I wasn’t even sure anymore if what I’d made was a club or a startup. I should’ve been resting because of my injury, but there I was focusing on something else because I couldn’t train.

There was still some time before the regular Royal Class sponsorship meeting that would be after our next group mission. Although it had been suggested that students of the fourth year or higher could voluntarily attend, there didn’t seem to be a problem if students of lower grades wanted to attend either.

I could’ve just left it to Olivia Lanze, but if I sent her alone, I felt like she might’ve ended up saying something she shouldn’t…

I was grateful to her in many ways, but I was just concerned, as I couldn’t predict what she might do.

There was actually one more thing I had to take care of besides the Magic Research Society’s matters.

“We don’t really have to do anything.”

“…Really?”

The Rotary Gang’s headquarters…

I was listening to Loyar’s report in her office.

“Yes, the people dispatched by the prince are taking care of everything including investment negotiations and licensing issues. We literally only need to dispatch some people.”

It had been decided that Bertus would take 10% of the business’ profits.

However, even if he asked for 90%, it wouldn’t have been weird, as the people he’d dispatched seemed to take care of everything. It felt like the profit he stood to gain would be far too little to go that far.

“Of course, it isn’t to the point that I would lose track of the whole picture. Some of the experienced people from the gang are tagging along with them.”

It seemed like Bertus’s people and the gang members that’d dipped their toes into the business world before were working together.

—That was what one called personal connections.

The more I experienced those kinds of things, the less I could call our situation helpless.

“For now, we plan to set up about 50 shops in advance, giving priority to stations with a lot of floating population.”

The business seemed to be progressing quite well.

Loyar, who actually hated paying attention to those kinds of things, was actually able to do a proper business report. Hadn’t she said that she hated administrative work and work that needed her to use her brain when she’d refused my plan to absorb the Thieves’ guild?

However, in the end, Loyar was actually able to manage the business, although it would take quite a lot of brain power.

With the help of the people sent by Bertus, the construction of our shops in each station seemed to proceed with no problems.

“Doesn’t your head hurt?”

She didn’t like that sort of thing, so she should’ve felt stressed, but when I asked Loyar about it, she just shook her head.

“I just have to nod my head when they say that they’ll do something or that they’ve done something. I don’t really have to use my head that much other than to memorize the things I’ve been told.”

“Hmm, are you sure that they’re doing a good job then?”

“They even present me estimated sales and expected net profit approximations without being prompted. What else could I expect?”

What the hell?

It was basically Bertus’s business at that point, so wasn’t it just too nonsensical that I actually took 90% of the profit?

It seemed that the people Bertus had sent did things before she even knew what needed to be done, so it looked like she’d decided to just stop caring.

However, Loyar seemed somewhat uneasy. It was as if she had some other concerns.

“Your Highness, will you be alright?”

“What?”

“You’re getting too deeply involved… In everything.”

Was it about that?

Loyar had already been outed as the Rotary Gang leader and had been connected to Prince Bertus.

Of course, Loyar was originally known as Irene’s Wild Dog. Bertus might already have somewhat known of Loyar. However, he didn’t know that she was actually a demon.

And I would also have no other choice but to be exposed to the outside world. as I’d created such big businesses and had such deep connections to the Imperial Prince and Princess.

I wasn’t so sure about Loyar, but the Magic Research Society was also one such place where I had to expose myself.

“This might place you in danger.”

Apart from that business, the things I’d done in Temple had absolutely nothing to do with the demon realm.

“They are things I have to do, so what do you want me to do?”

“…”

Loyar fell silent after I said that I had no other choice.

It wasn’t like I had to do those things for the sake of rebuilding the demon realm.

They were the things we had to prepare for the Gate Crisis. It wasn’t for the sake of the demon realm that I created that club at Temple or threw myself into such ridiculously burdensome projects.

I grouped the kids together in advance so that they wouldn’t absolutely need me.

One never knew what might happen in life, and so I didn’t know when my identity would be revealed.

If that were to happen, I would have to flee the Imperial Capital as well as Temple.

The way I set things up, the kids would get stronger on their own, even without me.

I believed that would be all it would take.

However, would it actually work?

I didn’t want to leave Temple.

I had made too many precious connections there.

* * *

I had been severely injured and could finally get rid of my crutches, however, I had to face the consequences of my actions in the end.

1st Place – Ellen

2nd Place – Louis Ankton

.

.

.

.

