I Became The Academy’s Joker Character

Chapter 22

—–CROW—– 

“Huh? Um, well, that is…”

Arieta was flustered by Eleanor’s sudden intrusion.  

It was abrupt, but in a way, I was pleased.  

Didn’t it mean Eleanor considered me a member of her party? …Well, she might just have wanted the [Successor of the Mage King] and the [Saintess of Hope] on her side, but either way, forming a party with Eleanor wasn’t bad. 

 Since Arieta was the only first-year left, it would have been difficult for her to find other party members.  

Besides, I was trying to act like Oz, so I was in the same boat. 

I should be grateful to Eleanor for her wide social circle.

“Who should we have as the last member…? Master.”

Eleanor continued, ignoring Arieta’s flustered muttering. Her audacity was astounding.

That aside, with a warrior, marksman, mage, and cleric, we could manage. If the warrior also acted as a tank, it would be a fairly balanced party.  The problem was Eleanor.  To put it bluntly, she was weak.  She was the only one at R-rank level in a party with members ranging from SR to SSR.  Of course, I was the only one whose stats followed the game, but even excluding that, Eleanor was still on the weaker side.  Wasn’t she a growth-type protagonist, not an overpowered one?

“We need a guardian for the last spot, so how about Baekyang?”

“Baekyang? Hmm…”

“Is there a problem? Aren’t you two close?”

“Baekyang is scared of Master.  She said you grabbed a frail girl’s face and slammed her headfirst into the ground.”

“Oh my… Oz, why would you do such a thing…?”

Considering the circumstances, it was true.  It was a valid point, but something felt off.  Was it because she’d left out the part about it being during the practical exam? Eleanor’s bizarre way of speaking felt like a sharp dagger today. Was she trying to attack my reputation?  If so, it was a critical hit.  Arieta’s face had turned pale from shock. My image was shattered.

“That was during the practical exam. It couldn’t be helped.”

I shrugged as if it were nothing, but Arieta’s complexion remained unchanged.  If even this didn’t change her mind, there was nothing I could do. The rest was the truth, so there was no room for excuses.

I was trash.

“That’s true.”

But then Eleanor started defending me. She was the one who both stabbed me in the back and saved me.  Eleanor was skilled at playing with people’s emotions like this.  For a moment, I almost felt grateful.

“Even though Master is a mage, there’s nothing wrong with subduing an opponent physically.  Although, the method was a bit… excessively cruel, merciless, and violent.”

“Either defend me or criticize me, pick one.”

“Master has a more sadistic side than I thought.”

Please don’t choose criticism.  What more could I do besides cry if she kept hurting me?

“Well, if that’s what Master wants, I’ll try talking to Baekyang.  If necessary, I can threaten her in Master’s name, right?”

“You’re really trying to make me look like trash today.”

“…Master is a bit slow, isn’t he?”

Eleanor narrowed her eyes in dissatisfaction and munched on the apple.  Weren’t you peeling that for me?

“This is what Master is like. What do you think, Saintess?”

“I don’t have any thoughts.”

“I see.”

Eleanor smiled brightly and shoved the rest of the apple into her mouth. Though, since she’d butchered it so badly, it was less than two slices worth.

“Then I’ll be going. See you later, Master.”

“Uh… Yeah.”

“Oh! Speaking of parties, the freshman party is coming up soon, right?  Master, what are your plans for that day?”

“Nothing.”

“Heehee. Master really likes the word ‘nothing.’  If you’re free, shall we hang out together that day? Oh, come to think of it, are you busy then too, Saintess? That’s too bad.”

“…”

Eleanor smiled and left. Arieta tilted her head, seemingly puzzled by the previous exchange.  And just like that, for ten minutes, she stood there, silent.  It was suffocating.

* * *

*Crack*

“Ugh…”

Three days after being discharged from the infirmary. I tried stretching my neck, but there was still some pain.  Just how did she twist it so that it didn’t kill me but only left pain?  She was the strongest being in this world, and her power was truly terrifying.

“Fufu, you’re finally here.”

“…”

“Welcome, Master. To our party, 『Voluntas』!”

“Yeah, alright.”

As expected, when I arrived at the training grounds assigned by Headmaster Tia, Eleanor was showing off her attention-seeking tendencies.  Seeing her sitting with her legs crossed in the center of the training grounds, on a chair she’d placed there, as if she were part of some secret organization, gave me a headache.

“Where are the others?”

“Heh.”

That smug expression. I wanted to punch her.

“Come out, guys.”

*Clap!*

As Eleanor clapped, Lucia, holding a pistol, emerged from the shadows of a pillar.  Why was she doing that?  I told her not to get caught up in strange things.

“Hello, Prince Oz!”

