How to Survive at the Academy - Chapter 20

 

How to Survive at the Academy

 

Chapter 20: The Golden Daughter (3) 

Lortel was an extreme realist who was also very good at compromising.

It was Lortel’s fate to become one. She had big ambitions but lacked natural ability.

Hearing that from someone else would probably make one wonder what it meant.

This was because as soon as Lortel was admitted into the academy, she was one of the only three students who qualified for Class A by Professor Glast. She had a photographic memory, so much so that reading something only once was enough for her to memorize the core concepts of a book. Her mana resonance was also high, so high that ordinary students couldn’t follow. And she even came from a rich background, coming from the Elte Company.

However, no matter what she did, she couldn’t reach the very top.

There was ‘Lazy Lucy’ in the Magic Department, who was treated as some sort of celestial being. 

Lortel’s combat senses such as her agility, improvisation, and judgment were no match for ‘The Spear from Nature Ziggs.’

Her family’s background and her noble status, coupled with her innate personality and her ability as a leader, all of these were useless when compared to her nemesis, Princess Penia.

Fate mischievously only allowed her to live a second-rate life.

And the means that Lortel used to break through Fate’s curse was ‘pure desire’. 

“Oh my, it’s Yennekar.”

Understanding profits and losses, income and expenditure, doing calculations. It was Lortel’s perseverance that made both arms of the scale lean towards her, even for a little bit.

She had a compromising attitude that was willing to join hands with an awful and merciless realism or a necessary evil without any hesitation.

Living her life like this stigmatized Lortel as an opportunist, but she didn’t find that particularly insulting. Rather, she thought it far more disgraceful to not seize the string of opportunities that came her way.

“I was going to visit you with a present, but I ended up meeting you here.”

“Hm? Oh, you’re… Lortel. You look really different with your hair down.”

“I hear that often.”

They met at a corridor in Ophelis Hall, the dormitory that boasted the most luxurious facilities among the three dormitories in Silvenia.

For a student to be allowed to stay at Ophelis, one of the two conditions had to be met: overwhelming status or overwhelming grades.

Yennekar satisfied the latter while Lortel satisfied both as the successor of the Elte Company. But this didn’t mean their living conditions were significantly any different.

Lortel was heading back to her room after taking an evening bath, attended by an Ophelis Hall maid. Due to this, her outfit was rather simple, and her hair, which was yet to dry, was untied. To Yennekar, her impression looked quite new.

“I caused a big commotion awhile back after I arbitrarily used intermediate magic during the Joint Combat Practice class. Truth was, part of me was particularly impulsive. It’s been a while since the incident, but I still wanted to apologize.”

“I see…”

The reason Lortel attached Yennekar with the intermediate ice magic ‘Ice Spear’ and ‘Flash Freeze’ was to gauge her skills as the top student of the second-years.

There was no denying it, the leading force in Silvenia’s Magic Department was the first years. But despite this, they couldn’t be guaranteed a victory in a duel when their opponents were of a higher grade than they were.

Nevertheless, Yennekar’s title as being the best student among the second-years wasn’t in vain.

Among the first years, Lucy Mayreel was the undisputed 1st place so it didn’t make sense to discuss who the top student was. But at least Lortel’s name wasn’t left out when discussing who was 2nd.

But she wondered what the gap was between her and Yennekar. Unfortunately, Lortel’s attempt to gauge it had not much meaning. Because even her intermediate elemental magic, which even third years couldn’t handle, didn’t cause any significant damage to Yennekar who summoned a high-ranking fire spirit.

Arrogance was expensive. Even though it had been a while since the class ended, Lortel still needed to wear bandages inside her clothes due to minor wounds that hadn’t healed yet.

“Your wounds haven’t completely healed yet.”

Lortel sharply caught on to the fact that Yennekar still felt a bit of guilt about her wounds.

Yennekar Palerover was too nice. It was because of her good nature that the people around her felt a strong protective instinct towards her, making her an idol among the second years.

Moreover, the second years had been feeling miserable from being overshadowed by the first years. As Yennekar was the only one who showcased her competency against them, she became a savior to second years as well. In a way, this was all due to Lortel, who she beat horribly in the Joint Combat Training class.

She was just the adorable and cute top second-year student who was also an Elementalist, but now, she had become the only light and hope for the second years. 

Those eyes filled with anticipation, following her, had made her an object of envy.

“It should heal soon. You don’t have to worry about it too much.”

Lortel believed that personal connections led to social power. Since Lortel had lived her life realizing this fact, she didn’t put on a smile for the cute second year.

