The Academy’s Doomed Young Lord Dies Ten Thousand Times

Chapter 20 - The Failure Knight and the Disgraced Young Lord (3)

“……I couldn't sleep a wink.”

Nova Hall, the dormitory that accommodates the most students at Archenia Academy. Yuna, who greeted the morning in a 4-person room, muttered with a haggard face.

The reason she couldn't sleep well…… was obvious. Rain Enlight. The events of when she parted with him wouldn't leave her mind.

-I merely saw your potential.

“Ughhh……”

Yuna buried her face in her pillow and groaned, a sound mixed with anguish. That one sentence just wouldn't leave her mind. And the scene of the moment he said it.

The cool breeze, his face, the faint sunset, and his calm voice, everything.

‘In the first place, what did he see to say that?’

Thinking rationally, she couldn't help but have that question. How much had he seen of her?

If he had seen her, it would have been at the sparring test at most. That sparring test where she had lost so pathetically.

“Aaaaaah!!”

“Be quiet.”

“Sorry……”

When that dark history came to mind, Yuna kicked her blanket and screamed again. But she was met with a protest from her roommate who had woken up from the noise.

Maybe he was trying to sweet-talk her and had other ulterior motives. Like bewitching her and using her as his servant, or maybe offering her as a sacrifice for some ritual…….

‘……No, that's a bit much.’

That was a bit of a delusion, but it was all the same in the context of not being able to understand Rain's actions.

In fact, if it was a kindness that was this incomprehensible, it was right to keep a distance.

Yuna also understood that point. Nevertheless, the reason she was agonizing over it was because of Yuna's unique ‘intuition’.

‘……It didn't seem like he was making things up.’

Yuna had a natural intuition. It was so uncanny that it could be called a sixth sense, and Yuna had never once suffered a loss by trusting this intuition throughout her short life.

Yes, it didn't seem like Rain was lying. It also didn't seem like he was trying to sweet-talk her.

His face was deeply steeped in dark circles and gloom, but his gaze that looked straight at her, and the sunset that cast a slanted light…….

“Aaaaaah!!”

“I said be quiet!”

“Really sorry……”

This time, Yuna pounded her pillow and let out a scream. And, as expected, she received a protest from her roommate.

-I merely saw your potential.

Yuna mulled over Rain's words again. The flat tone and calm expression, as if stating an obvious fact, came to mind again.

When she heard that story. The words, ‘What the hell do you know about me?’ lingered in her mouth, but……. Yuna just couldn't bring herself to say them out loud.

Was it because of the atmosphere, or because she was flustered? The only conclusion she could draw was that she didn't know.

As her thoughts became crowded again, Yuna buried her face in her pillow. Thanks to staying up all night, she felt a little sleepy.

Before she managed to get some shut-eye, Yuna thought one last time.

Potential, how long had it been since she had heard that word.

***

Hmm, things are certainly going smoothly. The plan to gradually build friendships with the playable characters.

Serene is a given, and I've found common ground with Khan and Yuna as being under the same supervising professor.

Especially with Yuna, we've even formed a Pair, so that says it all. As for the remaining two, I already have a plan for Elwin…… and to be honest, I really don't know what to do about Arien, but anyway.

At this point, with 7 days left until the start of the semester, I have drawn a big picture based on the awakening of Yuna's talent.

‘For 7 days, I will push Yuna hard to awaken her talent even a little, and aim for the early event after the semester starts.’

Yesterday, while giving Yuna the course registration information, I had aligned our lectures to some extent.

And one of those lectures, ‘Monster Hunting C’, was a course that held a test with rewards at the beginning of the semester to gauge the students' level.

What I'm aiming for is the 2nd place prize, a ‘B-grade Magic Stone’. This B-grade Magic Stone was the highest grade among the magic stones that could be obtained in the early game, and with this, I could create a magic engineering weapon that I would use constantly from now on, so I had to get my hands on it.

‘2nd place. It might be a bit much on my own, but if Yuna is on the right track, it's possible.’

The rules were for an individual competition, where the ranking was determined by the points assigned to each monster hunted…… but there was a system called ‘joint subjugation’ where points were divided according to contribution when subjugating together.

Anyway, there was one key to completing this plan.

‘How much can I make Yuna grow, and how much trust can I earn.’

Yesterday, I had to take the initiative with Yuna, so I might have pushed her a bit forcefully.

Thanks to that, Yuna is probably still in a daze. She actually looked quite out of it yesterday.

There was a brilliant way to make Yuna grow, while at the same time, dispelling that dazed attitude and breaking down the walls of her heart.

And that was…….

‘To push her like crazy.’

Starting today, I will enter a hellish training with Yuna. Until the day ‘Monster Hunting C’ starts, I had to put Yuna on the path of growth.

You might think, how can you dispel a dazed attitude and break down the walls of her heart with hellish training, she'd rather run away…… but. I knew Yuna. And I believed in her.

Yuna will never run away, nor will she back down.

I was a fan of all the playable characters, but among them, I was a slightly deeper fan of Yuna, so I knew.

That the girl would not give up.

***

The girl with shining golden eyes and swaying short black hair, Yuna, was regretting the worries she had had during the dawn. To be precise, her worries about Rain.

‘This guy is crazy. He's crazy……!’

It started with him waiting for her in front of Nova Hall from the crack of dawn.

He was just quietly waiting in front of the dormitory entrance until Yuna, whose arrival time was unknown, came out. Like a guy waiting for a date.

