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nOriginally, right now was supposed to be the Festival period, so Ludwig should have been so excited that he and his best friends, Number 9 and 10, Delphine Izadra and Lanian Sesor, decided to roam around the whole Festival area.

nThen they would have eventually lost Delphine in the crowd. Later they would find out that Delphine, who they thought just got separated from them, actually got kidnapped by a powerful gang. Ludwig would report this to the guards, however completely disregarded their order to wait at Temple, and would go around looking for Delphine together with Lenian Sesor.

nLudwig would find the bad guys after some time and fought them to save his friend.

nAnd he somehow ended up dishing out a huge blow loaded with spirit that sent all of them flying.

nLudwig, who was last ranked, didn’t have that much confidence in himself, even though he was part of the Royal Class. However, this beginning part, after he studied a bit at Temple, was supposed to display that he was incomparably strong, completely different from ordinary people. In fact, Ludwig had a great physical talent, so he was quite athletic and strong.

nThe kidnapping of a Temple student was still equal to a disaster, but I wrote this improbable development to showcase that Ludwig was really strong.

nAnyway, I thought it was quite fortunate that one of those stupid developments I created disappeared because of my actions.

nI really didn’t want Delphine to go through this horrible experience. Of course, Delphine was already pretty close to Ludwig, but this event made them grow even closer.

nAnyway.

nThat was a pretty bizarre experience.

nDelphine had no idea that she was actually about to be abducted, nor did she know that she was spared from that because of a different outlandish incident.

nShe was just afraid that some demons caused a massive terrorist attack on the Imperial Capital.

nI didn’t want to sound condescending, but wasn’t it actually me who saved her? However, I was the only one who knew that. It was quite the subtle feeling.

nAnyway, Temple was drenched in a somber atmosphere because that huge incident happened in the Capital. The scenery outside would be in an even more grievous state. It was also clear as day that the Emperor was probably more than furious as well.

n* * *

n“This means the Demons weren’t completely destroyed.”

n“Could it be that an even stronger Demon King is hiding somewhere? Nothing like that ever happened during the war.”

nThe next morning.

nThe children were competing who had the wildest imagination.

nThey were only children, but for the adults this had other implications. It was obvious that they hadn’t completely annihilated the Demon Realm, and just this level of terrorism was enough to throw the Capital into great chaos.

nThis action of rescuing some prisoners consequently made the humans aware that now wasn’t the time to celebrate a victory, but to be wary of the Demon Realm’s remnants. Was this a good thing or did this doom the Demon Realm completely?

nHowever, this was the choice Sarkegaar, Eleris, Loyar, and I made.

nAlthough we were able to rescue 107 demons, as a result we greatly stimulated the humans’ vigilance.

nThere were a total of 6 people left in the Class A dormitory.

nNumber 2, Ellen Artorius

nNumber 3, Liana de Grantz

nNumber 7, Adelia

nNumber 8, Kono Lint

nNumber 10, Cayer Vioden

nAnd me. Everyone except Number 3 were commoners, who didn’t have a reason to go back home. In Number 3’s case, her family had a mansion in the Imperial Capital, as such she returned home every Friday. So, despite this long break, she came back to Temple yesterday.

nSince there was a terrorist attack on the Capital, the Grantz Family probably thought that it would be better for her to return to Temple, which would be much safer than staying in the mansion. That was why this girl didn’t seem to be in such a good mood. She was supposed to be resting in her mansion, but was forced to go back to school.

nOf course, the vacation would continue, so there would be nothing to do at Temple.

nEllen was training as per usual, no matter if a terrorist attack broke out in the Capital or not, and I joined her.

nAfter sparing for quite some time, with my sword ending up clattering on the gym floor again, I flopped down on the ground exhausted. As Ellen quietly looked at me, she asked me something.

n“Why did they do that?”

nI tilted my head at her question.

n“What?”

n“The demons. Why did they do that?”

nEllen didn’t really talk about this matter before, but she seemed to have some doubts. Just why would the demons attack the Imperial Capital? She held such curiosity. Our usually insensitive Ellen wouldn’t pay much attention to such events, but she seemed to be curious on the inside.

n“H, how should I know?”

nThe fact that the demons were doing this to rescue their brethren who were about to be traded away on an auction wasn’t known by many people. If that truth were to be revealed later, that would cause some serious waves.

nCome to think of it, that would be the case.

nIt’s highly likely that the truth would never come to light.

n“I just don’t know why they would fight the Knights Templar.”

nThe Knights Templar were like a natural enemy to demons. Of course, not all demons would be affected by their powers, but all undead type demons were insanely vulnerable to divine power. In fact, Eleris, a vampire, was fighting her most powerful natural enemy.

n“If they wanted to take revenge, shouldn’t they have attacked a different place if they were able to infiltrate the Capital?”

nEllen had quite many doubts.

nShe didn’t understand why the demons decided to attack the Knights Templar, because Ellen didn’t know about the demon prisoners. As such, her question was valid. Most people, however, wouldn’t even think about that.

