Chapter 16
“Please take any seat you like. Your homeroom professor will be here shortly.”
The teaching assistant who had guided us here gave us a light bow before leaving the classroom.
-Rattle.
The students began moving around, each looking for a seat they liked.
Some wanted a seat by the window, while others tried to claim the front seats.
The classroom grew noisy in an instant.
But I couldn't do that.
Why?
-Bzzzz.
“...”
Because Isabel was standing right in front of me, arms crossed as she looked down at me.
I was trapped completely, unable to run away or even choose a seat.
“...Sis.”
“……”
“Do you know the Short-Distance Step?”
“……….”
“Weren't you definitely in the auditorium just a moment ago? How did you get to the classroom before me—”
“Rowoon.”
“Yes.”
A low voice reached my ears.
Her tone was as calm as ever, but for some reason, a chill ran down my spine.
“When today is over.”
“….”
“Explain everything from beginning to end.”
“……Yes, ma'am.”
The answer slipped out immediately.
I had a feeling that if I tried to make excuses, she'd double the amount of time I spent being lectured.
Fortunately, the confrontation ended before every student had taken a seat.
Isabel seemed conscious of the attention around us, too.
Quite a few students had been sneaking glances at us for a while now.
'Damn... flirting on the first day of the academy!'
'She's the person who shouted during the entrance ceremony.'
'By the way, that girl is really pretty! Was she the special-admission student?'
Whispers could be heard from all around us.
I can hear you, idiots.
And among all those gazes, there was one that felt especially burdensome.
-Smile.
-Smile smile.
It was Lucia.
Her eyes were sparkling as she looked this way, as though something wonderful had happened.
……
Why are you so excited?
Isabel gave me one last meaningful look before heading toward a seat near the front of the classroom.
After confirming that, I hurried toward the very back.
If I sat next to Sis here, my life expectancy would be shortened!
Right beside the window in the very back, in a seat warmed by sunlight, Lucia waved her hand to greet me.
“Rowoon-rowoon!”
“Huh?”
“Here! Sit here!”
I sighed and plopped down in the seat beside her.
Lucia then leaned her body slightly toward me.
“Rowoon.”
“What?”
She brought her lips close to my ear as though she were about to tell me an enormous secret.
“That girl from earlier.”
“……Yeah.”
“She's been looking only at you for a while now.”
“She has.”
“She called out to you really loudly during the entrance ceremony, too, didn't she?”
“……”
Lucia gave me a sly smile.
“Is she your fiancée?”
There it was.
I'd been wondering when she would ask.
“No.”
I shook my head slightly.
“She's my older sister.”
Not my biological sister, but still.
Well, explaining it would take too long.
“Woooow!”
Lucia's eyes went round.
“Really?!”
“Yeah.”
“That's amazing!”
Clap clap clap!
She even started applauding by herself.
“It's amazing that siblings attend the same academy, but they're both in S Class!”
“It definitely isn't common.”
“Right!”
Lucia continued marveling before suddenly tilting her head.
“...But.”
“Hmm?”
“Rowoon.”
“……What.”
“You said you were fifteen.”
“...I did.”
“Isn't your older sister fifteen, too?”
“……”
“Can two people the same age be siblings?”
She's perceptive in the strangest places.
If I'd known this would happen, I should've just said we were childhood friends from the same hometown.
I thought for a moment before speaking with the most composed expression I could manage.
“There are such things as circumstances among adults.”
“Circumstances among adults?”
“Yeah.”
“What's that?”
“I don't know, either.”
…?
“I'm not an adult yet, either.”
“…Aha?”
Lucia stared blankly for a moment.
“Ah!”
Then she nodded emphatically, as though she had figured something out all by herself.
What did she understand?
I had a bad feeling about this.
Just then, Lucia's eyes sparkled again.
“Then, Rowoon!”
“What.”
“Call me Sis, too!”
“….”
“……”
I stared silently at Lucia, while Lucia stared back at me with eyes full of expectation.
As if I would.
.
.
“Who do you think our S Class homeroom professor will be?”
