The next day.
I woke up at the crack of dawn and headed to the First Small Auditorium, where the Martial Arts lecture was being held.
According to the syllabus, the Basic Physical Training lecture was also conducted in the First Small Auditorium.
‘I found it a bit strange…!’
Upon arriving at the location, my doubts vanished instantly.
The interior of the auditorium had been renovated into a training ground, resembling a practical training classroom.
Instead, a new question arose.
‘They could have just used a regular practical classroom. Why go through the trouble of…’
Even for a small auditorium, it occupied an entire building, so the floor area was much wider than a practical classroom, and the ceiling height was incomparable.
This was despite the fact that the Awakened Special Class consisted of only nine members.
Since the professor had to supervise the students, they couldn’t be too far apart from each other anyway.
Consequently, the punching bags installed for the Martial Arts lecture were all clustered in one corner of the auditorium.
Although training hadn’t started yet, it was impossible not to notice how much space was being wasted.
‘Anyway, when I was learning Martial Arts last semester, we didn’t use things like punching bags. We just threw punches and kicks into the air…’
Moreover, these weren’t standard punching bags; they were rotary ones equipped with punching balls and spin bars.
Since they were preparing for real combat, it seemed these were intended for striking drills as well.
“Karbaldr!”
After taking a quick look around the auditorium, I was tapping on a punching bag for no particular reason when I heard a voice call out the name of the possession body.
Turning my head, I saw Reysir, who had just entered the auditorium, running toward me.
“You’re here early! Perfect timing!”
“…What’s perfect about it?”
“They say moving on an empty stomach leads to muscle loss, decreased exercise performance, and even the risk of hypoglycemia. That’s why I brought this.”
What Reysir pulled out as he spoke was an energy bar.
“It’s not something made by an expert, just a commercial product I bought from the kiosk earlier, so it might not be much to someone like you… but it’s much better than eating nothing.”
I didn’t know why he was explaining himself at such length in a pleading tone while offering something of his own.
If I didn’t accept it, I wouldn’t be the one losing out; Reysir would be.
‘First he brings lunchboxes when I skip meals, and now he’s looking after me with this…’
Knowing Reysir’s affectionate nature, he probably hadn’t brought it just for me.
He likely prepared enough for everyone in the Awakened Special Class.
Even though I knew that, I felt a ticklish, warm sensation in my chest for some reason.
“Well, if you’re going to go that far… I’ll accept it out of respect for the sincerity of visiting the kiosk at this hour.”
“Right, right. Good choice! Oh, Yor, do you want one too?”
Meow!
I spoke in a deliberately arrogant tone as I took the energy bar from Reysir’s hand.
Reysir then gave a satisfied smile and handed an energy bar to Yor as well, and my baby dragon accepted it readily.
‘I should probably say thank you at a time like this…?’
Thinking that the protagonist of another novel might tease me made me feel embarrassed already.
However, showing kindness only goes so far if it’s one-sided.
If a misunderstanding took root — that I didn’t know how to be grateful and took his kindness for granted — he might grow weary and stop caring about me.
He might even reconsider trying to be my friend.
“Ah! You can open the packaging by grabbing the jagged part here like this.”
As I hesitated, I absentmindedly toyed with the plastic wrapper, making a rustling sound.
It seemed he had mistaken my hesitation for not knowing how to open the plastic.
Reysir kindly explained and even demonstrated by tearing open his own energy bar.
‘At this rate… if I say thank you now, it’ll just sound like I’m thanking him for showing me how to open a plastic wrapper.’
At that thought, my gaze toward Reysir inadvertently sharpened.
“Why are you suddenly glaring at me?”
“I do not need an explanation on how to open a wrapper. Is it not something one can figure out just by looking?”
“Ah… did I hurt your pride because you thought I was treating you like a fool? I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought you might have never eaten something like this before, and you were fidgeting with the wrapper with a contemplating expression.”
“That was… just because… I was trying to say thank you, but I hesitated a little……?”
Reysir covered his mouth and quickly turned his head.
His shoulders were shaking; anyone could see he was definitely laughing.
“Just laugh openly.”
“Puhahaha!!”
“……I think it would have been better if you just held it in.”
“Kh-hehp…”
Why was it?
Even though the other person was listening to me quite well, I felt my mood souring.
Feeling disgruntled, I peeled off the energy bar’s wrapper and took a bite.
It was neither particularly delicious nor bad.
It just tasted like a normal energy bar.
“How is it? Is it edible?”
The protagonist of another novel, who had stopped laughing before I knew it, asked with a slightly nervous expression.
I stared at his face for a moment, let out a deep sigh, and spoke.
“You seem to think that because I was raised in luxury, I won’t touch anything that isn’t precious food, but I don’t particularly care about that.”
“…Huh? Really??”
