“Battle training?”
“Actually, I was admitted through the special Awakened screening. The perks are no joke. Tuition waiver, free uniforms, and even a monthly stipend. Why would the Imperial Academy go so far to recruit Awakened individuals like this?”
“Is the Imperial Family… planning to train specialists to clear the Demonic Realm? Here at the Academy?”
“That’s my guess.”
While I was considering dropping out of the Academy, the conversation between the original protagonist and the original supporting character continued.
“By the way, your speech pattern is strangely familiar… Haven’t we met somewhere before?”
“Oh, my! What a cliché pickup line…! I’m sorry, but you aren’t really my type, Senior.”
“Neither are you! I only asked because you literally sound like someone I’ve heard before. It wasn’t a pickup line.”
“Ah, is that so? I’m often told I have a charm that makes everyone, regardless of age or gender, lose their minds, so I thought I’d accidentally created a new victim without realizing it.”
That ‘lose their minds’ line also appeared in the original work.
Those around him used the phrase in a negative sense, meaning they were ‘driven mad’ because he was so annoying.
However, Fret knew this perfectly well.
The setting for his character was that he intentionally acted as if the phrase meant they were ‘crazy about him’ in a positive way.
‘That way, the other person gets even more frustrated and loses the will to even talk to him!’
It was happening now as well.
Reysir turned his head away with a look of disgust, ending the conversation with Fret.
It meant he had given up on pressing him about the familiar speech pattern.
‘Anyway, if even Reysir, the original protagonist, felt a sense of familiarity… then that mercenary who appeared during the kidnapping incident really was Fret!’
I have no idea why someone who is the heir to an information guild would take on such a request.
Since the readers will surely be curious, I should try to subtly probe him sometime.
Just as I thought that, a brown-haired freshman with an unassuming appearance stepped onto the black carpet with a nervous expression.
“Looking at how he keeps checking his feet and walking cautiously for fear of leaving footprints on such an expensive-looking carpet, he must be a commoner like me.”
Fret offered this observation despite having walked over quite boldly himself.
No, I wasn’t even sure if this counted as a ‘guess.’
‘He’s probably just pretending to guess something he already found out through an investigation!’
Was it because he was from an information guild?
He was the type of character who couldn’t rest until he knew everything about the people around him.
There was no way such a person hadn’t already looked into the students admitted through the same special Awakened screening.
‘He’s likely already finished investigating Reysir and me, as we’ve been confirmed as Awakened.’
Going even further, there was a very high possibility that he had already completed investigations into Hailga, Vigdis, and Liolikin as well.
Fret was a character with a fanatical obsession with gathering information.
He was to the point where it was understandable why he was chosen as the heir to an information guild.
Because of this trait, many readers of the original work hated this character.
He drew animosity for being ‘shady’ due to his habit of doing background checks like it was a daily routine.
As a result, well, as it usually goes, he was exited from the story through death.
“It seems you Seniors are the very taciturn type. I was planning to retort with ‘Well, it was laid out to be stepped on, wasn’t it?’ if you pointed out how recklessly I stepped on the carpet…”
Fret spoke playfully, but none of us reacted to his words.
Hailga seemed to be in no mood for conversation, feeling troubled by the talk of the special Awakened class.
Reysir was still disgusted by Fret.
As for me, while there was the reason of maintaining my possession body’s character, I simply didn’t want to reply to such nonsense, so I ignored him.
“Now that my classmate is here, I should go say hello. Getting close to my seniors is important, but I’ll probably run into my own year’s students most often…”
Did he judge that forcing more conversation on us would be more harmful than beneficial?
The heir of the information guild stood up, putting on an intentionally awkward expression.
The new freshman had taken a seat two or three spots away from us, rather than sitting right next to us like Fret had.
“Hi there. You were also admitted through the special Awakened screening, right?”
“Uh…?! You too? Then are you a commoner?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m Fret Hullid. What’s your name?”
I hoped it wasn’t the case, but perhaps this new freshman was also an original supporting character.
Therefore, I sharpened my hearing to eavesdrop on the freshmen’s conversation…
“I’m Svein Od. I was worried I might be the only commoner, so I’m glad there’s another one besides me. Plus, we’re both Awakened. I’m really happy to meet you!”
Sure enough, a familiar name popped up.
This person wasn’t even someone who could be considered entirely on the protagonist’s side, unlike Fret.
In Chapter 81, I had briefly mentioned the existence of a traitor in the original work; this was him.
‘The problem doesn’t end there.’
Fret was a character whose Awakening timing was never specifically mentioned, so I could accept him being Awakened now.
But Svein was different.
During his first appearance in the original, he told Reysir, whom he met in the Demonic Realm, that he had just Awakened.