“I heard from my brother that the former commander of the Silver Knights was the homeroom professor last year!”
“Wow! Will he be taking the position again this year?”
“He's still at the academy, you know.”
“I've heard about him. They say he looks incredibly frightening.”
“But apparently he takes really good care of the students, surprisingly.”
The students were talking about the homeroom professor all around the classroom.
Come to think of it, that was only natural.
S Class was where all sorts of famous geniuses gathered, starting with the crown prince.
The homeroom professor couldn't possibly be an ordinary person, either.
I folded my arms and racked my brain.
If a story had an academy and a romance-fantasy setting, there was one role it couldn't leave out.
The homeroom professor.
They were a little different from ordinary professors.
They weren't just people who taught classes; they managed and guided the students from the closest possible position.
The homeroom professor had a fairly significant role in the original story, too.
They helped the protagonist create a club and even served as its adviser, while subtly supporting the group from behind the scenes whenever trouble broke out.
The homeroom professor was also the first person to clean up after the students caused an incident.
In short!
It was the position that suffered the most!
That was how it had been in the original story, too.
“It'll probably be him.”
When I muttered that without thinking, Lucia, sitting beside me, tilted her head.
“Huh? Rowoon, what did you say?”
“Nothing.”
The original story's S Class homeroom professor was the former commander of the Silver Knights.
After retiring, he became someone who nurtured the academy's future generation.
Although he looked as fearsome as a bandit, he was actually a grandfatherly character with a warmer heart than anyone.
Whenever the protagonists caused trouble, he would clutch his head in exasperation, yet ultimately take care of all the cleanup himself—a typical tsundere mentor.
Everyone who met him for the first time was frightened of him, but he was actually a doting-grandfather type, so he was fairly popular with the students.
It would probably be the same this year, too.
It would be difficult in practical terms to pull an active knight commander away to serve as a homeroom professor, and if the original story hadn't changed much, the position would most likely remain the same.
Just as I was organizing my memories of the original story in my head.
-Rattle.
The classroom door slowly opened.
The noisy classroom fell silent in an instant.
All the students' gazes turned toward the door.
'Oh.'
'He's here.'
I folded my arms and nodded.
As expected, if things were proceeding as they had in the original story, the person entering now would be the former commander of the Silver Knights.
That old knight who cherished his students like grandchildren, despite his fearsome appearance—
Just as I had that thought, the person who flung the door wide open and entered was—
“Ahahahaha!!! Hello, all you growing sprouts!!! It's nice to meet you all!!!”
“The Extreme King……?”
“Starting today, I’ll be your homeroom professor, too!!!”
What is this?
***
Hmm.
Let's admit it.
The original story I knew no longer exists.
“If you’re wondering who I am!”
The Extreme King hopped onto the lectern and raised both hands high.
……No.
Why are you climbing onto the lectern?
“I’m the Extreme King, taking on the Combat Department’s martial arts course this year and becoming the S Class homeroom professor at the same time!!!”
The classroom stirred in an instant.
“Wow……”
“The Four Emperors are our homeroom professor?”
“Whoa. I've never actually seen the Extreme King in person before.”
“She really does exist……”
Admiration erupted from all around the classroom.
It was understandable.
Having one of the Four Emperors, known as the strongest beings in humanity, personally take charge as a homeroom professor was an event that could be counted on one hand in the history of the empire.
Of course.
She didn't look like that at all from the outside.
The small girl with silver hair tied into twin tails was only slightly taller than me, and her youthful face was filled with a mischievous smile.
She looked like an ordinary girl of twelve or thirteen.
……Although she had actually lived for well over a hundred years.
“Did you hear that, Rowoon-rowoon!”
Lucia whispered excitedly from the seat beside me.
“She's the Extreme King! The very Extreme King we've only ever seen in history books!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I gave her a half-hearted response.
To be honest, I never would have expected the Extreme King to be the homeroom professor, but this wasn't the first time I'd experienced the original story changing.
The Extreme King coming out into the world when she should have been undergoing closed-door training was one example, and the appearance of demon worshippers who hadn't existed in the original story was another.
