By Zephyria 
After a noisy day due to the argument between Cloud and Ardian, the next day dawned. Herman bothered me like a talkative child, giving me no time to speak until late at night, so I passed out, and before I knew it, morning had dawned.
“Stop sleeping now. You’ll be late, Ray.”
…Seriously, he doesn’t sleep.
And he’s so brazen.
I wonder who made me sleep in.
I glared at the hateful Herman, who was all ready to go, and threw a pillow at him. The pillow hit the back of his head and fell. Herman, who was holding the back of his head, suddenly asked why, sounding wronged.
I ignored him and got out of bed. After finishing preparing to go to class, I went out into the hallway and stopped in surprise because there was a shadow right next to the door. When I turned around, it was Corso.
‘Since when? I didn’t feel any presence at all.’
As expected of a skilled person with the achievement of 7 Stars, he seemed to be good at hiding his presence. And the reason I knew his achievement was that he was revealing it all without using Mana Concealment.
As I was getting nervous, he turned around and stood as if he had been waiting.
That was it.
I didn’t even expect him to speak to me kindly, but he didn’t even say “Good morning.” He only showed the minimum amount of movement, like a doll that only moved when ordered, and just kept his eyes on me without saying anything.
Really, he was a nasty human.
“Ray, what are you doing standing in front of the door….”
Herman, who was following me out, also found Corso and was flustered. After a moment of silence, I took a step first, and Herman quickly followed me to the side, and Corso slowly began to follow behind him. Herman, who was watching nervously, seemed unable to bear the awkward silence and spoke first.
“Have you… been guarding us since this morning?”
Then, Corso quietly lowered his eyes, which had been facing the sky, and looked at Herman. Herman, who met those eyes up close, felt a moment of tension.
The cross pupils, which did not seem ordinary, created fear from the difference. I had to feel a sense of kinship with Corso while understanding Herman. When I was a Demon, I was also ostracized by humans because my eyes were red.
“Yes.”
Corso answered Herman’s question like that.
A short answer. Of course, the conversation ended there.
Herman didn’t seem to have anything more to say, so he eventually closed his mouth, and we arrived at the lecture hall while maintaining an awkward silence. Cloud was in the lecture hall again today.
“Hi.”
Cloud, who was sitting in the back, found me and waved his hand. I ignored him and headed to the seat where Zeon and Tom were sitting. I could see him grinning as if he was having fun, but this time he didn’t move to a seat closer to me.
Not long after, Ardian came in and quickly took the empty seat next to me, and chattered as usual. He didn’t even look in the direction of Cloud, as if he was trying to treat him like he didn’t exist.
Soon, Marien, the professor in charge of
“Please listen carefully as this is a message from Professor Polargehen. Class A didn’t have proper training due to the attack that happened during the last training camp, so it will be difficult to obtain the White Class Certification if things continue like this. From today, we will set aside separate time for practical training. At the training ground after 6 p.m. when there are no classes.”
Boos poured out from the children.
Of course, no one in Class A would voluntarily skip training. If they didn’t have that much grit, they would have been demoted to Class B long ago. That’s what I’ve felt from seeing them so far. Marien knew that too, so she laughed it off lightly.
“Class B students all get the White Class Certification by the time they graduate, so Class A can’t fail to get it, right? There’s not much time left until the certification exam. Just suffer a little more. Shall we start the class now?”
Complaints were heard here and there again, but Marien wouldn’t bat an eye at that. It was a bit chaotic for a while, but soon an atmosphere of concentration on the class was created.
After that, Class A safely continued their training at the training ground accompanied by Cloud, improving their achievements and training their bodies. In my case, my achievement was already enough at 4 Stars, so I focused on researching Necromancy a little more and finding a way for this human body to withstand the high achievement of Black Mana.
In the meantime, the final exams passed, and before I knew it, the sun of September had risen. It was the month when the eventful first semester ended and a vacation came.
☠
Andres den Valhalla Kaiser Albinus.
He is the first son between the suddenly deceased former Emperor Hohenheim and Empress Elizabeth, and he is the young Emperor of 30 years old who was the Crown Prince and recently ascended to the throne as Hohenheim’s successor.
And there were a total of three siblings below Andres. His younger sister, the second Ellie Albinus, and his younger brothers, the third Brandy Albinus and the fourth Ardian Albinus, were the ones.
Among them, Andres was actually the person least qualified to be Emperor.
He was very weak, not as smart as his other siblings, and easily swayed because he was easily influenced.
However, Andres did not have any inferiority complex towards his other siblings, and when he ascended to the throne, he had a vague thought that ‘it will be fine.’ That’s because all the Crown Princes who had inherited the Albinus throne until now had changed 180 degrees when they ascended to the throne. No matter what bad labels they had in their childhood, whether they were ridiculed for being stupid, whatever.
