I Am Just An Ordinary Clown Of The Academy

✦ Chapter 27 ✦

「Translator – Creator」

𒋝𒋝𒋝𒋝𒋝

“After graduation, come join my family.”

“What?”

I stared at her, dumbfounded. What had she just said?

I gulped down a glass of ice water, hoping to clear my head. It gave me a slight headache, but at least I could think straight now.

“What do you mean… ‘join your family’?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

“That… man who picked a fight with you earlier? He’s a prince from the Kingdom of Archen.”

Archen. It finally clicked. That insignificant little kingdom. If I remembered correctly, it didn’t play a significant role in the story.

“And what does that have to do with me joining your family?”

“When you graduate from the academy, he’ll use his kingdom’s power to come after you.”

Ah… It dawned on me why Johanna wanted me to join her family.

“If I join your family, they won’t be able to touch me easily, right? So, when you say join your family, you mean…”

“Would you… consider becoming a Knight? After you graduate, of course?”

True, the prince was royalty, and Johanna’s family were Dukes. But we were in the empire. Even a petty King wouldn’t dare to openly antagonize an imperial Duke.

“Oh, I see. For a moment, I misunderstood when you suddenly asked me to join your family!”

“……..….!”

Johanna stared at me blankly for a moment, clearly confused.

Then, realization dawned on her face, and her cheeks flushed crimson.

“While I am honored by your offer, senior Johanna, I have no intention of becoming a Knight!”

“But…”

Johanna looked genuinely worried that the kingdom might target me, but I really was okay. Even though I couldn’t face a kingdom right now, things might change.

“There’s no need to worry, senior. As you said, the kingdom might come after me, but only after I graduate.”

As long as I was a student at the academy, the Kingdom of Archen wouldn’t dare touch me. The most that worm could do was send his lackeys to harass me.

“Senior Johanna, I believe there are three things that deter people from harming others: power, strength, and wealth,” I spoke earnestly to Johanna, who still looked worried. “If I possess an overwhelming amount of any of these, even an entire kingdom wouldn’t dare to touch me. And before I graduate, I intend to acquire all three.”

This time, it was Johanna who stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“How?”

“Naturally, that’s a secret.

But it wasn’t a lie. I genuinely planned to obtain all three before graduation.

“Look forward to it. You’ll have a front-row seat to watch me achieve those three things,” I said with confidence.

“…Okay.”

Johanna finally seemed to relax, a slight smile gracing her lips.

Her face was still flushed—perhaps remembering what she had said earlier. In fact, she seemed even more embarrassed now.

When I stared at her intently, Johanna turned her head away. Without meeting my eyes, she asked another question.

“What do you plan to do after graduation?”

After graduation, huh… I’d been so focused on surviving the academy that I hadn’t really thought about what I’d do afterward.

“I haven’t really thought about it. Maybe traveling wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“You’re not planning to go to the Adeline Adellian, are you?”

Why was she bringing up House Adellian?

“I might visit them.”

“Why?” Her voice was suddenly cold, her expression hardening. She seemed… upset.

‘Is there some history between Johanna and the Adellian family? As far as I know, there’s nothing significant.’

“Well, I owe them a lot.”

Although I had helped treat the Adellian Duchess, the Adellian family had given me much more in return. If I hadn’t visited the Adellian family back then, I might not be here now.

“If you’re going to visit the Adeline family, make sure you visit the Freya family too.”

“Huh?”

Seeing my puzzled expression, Johanna’s face turned a bit lonely.

“Will you not come?”

I couldn’t refuse. Not when she looked at me like that.

“Of course! I’ll definitely visit!”

And so, for the rest of our lunch, I listened patiently as Johanna described the many wonders of the Freya territory.

.

.

.

After finishing lunch, I parted ways with Johanna and headed down to the basement, where our Special Class was held.

Unlike the bustling, lively first floor during lunchtime, the basement was eerily quiet. The only sound was the echo of my own footsteps as I made my way through the dimly lit corridor.

