"And then, kuhahahaha! That's what they said!"
"Hey, no way! You're lying, right? Puhahaha!"
The traffic light boys are snickering together, talking about something.
"Hey, look! Looks like we're first! There's nobody here!"
"Oooooh, it feels like we bought the whole place out!"
"Kuhahaha! I'm free!"
It looked like they were the only ones in the hall. Not realizing that I was watching them, they started doing increasingly weird things.
"Hey, hey! So yesterday, during the beginners magic class, I heard something really cool."
"What is it?"
"So, when we want to strengthen our fire magic, there's a certain type of air that we need–and it's in our body! Isn't that cool? And the best part is, it's our farts! Kuhahahahaha!"
"Hahahahaha! Wahahaha!"
The three of them clutched their stomachs laughing, but it wasn't funny so I didn't laugh.
"Hey, we're the only ones here. Do you wanna test it out?"
"Hahaha! Let's do it! You're such a crazy nut!"
"Let's do it, let's do it! I know how to do a bit of fire magic!"
Green hair tried to expel his lunch from earlier. From his pose, it looked like he'd be expelling not just air, but the contents of his lunch as well. Please, why did I have to see something like this? I quickly put down my frozen grape juice.
Regardless of my feelings for now, those traffic light boys were trying out a dangerous (and disgusting) joke. The one lighting the fire was the redhead.
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!
The noise, smell, and fire all sync together as the fire burned. It was the strongest fire magic I had ever seen until that moment. The wind suddenly blew, blowing the dust of the hall towards me, but I felt strange. When the wind headed my way, I quickly held my breath.
The prince, who had taken a seat next to me without me realizing, asked me a question. In his hand was a video recording device.
"Maybe…were you watching me with a similar gaze?"
The prince was holding his nose, so his voice came out super nasally.
When I nodded, the prince cursed.
"Damn it."
Intermission 1. After the Prince's Afternoon Class
A frown forms as my body aches. As I stand in front of the mirror and slightly pull up my shirt, the skin below it is blue.
I can't help but be awed. It's been such a long time since I've been beaten up like this. I don't think I've ever been hit this much since I first learned the sword.
Honestly, it was because I practiced because I didn't want to be hit.
I'm sure that I denied Shuraina's, her original training plans.
But as we duel, we seem to be following her plans without realizing it. When her magic struck me, I became incredibly weak, and she became stronger in turn. When I thought I had caught up to her speed, she would say some kind of magical chant, and her pattern would change. She moved swiftly and slowly, and would strike powerfully and flexibly in turn. She had shattered my opinion that men would be better at swordsmanship.
Her movements made me think that swordsmanship was better suited for women–she was that quick, and moved like water.
Then one day, I stumbled upon her practicing by herself. She was going through a training regime that others would have complained about and quit without a word. Thanks to that, I was able to learn that gender didn't matter. It only mattered how hard you tried.
In all honesty, Shuraina had a lot of weak points when looking at her swordsmanship alone, but the synergy her magic had alongside her swordsmanship made for an effective combination.
Because she was much more skilled in magic than swordsmanship, I asked why she didn't go that route. She said that she wanted to go into the Order of Knights because she would be given a title and a steady paycheck. Strange response.
"Shuraina West."
I thought of the orange haired woman I met after entering the academy. To be completely straight, we had met each other before.
Our first meeting was bad. It was my bad that I tried to snatch a sword that she had previously reserved, but it was inexcusable for her to lock me in a strange ball and tread on me like that.
Her dead-looking eyes made it impossible for me to figure out what she was thinking, paired with her expressionless face. The smiles she let out were all taunting. We're the same age, but she talks like she's eighty and she's an absolute realist. She's the end-all of all pessimists, and doesn't have any dreams or hopes.
'In this world, there are a lot talented people. However, there are less people who accept that cheating can be used as a strategy, then use that knowledge to better themselves.'
When my pride was greatly damaged after my loss, this was what she said to me.
While she doesn't hesitate to spew horrid words and taunts, she seems to check my mood. Her realistic words assured me.
To be honest, I thought I could have a little bit of pride as the prince, but after meeting her I learned for the first time that my pride could be a poison.
When I first met her in town, I thought she was just rude, with a cold and distant demeanor. But as I got to know her, she had a warm side to her as well.
Shuraina seems to look at me like a younger brother.