The story I knew had already begun to diverge little by little.
At this point, even the homeroom professor changing wasn't surprising.
Well. It wasn't a major problem.
This novel wasn't a grimdark story to begin with.
The world wasn't suddenly going to end just because a few things had changed.
……
Probably…?
-Clap!
Just then, the Extreme King clapped her hands loudly.
“Good! That's enough chit-chat!”
The classroom fell silent in an instant.
“Astell Imperial Academy is very different from the schools you’ve attended up until now!”
The Extreme King pulled a thick stack of papers from somewhere and handed it to the student in the front row.
“Pass it from the front to the back!”
The papers quickly made their way to me.
What is this?
Wasn't this a fantasy world?
Why is the paper quality so good?
The ink didn't even run.
Is the printing technology better than it was in the modern world?
Anyway. Enough pointless talk.
I opened the first page.
【First-Year Elective Course Application】
■ Spirit Studies
■ Fundamentals of Spearsmanship
■ Fundamentals of Archery
■ Fundamentals of Swordsmanship
■ Martial Arts
■ Mana Manipulation
■ Monster Studies
■ Tactics
■ Survival Studies
.
.
.
“Oh.”
There were far more types of courses than I'd expected.
The Extreme King continued explaining with a grin.
“Aside from the basic required courses, most classes are electives!”
“You study the fields you're good at more deeply and make up for the areas where you're lacking.”
Then she raised one finger high.
“But if you get greedy and sign up for everything, you’ll die!”
Laughter erupted throughout the classroom.
“I've heard countless stories of students signing up for ten courses each just because they looked cool, then crying and regretting it in their dorm rooms.”
“So.”
The Extreme King tapped the application form.
“The most important thing is to think first about what you're good at and what you're lacking.”
……
What the heck.
Why does she sound so much like a professor?
It was hard to believe this was the same person who was always acting like a complete klutz in front of me.
Maybe she was the type to clearly separate public and private matters.
…Hmm, probably?
I chuckled and looked down at the application form again.
Hmm….
I had learned just about everything while climbing the Tower.
I knew swordsmanship, could fight barehanded, and was confident in survival skills and tactical operations.
To be honest.
I hadn't come to the academy to learn.
Once my body grew properly, I would become the strongest person in the world using only the experience from my previous life.
So I didn't really need to worry about efficiency.
I sneakily peeked at the application form belonging to Lucia, who was sitting beside me.
……
Wait a second.
Practical Combat, Swordsmanship, Martial Arts, Combat Magic…?
Wasn't she the young lady of a prestigious magic family?
Why did more than half her courses involve close-quarters combat?
Sia-sia… what on earth do you want to do?
I let out an incredulous laugh and began checking boxes on my own application form.
Well, there was no need to think too deeply about it.
I was planning to apply mainly for the courses Isabel was taking anyway.
Since things were gradually diverging from the original story, staying close to her would make me feel more at ease in several ways.
I didn't remember the details exactly.
Swordsmanship, Monster Studies, Practical Combat.
If I applied mainly for the courses Isabel had taken, I probably wouldn't go too far wrong.
After finishing my selections, I took the application form and walked to the front.
When I stood before the lectern, my eyes met the Extreme King's.
Without saying anything, I made an expression that asked, 'Why are you here, Extreme King?'
The Extreme King grinned and secretly clenched her fist at me.
……
That meant I would be getting a knuckle tap later.
Why? Why all of a sudden?
I submitted the form and returned to my seat as though nothing had happened.
A little while later, once all the students' applications had been collected, the Extreme King spoke again.
“Elective courses can be changed freely for one week!
“If you attend one and decide it isn't for you, you can switch to another course!”
After that, an orientation on dormitory rules, facility usage, the credit system, and other matters continued for some time.
Then, at the very end.
The Extreme King clapped once and said,
“Good! Today's orientation ends here!”
The students began rising from their seats one by one.
At that moment, the Extreme King's gaze landed precisely on me.
“And.”
A bad feeling flashed through me.
“Lee Rowoon.”
“……”
“You’re coming with me to the faculty office.”
Huh? Me?