CH 385

The Newcomer, A-1 Roberto de Gardenia

Roberto de Gardenia, the newcomer of A-1 class, never expected to be insulted even by his seniors from the same A-class.

"Are you looking to get beaten to death?"

Startled by my sudden outburst, Roberto seemed flustered.

Naturally, the already tense atmosphere turned ice-cold.

"…Excuse me?"

"Are you looking to get beaten to death by running your mouth so carelessly, you little brat?"

This guy was royalty and an heir to the throne.

He probably never heard such words in his life, and that's why he was clearly flustered.

"Are you insulting me, the legitimate heir to the Gardenia Royal Family?"

"…"

I lost my cool at his words and slapped my face a few times to regain my composure.

Feeling a bit more composed, I approached Roberto, who was glaring at me with hostile eyes.

"Hey."

And then…

-Smack!

"Ugh!"

I slapped him hard.

"W-What are you doing…!"

He cried out in shock, grabbing his leg as he collapsed to the ground.

"I publicly humiliated the heir of the Gardenia Royal Family, or whatever, and smacked his leg."

-Smack!

"Ugh!"

"Now, what are you going to do about it, you little bastard?"

-Smack!

"Ugh!"

As he lay on the ground, I kicked his side, sending him rolling across the floor of the training ground.

"Did you forget what they told you at the temple, not to flaunt your status?"

Status means nothing in the temple.

Everyone was witnessing this firsthand.

He probably didn't expect to be mercilessly beaten by a senior who claimed to be a commoner, despite being royalty himself. Lying on the ground, he looked utterly shocked.

"Get up, kid."

"You'll regret what you just did to me…"

"Shut up."

"Gasp!"

As I got into a kicking stance, he gasped and curled up in fear.

This guy was scared.

He couldn't believe that he was actually frightened, his face draining of color in real-time.

"Do you really want to die?"

"…"

"Do you want to die? Hey, answer me."

"I, I…"

"Answer with 'yes' or 'no' only."

"N-No…"

Hearing his small, trembling voice, I slowly backed away.

"Some kids only understand when they get hit. Get up."

"Ugh…"

"Are you not getting up quickly?"

The other students, both male and female, had frozen expressions as they watched a senior put a classmate in his place in real-time.

Lucinil's eyes were particularly wide.

I stared at Roberto as he stood up, his teeth clenched and glaring at me.

No, this kid…

He still hasn't learned his manners.

"Hit me if you have the guts."

"…"

"But, you won't be able to handle the consequences after that."

"…"

"Are you going to do it or not? Hurry up and tell me."

He seemed to be seriously considering it.

Is this kid really going to hit me?

“That senior… isn't he the one?”

However, I could hear whispers around us.

“Last festival, the one who won the first-year tournament... that senior.”

“Yeah, I think I've seen him before.”

Come to think of it.

If I had not entered the temple this year but had been at the temple since before, there would have been plenty of people who had seen my face.

Roberto didn't know me, but there were those who recognized me.

The first-year tournament winner.

At those words, Roberto's face turned pale.

"No, that's... that's not..."

It seemed that the title of first-year tournament winner was enough to have an arrogant person learn a lesson in manners.

Seeing him roll his eyes in the end, I glanced around at the first-year students.

Oh, I really ruined the atmosphere.

No.

That's not why I gathered the kids in the first place.

But it ended up looking like I gathered them to do this?

They all seemed to shiver, trying not to even make eye contact with me.

Last year, when we were freshmen, Redina tried to slap us to teach us that things like social status didn't matter.

But I ended up doing exactly the same thing. Even worse, Redina failed, but I unintentionally succeeded too well.

A fun temple life? No way!

How did it end up like this?

"No, from the beginning, I didn't gather you guys to say such things..."

Startled!

"Juniors! Are you here?!"

And then.

Bursting open the door to the training hall, with a face full of anticipation.

That.

Harriet de Saint-Owan appeared.

"Uh... you...?"

For a moment, Harriet had a "why are you here?" expression as she saw me already in the training hall.

Her gaze shifted to the juniors lined up in front of me.

The juniors standing in a straight line.