Honestly, I don't like that very much. But I don't have any complaints because she takes care of me just as much. I wonder if this is how it would feel if I had an older brother or sister.
"Your highness, you gain skills really quickly. You just beat my attack pattern, which took me multiple days and nights, just like this. This is why talented people are…..tut."
This was today's assortment of curses and compliments.
As the prince, I am always hearing compliments. But strangely enough, the compliments I get from her make me really happy. It might be because I'm being accepted by someone who I didn't expect to be. Or, it could be because the person complimenting me was the one who snapped my pride in half. Or it could be because Shuraina was the one complimenting me.
She caught my embarrassing moments, and she was witness to everything that I would have preferred to hide, but thanks to her it seemed that I'd gotten less embarrassing as of late. I could look at those three bright-haired idiots over there and see how embarrassing I was before.
I found her annoying at first, but now I think the feelings I hold towards her are a lot softer than that.
If I look at Hestia, her friend, I feel nervous and want to get closer to her. When I see Shuraina, I feel enjoyment and ease.
But even if I'd gotten to know her more during classes, I still don't like her too much.
She promised she would delete all of my embarrassing moments so that's a bit of a relief, but I can't loosen my reins around her just yet.
"You got absolutely pounded. Why are you still smiling? It's making me feel all annoyed."
As I was taking off my training clothes to change into a more comfortable outfit, I hear a voice behind me.
A blond boy with his hair tied back into a ponytail watches me as he munches on a snack. Narrow green eyes in a naturally fierce look. He looks very comfortable on his bed.
"Shut up."
When I respond curtly, he says nothing and instead just dumps his bag of snacks into his mouth. Then, he looked at me with those annoying eyeballs and smirked.
'Cory DuBois.'
The eldest son of the DuBois marquis. We knew each other since we were both children, and are currently roommates. Even with his high status, he spoke casually and to start with, his face felt villainous. Because of that, everything he did felt slightly meaner. If I had to compare, he felt slightly meaner than Shuraina.
Cory's surroundings are messy. It could be a bias of mine, but because Cory was into magic, his desk and bed was full of magic circles and equations.
And the glasses he usually wears is on the floor. It seems to be slightly broken.
Cory never ate meals and instead ate chocolate chip cookies. He's surrounded by empty chocolate chip bags. Whenever I complained about the mess and told him to clean up, even if I forced him to clean, everything just came back to normal after a single day.
In the room, Cory usually was asleep or focused on a magic circle. For some reason, though, today he spoke first. Cory paused, as if thinking, then spoke again.
"Hylli, do you know who 'Shushu' is?"
"Shushu?"
I shook my head. I knew a Shuraina, but I didn't know a Shushu.
Wait. Was Shuraina's nickname Shushu? I wasn't completely sure, so I closed my mouth.
Cory watched me, then turned his head.
"Got it."
With that, Cory yawned and went to sleep.
Chapter 3. I Don't Want a Child of a Marquis
It had been a while since I first came to Augran Academy, and it felt like I had gotten used to the school.
When we had met in classes, the yellow class teacher had passed us each a piece of paper. I stared at it in my hand.
It was a Club Application form. Seeing the word 'club', it really made me feel like I was in school.
It was almost impossible to compare Korean schools to the academy curriculum. But to hear that I had to join a club made me feel at ease.
I skimmed the application form. Not even joking, the academy seemed to have hundreds of clubs to choose from.
The more popular, renown clubs were on the top of the page, while the less renown clubs were on the bottom of the sheet. I wondered why there were so many clubs, and why the popularity difference was so steep.
The club application form was separated into two pages. When I turned my sheet, I learned why.
"You can make your own club if you have two people?"
This academy had way too much money. They were letting kids get away with too much, I thought to myself. It was too easy to form a club. You could just find a few people, then turn in a sheet of paper. Because of that, there were clubs of all types.
For example, there was a 'Finger Counting Club', and an 'Exist While Breathing' Club. I read through the club requirements, then found something that was reasonable.
"Clubs with low performance will be terminated?"
The more clubs were able to perform, the more money you would receive. One of the more popular clubs, the Theater Club, apparently received 20 gold per month. The more traditional, long-lasting clubs could submit their own paperwork explaining how much money they would need, and the school would check it and give them the money as they asked. It was an amazing proposition.
So, I decided to create my own club.