“…”

She was walking towards me with heavy steps, a far cry from her usual stealth.  Was she doing this on purpose? Was she playing a character?

“Welcome to 『Voluntas』!”

I’d already heard that.  Were they planning to come out one by one and greet me?  Why not just come out together?

“This party is centered around Eleanor…”

Lucia swaggered over and put her hand on my shoulder. But her expression was utterly miserable.  Lucia lowered her head and muttered quietly,

“Excuse me, Prince Oz, could you please react somehow…?”

“Why are you blending in so much that you’ve become one with the character?”

“To match Eleanor’s mental state, I had no choice but to become like this…”

“If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you?”

“Surprisingly, that might be the most accurate description… Uwaah?!”

As we whispered, Eleanor grabbed Lucia by the scruff of her neck and dragged her away like a cat.

“Lucia, we need to introduce Baekyang too, so that’s enough!”

Lucia, being choked, was probably looking to me for help, but I didn’t have the confidence to stop Eleanor.  Of course, I could win in a fight, but destroying our relationship like that wouldn’t help.  I intended to maintain a good relationship with Eleanor.

“Ugh… Is it my turn now~?”

Baekyang emerged from behind another pillar, sluggishly bowing her head.  I couldn’t tell if she was afraid of me, as Eleanor had said, or if she was just bored, but she was definitely lacking enthusiasm.

“Is this everyone?”

“First, come out from behind the pillar. What’s a guardian doing hiding?”

“Are you planning to grab my head and slam it into the ground again?  Or are you going to deliver a powerful blow to my stomach~!”

“…I feel like this party is already falling apart.”

It was clear that things were already a mess before we even started.  And the second part wasn’t me.  I wouldn’t do something so crude.

“This won’t do.”

This wasn’t a joke.  At this rate, we would fall apart from internal conflict before even encountering the enemies in Chapter 2. Considering that everyone’s abilities, except mine, followed the story, it was dangerous.  Of course, unless they were SSR-rank, there wasn’t much difference between their abilities in the story and their stats in the game.  Since there were no ranks above SSR, the range was naturally wide.  Characters below SR-rank mostly had similar stats to the game.  Of course, I was weaker now than in the story.

The only consolation was that Arieta was in the same party. The enemies in Chapter 2 of the main story were the undead, subordinates of the [Hades King].  Yes, as long as we had Arieta…

“Wait, where’s Arieta?”

“The Saintess said she was busy today.  So, unfortunately, it’s just us today.”

“Really?”

I’d briefly seen her doing origami earlier, so I thought she was free.  Did I make a mistake asking her to make one for me too?  Well, as the head of the disciplinary committee, she might have been busy with the upcoming midterm exams.  It was understandable that the disciplinary committee would be busy, as some students might try to cheat before the exams.

“Should I have helped if the disciplinary committee is that busy?”

“Wouldn’t it be alright since Master was just discharged?  You’ll be busy in a different way, catching up on your studies.”

“I never imagined I’d hear such sensible words from you.”

“Master tends to see me as a strange person sometimes.”

It wasn’t “sometimes”; I always thought you were strange.

But I didn’t say that out loud. No one knew which direction the greatsword on Eleanor’s back might swing.

“Then shall we begin training?  Let’s show our strength in the upcoming party exams!”

“Even if it’s a party exam, the evaluations are individual.”

“But wouldn’t winning give us a higher evaluation than losing?  I believe in you, Master.”

“…Sorry, but I’m not planning on using advanced magic or above this semester.”

Besides, I was sure I’d get penalized again like last time.

“Why?! Why would you throw away victory?!”

“Noah, this is a place of learning for students.  Do you think proper education can be conducted if I go all out?”

Actually, I couldn’t use it, but since I would be prohibited from using advanced magic due to the penalty anyway, I decided to frame it like this.  Fortunately, no one doubted that I couldn’t use advanced magic. I’d already proven it in the fight with Gerard, so there was no room for doubt.

“How arrogant!”

“…”

“But I don’t dislike Master’s arrogance.”

Eleanor, who seemed about to scold me, nodded in understanding.  It was truly dishonorable, but every action I took seemed to resonate with her in some strange way.

“…Just let’s train.”

“Alright.”

Leaving Lucia, who was catching her breath, and Baekyang, who was hiding behind a pillar, Eleanor moved to the center of the training grounds.

“Hiya!”

*Crash!*

She kicked the chair she’d been sitting on, sending it flying.

“Wahahaha!”

“…”

As the chair shattered against the wall, I carefully made a note to add a penalty point to Eleanor and observed her next action.

“Was it like this? Hmm?  Well, it must be.”

Eleanor started scattering something white in the center of the training grounds.  Then, a group of skeleton-like figures began to rise.

