The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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It had been one month and five days since the Black Wolf began to monitor Dokan.

Byeolbi had directly issued the command, “Do not interfere unless my daughter is in mortal danger,” but he interpreted that ‘interference’ as a protective action, so he diligently roamed the shadows of the Academy under Ho-yeon’s orders.

However, several questions arose within him. Why was he fixated on such a lowly creature, leaving aside other more remarkable beings?

In terms of personal power and the size of the groups he could mobilize, he was already doing well to be in the middle tier; why did the offspring of a monster take an interest in him?

She, born from something that could almost be called omnipotent and a man who could justly be called a god, was like a little Byeolbi to him.

‘…No, wait. Is this precisely why I cannot comprehend it?’

How can one understand something that lies outside of logic and common sense? To him, Ho-yeon was such an entity; though cute, beautiful, and harmless, she was fundamentally different.

He thought this even more since he had been watching her since she was a newborn. Up until the age of five, she seemed so alien he even thought of her as a tiny Byeolbi.

She neither cried nor laughed. She didn’t whine at all. Her utterly motionless responses were enough to chill anyone, despite countless battles he had experienced.

He wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but it was as if she was right in front of him one moment and then perched atop his head the next.

Since that day when Byeolbi took some inexplicable action with her, she had become the Ho-yeon he knew now. Yet, he still remembered her that bizarre little being.

Soon, he shook off his distracting thoughts and returned to the task of observation, acutely aware of the destinies of those who dared to understand such mysteries.

‘…By the way, just what the heck is that guy doing?’

The stories from her parents were certainly lies.

In the East, humans either existed as taxidermy in a corner of a zoo or were living beings solely in Byeolbi’s personal space, and even if they were lucky enough to escape, there were no boats heading to the West.

Thus, he presumed he was the child of a merchant who had been to the East, but even that was far from certain.

He met no one other than other students from the Academy, and even after a thorough investigation, he couldn’t find anything about him as if he were hastily constructed.

“…Sigh. Why has the Princess taken an interest in such a guy?”

Since there was no point in considering it further, the Black Wolf decided to let his thoughts run wild.

– – –

He was fiddling with a green ball in his pocket, trying to pass the time.

Creating problems suitable for Anya’s hole-pierced brain, while also crafting puzzles for the church kids who could manage well without me, was quite a headache, but he finished both tasks in an hour.

As soon as the class that Dokan was conducting ended, he had… nothing to do.

Every day was like this. Sometimes, he would reveal himself, and they would greet him with their tails held high, but after about an hour of hanging out, it would be over.

He had even stolen clothes from his room that he didn’t wear just to smell them. But each time, he only reminded himself that the little guy wasn’t next to him.

In a library filled only with literary books, it had come to the point where counting the unread books was faster than the ones he had read, so he didn’t fancy going there anymore.

Moreover, after saying such grand things to his mother about why he had to go to the west, wasn’t it rather pathetic to be holed up reading books?

While thinking about finding a place to go with that kid later, he was determined to wander the Academy today, prepared to become lost.

…If only those church kids wouldn’t follow me around.

Lately, it seemed they weren’t even trying to hide. The Golden Sun was usually like that, but…

What wrong had I done to that elf for him to follow me?

…Well, something does come to mind. But I returned him after fixing him, right? There was nothing wrong.

Huh. But why on earth is he following me? I really couldn’t understand. If it ends well, it’s all a memory; are they the type that clings to the process?

Ew. I don’t like that; I can’t believe I caught the attention of such gloomy beings. I have such bad luck.

“…Cecilia. You ensured the concealment, right?”

“Don’t worry. I specially made it by combining spirit magic with my knowledge. It reduces noise from outside…”

Everything could be heard and seen, though. But I had no desire to point that out. It felt wrong to throw cold water on her when she was speaking so confidently.

And it occurred to me that the people watching the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ felt exactly this way, which was a rather amusing thought.

Since I wasn’t particularly planning anything important, it didn’t seem bad to keep them as companions.

…Just not companions for the road to the afterlife. That sounded a bit odd.

“…Sigh. Dokan is likely rolling around with other girls right now…”

He seemed to be trying hard to win over that Camilla’s heart… but was it right to chase someone who had already explicitly told him to back off both physically and verbally?

No matter how charming his face and captivating his personality were, that only worked on someone who didn’t put up their defenses.

It was a complete waste of time to someone determined to reject him.

I did the same back in my past life—pushing the ones away who approached and shoving the ones who left gently. Dealing with people only felt exhausting.

If he asked for help now, I would help him, but thinking like that made me feel like the me of now was not exactly the same as before.

After all, both my gender and race had changed; how could my mind remain intact?

Lost in such trivial thoughts and wandering around the Academy with those amusing companions, as expected, I ended up lost.

Where the heck am I?

Somehow, it felt like the colors around me had changed from green to an overall golden hue; the ground looked like it was covered with fallen leaves as if it were autumn in this area.

It was undoubtedly a strange place.

Then again, if there’s nothing to do, isn’t it unnecessary to do anything? If I can’t do anything, I might as well just let it be and move on, right?

If I asked the church kids for directions, I believed they’d gladly answer. For now, I’d just enjoy the quiet autumn path.

“…Cecilia…? Do you… feel that? There’s a fluctuation in the dimension…”

“Yes. The spirit… is trembling. There’s something ahead…”

Though the church kids’ warnings came mixed with noise and were hard to understand, those kids seemed genuinely curious about it.

Even though they spoke of frightening things like dimensional fluctuations, it must have just been a misunderstanding.

If it were the case, I certainly would have noticed first.

Now that I think about it, a cool, refreshing breeze has come in, so it seems there’s definitely something ahead.

Since there’s a hint of divine presence, it can’t be the World Tree. So perhaps it’s something created from the remnants of a god?

There have been records indicating the use of a demon’s body in various ways, so it may not be impossible.

I just hope it’s not just the head like with Anima.

Otherwise, that would be too miserable.

Then what appeared before my eyes was truly an unexpected being.

“…Stephanie…a?”

That was unmistakably Stephanie. The reason I was sure was that her state was one where she could hardly be considered alive.

She was missing one arm and one leg, and there was a massive hole in her abdomen.

Moreover, her head had suffered a wound so severe it looked like it was about to split apart, making it impossible to consider her still living.

“…Well, are you unable to recognize me? Ahya.”

Yet, for some reason, that corpse addressed me very familiarly. Who would call me that…?

…Could it be? No, it can’t be. There’s no way. I hurriedly tried to read the flow of mana. It was like a sealed god deep within the mana veins… and then… a single strand connected to it…

“That’s unfortunate. I thought you would definitely recognize me. No, perhaps I’m the one who’s mistaken for using an ignorant method. Hahaha, you don’t know!”

Seriously.

Before my eyes was a god using Stephanie’s remains as a shell.

Good grief.

No, it wasn’t merely remains. Though incredibly feeble, she was still alive.

If I turned off the power, she’d die in an instant, but living is still living, after all.

“…Ho-yeon! Get back!”

Even the church members could no longer remain idle upon witnessing this and, discarding their cloaks, rushed over.

“Oh dear, I didn’t know there were meddling kids. As expected, human senses are imperfect.”

The god… seemed genuinely startled, as if he really hadn’t realized.

Soon after, she…? He?

Anyway, the magic cast by Cecilia was unleashed.

“Oh, so this was the method claimed by Byeolbi’s disciple. How fascinating…”

In a manner suggesting that what was displayed during the duel was a mere joke, the sky darkened as ice and fireballs poured down, making the god break into a chuckle.

“…Disappointing.”

Just like that, he was disassembled.