Reaching our classroom, I pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Clara was the only one there, sitting at her desk, engrossed in a book.

“Clara, did you enjoy your lunch!”

She looked up from her book, her gaze meeting mine.

“You’re late,” she stated, her tone neutral.

She made it sound as if she had been waiting for me… but knowing her, she was just stating a fact. She’d still been eating when I’d left the cafeteria. So, logically, she was curious as to why I was late.

“Haha, I stayed back to have a chat. But where are the others?”

To be more precise, I had spent the better part of the lunch break listening to Johanna extolling the virtues of the Freya territory. I had finally escaped with a promise to visit… someday.

“The others went to explore the academy.”

Well, that made sense. It was only natural for them to want to familiarize themselves with the academy.

“And why didn’t you go, Clara?”

“I’ve already looked around this morning.”

For some reason, Clara seemed a bit different. She was responding more kindly than usual. Why was that?

As I pondered this, the classroom door creaked open.

*CREAK*

“Ah, there you two are.”

Professor Elysia, our homeroom teacher, stood in the doorway, her ash-grey hair gleaming under the dim lights.

“Professor, did you enjoy your meal!”

“Yes, I heard about the commotion in the cafeteria. Do you need any help with that?”

“Not at all, Professor!”

Unless that worm brought an army to the academy to capture me, I had no intention of involving Professor Elysia in my affairs.

“But, Professor… why did you say ‘good thing you’re both here’?” Clara asked, her gaze fixed on our teacher.

“Your afternoon class will be attended together. Here, follow the instructions on this note.”

Come to think of it, I remembered that the special class students would attend different sessions in the afternoon.

Having said what she needed to, Professor Elysia left the classroom.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

As soon as the professor left, Clara asked me directly.

“Say what exactly?”

“Why didn’t you ask the professor for help?”

Now I understood.

Clara had been acting all nice and friendly because she was worried about me. Worried that I’d been targeted by that pathetic insect of a prince.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

“W-what’s so funny?”

As I burst into laughter, loud enough to echo through the classroom, Clara took a step back in surprise.

“Clara, are you that worried about me?”

“No, I’m not.”

She answered immediately, but her embarrassment was evident.

“Aw, come on, Clara, don’t be shy. How worried were you?”

“I wasn’t worried at all.”

Teasing Clara helped pass the time until the other students returned from exploring the academy.

Lucas approached me, his concern quite evident. Other students had similar worried expressions.

“Loki, are you okay?”

“Lucas, do you really think I’d be scared of a mere prince?”

My cheerful response seemed to reassure him a bit.

“Ha, yeah, you’re not the type to get scared by someone like him.”

I waited until all the special class students had gathered in the classroom.

“Everyone!”

I moved to the lectern and called out to the students. When I spoke, they all turned to look at me.

“I want to make one thing clear: I wasn’t the one who was targeted.”

I’d decided to put their minds at ease.

“It’s the prince who’s been targeted by me. So, there’s no need to worry about me. If you must worry, worry about the prince who’s gotten on my bad side.”

My nonchalant attitude seemed to alleviate some of their anxieties.

My casual tone seemed to ease their tension a bit. Although their worry hadn’t completely disappeared, it would in due time.

.

.

.

“Clara? You look exhausted. You must have been up worrying about me! Shall we go to class together?”

“…………..…”

Clara ignored me completely, heading towards the door. I followed closely behind.

*Thump!*

As we walked down the hallway, someone bumped into me, hard.

“Watch where you’re going, idiot!” a gruff voice snarled. “If you can’t even see where you’re going, maybe you should take off that stupid mask!”

“No kidding, what a nuisance.”

I had been watching where I was going. This wasn’t an accident. They had bumped into me on purpose; these two were most likely also from the Kingdom of Archen, sent by that worm prince to harass me.

Unless I groveled at his feet and begged for forgiveness, he would keep sending people to make my life miserable.

Imagining what lies ahead, I clasped my hand over my mouth, my body shaking.

“…hehe…”

I barely managed to contain my laughter.

— End of Chapter —

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