three of them are looking ahead without losing their posture.

(Just as expected)

I guess they are disciplined and educated not to show their emotions unnecessarily to protect their pride and behavior as dukes. When I look at the profile of the male squire, Frayn, who is sitting four seats next to me, his expression is gone. I can imagine that both the Duke’s daughter and the female squire, Cloral, are probably just as expressionless.

“This marriage story is a state secret, but it’s not a secret if it’s gossiped about first. This is a disgrace to the kingdom. Isn’t it polite to pretend you don’t know about it even if you do?”

“This is not only for the kingdom, but for the duke as well.　The royal family and the Prime Minister’s family are related, so they are like one and the same, aren’t they?”

“I’m the son of a merchant, so I have nothing to do with this, but I think it’s a disgrace to the aristocracy that such secrets were revealed at a school like this. I wonder who the source of the rumor is!”

The noblemen’s children are all looking down at my words and the sentences I’m hurling at them. No one is glaring at me. Of course. It’s the same as saying, “Don’t you have any pride as nobles?”

I think they all understood what I meant, that it was not the kind of thing you talk about with glee. But not the young lady and her two attendants. They have not lost their stance in response to my provocation. They are really thorough in this area. I guess that’s what you call the Prime Minister’s family.

“Well, what goes around comes around, and even if you don’t like it, it will spread. You can talk about it all if you want.”

With that, I sat down. Everyone must have been nervous, because after a huffing sound, the students began to move.

“Oh, you scared me.”

Lydia, who had been frozen first, spoke up.

“I’m honestly sorry.”

Next, Freddy bowed to me.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to allude you two. I was just pissed off at the guy who leaked the story.”

“But it was scary. I didn’t know Glen would be so angry.”

“I knew I wasn’t supposed to touch this topic.”

They each said apologetically. Well, it can’t be helped. One who knows the story and one who doesn’t. I didn’t mean to scare them, but it would serve as a threat and a warning to those who spread the rumor, and probably to the reincarnated people who came from the real world like me, considering what would happen later. This is the reason why I decided to say it, because it was in my best interest to say it or not.

“The basic rule of a merchant is to keep quiet even if he knows.”

When I told them that, Lydia asked me.

“By the way, how long has Glen known about this?”

“I knew before I started.”

I answered, daring to raise my voice volume to reach the seat diagonally in front of me on the right.

“Uso!”

The two of them seemed taken aback by my words and froze together. On the other hand, the female student in the seat in front of me to my right, the Duke’s daughter’s squire Cloral, twitched her shoulders for a moment, but showed no further reaction. This must be the result of her training as a squire. She’s only fifteen years old, but that’s quite a feat. It’s no wonder I fell in love with her. Of course, that was in the game.

“No, it’s true.”

It’s not a lie that I’ve known this for a long time. It’s an undeniable fact that I knew it before I came to this world. The engagement event between the legitimate highness and the Duke’s daughter is an event that you must see every time you play [Eleanore!] I’ve seen the picture of His Highness Alfred with a slightly complicated expression on his face, Christina the villainess with a triumphant look on her face, and their respective followers following behind them.

“Glen must have an amazing network of information.”

Freddy is impressed. But that’s just a misunderstanding. I don’t know anything about this school or the movements of the country except from the game. For example, the story of the duel that’s about to happen to me is not in the game at all. That’s why I don’t know anything about this duel.

“No, no, no, it’s not like that. If I had that, I wouldn’t have been challenged to a duel.”

If I didn’t deny it properly, it might turn out to be something terrible, so I had to deny it firmly. Well, I was relieved when both of them nodded their heads and said, “Sure,” but if I did anything too out of line, something would happen to me. I have to be careful in the future.

After school, I was summoned to the staff room. The reason was, of course, the duel with Dobberwin. The unnamed instructor who answered the call made a big deal of the reason. The instructors at this school are basically mobs, so there’s no need to deal with them at all. There are no promotion exams or graduation exams at this school. You don’t have to flatter them or make deals with them to advance, so there’s no problem at all even if you erase their existence itself.

In fact, I’ve never met anyone who could use it, so there’s no point in trying to remember names. This is completely different from a student like Dobberwin, who can be a direct stakeholder. Compared to teachers in the real world, this school’s instructors have less presence and authority, and their value to me is reduced to dust.

The content of the duel notice from the instructor was as expected, that the duel with Dobberwin would be in seven days. As an instructor, he would not stop the duel. He then presented me with a dueling letter of intent and a written pledge, which I quickly signed and left the room.

I don’t need to read it to know what it says. This is because the school is not in charge of anything that happens in the duel. The only thing that’s important to me is the line in the prospectus that says, “For the Count of Dobberwin”. That’s all that matters to me, as long as it’s in there.