Having someone indebted to you could be considered an asset. And it would be foolish of Lortel to not use the assets she had.

With this in mind, Lortel thought of starting an exchange with Yennekar through her debt as an opportunity. 

“I guess you didn’t get along with Ed?”

Once in a while, Yennekar’s smile could truly take your breath away.

In business, such a sly smile could be seen as being double-faced. This was because merchants were the type of people to take advantage of those with a kind and pure smile.

But strangely enough, Lortel didn’t feel any sense of malice in Yennekar’s smile.

Lortel was also pretty sharp by nature. Yennekar’s question was a pure question. It was without any malice or hidden intention.

“I hear everything around the northern part of the forest. Spirits tend to be quite the chatterboxes.”

Yennekar must have chased after Ed after he ignored Lortel’s words. But wasn’t the route he took leading towards the entrance of the northern forest?

Originally, the northern forest was Yennekar’s territory. That was because most of the spirits playing in the northern forest were on Yennekar’s side.

But Lortel could only see far enough into the edge of the entrance to the forest. And to say that Ed Rothstaylor was in Yennekar’s territory was just ridiculous because the conversation Lortel had with him was not something she could just proudly reveal, even as empty words.

Lortel thought of using money to buy Yennekar as a personal connection. And then use her as an opportunity to gauge Ed Rothstaylor who was currently stuck in a tight spot. He really wasn’t in a situation to be acting this stubborn.

“You probably have your own way of doing things but…”

Given the amount of respect Yennekar received, she was certainly worthy enough of being called a saint.

“Ed must have his own way of doing things too. And from my point of view, I am more moved by his efforts.”

“……”

“Of course, your willingness to use gold coins as a means to become closer with me also made me feel really emotional, but sincerity isn’t something that money could buy. Am I being too condescending? It’s my first time having someone younger than me so I think I may be acting like I’m too full of myself… Ah! This is so embarrassing…”

Even after knowing what Lortel did, she didn’t deny or swear at Lortel’s methods.

Lortel finally understood why everyone loved Yennekar.

A girl who walked straight out of a fairytale. 

But this description of her, of someone who was cute and lively, also had a subtle diss.

It could also mean that she was someone who didn’t know much about the world, someone who had lived in a flower garden all her life. It sounded like that to Lortel. 

But they must have severely misjudged Yennekar.

She understood the darkness of the other side of the world, she just chose to continue living her life without losing her cheerful nature.

To be standing in front of such dazzling light, someone with a black heart would crawl back into the darkness in shame.

If everyone lived in dirt together, then being dirty would be the standard appearance of all humans. But that was just an illusion, of course.

Because there would definitely be people like Yennekar. And it wasn’t like Lortel didn’t know that. 

“Ed is probably someone who’s much more strong-willed and funnier than you think.”

“What? Is that so? But why do you think so?”

Yennekar giggled and spun around, untying her braid.

“It’s a secret.”

Lortel then realized they had arrived in front of Yennekar’s room.

Once Yennekar entered the room, she planned on relaxing comfortably by untying her braids and loosening the straps on her cute and frilly casual clothes.

“Well, the spirits always keep gossiping amongst themselves, but whenever something stands out, it seems very stalkerish.”

“Isn’t being friendly with spirits something to be proud of?”

“Thanks for saying that~ Hehe~ But I’m the only one in the whole world who knows those fun facts.”

Yennekar spun in front of her door and smiled brightly. Only she knew what the spirits had told her about Ed.

“I should get going now. Dean McDowell told me I should try and sign a contract with another high-ranking spirit next month. In order to do that, I have to study and prepare a lot of things.”

“Didn’t you just sign a contract with a high-ranking fire spirit?”

“These days, expectations from me have risen quite a bit. I need to work hard, hmm. Yeah, it’s a good thing that people were expecting a lot from me.”

After saying that, Yennekar opened her door wider.

“Ahh, that’s right. Lortel.”

Yennekar said her name with her unique and charming smile.

“I’m sorry about last time. You got hurt a lot because of me, right? I hope you get better soon.”

Yennekar slowly closed the door after saying that, looking relieved. And Lortel herself saw how much consideration Yennekar had for her for saying that.

In front of the softly-closed door, Lortel thought it over for a long time.

Ed Rothstaylor is definitely an interesting person.

Lortel couldn’t guess why Yennekar had such a high opinion of him.

Looking back, there was a strange sense of danger in her lively and relaxed appearance.

But no matter how hard she thought of what the reason might be, she couldn’t come up with a clear answer right away.

