The Academy’s Doomed Young Lord Dies Ten Thousand Times

Chapter 58 - Midnight, and What Lies Beyond (3)

In the Empire, there are many historic families commensurate with its deep history, but among them, three hold a unique position.

And, that was the story of 'The Three Founding Families,' which have continued from the three meritorious retainers who made a decisive contribution to the founding of the Abellon Empire.

The Family of Salvation, Stellia.

The Family of the Sword, Cardenas.

The Family of Qualification, Enlight.

These three families were recognized for their meritorious deeds by the first emperor and were each given the middle names 'El,' 'Van,' and 'il.'

This became a factor that distinguished them from other families, and their prestige remains intact even now in the long and brilliant history of the Empire.

And under the title of the Empire's most prestigious families, the three families have consistently interacted... so Serene had occasionally encountered Robelia since she was young.

For that reason, they were on speaking terms, enough to exchange greetings.

“Oh my, Miss Serene. It's been a long time~.”

Robelia approached Serene with a bright smile and greeted her.

“...Lady Robelia... no, Senior.”

Serene also politely replied to the greeting and was lost in thought for a moment.

'Miss Robelia...'

That thought was not about Robelia's outstanding reputation in high society, her status as the future Crown Princess, or the eldest daughter of the Enlight family, but about the fact that she was Rain's older sister.

'This is unexpected.'

As that thought suggested, Serene felt it was quite unexpected.

It was because she had thought that Robelia, as the legitimate eldest daughter of the Enlight family, who was the head of the aristocratic faction, would not even care about Rain.

As mentioned earlier, Serene had encountered Robelia several times in high society, but she had never once mentioned Rain.

And there was no way that Rain, an illegitimate son, could appear in the social scene.

'...Although I couldn't help but look around for him sometimes.'

Various thoughts crossed her mind about Robelia's visit, and there were also questions... but since there was nothing she could find out right away, she quickly dismissed the thoughts.

“Hoho, shall I come back in a little while?”

“No, it's alright, Senior. I was just about to leave myself.”

“I see~. Then please get back safely.”

Serene left the place with such light pleasantries.

Creek-.

And right after leaving the hospital room... she could hear a single word leaking from the hospital room.

“...My, how lovely he is.”

Robelia's voice, like a soft whisper.

If approached only by the letters, it was a loving phrase whispered as a sibling's love... but the impression Serene got was a little different.

From deep inside her heart, from somewhere... a chilling feeling.

Serene had a pretty good intuition.

***

Being in a coma is not as dramatic as you might think. It's more like your vision goes black for a moment, and when you wake up, you vaguely feel that a lot of time has flown by.

That much was no different even with a body that was on the verge of being a superhuman.

In other words, the first coma I experienced after falling into the world of was also like that.

After losing consciousness with intense pain, by the time my mind was clear again and I could feel the weight of my eyelids... the pain was gone.

In contrast, my body was incredibly stiff, and my eyelids were heavy.

“Ugh...”

Such a groan escaped my mouth, and beyond my closed eyelids, I could feel the brightness of the sunlight that must have been streaming in through the window.

Ssk.

And, even in this dazed state, a distinct presence.

Who could it be? Although my social circle is narrow, I think there are people who would come to visit me in the hospital.

Yuna, who I'm closest to at the academy? Or the unpredictable Arien? Serene, whom I've known since middle school? The steadfast Khan?

After such thoughts crossed my mind, what was there when I struggled to open my eyelids was...

“Hey, Enlight boy.”

...A mask thrust right up close to my face.

Yes. My supervising professor, Acaite.

“...”

I almost stopped breathing. If I had a little more energy, I might have screamed.

“...Professor Acaite...”

I opened my mouth calmly, my voice half-exhausted, half-exasperated.

“What, your reaction is so bland even in this state? I thought I'd give you a little surprise since you seemed to be waking up. Tsk~.”

If I had a little more strength, I would have made a huge fuss, what a shame, you eccentric professor.

...Of course, I swallowed those words.

Anyway, Acaite shook his head and moved his face away, and I struggled to sit up in the hospital bed.

Then I turned my head and looked for a clock.

'12:33.'

Well, in a world where cars run on mana, each room was also equipped with a clock. Just like in the modern world.

The problem was that the date wasn't written on it.

“...Professor, how long have I been unconscious?”

Because of this, I asked Acaite. The answer to that question was...

“Uh, you were bedridden for about a week. They said the detoxification was slow because of your shabby body stats?”

“A week... I see.”

A week.

Seven days.

...Wait, seven days?

After recognizing the word 'a week,' and once my mind had processed it... a sense of complexity washed over my head.

“Ha...”

Goddammit. I worked my ass off to manage my grades, and I just lost a whole week?

How much time would it take to catch up on the progress made during the week and even review, and my body would be all stiff.

'And what about attendance? No, maybe they'll give me some kind of special consideration.'

