The Demon Prince goes to the Academy

Most of the general classes were decent enough. This was supposed to be my first year of high school and I didn’t know this world’s common sense too well, but it was understandable.

The Royal Class was a place where people with outstanding talents gathered, but that didn’t mean they were all smart. Rather, there were some guys sleeping in class. Those with good brains were completely focused, even some of the guys with physical talents managed to concentrate. But there were a lot of guys who were just average and some who didn’t even attend, because they were kids. This class’ students were chosen based on talent not on intelligence.

However, for me, who had already finished my education before, these classes were usually either boringly easy or just reliant on memorization.

By the way.

-Run! Don’t stop! Jump!

“Gasp…. Gasp…. Gasp….”

“I, I ca, can’t anymore….”

“Wheeze…. Wheeze….”

“Why do I have to do this?!”

-Your middle school days are over! There’ll be no one consoling you anymore if you’re throw a tantrum!

As for the physical training classes, I was literally sweating blood. We had to do this cycle of physical training exercises that were close to corporal punishment.

– Magic, supernatural power, studying and physical training must not be neglected. You are the future of the empire. If you do not meet a certain level of physical fitness by the end of this semester, I will fail you! Keep that in mind!

It was an illusion that it was okay for wizards to be weak.

If one relies too much on their supernatural power, one would get hurt someday.

He who lacks stamina, won’t be able to study properly.

It was obviously me who wrote these sentences. Therefore, regardless of major, one had to conduct physical training during the common classes. There was no such thing as a major that would allow one to be weak after all.

So it was said that children who had non-combat talents hated this class the most.

It’s like I’m getting punished for my own words right now.

-Hey, you there! Don’t walk!

“Sigh….”

As I was receiving that high-intensity physical training now, I almost felt like throwing up the food I had not too long ago.

-Run! I’ve never seen anyone die from running! Hey, I can’t see you over there! Look at that!

Where the p.e. teacher was pointing was a guy that was running at a constant speed from start to finish.

-Tok, tok, tok, tok!

He was also sprinting at that, saying some refreshing words as he passed by me.

“Cheer up, Reinhardt!“

“I, I’m going crazy….”

It was Ludwig.

P.E. was one of the classes Class A and B took together.

That guy had only one talent.

Stamina.

All physical abilities were ranked according to a system. I reconfirmed the settings I made in the past by looking at the rank classification criteria written next to the physical data table of my classmates.

0~4 (F Rank)

5~7 (D Rank)

8~13 (C Rank)

14~19 (B Rank)

20~30 (A Rank)

31~35 (S Rank)

36~40 (S+ Rank)

In addition to that, there was an SS Rank, but having that specification was rather meaningless. Beyond that, would represent a superhuman’s level of strength. Of course there were some who would reach that level.

F~D Ranks corresponded to the lower grades.

C Rank corresponded to intermediate level.

B Rank corresponded to advanced, and beyond that, growth was extremely slow. Unless one was born with a certain type of physique, one might face the limits of one’s growth there. No matter how hard one tried, one might not be able to reach A Rank.

In other words, it is said that A Rank would be almost the limit a human being could reach. If one reached something like the A+ Rank that might already be the limit.

From S Rank up, it was clearly at the level of a super human. Ordinary training alone wouldn’t get one there.

Ludwig’s stamina is 30, which corresponded to A+ Rank.

The average stamina someone our age normally had was D Rank, meaning 6~7, while that guy’s stamina was already at 30. He was a nutcase who had the physical strength of humanity’s top athletes. That was Ludwig.

That was his only talent and specialty.

“Wha, what kind of monster is he….”

My other classmates had their mouths wide open when they saw Ludwig’s crazy stamina. I didn’t feel any jealousy or admiration towards that guy for being faster than me.

I think I was just going to die that instant. Should I keep doing this? For the whole semester? Every time we had common classes? Twice a week?

I was worried whether it would be okay to choose a supernatural power as my first talent or if I should choose stamina first. After all, that guy was just as fast on his feet as Ellen.

“…….”

-Pak!

Ellen Artorius, who also ran at a constant tempo without any disturbance, passed me as well.

* * *

The P.E. class that turned people into super humans included not only running but also strength training. There was no distinction made between men and women. There were only five people who were able to stand properly: Class A No. 2 Ellen, No.1 Bertus, No. 5 Cliffman, Class B No. 3 Scarlett and No. 11 Ludwig.

Everyone else made noises like zombies. there were some kids even crying.

“If you’re able to cry then you’re still pretty energetic!”