At the far right end.

Roberto, with his clothes in disarray (from being hit).

All of them lowering their heads in a solemn atmosphere.

Harriet began to gape in disbelief.

She must have seen a sight too unbelievable to trust.

"No. Hey. This is..."

"Th-this really is... This trash!"

Smack!

"No, it's not! I'm telling you it's not! Well, it ended up being right, but that's not the point!"

"This! If it were someone else, maybe! Huh?! But you! You did this!"

Thwack! Thwack, thwack!

"W-wait! For real! Please, just listen to me!"

Of course.

No excuses were accepted.

—---

The first-year students who had witnessed a senior suddenly getting scolded by a female senior couldn't understand what was happening and had bewildered expressions on their faces.

It seemed that Harriet hadn't come to gather the juniors but to befriend them. So, she looked around here and there and ended up seeing this scene.

In the end, after getting scolded by Harriet and failing to achieve even a conversation with Lucinil, I was dragged away.

After being forcibly returned to the second-year dormitory, Harriet sat me down in the lobby and spoke with a serious expression.

"I'm genuinely disappointed in you."

"No... it wasn't like that."

"If it wasn't that, then what was it?"

As I attempted to explain the whole story, the situation grew increasingly bizarre.

"What's going on?"

Ellen, with a towel draped over her neck, approached as she noticed Harriet looking furious.

"Did you really gather those freshmen just to intimidate them?"

"Intimidate...? Like what happened to us in our first year...?"

"Exactly! And you hit someone too! The one on the far right, right?"

"Well, yeah, but... I did hit him! But there's more to it!"

It was true that I had hit someone.

Upon hearing this, Ellen stared at me intently.

Contempt.

Her gaze was filled with disdain.

Even Ellen couldn't remain indifferent to the atrocious act I had committed.

Especially because I, of all people, should not have done it.

"Listen, let me explain!"

It was unfair, but...

Although I felt pathetic for being upset about something I had actually done, it was still unfair!

I sat Ellen and Harriet down and properly explained the situation.

—---

I had only intended to make a simple announcement, but the first freshman had provoked me. That's how it happened.

Regardless, the truth was that I had hit someone.

Upon hearing the freshmen's obnoxious comments that began with "How dare you to summon us number 11?", Harriet's mouth hung open in shock.

"…He’s lucky you didn't kill him."

Harriet responded as if it were odd that I hadn't at least half-killed him, given my temperament.

"You showed restraint. You're kind."

Ellen, on the other hand, praised me for my actions.

What was this?

I did hit him.

That part was true.

But, knowing how much worse I could have been, both of them ended up praising me instead.

Does being a lesser scumbag excuse one's actions?

It feels good, but it's also strange!

Anyway, it's nice that they're praising me, but I really shouldn't accept such compliments!

"I guess we should warn the freshmen to be particularly cautious around you."

"Seems like... we should."

In the end, they gathered the freshmen to alert them that, while they should be wary of all upperclassmen, they should be especially careful around me, the explosive Reinhardt.

Even Ellen agreed.

I really didn't mean to hit anyone, honestly...

Ultimately, my attempt to confront Lucinil ended in bizarre failure.

—---

If this were the original story, the second-year A-Class students would be taming the freshmen just as they had been tamed themselves.

But now, the current second-year A-Class students had become gentle souls uninterested in such activities, and Reinhardt went to Lucinil and did something similar.

In the end, Harriet and Ellen summoned the first-year freshmen once again, this time to convey a different sort of warning.

Instead of the unpleasant-looking male upperclassman who had first gathered them, the calm and composed female upperclassman, Harriet, and Ellen, who had violently beaten the ill-tempered male upperclassman, appeared before the freshmen.

Although their expressions didn't seem threatening, the sight they had just witnessed had everyone on edge nonetheless.

"I'm not here to scold you. I just wanted to gather you all to share some information, given what happened earlier. My name is Harriet de Saint-Owan, a second-year student in class A-4."

Harriet de Saint-Owan.

"Second-year, class A-2, Ellen."

Then Ellen briefly introduced herself as well.