They became incredibly intelligent, gained a non-existent character, and became skilled in the court like someone who had been doing politics for a long time. In addition, their vision widened and their ability to handle people changed like a slippery eel.
So even if Andres was appointed as Crown Prince, no one was worried about it. Andres himself didn’t worry either, even though he didn’t even make an effort to read a book.
But what do you know.
Andres remained the same even after ascending to the throne.
He didn’t study, so he couldn’t understand difficult words, so he couldn’t handle a single document properly, and he was swayed by every word the surrounding nobles said, and he couldn’t find even a speck of character. He was always clumsy no matter what he did, so even after a considerable amount of time had passed since his ascension, he had not properly shown his qualities as an Emperor.
Even though Andres was stupid, he wasn’t so stupid that he couldn’t hear the sounds of people laughing at him behind his back.
Everything was stressful for him.
So Andres couldn’t refuse the helping hand offered by his youngest brother Ardian, who was usually kind and gentle. He has now been reduced to a puppet who only follows Ardian’s orders, but that was fine.
So this time, he had to do the job well as his younger brother wanted.
‘What should I do… what should I do!’
It was not long after Ardian, who had suddenly come before the Round Table Conference, left, saying that he would attach Corso as the escort of a person named Raymond, and that he should refuse to let any other person into the school, no matter what reason he gave.
Raculus, a woman whose existence was rarely seen, found him directly after the results of the Round Table Conference came out. When he refused the audience, she broke through the Barrier and invaded with Space Transition.
And….
-Please stamp it. The seal.
Along with the unilateral notice that Cloud would be appointed as a school security reinforcement measure, she forcibly took the seal. It didn’t go as Ardian wanted. And today was the day he was coming back.
‘He won’t just let it go… I’m going to get scolded badly.’
Andres was scared.
Ardian Albinus… Ardian Adam Albinus, who started using ‘Adam’ as his middle name like his father.
Originally, he wasn’t such a frightening being. He was a more affectionate, gentle, and soft-spoken child.
He suddenly changed at some point.
It was a very subtle change, but as a brother who had grown up seeing his face his whole life, he could recognize that small change.
Since when was it.
‘…That’s right.’
Thinking about it, it seems to have been since Andres’ own father… Hohenheim, died. He started using Adam as his middle name around that time too. It was Andres who should have changed, but instead, it was Ardian who changed. And the changed Ardian became the spitting image of Hohenheim. The oppressive feeling that made you want to piss your pants just by looking at his eyes… he really, really looked just like him.
Could I say that it made me feel longing? Absolutely not.
Because Andres had always felt an inexplicable fear towards his father, Hohenheim.
It was then.
Andres, who was huddled in the corner of the bed, trembling with his head in his hands, opened his eyes wide enough to pop out when he suddenly sensed someone in the room, even though he had clearly closed the door. Goosebumps were crawling all over his back.
“You were here, brother.”
Followed by a voice from behind the bed curtains.
Andres trembled like an aspen and lifted his head.
Behind the shadow gesturing to draw back the translucent curtain was Ardian. Golden eyes, similar to Andres’, were shining brightly as he looked down, and he was smiling slightly, but it was so terrifying.
“You didn’t listen to me.”
The moment he heard those words, Andres, completely terrified, clung to Ardian’s waist and shouted.
“No, brother! It was just Raculus’s rash decision!”
“Ah. Is that so.”
“It’s true! I didn’t mean to!”
Andres’ hand, clutching Ardian’s collar, trembled weakly. Ardian, who had been staring indifferently at his pitiful appearance, slowly pulled his brother away and said.
“I will let it slide this once.”
“Ah….”
“But there will be no next time, brother.”
“Y-yes! I understand! I’ll listen to you. Trust me!”
Having received an answer, Ardian turned and stood. Andres, left alone, had the stiffness caused by ‘fear’ released, and he could only pant for a while without being able to move.
Afterward, someone quietly appeared behind Ardian as he walked down the deserted hallway. It was Corso, the man who had once been Hohenheim’s loyal shadow and had announced the existence of a young man who used Black Mana.
“Your Majesty.”
“I told you to drop that title.”
“…I apologize. It’s a habit.”
Corso opened his mouth again after a moment.
“Forgive my impudence, but there is something I would like to ask.”
At Ardian’s glance as if to say, ‘Go ahead and speak,’ Corso continued.
“Which ‘number’ are you now?”
Ardian’s gaze, looking at the empty air, was distant.
He was retracing an immeasurable amount of time.
“…Well. I don’t remember properly. It’s been so long since I crossed countless bloodlines.”
Corso, who had been staring at him, continued.
“Will you be able to achieve the purpose you have?”
Ardian lowered his ominous eyes and said.
“If I can’t, I’ll have to resort to war.”
Because this time, I’ve decided I will never… let it go.