He was already a guy who drew attention, so how would it look when he was seen waiting for someone? Quite a few people must have been paying attention to who this person of interest was waiting for.

And, just as Yuna was about to come out of the Nova Hall dormitory for some fresh air…….

“You're awake. Do you have any plans for today?”

“Huh? Uh…… no? I-I was just thinking of going to the training hall to practice. Oh, why?”

“That's great. Let's go together.”

He approached her so nonchalantly. Thanks to that, Yuna got caught up in the gazes that were directed at Rain.

Yuna's head was spinning. She had already stayed up all night thinking about Rain, and now the person himself was right in front of her. And he seemed to have been waiting since early in the morning.

And what about the gazes? The gazes that were fixed on Rain were now fixed on Yuna as well when she joined him. A series of bewildering situations had piled up.

And, in the midst of that confusing situation where Yuna's head was spinning…….

“From now on, I'd like to train with you, Yuna-ssi, and give you some pointers. Is that alright?”

Rain made such a suggestion calmly, as if it were nothing. Thinking rationally, it was a suggestion that could be felt as an excessive kindness, just like yesterday.

And, Yuna's answer was…….

“Huh? Uh, yeah, yeah! I'd be grateful!”

“Besides simple training, I was thinking of helping you with some studies as well, what do you think?”

“Ah, that would be really great too! So, can we walk a little faster??”

Yes. For Yuna, whose mind was in a state of confusion, there was no room to think deeply about that point. She had unknowingly been led by the nose in the midst of her confusion.

And that hasty decision…… became the starting point that opened the gates of a 7-day hell for Yuna.

First of all, Rain instructed Yuna to run laps around the field for basic physical training.

Thump-thump-!

“31 laps. Good. Let's do 3 more.”

“Hah…… haah…… I think I heard that before!”

“It's just your imagination.”

“And…… hah…… you were running with me at first, why aren't you running now……!”

“I'm naturally low on stamina. 15 laps is just right for me.”

“Hey!!”

After the basic physical training was over, did she get a chance to catch her breath? Next was swordsmanship training.

Thwack-!

The refreshing sound of two rods colliding. That sound was created when Rain's and Yuna's training swords clashed. And, at the same time.

Clatter-.

Yuna dropped her training sword, and the dropped training sword spun in the air before falling to the ground with a thud.

Rain wiped the sweat from the back of his hand and asked Yuna.

“This makes it ten times. Why do you think your sword flew away?”

“Uh…… because my grip is weak?”

“If your strength is overwhelming, you can avoid dropping it, but…… Yuna-ssi, you are stronger than me. You're even faster. The problem is your center of gravity. The center of gravity of your stance, the center of your grip. Try to adjust as you continue to face me.”

“Wa-wait!!”

Thwack-!

Again, the training sword flew into the air.

There was no mercy in Rain's training. What made Yuna even more angry was that if the training was completely ridiculous, she could at least get angry……. but he would cut it off at the perfect timing, right before she was completely exhausted, and train her appropriately.

‘It's so proper that I can't even get mad……!’

The next schedule was lunch. She thought she might be able to catch her breath…… but the shock continued even while eating lunch.

Perhaps because she had suffered so much in the morning, Yuna was eating the food she had diligently received. More combatively than usual.

And looking at Yuna, Rain opened his mouth again.

“I said I would help you with various studies besides simple training, do you remember?”

“……Did I say that~?”

Yuna tried to brush off the story with a nonchalant act in response to Rain's calm tone…… but of course, it didn't work.

“Yes, you did.”

“Ugh……”

The color drained from the face of Yuna, who was barely recovering her energy by eating lunch. She even thought that the hellish training from before was much better.

At least that was a physical activity, but she had no interest or inclination towards studying.

“I've roughly organized what you need to study here, so please read it. From now on, we'll go to the library in the morning and study together. Until the semester starts.”

“……Why did you write so much?”

Yuna glanced at the paper that Rain had meticulously organized and briefly reflected on what studying meant to her.

The image of a much smaller, but cozy and warm middle school campus than Archenia Academy came to mind.

The students were more interested in friendships, sports, and all sorts of gossip than studying.

For Yuna in her middle school days, class time was sleep time. Her skills in how to sleep without getting caught by the teacher had improved day by day.

Ah, when she couldn't sleep, she would secretly chat with her friends. She would somehow develop content and play games with a single piece of paper…….

She had never opened a textbook except for the day before an exam. Thanks to having a decent head on her shoulders, she maintained above-average grades…… but it was probably more because most of the students didn't study hard together.

Still, lunchtime was a battle. They would run to get their lunch, chat, or go out to play…… sometimes they would even secretly sneak out to buy snacks.

After school, they would go to the bakery with friends or look for various troubles in the town.

Naturally, she was not on friendly terms with studying or reviewing after school. When it got a little dark, she would go home, eat the dinner prepared by Grandpa Duit, and go to sleep.

……

Reflecting on this, Yuna also had a thought.

‘My head is spinning…….’

I really just played around, huh…….

That was the thought.

“In the Combat Department, the weight of written exams is not high, but on the contrary, many students neglect their studies because of that. If you just work a little hard, you'll see results soon.”

After a round of reminiscence, Yuna let out a deep sigh, but didn't say anything back.

Even though it seemed difficult, he had prepared this much for her, so it wouldn't be polite to say something negative.

And, it would also be a means of self-reflection on herself for having wasted time until now.

“Yeah…… I have to work hard……”