The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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“Hello, everyone. There are so many injured in our class… I’m Cecilia, and I will be staying here until they recover. I hope to get along well with you all.”

I had no idea how the snowball started rolling, but Cecilia ended up in our class when we were supposed to meet her at the end of the first semester.

We had exchanged a few words at the party, but it was merely a matter of knowing each other’s names, so it felt a bit awkward to say we knew each other.

Teacher Dorothy looked around, then soon fixed her gaze on the empty seat next to Exipri.

She was glancing down at her desk, scribbling meaningless doodles in her notebook, looking rather gloomy.

It was unfortunate for Exipri, who used to chat happily with the girl sitting next to her… but for me, it was somewhat fortunate.

I was already connected to five heroines in the early stages of the story. Of those, two had virtually no acquaintance, and one I hated for some reason.

I was on good terms with Anya, and I could build a good relationship with Cecilia from now on. I also needed to clear up the misunderstanding with Camilla in a private meeting.

“…Right. Cecilia? I think it would be better for you to sit next to Exipri. Is that alright with you?”

“Anywhere is fine.”

Exipri’s eyes began to sparkle as someone was coming to sit beside her.

“Next to me?”

“Yeah, Exip. Let’s all give a warm welcome to our new friend with applause!”

Everyone clapped for Cecilia with varying levels of enthusiasm, though Ho-yeon was acting rather indifferent.

What was bothering her this time?

“Everyone, I thank you once again for your kindness.”

As described in the original work, she had a very polite and calm personality—at least when it didn’t involve spirits.

“Hmm? You are… Han Dogon… right?”

“You remembered me. Yes, nice to meet you, Cecilia.”

Since she wasn’t particularly aristocratic, I thought there was no need for honorifics, so I suggested we use first names comfortably when we first met.

The class quickly accepted that, typical of an elf like her.

In this world, elves were suspiciously friendly towards humans. Except for Georg, they seemed willing to give everything unless it harmed them.

And indeed, she was born from the World Tree.

Thus, they didn’t have half-breeds… In the original work, she claimed that the goddess helped her be born.

In other words, someone must have either been nailed to or from a tree.

“And you…”

After greeting Exipri beside her and the unknown student behind, she attempted to greet Ho-yeon, but for some reason, she hesitated.

“I’m Baek Ho-yeon. Nice to meet you.”

Her response was delivered in an ambiguous tone that could either be interpreted as grumpy or merely annoying, and she stared straight ahead afterward.

“…Yes. Nice to meet you…”

She seemed a bit awkward with Ho-yeon, who was normally friendly to everyone.

Even without knowing her background, you could feel her unique sense of intimidation. For some reason, Ho-yeon didn’t seem to like her much either.

“Wow, are you an elf…?”

Exipri asked with curiosity while looking at Cecilia.

With rare turquoise hair and red eyes, and to top it off, she had a cross pattern in her eyes, it was indeed fascinating.

All elves had crosses in their eyes. There were hints about the goddess having some relationship with it, but it had never been clarified, so there was no way to know.

“Yes, I am an elf. Is this your first time seeing one, Exipri?”

“It’s not the first, but… I’ve never talked to one before! Can I touch it?!”

“Yes. But you have to be gentle, okay?”

As I watched Exipri excitedly touching her with a face full of wonder, while Cecilia looked a bit flustered but insisted on being gentle, I couldn’t help but think this was a bit classic for the original novel.

“…You really are looking closely.”

“Oh, Ho-yeon.”

Ho-yeon seemed displeased with me observing the two.

“Yeah. Didn’t you find me fascinating or something? Just say anything.”

This jealous girl couldn’t tolerate even the interest I showed in those two and immediately pulled my attention back to her.

In such a situation, it was smoother to just comply with her demands than to make excuses.

What I found fascinating… well, everything was fascinating to some degree, but what caught my curiosity the most was that tail.

“I’m curious about your tail. But why did you ask that…?”

I felt an ominous premonition and asked her about the intent behind the question. But before I could get an answer, Ho-yeon raised the tail and placed it on my palm.

“Here. Then touch it. Oh. Do NOT pet it upside down. Absolutely not.”

Ahh, since Exipri was watching Cecilia’s ears get touched, she probably thought if she let me pet her tail, she would be the only one noticed.