21st Place – Ludwig

22nd Place – Reinhardt

These were the results of the midterm exams.

I ended up in last place.

I even fell under Ludwig.

Something that hadn’t happened in the original happened once again.

What a miraculous plunge from my 1st rank in the midterms of the first semester.

-…

Everyone was looking at me with slight agitation.

Achievement reached – Get placed last on the midterms

Received 500 Achievement Points.

Special Achievement – Fall to the same place as the Idiot (Ludwig) or lower

Received 100 Achievement Points.

Ah…

I‘d done it intentionally…

And yet I got pretty ticked off again.

To get placed last on the midterm exam for the second semester, I’d purposefully done very badly.

There were also quite a few days where I’d missed class as a whole because of my fainting and my severe injuries. Unlike subjects that were part of our common classes, most specialized classes were practical. The strain that was put on the body in classes such as Swordsmanship, Supernatural Power Control, and Comprehensive P.E. was really large.

The only specialized subjects that didn’t include practical lessons were Mana Sensitivity Training and Demon Ecology.

As such, I pretty much failed because I couldn’t participate in all the midterm exams.

Of course, due to that being an unavoidable situation due to my injuries, the midterm evaluation would be revised to reflect my actual score during the final exams, but as of then, I had failed the midterm exams.

There wasn’t any big difference in our common class subjects either. There were many days when I wasn’t able to go to class, and I hadn’t been able to properly concentrate on them at all because of all the other things I had to take care of.

Of course, I could have done a lot better if I’d actually wanted to study, but that was just how it turned out. I’d simply thrown it.

If I’m going to fail, I should fail properly to get achievement points.

I didn’t really want to fail on purpose, but because of my injuries, it pretty much became impossible to get any good grades, so I just blew it big time to get more achievement points.

As such, I received 500 achievement points because of that challenge, as well as 100 more for completing some strange achievement.

Shit.

I couldn’t believe that I’d fallen lower than that idiot, Ludwig.

No, ‘idiot’ was Harriet’s nickname.

I was more stupid than Ludwig.

Wasn’t that a bit too harsh?

No one made fun of me because they knew that I had been busy with a lot of things in addition to getting seriously hurt.

No…

Still, getting last place was a bit…

I knew that all of them were thinking something similar judging by their expressions.

But so what?

I believed that getting achievement points was more important. Anyway, an achievement was an achievement.

* * *

* * *

Harriet de Saint-Owan was shocked upon seeing the results of the midterm exam.

Reinhardt, who had been ranked first in the overall ranking during the midterm exams in the previous semester, came in last.

While they weren’t that close, she did know that guy by the name of Ludwig, who had always been ranked last—an extraordinary idiot.

They weren’t on friendly terms, but whenever he met her, he would always greet her with a bright smile.

She wished that Reinhardt had half of that guy’s personality.

No, she might actually hate it if he resembled him even by an ounce.

Reinhardt looking at her and smiling brightly?

If he did something like that…

She felt like she would absolutely hate it.

Did you eat something wrong?

—That was probably what she would say if she saw him acting like that.

Anyway, that was the only impression Harriet had of Ludwig.

Not too long ago, during a Magic Research Society meeting, she’d heard from Louis Ankton, who was that guy’s classmate, that he was a devastatingly stupid guy.

However, Reinhardt had gotten even lower grades than that devastatingly stupid idiot.

Normally, she would have enjoyed teasing him for getting placed last, watching his face turn beet red, but she couldn’t do it that time.

Reinhardt had placed first during the midterms in the first semester—he wasn’t stupid.

He’d just failed all practical exams due to his injuries.

However, if he’d scored just a few points on the written exams, his grades wouldn’t have been lower than Ludwig’s.

It wasn’t like he didn’t study…

He couldn’t.

‘Bring in more money.’

—Because of what she’d said.

All of their classmates were astonished in their own way by Reinhardt placing last.

Even Bertus was surprised.

As always, the only one who remained expressionless was Ellen. Reinhardt didn’t seem to care that he was in last place either.

However, Harriet couldn’t help but care about that result.

She had told him to get more research funds.

She had actually meant it as a joke. She’d just been teasing him, saying something like, “Since you make us do such unreasonable things, you should get to work as our president as well.”

In the end, Reinhardt went around trying to gather some money with an attitude as if it was a matter of course that he should do something like that.

So she felt very embarrassed. Just what was he talking about? Matter of course?

