Arthur the depressed

January 6th, year 788 of the Imperial calendar

Lethargically waking up, I yawned in drowsiness and massaged my back.

'My back hurts'

After all, the couch was very uncomfortable.

Well, I didn't have time to brew any coffee. So I drank a stamina potion in hope of getting rid of my sleepiness.

However, my face scrunched up like a dried grape as I did so.

To describe the potion, it was... bitter, extremely bitter. It was even more bitter than a recovery potion.

Although,

'It's better than being sweet'

I have always hated sweets ever since I was little. As to why I hated sweets? Well, my memory of it was hazy. But, after a few moments, I finally managed to recall it.

'That's right, how could I forget th—'

THUD—!

Before I could immerse myself in nostalgia, however, a loud thud could be heard inside my bedroom.

As I went inside the room to investigate, I found Alicia sitting on the floor while massaging her forehead.

'She must have fallen from the bed', I chuckled.

Though, as I looked at Alicia, I suddenly remembered something important.

"Can you store illusion spells in a grimoire?"

Still being half-asleep, she lethargically replied.

"Mmmm... maybe?"

"Can you try it?"

"...Okay"

I then took out a grimoire and placed it in front of Alicia.

She stretched her arms for a bit and casted an Illusion spell. The lights around her refracted, before getting sucked in the grimoire.

Nodding my head in satisfaction, I proceeded to open the grimoire and inject my mana into it, while picturing the image of Alicia inside my head.

The spell worked, as I successfully copied Alicia's appearance.

Alicia just stared at the transformed me for a good second while making an uncomfortable expression, seemingly creeped out by the fact that there was another her right in front of her. She then released a surge of mana to dispel the spell.

"Can you store more of the same magic in this?"

"..."

"..."

"Am I just a spell dispenser?" Alicia pouted.

I fell in deep thoughts. I've never encountered this kind of situation before, so I didn't know what to say.

After a while, I just decided to speak my mind.

"Yes"

"..."

"..."

"Fine..."

As such, I got my grimoire full of disguise spells, at the expense of the Alicia sulking at me for multiple days on end.

***

It was a few minutes before the first class. I was trying to get just a little bit more sleep in, but the students pointing fingers and glaring at me didn't let me do so.

"Isn't that Theodore Gray?"

"Who?"

"The guy who beat up the first-ranker using dishonorable tricks"

"That funny-looking guy?"

"Yea, and people say that he bribed the headmaster to get into this class"

"Really?"

"Yes. A lot of students also saw him trying to sexually assault some girls after the combat class too"

'Oi, I can understand the first two one but where did that final one come from?'

I was going to activate [F - Emotionless] and ignore the gossips but...

"Hey!"

Sighing, I turned my head towards the source of the voice.

It was a male student. I remembered that he was the guy who was always around Max, he must have been his lackey.

Frowning, I spoke in an annoyed voice.

"What do you want"

"Come with me"

"Why should I?"

"Because it's young master Vermillion's order"

Scowling at his words, I eventually let out a long sigh and decided to follow him. I'd rather go along with him for now than to anger Max Vermillion of all people.

Well, it didn't take long for me to get to Max, as he was literally leaning on the wall just outside the classroom. I had no idea what he was doing there.

Upon seeing me, Max curled the edge of his lips up and spoke in an arrogant voice.

"Theodore Gray, I'm impressed at how you handled that trash Arthur"

"I'm honored, young master Vermillion" I spoke in an obedient tone.

Seemingly satisfied with my answer, Max continued to speak.

"It's good that you know your place. I'll allow you to serve under me"

His tone suggested that it was a given that I accepted his offer. While both Max and Raun were similar in their narcissistic nature, at least Raun was funny when he did it.

With Max, however, it just came off as annoying and arrogant.

After thinking for a bit, I gave him my answer while still maintaining my fake polite smile.

"Sorry young master, but I'll have to respectfully decline your offer"

Max widened his eyes, seemingly baffled that someone dared to go against him.

"I dare you to say that again!"

"Young master, you have my utmost respect. However, I still have to decline"

I bowed to him and returned to my seat.

Seeing how his face was flushed red and his teeth were clenched in anger, it was safe to assume that he would be making troubles for me now.

Well, I'd prefer being bullied to getting face-slapped by Arthur and his harem in the near future.

And I didn't want to have any affiliations with Marquess Vermillion either. It'd just be suicidal.

...

Enduring several minutes of Max and his gang glaring daggers at me, I sighed in relief as the first class finally started.

A professor walked inside the classroom. She was a woman in her early 20s, with brown hair tied into a ponytail and brown eyes. She was a beauty. But of course, she couldn't compare to Arthur's harem.