* * *

* * *

[Name: Ed Rothstaylor]

Gender: Male

Age: 17

School Year: 2nd

Species: Human

Achievements: None

Vitality: 6

Intelligence: 5

Dexterity: 9

Willpower: 8

Luck: 6

Combat Skills Details ≫

Magic Skills Details ≫

Life Skills Details ≫

Alchemy Skills Details ≫

[Newly Crafted Product]

Farming Fishing Net

After weaving the net, it is installed onto a branch so it wouldn’t collapse into the flowing stream. 

Caught fish could be kept alive for several days.

Production Difficulty Level: ●●○○○

《 Production completed. Production Skills have increased. 》

The net I invested half my day into ended up becoming more effective than I had thought. I made the fishing net for about half of it and used up the net immediately. But for the other half, I set up something like a hammock, making it a good resting place. I thought it wouldn’t be so bad so I was quite satisfied with the results.

I started to become greedy as my living space became more and more furnished. My diet had also diversified and improved in one way or another. And above all else, the amount of physical strength I needed to use had decreased a lot.

In the past, running to the academic district rendered me exhausted the entire day. But I had started being able to lightly walk even on my way back just recently. 

Even if I were to fall asleep late at night, I could open my eyes feeling refreshed the next morning. 

I was becoming more and more confident and satisfied with this life.

[Magic Skills Details]

Grade: Low-grade Magician

Specialized Field: Elements

Common Magic:

܀ Fast Casting Lvl 2

܀ Mana Sense Lvl 5

Fire Element Magic:

܀ Ignite Lvl 10

Wind Element Magic:

܀ Wind Blade Lvl 10

Since I hadn’t been able to use any intermediate magic properly just yet, I could still only use two beginner magic skills. But since I could repeatedly practice these skills until I was sick of them, and because I was in an environment where I could only survive by actually maintaining a fire going, I was able to reach my initial goal of having a skill reach level 10.

So if I focused on casting them, I was now able to knock down a thick tree in one fell swoop. Even controlling the campfire became a piece of cake. 

Of course, I wasn’t able to use it freely since my inherent mana capacity was rather small. But with this, only a few of the first-years would be more skilled than I was when it came to Wind Blade and Ignite.

After becoming more proficient in elemental magic, my daily life had become more convenient. Cutting firewood with just a small bit of magic or adjusting the fire during the night. It also helped a lot when processing materials for production.

If I were being honest, I was actually having quite a lot of fun.

Before going to the academic district in the morning, I looked at my camp, all of my things packed and ready to go. It may not be that amazing, but it was something I had built with my own two hands. And with this unknown sense of pride and satisfaction, I wanted to try doing many more things!

First things first today, smoking meat was taking too much time and effort.

I wondered if I could make a proper smoker so the smoke wouldn’t spread and flow out. But I couldn’t think of a good idea on how I should go about designing it.

“Hm… I guess I could just make one some other time.”

After I finished trimming my bow, I checked on my laundry and then on my jerky on the drying rack, then sat back down by the fire.

My schoolwork from today went somewhat well. After looking over Senior Professor Eskin’s written assignment for Elemental Studies, I should be done for the day. Considering it was still early in the evening, I’d say I’ve developed quite the talent in managing my time and daily routine.

I hummed while finishing up trimming my last arrow. These days, everything I did was producing better results so I couldn’t help but feel good throughout the day.

If I could somehow spend every normal day until graduation just like today, then, there wouldn’t be any problems with my plan.

Thinking about these relaxing thoughts, I wrapped up the day—

Bang!

And just like that, a monster suddenly flew in, smashing through the drying rack that I worked so hard to make, its body rolling over on the ground before coming to a stop.

A flock of birds flew overhead and a thick layer of dust obscured my view for a short while.

When I looked down where I had been trimming my arrows, I saw a familiar witch hat that I was reluctantly getting used to.

Sure enough, looking up a bit farther ahead was Lucy Mayreel on the ground, the smashed drying rack beside her. It was quite a spectacle to see her covered in dirt, face stuck on the trunk of an old tree.

“Wh-what is this?”

I stood up, reacting a bit late. Lucy, who was lying down, responded slowly.

“I almost died…”

That wasn’t a line I expected to come out of Lucy’s mouth.

Why was this girl, who was supposed to be walking around, floating like some sort of spirit, suddenly fall here in such a way?

From what I knew, the only one in this academy who could fight Lucy on equal footing was Headmaster Obel at best.

But if there was someone who could fight her to the point of nearly killing her… then there must have been a variable I wasn’t aware of somewhere.

