It was exactly three days later when Clyde finally arrived at the kingdom. Instead of going to the Luxembourg residence located in the noble district, he decided to go to an Inn.

Since he had gold to spare, he chose one with high quality services. The insignia Charlotte gave him as her knight made the Innkeeper give him a discount.

Before actually going to his room to sleep to be ready for the next day when he goes to the academy, he went to a magic store. The store was right next to the adventurer guild that he hasn’t seen in a long time.

The red gem has been giving off magical radio waves of extreme density. He suspects that the core must be contaminated with dark miasma.

Even after paying 10 gold for the best appraisers to look at it, he still didn’t find the solution to fix the damaged gem.

The gem itself has excellent magic control. It’s far different from casting magic with his hands. To put it into words; it’s like shooting water through a hose instead after putting it on the faucet. It’s focused on control rather than power alone.

The flow of his mana, the precision of the spells and the basic structure of the raw mana shaping the spells are all controlled by the master craftsmanship of Redheart made by the famous Hermit Mage. The gem plays a huge role in making this all work out smoothly.

Due to its size, he can cast high ranking spells in rapid succession. His most powerful spell, [Supernova], has yet to be tested. He’s hesitating to use it since the gem is giving off weird mana waves.

It was early the next morning when he woke up to the singing of birds outside. The bed creaked when he pulled himself up and yawned.

Looking to his left, he saw the black uniform for his second-year class. It was similar to military uniforms on earth, only in a smaller size. It had golden tassels on the shoulder, a four-strap button lining in the front, and the symbol for Graponia Royal academy.

The pants are ordinary black school pants.

After brushing his teeth, eating breakfast, and meditating; he put on his uniform and placed his luggage into the dimensional storage ring. Those rings are useful since they store items in a pocket space.

Through difficult magical equations and formulas, humans were able to create something similar to space magic. Expensive ones can store up to 1000kg while the cheapest one can only hold 4kg. It can only hold inanimate objects and not living beings.

He failed to place Redheart into the dimensional storage ring. After trying for a while, he finally gave up and left the Inn while his staff was strapped to his back.

After buying a fresh steam bun at a local stand, he went up the elevated hill to the academy through the main district.

◇◇

Graponia Royal Academy has a history dating back to the founding of the kingdom.

The academy was built from right after the defeat of Rodion. The Sage wanted to teach magic to people regardless of their age, status or social standing. If they have magic power then they qualify for her studies.

This has changed throughout the eons, however. The nobles who are classified as elitists believe that commoners must not attend the same class as them, eat on the same table as them or talk to any of their kind.

If a talented commoner was among them then they’d either control that person to their own benefit or simply kill them. This even happens among the young children that are taught earlier on by their parents how they should act towards commoners.

This led many to become afraid of the noble children and professors. If they are not of noble lineage then they don’t belong.

“...”

Many eyes were on me as I entered the classroom of the highest floor. This was floor A of the academy and had the second-year class A which I belong to now.

Charlotte made it possible for me to enrol into her class.

How do I say it?

‘This atmosphere is suffocating...’

I was one of the commoners in this class. Did I do anything amazing while attending here? No, that would be impossible since I was missing for so long.

What did they do to get here? They worked hard, used many resources, sweated and bled. Even the commoners are glaring daggers at me.

And yet I, who have no achievements on my name entered the best class of the entire academy.

A is the highest class rank at the academy so you get a lot of benefits too. I even got my own dorm house.

I didn’t need an introduction since everyone knew me as Charlotte’s knight.

50 pair of eyes followed my movements as I walked. I kept my head high to not appear weak to the noble children.

Even the fat noble professor was glaring at me.

“My knight~”

Charlotte whispered to me from across the hall. She waved with a smile.

‘Huh? She cut her hair?’

Charlotte’s long blonde hair was no more and was now a medium cut hairstyle. She still looks beautiful though.

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

A boy was sitting next to me. He had black hair and golden narrowed eyes. That’s a strange combination. Is he from another kingdom? I’ve never seen anyone with his type of hair before.

“You should pay attention to Professor Gus while he’s teaching. The pig has a short temper. By the way, my name is Damian. You must be the famous Clyde Astley. The one they call White Mage.”

“That name is so cringe.”

He snickered and pushed his textbook in the middle of our desks.

I noticed that I didn't buy any books yet.

“If you need any help then don’t hesitate to ask me. I might look like I’m glaring at an enemy with these eyes but i’m still a nice guy. That’s what I think though.”

Just then the professor spoke to all of us:

“Listen up! This formula is a recent one discovered in the first floor of the Red Abyss. Our most talented wizards of the Magic Tower and professors from this academy took months to decipher this. This will be your project. Work in groups to decipher the first rune. Those that succeed will receive a passing grade. If you give your solution too late then I will fail you. You there! Yes, you two!”

The professor pointed to me and Damian. We were talking softly but it seems he noticed us. Both of us said “oh, crap” at the same time.

“The two of you will receive only two weeks instead of the regular month.”

He glared at the two of us.

“What!? We were paying attention. There are some of them also talking loudly but you ignore them!?”

Damian shouted after punching his desk.

“You dare speak out of line to me? You were lucky enough to even be accepted in this class.”

The professor released his mana. As expected of a professor. His mana seemed powerful and domineering.

“Kuh...!”

Damian glared at him after sitting down. I noticed that there was a dent in the bench he punched.

“And you.”

He then looked at me.

“Y-Yes?”

“Don’t you dare disrupt this class. You were never supposed to be here. The nerve of the chairman to put a first year in a second year class when he never achieved anything.”

“Pardon me, Professor.”

Everyone looked towards Charlotte.

She glared at the professor.