“Truly so. This is food made for people to eat anyway, and it’s sold at the kiosk of an academy where the majority are nobles, isn’t it? The same goes for the restaurants in the commercial district. Even if they aren’t classified as high-end, since academy students visit them frequently, they wouldn’t make food carelessly. So, you don’t have to walk on eggshells every time you offer me food from now on.”
It wasn’t something to worry about at all.
Reysir chewed on his energy bar, thinking for a long time before coming to the following conclusion.
“Even so, I won’t just offer you anything. If I’m going to feed you, I want it to be something good.”
If he wanted to do that, I couldn’t exactly refuse something good and demand something bad.
Especially since what I ate also went into Yor’s mouth.
Thus, after replying with a “Whatever, do as you wish,” I was finishing the energy bar when…
“Oh? I expected to be the first to arrive, but to think there would be two even more diligent students!”
Fjodra appeared, speaking those words.
There was a reason for her admiration.
This dawn lecture began at 5:00 AM, an extremely early hour, and it was currently twenty minutes prior to the start.
“I see you two have come early to warm up. How very diligent.”
To the Imperial Princess’s remark, Reysir and I answered simultaneously, as if we had rehearsed it, “Ah, yes…”
I answered because I had to respond to a member of the Imperial Family, though I didn’t want to say thank you even out of politeness.
It seemed Reysir felt the same way.
“By the way, what were you just eating?”
“It’s an energy bar from the kiosk.”
“Ho? They sell such things at the kiosk? I was concerned that students were entering training without even being able to eat because the start time was so early. This is good. If they’re decent after trying them, I should distribute one to each Special Class student every dawn.”
“Ye — s.”
Reysir’s face was dyed with discomfort.
I suspected he was thinking that if she was so concerned, she shouldn’t have forced dawn training in the first place, or at least should have pushed back the time.
“Speaking of which, do you happen to have a spare energy bar?”
“……Here it is.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Even though the original protagonist openly displayed an unwilling expression, Fjodra didn’t mind at all and took the energy bar immediately.
Then, she peeled the wrapper, took a bite, and instantly wrinkled her face.
“What a crude taste! To think the students of an academy run by the Imperial Family were eating such junk food…. And is this black substance truly chocolate? I cannot feel the characteristic bitter aroma at all, and for some reason, it leaves a subtle slick residue on the tip of the tongue. It is quite terrible.”
I unfolded the crumpled energy bar wrapper in my hand and examined the ingredients list.
Seeing palm oil listed, it seemed it was a product made using compound chocolate instead of real chocolate.
I was impressed she noticed, given that the chocolate content wasn’t even that high.
More than that, for a world that claims to be a medieval European-style setting, ingredients like dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate… ‘Is it even okay for those to be in food?’
Where and how on earth were these processed foods sold at the kiosk being made?
The more I thought about it, the more curious I became.
However, there was a separate issue to address immediately.
“Is this not a product managed and sold by the Imperial Family? There is even a food safety management certification mark printed on the wrapper. I believe there might be an issue with calling it junk food.”
“That is merely a certification that it is not harmful to the body. it does not guarantee quality, including taste.”
It seemed she treated all food with poor quality as junk, even if it wasn’t harmful to humans.
I glanced at Reysir’s expression.
Having suddenly become the person who handed junk food to both me and the Imperial Princess, his complexion had turned incredibly dark.
Whether she failed to notice this or not, Fjodra spoke the following.
“Setting the other students aside, I see you ate this quite well, Young Lord?”
“It seems my sense of taste is not as sensitive as your Highness’s.”
“Even so… this doesn’t seem right. I must bring a bakery into the academy so that students can buy proper snacks at any time.”
If the conversation had ended with the conclusion of ‘I won’t eat this crap even if it’s given to me,’ it would have been truly annoying.
However, since it led to a resolution to improve student welfare, it was somewhat justifiable.
But after that resolution, Fjodra hesitated while looking at her leftover energy bar, and as if she couldn’t bring herself to eat more, she shoved it into her Inventory.
I revoked my mental justification for her.
If I recall correctly, in the original work before the remake, Fjodra suffered greatly because of food issues after leaving the Imperial Palace…
She especially struggled when she had to eat preserved food inside the Demonic Realm.
I wondered if she would suffer the same way this time.
Or, since she was receiving proper support from the Imperial Family this time, perhaps top-quality preserved rations had been prepared.
‘More importantly, it’s a relief I told Reysir beforehand that I don’t care about the quality of food.’
Despite that, Reysir’s current expression was very gloomy.
If I had let today pass without saying that, Reysir would probably be apologizing to me repeatedly right now, feeling deathly sorry.
“If your Highness is finished speaking, may we begin our warm-up exercises?”
“Oh, I accidentally ended up taking your time. I must also warm up now, so do not mind me and do what you were going to do.”
After Fjodra’s permission was granted, I lightly tugged on Reysir’s sleeve.
It was a gesture to ignore what the Princess had just said and hurry up and start the warm-up.