The next day.
Today’s morning lecture, on Wednesday, was ‘Ether Comprehension and Application’.
As you can tell from the use of past tense, I’m now done with my first session of that class.
And the fact that the detailed description was skipped means that nothing worth mentioning happened at all.
Luckily, none of the main characters from the original work are taking this class.
Since it’s a subject that wouldn’t be strange even if ‘Karvald Austri’ took it, I didn’t attract the professor’s attention like I did during the basic physical training lecture.
It wasn’t as if no extras tried to talk to me, but when I stuck to silence, they got awkward and quickly drifted away.
If only I could shake off Tridric and Liolikin this easily!
Valhalla Academy doesn’t schedule any lectures between 12 and 1 o’clock. In other words, almost all students eat lunch at the same time.
So, I had to have lunch today with both Tridric Scaphti and Liolikin Tremmler.
One of them arrived at the cafeteria first and waited for me, while the other joined in during the meal.
And as an aside, yesterday evening, they even came all the way to my private training ground and knocked on my door.
They said it’s good to train yourself, but shouldn’t I at least eat?
Since it’s an academy facility called the ‘Tower of Training’, it’s only natural they’d know the location.
But I never told them what floor my training room was on, so I have no idea how they found me.
Eating was just an excuse!
They acted like they were looking out for me, but I’m sure that wasn’t their real purpose.
They must have noticed I was keeping my distance, and are desperately trying to maintain our relationship by any means.
They’ll probably come looking for me again this evening.
Truly, these guys are relentless.
Even if I said outright that I don’t want to hang out with them, I doubt it would do any good…
If they were the type to give up that easily, they wouldn’t have come all the way to my training ground in the first place.
Still, I debated whether I should at least say something.
But if I asked why they were doing this, they’d probably get even more annoying, so for now, I’ve put it on hold.
“Hey, everyone~! If you’re attending an academy like this, you shouldn’t really need to learn a subject like ‘Dagger Technique’, but there are still ten students who went out of their way to sign up~? I’m not happy to see you at all, guys~!”
I haven’t described it yet, but I arrived at the classroom for my afternoon lecture about fifteen minutes ago.
Now, the lecture has been going for about five minutes.
The person who just entered the classroom with that strange greeting is the professor in charge of this subject.
Late on the very first day, and complaining that even ten students is too many—what kind of educator is that?
No matter how you look at it, that’s not the attitude of a normal teacher.
And on top of that, as if deliberately designed to make it easy to distinguish who is speaking when several characters talk at once, she even drags out the ends of her sentences in a distinctive way.
At this point, it’s almost as if she’s loudly declaring, ‘I’m one of the important characters in the original!’
At least in 《I Alone Am SSS-Class Einheri》, a major character usually means someone destined to die.
So, the best answer is probably to avoid getting involved with her as much as possible.
But even so, I had to sign up for this class. Because………
“I imagine most of you already know this, but~. Just in case anyone doesn’t, let me explain. Actually, you know~? I’m currently a criminal! Ahahahaha!”
Scati Spilov—this character was once the heir to the infamous leader of an assassination guild.
According to the original, Scati eventually grew tired of killing.
To escape the guild, she cut off the leader’s head and presented it to the Emperor.
“The reason I’m teaching here now is, well~. You could call it a kind of sentence? Forced labor? Something like that~. In short, I’m only working here because the state made me, so I have no desire to teach you sincerely~!”
At this point in the story, Reysir Daudabina and Scati Spilov don’t know each other yet.
In the original, the first time the two became aware of each other’s existence wasn’t at Valhalla Academy, but inside the Demonic Realm.
At that time, Reysir was no longer a student, and Scati was no longer a professor.
At the end of December.
Scati awakened as a result of a Demonic Realm incident at the academy, and from then on, she served as an Einheri of the Imperial Household, tasked with conquering the Demonic Realm.
It was during this mission that she met the protagonist.
***
After various conversations, the two discovered that they had both attended Valhalla Academy at the same time but had dropped out.
Then Scati said, ‘If the Demonic Realm hadn’t appeared, we would have met as teacher and student,’ and passed on all her knowledge and skills to Reysir.
So, saying she doesn’t want to teach us sincerely is probably a lie!
In the original, Scati taught Reysir a lot.
From how to handle daggers, to how to deal with ambushes, how to move without being detected by the enemy, how to disarm traps.
And even parkour techniques for moving efficiently through city ruins swallowed by the Demonic Realm.
While teaching Reysir, Scati was genuinely happy.
And in her final moments.
She recalled her time at the academy, saying that teaching students had been the most fulfilling and brilliant moment of her life.
“Don’t forget that the course registration correction period is until next week~!”
I don’t know why she’s saying things she doesn’t mean right now.
But the way she’s described in the original, she was a wonderful educator.
You can probably guess just how much the knowledge and skills Reysir learned from Scati helped him, even if I don’t spell it out.
Just because I’m taking her class doesn’t mean I’ll inherit everything the original protagonist learned from her.
After all, this course is just about learning dagger techniques.
Still, that’s enough for me. Scati’s dagger techniques alone are well worth learning.