And apparently, she was also quite talented. Despite being only a few years younger than professor Anna Ferden, she was already at A- rank.

"Alright class! Welcome to our first lesson! I'm professor Misha and I'll be teaching you magic"

'So she's that type of teacher'

I could immediately tell that she was the energetic kind.

I didn't particularly like people like her but at least she was better than some of the professors that were biased towards high-ranking nobles just to curry their favors. Especially professor Wade Vermillion, he was extremely discriminatory against commoners.

"Well, for the first lesson, you will be showing your Status to the rest of the class. It's beneficial to do so since you all will be placed in a group of 8 after the mid-terms exams"

You'd think that revealing your Status to potential rivals was a bad move. And it indeed was.

But, the nobles were hell-bent on showing off their superiority. Commoners also didn't shy from displaying their Status since they needed to attract the nobles' attention to guarantee a good job in the future as a knight or a mage.

Well, the average of the class was F- rank, with some lower ranked students being at G+ rank.

But of course, the main cast's Status was much more impressive.

=====

Name: Amelia Helotte

Race: Human

Rank: F

Strength: F-

Agility: F-

Stamina: F-

Intelligent: F+

Mana capacity: E-

Profession: Healer (Lv.4)

--

Affinities:

[Perfect - Life magic]

[Intermediate - Light magic]

--

Skills:

[SS - Saintess of life] (passive)

A skill that is unique to the Saintess of life. This skill amplifies the effect of any healing-type magic by a factor of five. The owner of this skill is also blessed by the Goddess of Life, raising his or her Life magic affinity to Perfect rating. The user can also sacrifice their life force to further raise the potency of healing magic by a factor of twenty. This skill does not cure poisoning or diseases.

--

Battle arts:

-NONE-

=====

Amelia showed her Status to the class. Her stats weren't anything special per se, but everyone was surprised that she was a Saintess, and a Saintess of Life at that.

I chuckled as I thought about how Raun would definitely need to try extra hard to keep his girlfriend away from those greedy nobles in the future.

=====

Name: Ria Pyrian

Race: Phoenix

Rank: E

Strength: E+

Agility: E

Stamina: E+

Intelligent: E-

Mana capacity: E

Profession: Fire mage (Lv.4)

--

Affinities:

[Perfect - Fire magic]

[Low - Light magic]

--

Skills:

-HIDDEN-

--

Battle arts:

-HIDDEN-

=====

Ria's Status was extremely good, and almost every students hung their mouths open at the sight of it. Although, they would be much more surprised if Ria had decided to show them her Skills tab.

=====

Name: Sylvia Adrancus

Race: -HIDDEN-

Rank: E+

Strength: E+

Agility: E

Stamina: E+

Intelligent: E+

Mana capacity: D

Profession: Ice mage (Lv.5)

--

Affinities:

[Perfect - Ice magic]

[Extreme - Star magic]

[High - Water magic]

[Low - Lightning magic]

[Low - Time magic]

[Low - Space magic]

--

Skills:

-HIDDEN-

--

Battle arts:

-HIDDEN-

=====

Yea, she wasn't called the 'monster of the Adrancus duchy' for nothing. She had 6 affinities, 3 of them being extremely good, while the other 3 were low.

Well, some might see it as a waste since her Star magic affinity was Extreme. After all, Star magic had the same bad reputation that Lightning magic has. Although, her perfect affinity towards Ice magic more than makes up for it.

There was an uproar among the students. They were aware that Sylvia was strong, but they didn't expect her to be this powerful.

They were so impressed that they didn't even notice that she had hidden her race.

Well, she did it for a dang good reason. After all, people would give her a lot of trouble if they knew what her true race was.

=====

Name: Lucy Fertilus

Race: Vampire

Rank: E

Strength: E+

Agility: E

Stamina: E+

Intelligent: E

Mana capacity: E-

Profession: Blood mage (Lv.3)

--

Affinities:

[Perfect - Blood magic]

[Intermediate - Fire magic]

--

Skills:

-HIDDEN-

--

Battle arts:

-HIDDEN-

=====

Lucy displayed her Status and went back to her seat in under 30 seconds. There wasn't that big of a commotion this time since the students still haven't recovered from their shock after seeing Sylvia's Status.

=====

Name: Eleanor Salvant

Race: Angel

Rank: E+

Strength: E+

Agility: E+

Stamina: E

Intelligent: E+

Mana capacity: E

Profession: Duelist (Lv.4)

--

Affinities:

[Perfect - Light magic]

--

Skills:

-HIDDEN-

--

Battle arts:

-HIDDEN-

=====

Just like with Sylvia, Eleanor's Status caused another commotion among the students. They were excited that the future leader of the Empire was something this powerful and talented.