“Ah, there we go.”

Dragon Tooth Soldiers, created by Tia herself. Perhaps tailored to our party, they were a combination of warrior, guardian, marksman, and mage.  Fortunately, there were no clerics.  Every time I saw them in the game, I wondered if it was really okay to give students troops like Dragon Tooth Soldiers, even for training. I seemed to recall that Dragon Tooth Soldiers were made from Tia’s fangs.  Did that mean Tia pulled out hundreds of teeth every year for the students?  I hadn’t realized it before, but she was a true role model for educators.

“That’s horrifying…”

Of course, thinking about it that way gave me the chills. It didn’t suit her.

“I think they’re cute.”

“…Why are you here?”

What was the point of a warrior standing right next to the mage?  At least hide behind Baekyang.

“Ah, I unconsciously… I’ll go to the front.”

Eleanor ran forward at a speed incomparable to her previous tiptoeing.  Well, even so, she was still only at R-rank level in terms of physical abilities. She had a long way to go.

[Observation – Activated]

After confirming that Eleanor was behind Baekyang, I activated [Observation] and observed my party members’ movements.  Baekyang created an ice shield and stood at the front, ready for the Dragon Tooth Soldiers to approach.  Eleanor, seemingly impatient with the slowly closing distance, kept darting forward and attacking at odd timings.  Baekyang, the guardian, ignored her completely. If their opponents weren’t training dummies, Eleanor would have been captured or knocked to the ground.

“Does she always do this?”

“Something like that…”

Lucia, positioned behind me, sighed as if exasperated.  This was truly remarkable. It couldn’t get any more chaotic.  Baekyang, who should have been protecting the party, was unmotivated, and Eleanor kept making restless movements as if she wanted to stand out.  If this was how they acted in a real battle, our party would fall apart within five minutes.

“…Let’s shoot them once each and get started.”

“Sure.”

*Bang!*

“Did you have a lot of pent-up frustration?”

“A little.”

Muttering in frustration, Lucia pulled the trigger without a moment’s hesitation.

“Gah!”

“Ouch!”

Eleanor, shot in the back, stumbled and fell, and Baekyang, shot in the back of the head, face-planted into the ground.  They were shot with rubber bullets, but they were surprisingly durable.  The laws of physics in this world were definitely broken.

“W-Wait a minute!”

“Kyaaa!”

The Dragon Tooth Soldiers swung their weapons at the two fallen girls.  Fortunately, their weapons turned to dust and disappeared just as they were about to make contact, and the Dragon Tooth Soldiers, having swung at nothing, froze in place.  It was a safety measure implemented by Tia.  How unnecessarily kind.

“Again, the back of my head…”

“Wasn’t me this time.”

Baekyang glared at me while rubbing the back of her head.  I had told them to shoot, but I hadn’t told them to shoot the back of her head. I glanced at Lucia, who had a rather satisfied expression.  She must have been stressed out by Baekyang as well as Eleanor.

Well, if she was satisfied, then it was fine.

“Seeing you guys like this, I think we should postpone Dragon Tooth Soldier training for a bit.”

“Then should we do physical training? I just need to get strong enough to *bam!* take down a Dragon Tooth Soldier in one hit, right?”

“No.”

That would be nice, but even if she could, Eleanor’s grades probably wouldn’t improve.  And there was no way Eleanor could defeat a Dragon Tooth Soldier with her current abilities, even in her dreams.  Honestly, I couldn’t defeat one either. They were monsters created to guard Scientia. They were imbued with high-level defensive magic. They had at least SR-rank stats, and their defense was close to SSR-rank.

“I don’t expect much from you two. I just want you to understand your positions.”

“I understand. I’m the main character of the party, right?”

“Noah said so~”

What a load of bullshit.

“Lucia and I are going to bombard Noah with magic. And every time Noah gets hit, we’ll add a penalty point to Baekyang. I look forward to the final tally.”

“Huh…?”

“…What penalty?”

This party’s balance wasn’t bad.  Yes, the balance wasn’t bad. The problem was the mental states of these two idiots who didn’t even understand their own positions.

“I hope you two can realize your roles by the end of this training.”

Intermediate Magic

[Stalagmite]

“Kyaaa!”

I cast magic at the two targets.

Intermediate Magic

[Fire Wall]

“Uwaaa!”

They wouldn’t get hurt. I was holding back, and they were wearing magical tools that increased their magic resistance.  So, it was fine.

Intermediate Magic

[Chain Lightning]

“Kiiiyaaa!”

So, let’s keep bombarding them until they got it.  Drilling it in until they learned was a fundamental element of training.  

That’s how I was taught.

—–CROW—–