The two seniors who had come to see them now were distinctly different in demeanor from the previous encounter.

There was no sign of them wanting to scold anyone.

And just like that...

As someone had recognized Reinhardt earlier, there were also juniors who recognized Ellen.

"Um... Are you the one who won the Miss Temple contest?"

Miss Temple.

At that mention, even the juniors who were seeing Ellen for the first time widened their eyes.

"Yes."

Ellen slightly nodded her head in response to the question, as if winning the Miss Temple contest was neither a matter of pride nor shame.

And the female junior who recognized Ellen, of course, recognized Harriet as well.

"You... you're the one I saw at the Unrestricted Tournament! You beat the fifth-year senior!"

"Ah, well? I didn't win... I lost..."

"But you didn't lose! You forfeited!"

Reinhardt, the first-year champion, was impressive, but even more so was Harriet, who had taken a set from fifth-year Olivia Lanze in the Unrestricted Tournament.

It had been a fierce match, with the arena nearly being destroyed.

Not used to such situations, Harriet's face reddened and she stammered when the junior recognized her.

The first-year students stared blankly at the two of them.

The first senior to arrive was the champion of the first-year tournament, which determined the strongest among the Temple first-year students.

The senior with a calm demeanor was the winner of Miss Temple.

The senior with braided hair was the one who had beaten a fifth-year student.

Even in the Royal Class, the 2nd year Class A people thought that something is out of the ordinary. Lucinil watched the two of them with interest.

"Ahem! Anyway, I didn't gather you here to scold you but to share some information."

Harriet tried to regain her composure with a few coughs, then began talking to the juniors.

"The guy who came looking for you earlier was Reinhardt. He's a loose cannon, so don't provoke him. Especially you."

Harriet pointed precisely at Roberto, who was at the far right.

"Me? Uh... Yes."

"You got off easy with Reinhardt."

Roberto had already realized that he had been greatly mistaken, seeing Reinhardt's behavior.

This was the kind of place they were in.

A place where commoners could defeat royalty if they flaunted their status carelessly.

A place with no room for complaints.

And the seniors even said that he got off easy after being hit.

Strictly speaking, the Temple wasn't exactly that kind of place.

But how would the freshmen know that Reinhardt was an exceptional case?

Thus, they ended up believing that the Temple, or even the Royal Class, was originally that kind of place.

"Be careful from now on. You think I'll remember your face?"

You've caught Reinhardt's eye.

Harriet said this without even realizing she was saying it.

Usually, the ones who have no awareness of it are the ones who say it the most harshly.

"Be careful."

In addition, Ellen, who had been quietly watching Roberto, also spoke briefly.

"You'll get hurt like that."

Upon hearing Miss Temple's calm advice, Roberto's complexion paled even more.

Speaking carelessly could cause someone to not even be able to pick up their bones, so Ellen's words were purely out of concern.

However, the problem was that they didn't sound like that to the listener.

In the end,

Even though they claimed they hadn't come to scare them, both Harriet and Ellen ended up scaring the children just as much as Reinhardt had.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere lightened up a bit after that.

As they began to share stories and discuss their majors, Harriet showed a slightly clumsy side of herself, making the others realize that she wasn't as scary a senior as they had thought.

"You're in your first year?"

"Yes, I'm thirteen. My major is magic."

The silver-haired girl, Lucinil, said with a beaming smile, causing Harriet's heart to tighten and her expression to falter.

Unconsciously, she stopped herself from patting Lucinil's head.

Her major was magic.

"What's your talent?"

"Destruction magic."

Destruction magic talent.

Though it didn't suit her cute appearance, talent didn't have to match one's appearance.

Harriet smiled brightly at Lucinil's response.

"Magic? Are you interested in the Magic Research Club?"

"Magic Research Club?"

"Yeah! It's an in-house club of the Royal Class... Actually, that punk from earlier is the president, but he's not really a bad kid... Once you get to know him, he's actually a really good person."

Upon hearing that, the corner of Lucinil's mouth turned up in a subtle smile.

"Ah, I see..."

Without knowing it, Harriet had ended up helping Reinhardt.