A girl with wavy, pale pink hair pulled into a side ponytail.
Her hair had a lot of volume, giving her a soft, fluffy hairstyle.
She was cute to look at, wore her uniform a bit sloppily, and stood out even at the academy.
Her name was Reria.
She had an older sister, but she wasn't at the academy right now.
The person Reria called out to was an average-built boy who looked serious.
"Emil."
"Oh, Reria."
The boy turned around, his straight hair swaying just short of his shoulders.
His silky blue hair was very beautiful.
"How's your class? I heard transfer students arrived, right?"
The academy had a very large number of classes.
Nobles and common students studying together was one reason for that.
What distinguished it from the
Graduating the academy with good grades made it easier to find employment under one of the Six Great Noble Houses.
Even if that didn't work out, simply graduating the academy added prestige.
Getting admitted in the first place meant you were already an elite.
Emil looked a little troubled.
"They were super popular in class. The girls are crazy about His Highness
To reassure the anxious-looking Emil, Reria smiled.
"I'm interested, but not as romantic prospects. They're foreign nobles, so marriage wouldn't be possible anyway."
Emil hurriedly replied, "That's— that's not true. You can marry nobles. It might be difficult with the Holfart Kingdom, but with the
Reria seemed to have been teasing him on purpose, "Really? Then, Emil, would you marry me?"
As Emil's face turned red, Reria laughed.
◇ What the hell was that?
I wanted to spit sugar out of my mouth.
Sweet. Too sweet, wasn't it?
Peering from behind the scenery at Reria and our safe bet—no, Emil, were
Marie was muttering curses.
"Give me a break. What are you being all smooth for? You should go suffer through a reverse harem too! Why am I the only one stuck dealing with this? Just because you're the protagonist doesn't mean I'll ever forgi—Ow!"
She really looked like she was about to curse, so I gave her a light tap with my fist.
"What's the point of cursing the protagonist? If she's happy, then we're happy. That's good enough, right."
We'd gotten lucky and spotted the two of them.
We'd been watching from behind cover, and the atmosphere between them was genuinely nice.
There was no sign of two-timing.
"...Even so, doesn't the second game's protagonist seem kind of like a gal?"
Marie pressed her palm to the top of her head and answered.
"The first game's protagonist was a total airhead and nobody liked her."
"Say that in front of
Marie averted her eyes and stammered, "Sh-she wouldn't do that."
"A-anyway, this time the protagonist was a girl who takes the initiative and is more active."
"Is that so? But if she's an active type, it's nice not having a villainess around."
"Why's that?"
"Because the fights would get pretty nasty."
Marie nodded in agreement.
"Women are other women's worst enemies. I get it."
...Well, Olivia and
They were different, right?
"This side seems safe enough. I don't see any signs of other reincarnators like us around here."
It was a relief that there weren't any people like Marie or me.
Going up against those kinds of people was incredibly troublesome.
We'd been spending time at the academy and investigating, but we hadn't found any useful information.
"By the way, Marie — do you know anything about useful items on this side?"
I wanted to check what kind of amulets or cheat-level existences like Luxion might be around.
But this was Marie.
"I have zero interest in the parts of the game aimed at guys. I only played to clear it, so I don't really know."
"Could you clear the second game?"
The first game was supposedly so difficult that Marie had handed it off to me, telling me to clear it for her.
"The difficulty was lower. There were paid items too. But I honestly don't remember anymore. Besides, I was born in Holfart, so Alzer was always secondary — just remembering as much as I do is impressive, isn't it?"
Completely useless.
I'd hoped she might know about some handy items we could use.
"Maybe I should have Luxion investigate all that too. This side seems fine, so if anything happens, we'll deal with it then."
"No objections! Hey, big bro. Come shopping with me on the way back. Today's a sale day."
Marie, who had to feed five guys, was gradually becoming like a mother figure.
...Why was that?
It was making me want to cry.
"Go ask the embassy to buy it for you."
"There's a budget limit too! After doing all the math, I have to scrape by every single month! ...For breakfast, I absolutely need sunny-side-up eggs with bacon."
She apparently liked her bacon extra crispy.
I'd buy it for her, so she'd better stop talking.
She was so pitiful that I was on the verge of tears.
"Bring
"I'll invite
Why was she trying so hard?
She should just make those five do it.
◇ Julius was feeling a bit troubled in the classroom.
"Your Highness, how do you like the Republic of Alzer?"
"Why not go sightseeing during the next holiday? I'd be happy to give you a tour."
"Won't you come out with me? I have my own personal airship."
He was surrounded by high-ranking noble girls and thoroughly fed up with it.
Across the classroom, Jilk was in the same situation.
(This is a pain.)
Julius didn't want Marie to see him in a place like this.
"I'm sorry, but my fiancée is also here. You can't suspect me of infidelity."
It was the kind of line that, had
For Julius, he had already betrayed Angelica once. So this was something he'd sworn never to do again.
But the girls' onslaught didn't stop.
"Being so devoted is just wonderful."
"Then why not invite her along as well?"
"Your Highness, you really are such a gentleman."
The girls swooned.
Julius began seriously wondering where he'd gone wrong.
◇ The incredibly popular transfer students.
There was a boy who was decidedly not amused by Julius and the others.
His name was Pierre Io Fievel.
Pierre had a slightly sickly complexion and was fiddling with his purple hair.
He had a slender build, and the academy was buzzing nonstop about the transfer students, which was getting on his nerves.
"...Those fools fawning over the outdated Holfart Kingdom."
His entourage agreed.
"You're so right, Pierre."
"What's so great about them?"
"They're nothing but barbarians who rose up from being adventurers."
They wore their uniforms sloppily, styled to look like delinquents.
But Pierre was the second son of one of the Six Great Noble Houses, so nobody dared to say a word.