‘That was shortly after Dyuf died, if I recall.’
This meant one of two things.
Either Svein’s Awakening was moved up for some reason, or the Svein in the original work had intentionally lied to Reysir.
‘It’s one headache after another from the very first day of school…’
While my desire to drop out of the Academy grew even stronger, the thought that I shouldn’t also raised its head.
A traitor from the original work had entered the Academy, and there was a high possibility he would betray Reysir again this time.
I was the only one who knew this fact.
‘I’m the only one who can keep an eye on him and prepare for the betrayal.’
In the original work, Reysir regarded Svein as a friend and trusted him immensely.
Because of that, he only realized Svein had betrayed him after losing two of his comrades.
Me.
Knowing that it could turn out that way again.
And especially since the comrades Reysir might lose this time could be people I know.
‘At least the silver lining is that the heir to the information guild is nearby.’
The reason Svein betrayed Reysir was never revealed in the original work.
It was because he never opened his mouth until the moment he died.
‘The readers of the original guessed that Author Senna just wanted to torment the protagonist and made one of his comrades a traitor without coming up with a specific backstory… but…’
If I played my cards right, I might be able to find out the reason Svein betrayed the original protagonist through Fret.
If I could do that, I might be able to prevent the betrayal itself.
Even if I couldn’t get useful information and Svein tried to betray him again, I felt I could at least avoid the worst-case scenario.
If I commissioned the heir of the information guild to keep a close watch on Svein, I would be able to know in advance when and how he planned to lead whom to their death, and then I could prepare.
‘And I can probably prevent Reysir from trusting Svein as a friend, right? I just have to interfere so the two of them can’t build a friendship narrative!’
If I did that, unlike the original, Reysir wouldn’t be hurt by a friend’s betrayal, nor would he have to face the painful situation of having to kill someone he believed was his friend with his own hands.
‘Let’s reconsider dropping out after solving this problem. If I drop out while ignoring the traitor’s existence, I’ll probably have such bad dreams that I’ll develop actual insomnia.’
Perhaps even these thoughts counted as ‘Character Analysis,’ because the Mental Acceleration effect had been active for some time.
Thus, it was only a few minutes after I reached this conclusion that Vigdis and Liolikin arrived.
“I didn’t expect you two to come together. This is a surprise.”
“We ran into each other while waiting for a hired carriage at the Gate facility.”
“Yessir. So we, ended up, coming together, in the carriage.”
Vigdis and Liolikin answered Reysir’s question.
While my anxiety had been growing due to the consecutive appearance of unfamiliar supporting characters, seeing these familiar faces made me feel strangely relieved.
Come to think of it, they were characters from the original work, too.
“Lord Karbaldr. Did you, spend the break well?”
“Well enough, I suppose.”
“I spent it well! I trained, consistently. And I’m, working hard, on fixing my stutter!”
“It has certainly improved a lot.”
“Hehe… It’s all, thanks to you, Lord Karbaldr.”
I had only told him to fix it.
Improving his stutter was entirely due to his own effort, so shouldn’t I not take credit for it?
I thought so, but I couldn’t put it into words.
Not only would it be a statement out of line with Karbaldr’s character, but it was also obvious I would be treated like a tsundere.
“Hmph…”
I bypassed the situation today with my all-purpose coping mechanism.
Once the conversation with Liolikin was settled, this time Vigdis spoke to me.
“It’s been a while, Kar.”
“Indeed.”
“I received the gift well. And the letter, too. I mentioned it in my reply, but I wanted to talk about the gift while looking at your face. Thank you for being so thoughtful.”
The moment the readers saw the above dialogue, question marks probably appeared in their minds.
Allow me to explain.
I felt like Count Shalbrady would bully his daughter if Vigdis didn’t receive any contact from Karbaldr during this break either.
So, using the possession body’s name, I sent a set of daggers to Vigdis, who didn’t have secondary weapons yet.
And the letter…
“Setting the gift aside, a letter? Karbaldr wrote you a letter during the break? Did the two of you stay in touch regularly?”
“On the surface, yes…?”
“What does that mean?”
“Kar only signed the envelopes. The contents were written by Yor.”
…It was as Vigdis explained to Reysir.
Yor worked hard on my behalf while I was busy distancing myself from my intended ex-fiancée.
“Ah, so if I write to Yor, I can hear news about Karbaldr even during the break? Why didn’t I think of that?”
“I should also, send a letter to Lord Yor, during the next break.”
Listening to Reysir and Liolikin’s monologues, I felt like snapping at them not to bother Yor.
But since I wasn’t in a position to talk about others, I decided to keep my mouth shut for the sake of my conscience.