nBecause in their eyes, demons were simply evil.

nJust by believing in that single sentence most people gave up thinking about such matters. However, Ellen was putting herself in the demon’s shoes, treating them as intelligent beings the same as humans.

nEllen was raising a valid question. If they wanted revenge, it probably would have been better if they attacked the Emperor instead of the Knights Templar.

n“I think they know something we don’t.”

nEllen believed that the demons had some purpose rather than just being angry at their actions. They had no reason to attack the Knights Templar. She was convinced that they had a hidden reason why they did something like that. In the end Ellen, who didn’t seem to hate the demons nor choose to simply dismiss these events, inferred that they must have had a reason for all this.

nIf I really were a Demon Prince dreaming of rebuilding the Demon Realm, this would have been the moment where I realized that Ellen had to be eliminated. She was dangerous. She wasn’t an enemy that feared us or despised us, but an enemy that tried to understand our actions.

n“If they had something like that, it would be revealed soon.”

nBut honestly, the only thing I thought was that she was pretty smart.

nCome to think of it, I was quite weird.

nI was disqualified as a human being because I led the demons to terrorize the Imperial Capital.

nAnd I was also disqualified as a demon because the only thing going through my head while watching humanity’s strongest hero growing more and more dangerous was that she was really smart.

nI couldn’t believe that I wasn’t qualified to stand on any of these sides.

nJust what am I even doing?

n* * *

nAs there were still vacations and the school banned its students from going out, my routine like daily life continued. I did nothing but train with Ellen constantly. I ate breakfast after doing my early morning training, I ate lunch after my morning training, I trained more after lunch and even more after dinner before having some late night snacks.

nI didn’t conduct my supernatural power training separately. The more one used a supernatural power, the more familiar one got with it, and I was training with Ellen, who could blow me away even if I used my power to its fullest.

nIn other words, sparing with Ellen was already more than enough, so I didn’t have to train my supernatural ability separately.

nStrictly speaking, I was somewhat familiar with these self-made voluntary routines. Most people had to continue this involuntary routine of going to work and returning home. It was somewhat passive, and yet compulsory.

nHowever, as a writer, I had to continue writing even though no one was forcing me to. The result was, well… We see the result here. Even though it was like that, I still wrote it voluntarily though.

nSo, I had the mental fortitude to continue this, even if no one asked me to do it.

nWriting just got replaced with daily physical training.

nHowever.

nAlthough I was fine with this routine, I sometimes felt like I was about to go crazy. Even though the outside world was thrown into chaos, destruction and despair because of the terrorist attack by the demons, inside Temple everything was calm and silent, as if we were in a different world.

nSo even I, who caused this incident, almost forgot about it.

n“Hey, aren’t you bored?”

nSo, the day before our regular school life would start again, on Sunday morning, I muttred as I looked at Ellen.

nI thought of myself as pretty patient, but she trained everyday as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I was doing it for quite some time as well, but didn’t people need a break from time to time?

n“?”

nEllen, who was stretching in the lobby in preparation for her early morning training, tilted her head. Of course, there were many people in Royal Class besides us who would do some early morning training, but the majority of students weren’t here, and there were only a few around as it was still vacation time.

nEllen was one of those few people who were exercising every morning.

n“Don’t you have anything you like to do on your days off? Is it working out? I hit the nail on the head, didn’t I?.”

n“Which nails?”

nI frowned at her counter question that had almost nothing to do with what I was asking.

n“You know what I mean.”

n“If you want to do it, follow me, otherwise don’t.”

nEllen started running as if she wasn’t going to take part in this useless conversation, so I just followed Ellen.

n“Hey!”

nOriginally, I did my early morning training with Adriana, but that church sister had returned to the monastery of the Saint-Owan Principality. She’d probably be back sometime this evening. Hence why I followed behind Ellen right now.

nActually, I was just testing myself to see if I could keep up with that girl’s pace. I made myself believe that I was a monster with insane stamina, activating my supernatural power.

nI certainly wouldn’t have been able to keep up with her if it was a few months back, but we weren’t sprinting, so I was able to run alongside her for quite some time. My physical strength had improved quite a lot, and it had improved even more thanks to my supernatural ability.

nThat was some remarkable growth.

n“Guys! Good luck today as well!”

n-Whoosh!

nThen Ludwig passed by me and Ellen in a flash.

nI knew that he wasn’t trying to tease us, I knew better than anyone else that he was just a guy full of energy. You couldn’t find anyone as genuine as him in either of the classes!

n“……Isn’t that guy a bit too bubbly?”

n……It was bitter. I knew that he didn’t mean anything by this, but it still felt uncomfortable.

nThe writer was talking behind his main character’s back. What kind of situation was this? The character I set up was the generic protagonist type: Kind, brave and unable to ignore injustice. What’s more, he was right in front of me.

n“……A little.”

nI clearly heard Ellen mutter this as softly as she could.

nRight? I wasn’t the weird one, right?

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