“All of us are equal in this class. No status matters here. That’s the rule the Sage implemented. Have you forgotten to memorize the rules?”

A few students snickered.

“Princess Charlotte... you speak out of line for someone that says everyone is equal in this class.”

“I can’t just sit back and watch you scold the commoners in our class when there were clearly more of us who spoke during your announcement. And watch your tone with me. I may be below you in this class but outside, I am a royal family member.”

A vein bulged on the professor’s head. His bald shining head began sweating.

He then cracked a broken smile.

“I revoke the punishment. I also apologize for my outburst earlier.”

Charlotte sat down with a nod as if proud of herself and the professor narrowed his eyes.

His eyes seemed to say “This bitch.”

Class continued smoothly and it was time for the next class.

Damian and I left the classroom together. It was time for practical magic.

“Hey, you.”

When the two of us were about to head to the courtyard, a voice called out to us.

A handsome young man with dark brown hair stood there with a glare on his face. He looks somewhat familiar.

‘Was it Ryan?’

He is also a distant relative of the Luxembourg house. That makes us family in a way but we’ve never officially met.

“Is there a problem?”

Damian calmly spoke to him.

“I’m not talking to you, filth.”

He came up to me and looked down on me.

His eyes seem to say that I’m his enemy from his intense glare. The surrounding students all looked at us.

“Isn’t that Lord Ryan?”

“What’s he doing with those two? Wait, isn’t that princess Charlotte’s knight?”

“What’s going on?”

“Seems to be a fight or something.”

..

“So you are the one that became Charlotte’s knight.”

“Err, what?”

Did he just informally call the princess by her name?

“How far she has fallen. I trained my whole life to be able to become her knight and yet she chose you.”

He put his finger on my chest and almost made me stumble to the ground. Damian was about to intervene but I held up my hand and shook my head.

‘This guy... does he know Charlotte?’

Were the two of them childhood friends?

“Ryan Rosenberg...”

A cold voice came from among the crowd.

The students gave way for a blonde haired beauty. She walked gracefully towards us and glanced at me before looking at Ryan with a frown.

“Why are you also seeking trouble with Clyde Astley today?”

“Charlotte, have you not reconsidered cancelling the engagement? You know that I trained diligently for you to accept me–“

“I don’t want to hear anymore from you. I already expressed my desire to not have a husband. You don’t need to know the reason why.”

He closed his eyes.

“Is that so?”

!!!!

“GUH...!”

His fist blew into my stomach. It was so powerful that it felt like my organs were about to explode. The blood instantly rushed up my throat and escaped my mouth.

The students gasped but no one intervened.

His hand was surrounded by a type of aura.

Magic swordsman.

A person that can use both swordsmanship and combine it with magic power. The spells magic swordsmen casts are different from arcane magic.

They don’t chant the words for a spell. Just by concentrating and infusing mana into their magic swords, they can perhaps conjure blazing flames.

Ryan’s eyes glowed red as he glared at me on the ground.

“Ryan! This is unbecoming of you!”

Charlotte stood in front of me and angrily looked at him. He only scoffed.

“This is something that concerns our future. The future where you’re the queen and I your knight.”

“There’s no our!”

“When we were little, you promised to make me your knight. Why have you chosen to take this little shit instead of me?”

I spat out the blood out of my mouth.

‘This bastard. It’s my first day but I already have to deal with trouble.’

I felt like burning this bastard to ashes with a [Supernova]. His childishness was slowly pissing me off.

Something then landed on my head.

I took it off and saw that it was a glove.

“The two of us will duel. I cannot accept that he will become the one that will protect you. You are too precious to me.”

Charlotte’s breath stopped.

“Heh.”

She then snickered softly.

“You’re really crazy. And didn’t I tell you at the engagement dinner that you should stop referring to me so informally? I am the third royal princess.”

He turned his gaze away from Charlotte and glared at me again.

“We’ll settle this with our own hands then.”

He grabbed me by the hair and lifted me up. My mana isn’t fully recovered so I’m vulnerable to attacks like this. My only option is spirit magic or my mediocre swordsmanship.

A black dagger was then held against his throat as he held onto my hair.

“Let go.”

It was Damian. The dagger was conjured with mana. Black mana.

‘No way... he uses dark magic?’

Ryan smirked.

“You’re lucky that we’re surrounded by people otherwise I’d have cut off your entire arm.”

He then roughly threw me down.

“Fine.”

I got up and clutched my aching stomach.

His glove was then thrown on the ground again.

“If you pick it up then we will duel. You can’t refuse though. I’d still hurt you regardless if you accept or not.”

“Ryan–!”

“Princess.”

I stopped Charlotte from interfering.

“Alright.” I picked up the glove and wiped off the blood from my mouth. “I’ll accept.”

He grinned.

“When I win then the position of knight becomes mine. Even his majesty acknowledges my skills. If you win then you can keep the position. Not that you’ll win anyway. I’ll let you know when and where.”

He then left after throwing his robe over his shoulders.

“What a scumbag.”

Damian said with a frown.

I spat out the blood that was left in my mouth and stood back up. The spirits gathered around my injury and tried healing it after I gave a command. They’re lesser spirits so they won’t be noticed by others.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m okay, princess. We need to get to class now.”

Both of them nodded.

The students that gathered gave way for us. As we walked, I felt a thick killing intent aimed at somewhere. The person’s eyes have been us the entire time ever since Ryan came up to me.

I looked at the source but only saw the back of a girl with blonde hair walking away. Isn’t that the direction Ryan went to?

I couldn’t really see her face but her hair looked kind of familiar. I lost interest when the person turned around a corner.

'Must be a girl looking to score with Ryan.'

With a handsome face like that, he'd definitely have a lot of girls chasing him.