I Became a Veteran Heroine in a Harem Story

‘There’s no need to worry.’

I trusted Erich, or rather, my judgment of Erich. I did give him a word of advice, but in any case, he’s the protagonist of this work.

Someone of his caliber couldn’t possibly fail to defeat mere youngsters like those 11 people.

“Just how much training have you had? Taking on 19 people by yourself… it was too overwhelming. Honestly, you could have fought more, right?”

As I was trying to watch Erich fight with peace of mind, Lunara spoke to me. Her eyes were wide open, as if she was genuinely impressed.

“How much more training, that’s not really important. If they had properly digested what they learned in the first place, would they have fallen so easily?”

“Th-then what’s more important?”

“Obviously, it depends on how you handle yourself.”

I chuckled and gestured toward Erich’s duel with the remaining second-year students. Erich was literally dominating Eric, who had stepped up as Number 20.

Although Eric was a known talent among the second-year students, he couldn’t match Erich, who had a different level of accumulated experience.

“Look. Even their leader is intimidated. His mind is stiff, and as a result, his senses are frozen. Naturally, his body becomes slow and heavy. In such a state, he can’t even properly use what he’s learned.”

Perhaps because I shattered the previous opponents with an overwhelming gap, they are now intimidated and frightened. Even though they’re not facing me, they’re still floundering, unable to escape the image I showed them.

The result was defeat without proper resistance. The most important thing in combat is maintaining a clear mind with cold reason.

Swinging a sword led by emotions only creates openings. Especially the two opposing emotions of anger and fear were the most fatal.

“That’s very similar to what Erich told me. But did you calculate all of this? Going first to overwhelm the opponents and shake up the following ones.”

“That’s unlikely. I don’t include uncertain variables like the opponent’s emotions in calculations.”

When Lunara, who was slightly amazed, cautiously asked, I smirked.

The option to intimidate was there, but I deliberately didn’t choose it. There was no particular need. It’s just that the level of the second-year students was lower than I expected.

‘They need to be re-educated on mental training first.’

If I were their instructor, I would have been furiously angry about that part more than anything else.

“Good. I’ll stop here.”

“You, you…”

It didn’t take long. Erich, who had completely dominated from Number 20 Eric to Number 28, came down from the dueling arena wiping his sweat.

Like me, he could fight more but deliberately came down.

“Go up and prove the results of your training. This is an opportunity.”

“Umm.”

I pushed the back of the tense Lunara. I was confident that she could defeat the remaining two students whose fighting spirit had been completely broken.

‘How much has the heroine grown after meeting the protagonist?’

It was indeed intriguing. A heroine with talent but unable to nurture it by herself begins to fully bloom her talents after meeting the protagonist.

Lunara had trained hard with Erich for this duel. Probably the knowledge and experience Erich had was gradually beginning to be passed on to her.

And through such relationships, the heroine and protagonist grow closer.

Lunara, who appeared first in the work, was definitely a heroine with enough importance to be called the “legal wife,” and she would soon become the protagonist’s most reliable spear, having been helped directly and indirectly by Erich in her growth.

‘Does that mean Lunara will be number one?’

My brow furrowed as I recalled the ridiculous heroine race. Such rankings weren’t my concern, but it kept bothering me.

If those penalties were something even I couldn’t handle, shouldn’t I avoid being last?

“Will Lunara win?”

“You should know better than I do.”

“That’s right. Lunara will win. Her talent is incredible.”

Erich, who spoke to me first, grinned. At that moment, Lunara charged at her opponent, who was holding a sword, with her spear.

The cleanly swung spear pressed the opponent. Perhaps she had gained confidence from before, as there was no hesitation in her attack.

Unlike her cautious appearance in front of me, she had become a fierce predator, thoroughly breaking down her intimidated opponent.

“It was hard to miss that talent from the beginning, which could be revealed with just a slightly different perspective. It’s too precious.”

“With that personality, there must be quite a few people here who need your help.”