In the original, Reysir made excellent use of the dagger skills he learned from her.
“Alrighty~! That’s all the announcements~, so let’s take attendance now~!”
Even if I don’t form a special teacher-student relationship with Scati like Reysir did, there are still advantages to just being one of the ten students in the class.
That means that even if I take this class, I probably won’t get deeply involved with Scati.
So, even if she dies later, I’ll feel sorry, but not so sad that I’m overcome with grief.
That’s why I was able to sign up for a class taught by an important supporting character from the original… or so I thought………
“Karvald Austri… Austri?”
“Yes.”
“So, why is a kid who looks like a high-ranking noble taking my class~? Oh! You’re from the Austri Ducal Family~?!”
When my name was called, I raised my hand and answered, and Scati’s eyes sparkled with intense interest.
‘Was this character the type to fawn over the powerful like Tridric? I don’t remember that being the case, so what’s going on?’
I stood there blankly, unable to figure out the reason, until Scati, making a fuss, cleared up my confusion.
“The Austri family’s Aether ability is ‘poison’, right~?! I used to be soooo jealous of that~! I mean, poison and dagger techniques make such a killer combo, don’t they~? So I always wondered. Why do people from that family, who have poison-attribute Aether, use things like whips as weapons~? But seeing you sign up for my dagger class, I guess you finally realized it too~?”
“I’m a direct descendant of the Austri family, but I didn’t inherit any poison-related abilities.”
I’d rather not attract a supporting character’s attention because of a poison ability I don’t even have.
So I told her the truth, meaning not to get her hopes up, and the professor’s face turned awkward.
At the same time, the other students began whispering.
“I figured he might have a defect in his Aether ability, judging by his eye color…”
“How did he even get acknowledged as a family member?”
“He must have just avoided being kicked out, that’s all.”
“If he can’t use poison abilities, then he probably doesn’t have poison immunity either, right? So if he eats poison, he’ll die?”
Excluding me, there are only nine students in the class.
If I wanted to, I could easily figure out who said what.
Yet even in such an environment, everyone gossips so freely.
Well, they’re talking about Karvald Austri anyway. I’ll just ignore it.
If I react to every little thing and get angry, they’ll just think I’m having a fit because of my inferiority complex.
I’m used to people whispering negatively about me.
Even though it’s been ten years since then.
I didn’t bother turning my head to figure out who had made those comments.
I just stared straight ahead, pretending to be calm. In times like these, you have to act confident.
“Uh, um… I’m sorry…? I didn’t mean to point out your weakness on purpose…”
“It’s not something I’ve been hiding. It’s just that no one ever asked, and it would be odd to bring it up myself. I just haven’t had the chance to mention it until now. It’s also not something my father particularly cares about.”
The original Karvald Austri would probably see it differently, but from my point of view, that’s not a lie.
One of the classes I signed up for this semester is ‘Aether Attribute Enhancement’.
Once I take that class, it’ll naturally become known that I can’t use poison-attribute Aether.
How long has it even been since I possessed this body? It’s not like I’ve had a chance to go around talking about my Aether abilities.
And the father of this body, Hard Austri, simply isn’t interested in his youngest son at all.
So I’ve only stated the facts.
Even if I hadn’t signed up for ‘Aether Attribute Enhancement’, this was bound to come out eventually.
The longer I tried to hide it while attending the academy, the more the other students would have laughed at me.
That would just mean I’d been so conscious of my lack of ability that I was desperately trying not to let it be discovered.
“Poison is something anyone can get their hands on if they have money, isn’t it? The core ability of my family is actually buffs that can enhance even other people’s physical abilities, not imbuing Aether with toxicity.”
Honestly, I’m glad I got to say this in a situation like this.
It’s also a relief that, instead of everyone pointing fingers at me, the person right in front of me is looking worried and fidgety.
Thanks to that, I wasn’t swallowed by the nightmares of my childhood.
“Of course, the fact that I don’t have complete poison immunity could be seen as a weakness, but that’s nothing to worry about. It’s not like anyone would try to poison the youngest of the Austri Ducal Family in an academy where only a select few can enter. And besides, none of you have poison immunity either, do you?”
Mocking the students who had been whispering, I finally turned my head and glanced around.
No one met my eyes directly. Some rolled their eyes to avoid my gaze, and others even turned their heads away.
The message that ‘if anyone tries to use poison on me, they’ll get to experience Austri family’s poison Aether in retaliation’ seems to have gotten through.
“So, Professor, you don’t need to feel sorry for me.”
“You’re… such a confident, wonderful, and kind child…!!”
“I’m not kind at all.”
“Well then~! In this harsh world, you can’t just be kind! If someone speaks carelessly, just cut their throats!”
“Killing people inside the academy is a bit…”
“There are plenty of ways to shut someone up without killing them. Want me to teach you a few~?”
“No thanks, I know plenty myself.”
“Ahahaha~!!”
When she offered to teach me dangerous things, I quickly declined, and Scati laughed heartily, as if she’d heard something hilarious.
It seems this dagger technique professor (who is doomed to die) has taken quite a liking to me.
This could be a problem.