However, the P.E. teacher, who looked like a demon from hell, was merciless.

There was just one person standing beside him.

Charlotte de Gardias watched us withering away like that.

The P.E. teacher excluded her from training because she was still weak and needed absolute rest. She must have gone through a lot of hardship already in the Demon King’s Castle, so no one objected.

Students and teachers were amazed at how well she was taking classes.

Even on the verge of death, my eyes were drawn to Charlotte. What kind of talent did she have? It must have been written on Class B’s bulletin board, but I didn’t want to attract more attention by checking it.

Charlotte was just watching what we were doing. She faced a life or death crisis once, even though we faced it together that time.

I realized again that I had no idea what personality Charlotte de Gardias actually had. It was because the personality she held during the crisis and her personality now seemed distinctly different.

“He, hey! It’s too fast! I can’t count!”

“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”

Next to me, Ludwig was doing sit-ups at lightning speed and the child holding his legs and counting across from him was crying. Maybe because he was from Class B but I wasn’t familiar with his face, so I couldn’t remember his name.

Now I knew for sure.

It was the same with Sarkegaar.

I hated these energetic guys.

* * *

After the two-hours of hellish P.E. classes, everyone washed up in the shower and changed their clothes.

“Why are the showers and changing rooms integrated?”

Erich de Lafaeri grumbled loudly.

The shower facilities themselves were impeccable. Although men and women got divided it was used by both classes. The men’s and women’s changing rooms and shower rooms were shared by Class A and B.

He was complaining about that.

I didn’t even care about that as I felt like my soul was leaving my body. Except for those who had a certain level of stamina, there were some who collapsed to the floor altogether.

A-8 Kono Lint was murmuring blankly.

“That’s not the problem…. We have to do this again on Thursday….”

– Aaaaarg….

Regardless of class, moans and groans of lamentation flowed out of nearly everyone’s mouth. Everyone had to go through the same hardships again, so who cared about that single detail.

Worked to death on Monday, rest two days, then get worked to death again on Thursday. Yes, there certainly was an intention behind that.

-Hit!

“….…What’s wrong with him?”

When I was getting angry at myself for writing such a dog-like novel and hit my head, everyone was looking at me with strange expressions.

Anyway, sorry guys.

However, I ran into a problem while changing clothes in the changing room.

“Hey, Number 11.”

“.…What?”

Cayer Vioden spoke to me. I was still in pain and felt like dying, so what problem did that idiot have with me now?

“You’re not in particularly good shape, are you?”

“…What about it?”

I didn’t know what the hell he was thinking, but he also seemed to be on the verge of dying because of how tired he felt. He wasn’t particularly good physically either.

“Hey, are you any good at fighting? Huh?”

What was with that childish quarrel. I guess he acted like that because he got scared after I acted a bit like a jerk.

That was why his pride got hurt, so seeing me struggling during P.E., he seemed to think that I wasn’t that much different from him. That was why he gained some confidence and started picking a fight with me in the changing room while I was tired.

The men’s only changing room.

What a good place to fight for one’s pride.

“I’m not good at it.”

I couldn’t get mad at this guy again, so I would just put up with his antics for now. To be honest, I regretted my actions earlier.

“So what gives you such confidence then? Huh?”

Ah, he’s so childish, it felt like goosebumps ran up my neck and back. Was I too old for this? What gives you the confidence? What the hell was with that?

I was just speechless and didn’t feel like answering.

“Fucking with me again…. Hah, what weird nonsense are you talking about?”

“Fucking with you? Be respectful. Huh? Aren’t you just a bitch?”

-Tap!

Cayer tapped me on the shoulder.

“Don’t do that.”

“Why, wanna try me again? Huh? Go ahead. That’s right, it’s ridiculous for a bastard like you to come to Class A. Huh? What kind of trick did you use? Huh? A guy with no talent? Did you bribe them with money?”

-Tap

It seemed like that guy wouldn’t step down to heal his damaged ego. I hurt his pride more than I thought.

I had to admit that I was being pretty impatient at that moment.

“Arg!”

-Thud!

I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him down. He was in a pretty weakened state so I could do it easily.

The guy who fell over in an instant looked up at me in puzzlement.

It was quite funny actually.

The students of the Royal Class were chosen by talent.

It was completely different from the Orbis Class, which used the exact opposite methode to choose its members.

In other words, those guys weren’t that skilled.

“There are children who understand things they are told immediately, and then there are brats who first need a beating to understand.”