In contrast to Emil, who was in the same situation but stayed well-behaved, Pierre stood out for all the wrong reasons.
Sitting on the staircase, Pierre bit his thumbnail and smirked.
"You guys... Shall I put on a nice show for you?"
"Did you come up with something?"
"If we play our cards right, we can start a war with the Holfart Kingdom. You'd all like to advance your careers, wouldn't you?"
His lackeys all grinned nasty smiles when they heard that.
The way they talked, it was as if a war wouldn't be a problem at all.
Rather, they seemed to want one to happen.
Pierre toyed with his hair and spotted
A boy with the same purple hair... girls were gathered all around him.
"That guy's an eyesore."
When he said that, his entourage exchanged glances and nodded.
"Should we call him behind the school building?"
"No... Let's be a bit more creative, shall we? Using him to fleece those Kingdom fools would be entertaining, don't you think? Their airship — it's supposedly a brand-new model no one's seen before."
It was inferior to the Republic's airships, but he was curious about the new technology packed into it.
With that, Pierre stood up.
"Time to make fools of those cocky Kingdom brats."
The nobles of the Republic of Alzer — they never gave a thought to international incidents.
Their air of absolute superiority had its reasons.
Students coming down from the upper floor were troubled by the group loitering on the staircase.
"Um, excuse me — we'd like to get through."
When Pierre realized they were common students, he snapped his fingers at his entourage to give them instructions.
His entourage surrounded the boy who had stepped forward as the group's representative— "Don't you dare speak so casually to us!"
"Do you even know who this person is?"
"Hey, answer when you're spoken to, dammit!"
— and began to beat him.
The common students could do nothing but watch.
Pierre watched the scene with a gleeful grin on his face.
He was clearly enjoying himself.
He grabbed the beaten boy — whose teeth had been broken — by the hair and lifted his head.
"Are you the one who said I was in the way?"
"N-no — I just wanted to pass through—"
Pierre punched the boy.
"That's what you said, right?"
"Th-that's not—"
He kept punching until the boy admitted it, then his entourage sent the other students on their way and left only the boy behind.
"This calls for a little punishment."
Pierre stomped on the boy crumpled on the floor and ordered his lackeys to make preparations.
◇ The next day, behind the school building.
The boy was found hanging there.
"...This is the lowest of the low."
The boy had been stripped of everything but his underwear, set on fire, and beaten to the point of swelling.
He was still alive, but there were burn marks on his body.
I asked a nearby boy about it.
"Hey, who did this?"
"...You don't know?"
The boy looked around cautiously before answering.
"It was a noble. The only ones who can get away with this kind of violence against common students are someone from the Six Great Noble Houses."
"But why didn't someone stop them?"
"...If that were possible, we wouldn't have it so rough."
The boy walked away.
When the teachers arrived, they herded the students back to their classrooms.
"Get back to your classrooms, quickly!"
"Hurry up, we're taking you back."
"This is awful."
The boy hanging from the tree looked like his bones might be broken.
As I was feeling disgusted, I noticed students peering down from the school building windows.
I couldn't fathom the minds of those who were watching with obvious enjoyment.
In the crowd, Marie approached me.
"Hey, big bro. Can I talk to you?"
"What is it?"
We slipped away from the crowd and ended up alone.
"Those guys are dangerous."
"Those guys? The purple-haired punk who looks like a reject Brad?"
Marie nodded repeatedly.
"His name's Pierre. He's the textbook example of a rotten noble. The family that destroyed the protagonist's hometown was one of the Seven Great Noble Houses — and that's his family."
In the game, he'd apparently been a pretty terrible character too. There was no villainess, but there were villains.
"...What a pain."
But his status was what made it troublesome.
Born into the Seven Great Noble Houses and being the second son meant he held a fairly high position.
"The best thing is not to get involved. The protagonist should be taking him down pretty soon, right? That event is where things click with the romance targets — I think it's a mandatory event."
I wanted to crush him, but doing so would cause problems.
What a genuinely annoying person.
"Got it. I'll hold off."
Let's just wait and watch those disgusting people get taken down by the protagonist.
◇ On the way home.
Halfway between the academy and home, there was an old dog.
It was staggering, as if even walking was difficult.
"It's wearing a collar."
When I approached, it didn't seem afraid of people.
It was definitely someone's pet.
Luxion, who was nearby, looked at the dog.
*'It's simply old age. If left alone, it will likely die within ten days.'* "Shouldn't we return it to its owner?"
Just then, an older woman appeared from a nearby house.
She saw me looking at the dog and said, "That dog was brought here by one of the academy students from home. Such a hardworking kid — it's just heartbreaking."
"Heartbreaking?"
The woman glanced at the apartment the student had been using.
"He used to live there, but today word came that he'd been seriously injured and hospitalized. He won't be able to return to the academy, and he's apparently canceling his lease."
He'd been on a scholarship, it seemed, and since he was being expelled, he had to give up his lodging as well.
"— If only he hadn't caught a noble's eye."
With that, the woman went back inside.
I thought of this morning's boy.
The plate on the collar had a name engraved on it.
"You're a girl? '
Noelle licked my outstretched hand.
Luxion addressed me.
*'Are you going to keep it as penance?'* "Is that a problem?"
*'It won't live long. And I imagine caring for it will be quite a hassle?'* I picked up the dirty dog.
It was trembling.
"I sacrificed an individual for the sake of the world. The least I can do is save a dog. Look into that boy's situation for me, will you?"
*'Understood.'* As I stroked Noelle, "This academy really is something else, huh."
Luxion stared at me.
*'If you wanted, I could eliminate this entire country in an instant.'* "I'm not a fan of the world ending or anything like that, so that's a no."
I decided to bring Noelle home with me.