Chapter 0
“Keh-heh-heh.”
Belver is the protagonist of this world.
This isn't self-delusion; he really is the protagonist.
This world is the setting of an academy novel, and Belver is now the protagonist of that novel.
So there's nothing wrong with laughing like a chuuni in front of the academy gates after the entrance ceremony.
Why?
Because Belver is the protagonist.
Who would dare stand in a protagonist's way?
That's what he thought.
“Move aside. Commoner.”
“What?”
But the world is vast, and there are many people in it.
There could be someone who boldly gives Belver orders.
At least, right now, Belver is nothing.
He isn't the protagonist who has the Empire fretting and the academy cheering.
He's just an ordinary student.
He hasn't even reached the story's starting point. What could he possibly have?
All he has is the bare minimum living expenses provided to make his transmigration easier.
That's because all the perks of transmigration are concentrated in his talents.
Right now, before he's received any instruction or training, they mean nothing.
Didn't Belver look like a lunatic to the young lady?
If a student suddenly laughing strangely in the middle of the road just looked like a lunatic, that would be a relief.
His face was fairly handsome, as befitting a protagonist, but that was all.
Most nobles in this world were handsome or beautiful to begin with.
Because it's a fantasy novel.
“I told you to move aside. Do you dare defy me?”
“N-no… I'll move….”
Belver checked who she was and naturally stepped aside for the young lady.
There were two reasons.
First, before Belver transmigrated, he couldn't even meet people's eyes, let alone a woman's.
The second was that he knew who she was.
Bellatrix de Salazar.
As befits an academy novel, among the countless villains, she was the noble young lady playing the villainess type.
She was the sort who became a villain after growing jealous of one of the heroines' talents.
She had the air of a perpetual runner-up.
Of course, even with ten thousand people at his side, Belver couldn't lay a finger on her.
So he had no choice but to move aside immediately.
What if he picked a fight and got a bone broken?
Belver was very well aware of reality.
Knowing all the novel's lore, plot developments, and hidden secrets didn't mean he had any real power right now.
So he could only shrink back.
He watched Bellatrix pass by with her chin held high and thought,
‘What rotten luck on the first day.’
Even as a reader, Belver had liked Bellatrix.
Because she was a villain who worked hard.
She truly pushed herself, to the point of shedding bloody tears, to narrow the gap that could never be erased by birth.
And she never once even glanced at wicked powers.
But she wasn't superhuman.
Just as she was growing exhausted and about to give up, one of the main villains approached her, and she fell to the dark side.
After falling to the dark side, she was defeated by the protagonist, reconciled with the heroine she had envied after one final conversation, and died.
“I'm scared. Could they send me back to Earth right now…?”
That was Belver's reaction to meeting Bellatrix, whom he'd liked as a reader.
And no wonder. He wasn't a reader of the novel now; he was the protagonist himself.
How could an ordinary person not be afraid when someone who could kill Belver with one hand looked at him coldly and walked away?
“Let's just give up on trying to reform or help her.”
Originally, Belver had a very grand dream.
A childish dream of reforming villains with complicated backstories in advance and achieving a perfect happy ending.
That dream was discarded the moment he saw Bellatrix.
Because he realized there was no way he could approach her.
You can't help someone unless you can get close to them, can you?
The world was harder than he'd expected.
Bellatrix had an extreme sense of superiority.
Nobles were probably all like that, but Bellatrix was especially bad.
Wasn't it obvious just from the fact that she'd called Belver a commoner?
“I should go to the dorm and sleep. I can't believe I'm actually going there!”
With his trademark optimism, Belver erased the memory of encountering Bellatrix.
The only thing on Belver's mind now was getting to the dormitory, the setting for countless episodes.
The dormitory housed both men and women in the same building.
Of course, the women were in the south wing and the men in the north.
You could go there whenever you wanted, but if you did, you'd draw the gazes of countless members of the opposite sex.
On top of that, familiars patrolled the dormitory corridors around the clock to ensure that no accidents or crimes occurred.
Who would be stupid enough to commit a crime against someone of the opposite sex with all those familiars around?
There had been some, but they had all been caught and expelled so far.
Still, as the story progressed, there would be times when someone got past the familiars.
“That has nothing to do with me. I can stop it before it happens, right?”
Belver entered the dormitory full of confidence.
Since he knew every plot development, he thought there was no way he could fail to stop it.
And if things really got difficult, he could always report it to a professor.
“It's so soft. If a low-ranking student gets a room like this, what kind of rooms do the top-ranked and second-ranked students have?”
Belver found his room and flopped onto the bed.
Even though a whole week had passed since he transmigrated, he still hadn't properly adjusted.
He was half anticipation and half anxiety.
The anxiety that maybe some unknown incident would happen while he was asleep.
Belver resolved not to think about anything bad and squeezed his eyes shut.
He thought he'd feel a little stronger after sleeping.
“Please let me see a happy ending no matter what….”
Belver muttered it as if hypnotizing himself.
For Belver, who had been a weak ordinary person, it was an incredibly important ritual.
A very important ritual that would decide his tomorrow.
He fell asleep as soon as he finished the important ritual.
Then time passed, and he woke up.
“What is this!!!!!”
From inside Bellatrix's body.