In this suddenly escalating crisis, I stood up quickly and asked Lucy.

“You almost died. Just who was it?”

“Be… Bell Maya…”

The name of a senior maid at Ophelis Hall.

“What the hell!”

I picked up the fire poker that I could grab nearest and threw it at Lucy. I thought it would just bounce off, but surprisingly, she didn’t use any reactive defense magic to block it.

The poker triggered her like a finger flick to the forehead, making her tear up and lay down on the ground. Ah, the black mark on her forehead was quite impressive.

“Is lying down here the right thing to be doing?”

“I’m out of mana…”

That speed that couldn’t be followed by mere human eyes, not to mention the tremendous aftermath… it must mean she used the high-ranking spatial-type magic Space Leap.

High-ranking magic was something that even professors were only able to use by reciting the incantation with full concentration.

“After dinner, I was going to skip the monthly meeting called by the head of the dormitory, but I got caught…”

“So?”

“Bell was so angry that she clenched her fist and came towards me.”

I began to remember some of Lucy’s even scenes that I remembered. This troublemaker whom no one could contain had one natural enemy – it was none other than Bell Maya.

Lucy had no way to deal with the incarnation of fear that was Bell, who would tighten her fists as if to attack whenever Lucy caused an accident, or forgot her schedule, or wasn’t keeping a tidy appearance. It was a stance with a deep-rooted tradition of overpowering troublemakers such as Lucy.  

It would be a bit funny to see Lucy, an extraordinarily rare genius, being overpowered by one maid.

However, no matter how talented Lucy was, she wouldn’t do anything absurd enough to touch the maids of Ophelis Hall. It was an unwritten rule in Silvenia that the maids of Ophelis Hall, who supported students without an inch of error, must always be respected.

Before such an unwritten rule even made its rounds, the students living in Ophelis Hall already subconsciously felt a sense of indebtedness to the maids.

Even though they were students already used to always being treated with respect, the Ophelis Hall maids’ competence was enough for them to still be in shock. That’s why they were considered an elite group of maids. Housework such as cleaning and cooking were basic skills, but they could also support the student’s academic life or even demonstrate simple magic.

Since they were extremely faithful to their job of supporting the students, they never took unnecessary actions and most of them were reserved. This meant Bell Maya’s rougher outer appearance and personality were not her individually.

“I thought that it would hurt so much so I ran away. It all happened so suddenly.”

In short, Lucy applied ‘fast casting’ and ‘wordless casting’ with spatial-type magic to fly, not just a far distance, but all the way from Ophelis Hall to here.

If you forcibly increased the casting speed or overlapped the casting, or if you were thinking about other things, the magic efficiency would be ruined. Such actions were cause for worry, not just two or three times more, but two or three times squared more. On top of that, the magic Lucy forcibly used was high-ranking magic, not to mention spatial-type magic.

It was the equivalent of flying a private jet to a convenience store right in front of your house. It was only natural that even Lucy’s magic, which was overflowing like the sea, would run out in an instant. You couldn’t even call Headmaster Obel over for this type of thing.

Thinking about this absurd situation, I was left speechless. 

Bell Maya, who was very angry, approached her with a whirling fist, so like a cat who jumped on a cucumber that fell on the side of the road, Lucy flew all the way over here.

Lucy, still on the ground in her loose pajamas, let out a whine.

“So tiring…”

“Isn’t this what you deserve?”

“I’m having an especially hard time these days. Particularly because of that senior maid who became extra sensitive…”

“Bell Maya?”

That robot-like maid who was always focused on her responsibilities without a change in her facial expression?

“You might not be able to tell from the outside but I could… She’s really sensitive nowadays… I guess there is someone she is worried about… But being like that, I wonder if her anger would fall on me too…”

Lucy, who was covered in dirt from lying on the ground like that, finally began to say it.

“You know…?”

She would always say the same thing whenever she knew I was here. The end of her sentence was obvious without even having to hear the rest of her words.

“Do you have any beef jerky?”

She must be really craving it.

I took a deep breath and raised my finger, pointing at her.

At the spot where Lucy had flown in and crashed into, were the remains of the drying rack and the strips of jerky that were drying on it.

Needless to say, the jerky had fallen on the floor and was covered in dirt, obviously in a state where they couldn’t be eaten. 

“Hah…”

Lucy’s face quickly turned blue at the sight. I took advantage of that moment to flick my finger on her forehead.

Lucy, who had no magic power left, just rolled on the floor, screaming.

____

____