“But… there are a lot of eyes right now…”

“It’s an order. Touch it.”

I was trying to escape under the pretext of many eyes watching, but Ho-yeon stubbornly insisted I should touch it.

Since it was under the desk, it wouldn’t be visible, but I still couldn’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling.

I felt that her obsession with me was gradually increasing as well.

After all, the upper hand in the current situation belonged to her.

Unlike her hair, that tail’s fur was stiff. It looked soft at first glance, but it turned out to be quite the opposite.

“How is it? My tail.”

“It’s stiff.”

But the texture itself felt nice and was quite addictive. It felt similar to petting a cat with stiff hair.

“…Is that all?”

“But I want to keep touching it… It has this bizarre addictive quality. Do you groom your tail daily? There are no tangles in it at all.”

“Hmph. You seem to have some discerning eyes.”

As I unintentionally began a tail critique with her, I realized the back row had become strangely quiet.

Had they already talked enough? Exipri couldn’t be the one who was quiet. A fleeting glance backward showed Cecilia blushing as she gazed this way.

“…Ah, um… I wasn’t looking because I wanted to… you two seem close…?”

Another misunderstanding arose.

—

“Are you curious about why I’m here, everyone? Then, think back to what happened a week ago. Yes, the monster attack. It’s unfortunate some of you aren’t here. But…”

I didn’t expect to see Georg’s face from the first class. He said that the timetable had changed slightly due to that incident.

“So, today I will fairly assess your overall abilities. Now, let’s move to the gymnasium.”

…No. If that’s the case, just call us to the gym.

I felt frustrated and inefficient about the method, but since he was naturally like that, I didn’t feel like protesting too much.

Originally, I didn’t even have the courage to say such a thing.

Slowly, everyone stood up hesitantly and headed for the gym. Cecilia naturally approached Dokan’s side, and Exipri followed suit.

The fact that the protagonist of a harem story always gets entangled with women made me feel a bit sick.

Of course, I could say it didn’t matter much since she was a girl, but still, there was a certain unsightly feeling about it.

Aside from that, I didn’t like anyone sticking close to Dokan.

After all, he was my closest friend.

Would I allow lust to triumph over friendship?

I approached Dokan and grabbed his hand.

I could feel Cecilia’s surprised gaze, but I casually narrowed the distance between us.

“…Ugh.”

Yeah. Your seat is a few steps away, and mine is right next to him.

“Let’s go.”

Dokan looked a bit disappointed, but that’s none of my concern. While I was watching, he should be looking at me.

So we arrived at the gym, but something felt different about the scenery. I spotted something hanging in the corner.

Is that… a sword?

“Running away has its limits. So from today, I will teach you how to attack. Today, we will duel to gauge your approximate levels.”

Oh, I had been waiting for this. A duel was something you couldn’t have an academy story without.

“…What if we don’t know how to fight…?”

A timid-looking girl mustered her courage and finally asked Georg.

“That’s a good question. In that case, you can forfeit. Also, even if you lose, there will be no penalties. The purpose of distinguishing wins and losses is merely to provide education suited to your level, so please give it your all.”

After that, he gave us warnings about not getting hurt and explained that while limbs wouldn’t truly be severed, you would become a temporary cripple until the duel ended.

Georg called out the names.

“Daniel, Finn. Come forth. If you don’t have a weapon you use on the rack, let me know. I will make one for you.”

So even a professor at the academy should be capable of making weapons on the spot, huh? I watched two boys stolidly walk out from the audience.

This really felt like a coliseum. The only difference was that eventually, the audience would become gladiators too.

“What do you plan to fight with?”

Seeing the two boys wrestling with their weapons made me curious about what Dokan would handle.

“I’ll mainly rely on magic, but… I can handle swords to a certain extent.”

Of course, like a protagonist, he could handle both magic and swords. Meanwhile, I couldn’t even wield a sword properly.

“Well then… good luck out there.”

I couldn’t think of anything more to say, so I left him with just that encouragement and watched the boys’ duel.

They clashed weapons, tripped each other, and twisted their postures while trying to topple one another; it was rather amusing to watch.

If Brother Black Wolf were to step in, I wondered how many here could withstand his sword?

The thought crossed my mind, and I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.