Tuesday's classes were Dueling, Arithmetic, and History of Magic.
The first-year Dueling instructor was Pava Jones—a duel master with one-sixteenth giant blood.
She was also the Head of Noble House.
For reference:
Knight House Head — Sarah SylphMagister House Head — Lily LaplaceFool House Head — Didi Maxwell
True to galgame tradition, all four Heads were women.
St. Marian radiated an unmistakable yin-over-yang energy—from its name to its faculty.
Professor Jones stood over two meters tall. Short hair, bronze skin, powerful muscles, and an overwhelming presence of vitality. Every dimension of her seemed scaled up.
Darc personally wasn't drawn to this towering, basketball-carrying instructor—but she was wildly popular among upperclassmen.
Her giant bloodline came from giant royalty, and her father was pure human nobility. Not pure in race, but absolutely pure in noble lineage.
Students admired her strength.
Everyone looked forward to Dueling.
And then…
She spent the entire class explaining basic theory.
Rules. Tactics. Card synergy. Attribute counters.
Good news: The Duel Club would recruit this Friday.
Bad news: Entry required a 20-card deck.
Freshmen collapsed.
It was only Day Two. Who had twenty cards?
But… without a deck, what duel were you planning to fight?
…
Arithmetic was even drier than Dueling.
Painfully abstract.
Diana admitted she daydreamed the entire class.
Rose listened earnestly but clearly understood nothing.
As for Darc—
He didn't listen at all.
This was elementary-school math.
An insult to his intelligence.
[Pride +1]
Professor Lily Laplace was a fairykin, related to elves. She looked about eleven years old, floated instead of walking, had dragonfly wings, and never let her feet touch the ground.
History of Magic, taught by Didi Maxwell, was equally monotonous. She had butterfly wings and visible wrinkles, and taught by reading directly from the book.
Kind, knowledgeable.
Terrible lecturer.
If a student fell asleep, she gently tapped them and deducted five points.
Astronomy, also hers, wouldn't begin for a month.
Magical Beasts, on Fridays, wouldn't start until next semester.
So the weekly schedule was only:
Summoning ×2Magic Theory ×2Potions ×2Dueling ×2Arithmetic ×2History ×2
Incredibly light.
…
At the library, Darc grabbed his usual seat before Pandora arrived and pulled out the Arithmetic workbook.
It was laughably easy.
With the multiplication table alone, he rampaged through the pages.
By the time Emma sat nearby, he had already finished half.
By 5 PM, he had completed the entire book.
This semester's homework: essentially done.
He closed the workbook calmly.
No Greed triggered.
But as he felt pleased—
[Pride +1]
"...I can get arrogant from solving elementary math?"
Emma, watching from behind, was stunned.
They were both first-years. How was this possible?
She doubled her study effort out of sheer competitive instinct.
…
And Darc began a month-long internal interrogation:
Am I really this prideful?
He didn't even know how he survived the next month.
But life, like being stalked by a yandere, must be learned to be enjoyed if it cannot be resisted.
Darc became the most eye-catching first-year.
Every day:
6:00 AM — wake up6:15 AM — reading in the common room
His Impmon flew outside the castle, through the kitchen vents.
The halfling chefs adored the little demon.
It brought them gifts: pebbles, wildflowers, lucky clover, colorful feathers.
They treasured them.
In return, they prepared a basket with snacks and milk.
Impmon carried it back to the tower.
Darc ate breakfast while reading—this, he found, reduced Gluttony and Greed triggers.
Afterward, Impmon returned the basket.
He read until others filled the room, then went to class.
He used to be the first in class.
Until he noticed someone always arrived earlier.
Fortunately, the game's heroine hadn't "grown into her looks" yet and posed no threat to his mental stability.
Compared to Diana, Emma was practically harmless.
…
Then Diana discovered Darc's Arithmetic prowess.
She and Rose couldn't handle the homework.
So Darc taught them long-division layout.
Lily Laplace saw it.
Learned it.
Named it "Darc Vertical Method."
Awarded him 50 points.
[Pride +1]
He was suffering.
The more he tried to live low-key, the more he stood out.
Rumors about him vanished. People judged by what they saw:
Diligent. Intelligent. Handsome. Aloof—like proper nobility.
Meanwhile, Veit God fell behind.
No elite early education. Easily dragged around by Robert. Distracted in class by vague emotions.
The protagonist was losing to the villain.
And then, suddenly—
A new card game trend swept the first years:
Love Divination.
…
Darc maintained his routine.
Controlled lunch. Coffee. Reading.
Occasional snacks from Impmon.
Library every afternoon.
Pandora no longer triggered [Lust +1] at first sight—but he still fled awkwardly.
Sometimes he heard her soft laughter behind him.
Unclear why.
…
Among the seven sins:
Sloth — best controlled (actually decreasing)Envy — barely rising (no one to envy)Wrath — suppressed, but deeply rootedGreed — stable, with hidden riskLust — rising thanks to Diana's clinginessPride — completely out of control
The real poison wasn't this life's personality.
It was his previous life's mindset.
By month's end, Pride had crossed 100.
From red…
To dark purple.
…
On the fourth Friday afternoon, freshmen were finally allowed outside the castle to St. Marian's only commercial district:
Traveler's Street.
Darc silently counted his unusually high credit points.
He knew—
His time was running out.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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