I had two fights with the same guy on my first day at Temple.

“I think you’re a brat.”

-Pow!

“Arg!”

“Let me give you that beating.”

I kicked the guy who fell to the floor in the stomach.

The Royal Class didn’t have anyone who was as skilled as they were proud.

There were a lot of students who put a lot of faith in their talent and didn’t bother putting in any effort.

That was the weak point of the Royal Class. The students were selected by talent and they wouldn’t fail if they didn’t decide to drop out themselves.

Like that guy in front of me, there were people who considered themselves to be part of a very privileged class. In fact they didn’t have anything else to show for themselves.

Just some garbage with nothing else to offer but being part of the Royal Class.

I trampled on Cayer’s face.

-Stop!

“Urggg!”

-Bang!

“Cough!”

I kicked him in the head.

Strong bastards didn’t really have to be strong.

-Boom!

“Argh!”

There were several types of bullies, but when it came to fighting, there were two types you absolutely shouldn’t touch.

One who’s good at fighting.

Or one who’s a completely crazy bastard.

If you touched someone who was good at fighting, you’d obviously get beat up if you touch them.

But it was a bit different in the case of a crazy bastard.

People shouldn’t touch someone like that because they wouldn’t know what he’ll do. There were guys who’d really hit someone over the head with a chair, you know?

I couldn’t fight well, so I chose the latter option to not get trampled over.

A person who could act strong was indeed strong. One just had to show some guy, who’s all talk, that you yourself are not.

I was going to act like that while everyone was watching.

All I had to show them is that if you touch me for no good reason your life might get seriously endangered.

I wasn’t strong. I couldn’t even be strong yet.

But I could be cruel.

Body data and rankings don’t show everything.

That’s why I had to show them.

-Pow!

When I stepped on his face again, someone caught me as if they felt something unusual from me as well.

“Stop!”

“Why, why are you doing this?!”

Ludwig and Bertus took me away from him.

“Uh, urgh….”

“Hey, if you’re so confident in yourself, try me again, why don’t you?”

I spoke to Cayer as I was dragged away by Bertus and Ludwig.

“I’ll kill you then.”

Cayer, who lay collapsed on the floor, couldn’t even look at me.

* * *

“You fought?”

“Yes.”

“He hit me first!”

In the end, we were dragged before Mr. Epinhauser due to our fistfight. To be exact, Ludwig and Bertus said something like: “Let’s keep this between us, make up and move on”, but someone went ahead and told the teacher.

I didn’t know who tipped him off, but I knew these guys’ attributes. I wrote down certain characteristics and personality traits for them. And I remembered all their names I had forgotten after the introduction ceremony yesterday.

Someone who had the attributes of a tattle tale.

It had to be B-2 Louis Ankton.

Anyway, he must have rushed to tell someone about the fight and Mr. Mustrang was coincidentally in Class A so it got passed on to Mr. Epinhauser, so we were dragged to his private room.

“Getting into fights from day one, are we?”

“He hit me first! Oh, and he swore at me this morning!”

Cayer, who had a stiff, unhappy expression on his face, began to argue that it was all my fault.

He seemed to have forgotten how I beat him up in the dressing room.

He felt wronged that I hit him, but seemed to have found this to be a great opportunity to get me kicked out. He wanted the teacher to protect him.

“It’s all his fault….”

“Silence.”

Epinhauser looked at Cayer with a cool expression.

“You’re noisy No. 10”

“……”

“Don’t talk when I haven’t asked you to.”

“….Yes.”

Cayer, who was very scared, answered in a withered, quiet voice. Epinhauser’s eyes had such a stillness to them that it felt down right creepy when he looked at you.

I knew he wasn’t a bad person, but this atmosphere sure made me feel nervous.

“No. 11.”

“Yes.”

And him calling students by their number rather than their names felt like he was trying to keep a certain distance from them.

“Did you hit him?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you hit him?”

He asked me while wearing a very curious expression on his face.

“Cayer made statements that undermined Temple’s authority.”

“…What?”

“What are you talking about!”

Epinhauser and even Cayer were bewildered by my sudden statement. They were surprised because it sounded like nonsense. Epinhauser started to stare at me.

“Explain what you mean, No. 11.”

“Yes. Teacher.”

Watch me do this now, you punk.

“Cayer pointed out to me several times this morning that it was unfair for me to be admitted to the Royal Class with only aptitudes. He said it didn’t make any sense for me to enter Royal Class and Class A at that, based just on my aptitudes without having a talent.”

“……?”