As if it was natural, he was determined to get more money for their research.

She’d heard that he’d gone to club meetings and even visited the Temple student council, which one normally didn’t have to go to until one graduated from Temple.

He’d also talked to that strange fifth-year senior, Olivia Lanze, who seemed so dazzling that one would get blinded just by looking at her, so she felt strangely uncomfortable by that, but she knew that he was probably talking to her for the sake of their research funds as well.

Reinhardt had been very busy.

Even though he had been injured, he wouldn’t have been able to study at all, not only because of the research fund problem but also because of her words that he should join their club meetings even while he was still walking on crutches.

So Harriet couldn’t make fun of Reinhardt.

She felt guilty.

Harriet glanced at Reinhardt, who was just blankly staring at the blackboard.

Did he despair because he didn’t expect his results to be so disastrous?

It’s all because of me.

Everything’s my fault.

Harriet really wanted to cry because it seemed like she had done something horrible without even realizing it.

* * *

After their common classes ended, Harriet went up to Reinhardt, who was trying to get his shaking body back to the dorm from their P.E. classes.

“Hey.”

“Oh, right.”

As she called him, it was Reinhardt who grabbed Harriet and told her something as if he had just remembered.

“Did I tell you yet? We might get more funds through the sponsorship meeting.”

“Huh? Uhm… Yes. You roughly told us that this would solve our problem.”

“Ah, yeah. Looks like I told you.”

Reinhardt was distracted to the point that he seemed to have forgotten things he had already told her.

No, had he been that shocked by his midterm results?

“Anyway, don’t worry about the research funds anymore. Although I don’t know how the sponsorship meeting will turn out, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll just find another way.”

Why?

She didn’t know why he was acting like that even though he wasn’t even a wizard and had only joined the Magic Research Society due to her pressure.

Then he told them to make some really ridiculous things, but in the end, it was he who was running around the most.

—Even while his body wasn’t in its best condition.

When she thought about it, Reinhardt had always been that way.

He was blunt, said things no one even wanted to hear, picked fights on purpose, and got annoyed easily.

However, whenever he was asked for help, he would always help. He didn’t even want anything in return. Harriet realized that she had received so many things from Reinhardt in such a short period of time.

During the first semester’s group mission, she tried persuading her dad, giving her relics, and creating a magic research group…

She felt like she just one-sidedly received his help.

Even then, he was trying to fulfill her unreasonable demand of getting more money from who-knows-where. He was even placed last on the midterm exam because of that.

What could she even say?

She wondered why he was doing all of that for her.

Harriet was looking at Reinhardt, who was standing in front of her, rambling on about the research fund problem.

“…What’s wrong?”

“Hic.”

She suddenly burst into tears.

“Wh-what’s the matter? Why are you crying all of a sudden? I didn’t do anything this time. Huh?”

Reinhardt shook his hands wildly, wondering what he’d done to make her cry out of the blue.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Huuh?”

“I’m sorry. Because of me… You came in last all because of me…”

“Huuuuh?”

Reinhardt was evidently shocked when he saw Harriet burst into tears so suddenly.

“Just because of me you came in last… E-even lower than stupid Ludwig…”

“No, why are you crying because I got last? And why are you bringing up Ludwig?”

Reinhardt seemed incredulous, not understanding why Harriet was crying like that.

“Sob, sob, I… I made you do something weird… That’s why you went so far. I’m sorry. I won’t do it anymore. Hic…Sob…”

“Jeez, are you talking about when you told me to get more money?”

“Well… I didn’t know that you would actually do it…”

As soon as he figured out why she was crying, Reinhardt put his hand on her shoulder.

“What’s so important about some school grades? I don’t really care about things like that.”

Grades weren’t important…?

Then what was important to him?

Did that mean that the request she’d made was more important than his grades? Some request she made as a joke was more important than grades that would follow him for the rest of his life?

Harriet didn’t know how sincere Reinhardt was, so she could only guess at what his words meant.

She felt sad. However, while she felt sad, her heart seemed to be warming up, and a strange feeling she was feeling for the first time in her life seemed to fill it up.

“Hic! Sob! Sobsob…”

“Why are you crying even harder now? I already said it’s fine?!”

In the end, the things he said that were meant to stop her from crying made Harriet cry even harder, which troubled Reinhardt greatly.

Some of their classmates who were watching the scene from afar had expressions that seemed to say, ‘Ah, that crazy guy has gone and made another kid cry.’