With that thought, I put my hand to my forehead and asked Acaite.

“Attendance... what happened? It seems there are grounds for consideration.”

“You persistent bastard... is that the first thing you ask as soon as you wake up?”

At my words, Acaite asked back in a disgusted tone. It was so obvious what kind of expression he was making under the mask.

Hmm.

It was true that I seemed like a fiend obsessed with grades, but what's important is important.

“Anyway.”

With a 'tsk' sound, Acaite clicked his tongue and answered me.

“Well, to get straight to the point, you were granted an exception. After all, you guys took on the academy's responsibility for management, and strictly speaking, you were harmed because of that.”

“...Is that so?”

I was quite surprised inside. No, to think that the academic affairs office, the embodiment of bureaucracy, expediency, and aristocratism, would acknowledge that.

I had just thrown out the question on the off chance. What was the occasion?

No, maybe it was because so many high-ranking people were involved. Like Serene, Arien, and Elwin.

“Instead of that gloomy talk, man, look at that pile over there.”

“...?”

At Acaite's exaggerated tone, I turned my head and looked in the direction he was pointing.

And there... was a considerable amount of gifts and bouquets of flowers.

“...Huh.”

Seeing those items, I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.

After all, apart from Yuna, Khan, Serene, and Arien, I had no one who could be called a friend.

'Some of them are probably with pure intentions... but most of them are probably guys trying to get on the good side of the Imperial Princess's faction.'

It's a bit much for me to say it myself, but it seemed I was being considered a very promising knight cadet as intended.

“Wow, you're popular. A man of ability, huh? Huh?”

“Please don't tease me...”

“What, I'm not kidding? I heard quite a few people came to visit, too.”

Visitors, thinking about it that way, my heart felt a little heavy.

'Yuna has a weaker heart than she looks, so she must have been worried sick, and the same goes for Serene...'

I was well aware that when someone gets sick, the people around them suffer mentally.

I just didn't expect that I would be the sick one.

'Well, Arien probably isn't that far along yet... and Khan has a strong mentality, so he probably didn't worry much once he heard my life wasn't in danger.'

Well, anyway.

“Is there anything else I should know?”

“Am I your personal secretary, supervising professor?”

“...Please think of it as helping a student in a difficult situation and I would appreciate it.”

At my words, Acaite chuckled.

“Ha, student... Fine, student. Be grateful, okay?”

“...”

Acaite, who had lightly teased me, continued to speak again.

“First, let's talk about the big stuff. You, you're going to be commended.”

“...Yes?”

Commended? A commendation?

Not the 'shuriken' kind of commendation?

“What are you so surprised about? It's an incident where a student repelled an intruder at the academy, so a commendation is no big deal.”

“That's true, but...”

He was right, but for some reason, after coming to this world, I had developed a distrust of the system, so I couldn't help but be surprised.

Maybe it's because I saw so many unsightly things in the beginning.

“But I thought the academy would try to downplay and cover up this incident...”

“That's a pretty accurate point... well, there are some circumstances.”

“Circumstances?”

“Well, the parties involved in this incident are pretty formidable, right? It seems the academic affairs side realized that it would be difficult to silence them and hide it in the first place...”

Ah, right.

Serene, Elwin, Arien. These three are the heirs of families that are counted among the top five in the academy. Pressure that would work on ordinary students would be useless against them.

“Secondly, there were some people who tried to make it public in various ways. For example, the Imperial Princess. She said she couldn't just let it go since one of her close associates was attacked?”

“Oh...”

That's Regina for you. The way she unhesitatingly acts when there's an opportunity to gain something, I like how reliable she is in times like these.

“And I also spoke up a little. What do you think, grateful? Feeling a surge of respect?”

“Thank you very much.”

“...Couldn't you at least pretend to put a little soul into it?”

Well, anyway, after that conversation, Acaite left, telling me to rest.

Acaite was the type who liked to be treated informally and comfortably, so I tried that, and it

seemed to be a success.

In any case.

“My physical condition is...”

Swoosh-.

I swung my arm once to check my physical condition.

“...No particular problems.”

My physical functions didn't seem much different from before. Right, Acaite had said before he left that it wasn't a problem with my body but with my mana.

'It seems it took a long time because my mana is such trash.'

I let out a small sigh and opened the system window. It was to check my mana stat again, just in case.

As I opened the system window...

[System: [ Episode 4. Denial of Predestined Harmony ] - Clear!]

[System: 『Overcoming Ten Thousand Deaths』 has reached a checkpoint!]

Such an alarm flowed out. Come to think of it, some system window had popped up before I lost consciousness.

“Well, I'm relieved I don't have to worry about it all going to waste when I go back.”

Muttering so, I cleared the notification window...

[System: The balance of the inherent origin is collapsing.]

[System: Proficiency, 『Origin Magic[F]』 has been acquired!]

[System: Mana increases to [D]!]

“Huh...?”

A completely unexpected alarm was also there.