Yeah, watch me twist it like that.

Mr. Epinhauser seemed to be surprised not by the content of what I was saying, but how I worded it. Yeah, it was a very serious way to put it.

“So I said to Cayer something to the effect of that students shouldn’t question the decisions made by the Temple Admissions Office. Of course, in that process, I also asked Cayer maybe a bit strongly if he were the head of the admissions office, to which Cayer, of course, answered no. I believed the issue to end there, but I guess Caierre must have felt offended that I had dismissed his remarks at that time.”

Are you the head of the admissions office, you bastard? That’s what I said roughly.

“And just after the P.E. class, he asked me if I were good at fighting in the changing room. So I answered him honestly that I wasn’t very good at it. Maybe he planned to physically subdue me to repay me for the humiliation he felt that morning after he saw me struggling with the physical training. He pushed me several times and asked how I could dare to talk to him like that when I wasn’t even good at fighting. Cayer, do you admit that you said these words?”

At my question, Cayer exclaimed with his face reddened.

“……It’s true, but I just pushed him! That guy hit me!”

“I didn’t hit you because you pushed me.”

Noticing that the talk was about to get more tangled up, Mr. Epinhauser raised his hand.

“Stop, so what did you mean by him undermining Temple’s authority?”

He looked at me, as if warning me to not go on to talk nonsense.

“As Cayer pushed me he said that it would be absurd for a person like me to get into Class A, then asked me what trick I had used to get in. He said that it was clear that I bribed the admissions office and that my admission was fraudulent.”

Cayer’s face paled with every passing moment. He was probably wondering why I gave a speech like that. Everything happened for a reason.

It was true that I was feeling nervous because I was standing in front of Mr. Epinhauser, but, in the end, it was me who set up this character as well.

“I can tolerate insults against me, but Cayer’s remarks casted doubt on the credibility of Temple, the pride of the Empire and the world’s best educational institution.”

I looked at Mr. Epinhauser.

“In other words, he questioned Temple’s credibility and with it the great Gardias Empire. I couldn’t bear my indignation anymore so I might have lost my temper without realizing it. I apologize for my carelessness. Teacher.”

Mr. Epinhauser’s characteristic was…

“……Is it true that you said that, No. 10?”

Overwhelming patriotism.

“I asked if it was true that a student of Royal Class even spread groundless rumors about Temple’s system being flawed.”

“Tha, that…. That… That’s… That’s….”

“Yes or No. Only answer with either of those two.”

Mr. Epinhauser’s cold anger wasn’t directed at me, but I still felt my throat tingle.

* * *

Mr. Epinhauser was a cold-hearted patriot who took great pride in the Empire and Temple. Therefore, he was extremely calm about other things, but about matters that might damage the honor of either of those two, he was extremely sensitive.

So it was no wonder that he got angry at a student that openly doubted Temple’s decision not once but twice in a single day.

Of course, there were some things that I left out of my recount, as this was a very serious matter.

It was easy to make a man out to be the world’s worst killer based on nothing depending how one interpreted his words.

A problem doesn’t become a problem until it’s addressed.

In other words, most words can be twisted in such a way that they sound problematic.

He seemed that he was going to let go of the matter regarding the fight. He told me he would let me off the hook. It seemed to be common for classmates to get into fights in Royal Class.

After that Epinhauser told me that I could go, but that Cayer had to stay. He also mentioned that I seem to have a talent that wasn’t treated as one before.

What he meant by that was that I didn’t talk like a child my age should. But, so what. It’s not like he’d think I was actually an old man on the inside.

Wouldn’t it be strange for a complete incompetent to get into Temple’s Royal Class, where talents gathered?

Who’d even doubt that there was some old man inside this bastard that is me? If I force myself to act like a child, I’d just feel uncomfortable and it would only be more awkward. I was just going to roll with this character I build.

In the end, Mr. Epinhauser focused more on Cayer but he wouldn’t be severely punished. After all, Teacher knew that I exaggerated the situation a bit, and Cayer was just a kid.

It would just be to the extent of a warning.

When I came back to the classroom alone, there was a strange atmosphere hanging around everyone. Cayer didn’t come back, only me. I didn’t seem like I got scolded at all, so they were curious.

There would be rumors floating around Class A and B about the fight.

Even though he has no talent, he has such a bad temper.

Ah. What was wrong with them just because of one bad apple? Although that bad apple was me, so I had nothing to say.

Only

And then.

[Challenge accomplished]

[Received 100 Achievement Points.]

……What the hell?