Recalling Erich’s character, I could understand why he thought this way. Erich, who felt the limitations of talent more strongly than anyone in his previous life, couldn’t just stand by and watch those similar to his past self.

Unlike his previous self, the heroines weren’t without talent. He was desperate to develop their talents. As befitting a harem protagonist, there was something other than affection that took priority in his approach.

“Do you need it? My help.”

At that moment, he threw a joke with his characteristic sly smile. I snorted at that.

“I’m stronger than you. Catch up before you talk.”

“That’s right, you have the qualification to say that. I was just joking.”

Unlike other heroines, I, who had no feelings for him, only told him the plain fact.

However, even though I drew a line, he merely shrugged.

And at that moment, Lunara subdued her last opponent. The duel was over, and the winners were us, just three people who had defeated 30 second-year squad leaders.

‘He doesn’t seem likely to give up easily.’

As the verdict was reached, I raised my head and turned my gaze towards the person standing quietly at the top of the spectator seats.

Raines, who was looking down at this place, had an expression so blank that I wondered what I was seeing.

* * *

“Instructor, there’s an emergency meeting.”

“The results are out… emergency meeting? It’s the weekend now.”

“I only heard about it too.”

Dmish, who was resting in the instructor’s quarters, was surprised by the call from a student on duty and hurriedly put on his coat.

‘What’s going on? Could, could there have been an accident?!’

Dmish, who had been anxiously waiting for the duel results while resting, was terrified that a major accident might have occurred during the duel. Otherwise, there would be no reason to summon all instructors on a weekend.

“Everyone has been summoned at my discretion, so don’t worry too much. It’s not that big of an issue. No, is it big?”

The one who had summoned the instructors like this was the year head in charge of the new student instructors.

The new student instructors, including Dmish, looked at their superior with tense faces.

“There’s news everyone’s been desperately waiting for.”

“…!”

The corners of the year head’s mouth twitched along with his mustache as he looked at them. As if he found it extremely amusing.

“How do you think it turned out? You tell me, Karon.”

“I-I think they must have been partially defeated.”

“Partially defeated? Then you, Dmish.”

The year head’s eyes, which were pointing at the instructors one by one with the pen in his hand, curved greatly. When it was his turn, Dmish flinched momentarily.

All the other instructors predicted the victory of the second-year students. Although they knew the first-year students who charged in had something they believed in, they judged it would still be insufficient.

“I think the freshmen won. The second-year students are also still inexperienced. If things don’t go as they want, they could waver and collapse.”

However, Dmish stated his opinion with conviction. Other instructors stirred, but the year head’s face was peculiar.

“There’s no need to drag this out any further. You can see it here.”

The year head didn’t tell them the answer and activated a crystal ball that had been placed on the desk.

The crystal ball, engraved with spells, began to play the video contained within it in mid-air. Although there was no sound, the image was quite clear and visible.

“This, this can’t be…”

“Impossible. How can it be so overwhelming?”

And the result was enough to make everyone gasp in astonishment.

Victory, and an overwhelming one at that. Even if the second-year students had been drastically shaken midway, it was an unbelievable achievement.

‘The reason for proposing a duel with such absurd conditions, which shocked everyone, is being proven. As expected.’

Dmish unconsciously clenched his fist while watching it.

“In my opinion, they could become a record-breaking class if handled well. Of course, we need to observe a bit more, but there’s no need to even hold a selection exam to determine who the year representative is. Thanks to those bold students, things will continue to be interesting.”

The year head laughed loudly while looking at the dazed instructors.

The more experienced they were, the more they couldn’t help but find it interesting when such irregulars appeared.

‘Year representative… come to think of it, we now need to select student guidance officers from the freshmen.’

Dmish nodded at the year head’s words. The student guidance officers who supervise their peers, and the year council composed of some of them, are subordinate organizations of the student council that are involved in almost all events and schedules.

It was as the year head said—things would become interesting.

Because it was clear that those who would form the year council would be centered around those who had fought and defied their seniors.