But I wasn't cheering. Instead, I was very confused.

Eleanor was strong, too strong, even.

She was supposed to only be an E- rank by this time. How did she get so powerful?

=====

Name: Marie Holftman

Race: Elf

Rank: F+

Strength: F

Agility: F+

Stamina: F

Intelligent: F+

Mana capacity: F+

Profession: Archer (Lv.4)

--

Affinities:

[Perfect - Wind magic]

[Intermediate - Light magic]

--

Skills:

[A - Hawk eyes]

The skill allows the user to see all things clearly up to 2km away. If the user focuses their sight on a target for 15 seconds, their location will always be known to the user for the next 20 minutes. The skill raises the user's proficiency with any bow-type weapons.

--

Battle arts:

-HIDDEN-

=====

After seeing the absolutely monstrous Status of Sylvia and Eleanor, no one was really surprised at Marie's Status, which was much less impressive.

Although, some where taking note of her perfect affinity towards the Wind element. Sharpshooters as well as Pathfinders were getting increasingly rarer after all.

=====

Name: Max Vermillion

Race: Human

Rank: E

Strength: E

Agility: E+

Stamina: E-

Intelligent: E-

Mana capacity: E

Profession: Spearman (Lv.4)

--

Affinities:

[High - Control magic]

--

Skills:

[B - Suggestion]

The skill make its targets much more inclined to accept and act on the suggestions of the user. The user may fill in gaps in certain memories of the target with false information.

--

Battle arts:

[IV - Heaven piercer]

-HIDDEN-

=====

From his skills, to his affinities, everything about Max screams 'Villain'.

He even showed the grade of his battle art to show off to everyone, specifically Sylvia. Though, as expected, she didn't care about it one bit.

And finally, we have our one and only protagonist, the Hero of Light.

"Student Arthur Kilvillain, it's your turn"

"Do I have to, miss Misha?"

"Yes. You all will form teams after the mid-terms exams. So showing your Status will help you with your teamwork"

"If you say so"

=====

Name: Arthur Kilvillain

Race: -HIDDEN-

Rank: E

Strength: E+

Agility: E

Stamina: E+

Intelligent: E-

Mana capacity: E-

Profession: Swordsman (Lv.5)

--

Affinities:

[Perfect - Holy magic]

[High – Fire magic]

[High – Water magic]

[High - Wind magic]

[High – Earth magic]

--

Skills:

-HIDDEN-

--

Battle arts:

-HIDDEN-

=====

I once again grimaced. In the first version, he was supposed to be at rank D- right now. That just goes to show how weak he was compared to his other self.

Well, at least he was sensible enough to hide his battle art and skills though.

After confirming all the main character's Status, I wanted to plop down to the table again to sleep through the class, but professor Misha didn't let me do so.

"You there, with the sunglasses"

'What's with everyone ruining my sleep today?'

"Yes?"

"You haven't showed the class your Status yet"

"Professor, do I really have to?"

Instantly, the classroom were filled with murmurs.

"Who do he think he is?"

"So arrogant!"

"As expected of a cowardly bastard"

'But you didn't say anything when Arthur asked that'

Luckily, professor Misha was of the same opinion as me.

"Quiet! Arthur asked the same question too and he wasn't berated with those rude remarks. What's with the double standards?" Professor Misha reprimanded the students.

Misha was a competent professor in my eyes. Although she was a commoner with little to no backings, she still stood up against the nobles for one of her students.

Although I wouldn't call doing that smart, I still respected her for it.

Well, I would have to show my Status sooner or later anyways so I might as well do it now.

=====

Name: Theodore Gray

Race: -HIDDEN-

Rank: F-

Strength: F-

Agility: F+

Stamina: F

Intelligent: F+

Mana capacity: F-

Profession: Swordsman (Lv.3)

--

Affinities:

[Perfect - Lightning magic]

[High – Space manipulation]

[Intermediate - Time manipulation]

[Intermediate - Wind magic]

--

Skills:

-HIDDEN-

--

Battle arts:

-HIDDEN-

=====

I frowned at my Status. It had been two months since I last checked my stats and it haven't improved at all.

'I'll need to train harder'

Unsurprisingly, everyone was laughing at my Status. No, more specifically, my affinities tab.

"Pffft! He's a Lighting user"

"THE PERFECT AFFINITY WAS WASTED ON LIGHTNING HAHAHA!"

I was getting angry. Even the utterly talentless students who was only at G rank were laughing at me. How could I not get mad?

Even professor Misha was looking at me with pity.

Lightning mages were more looked down upon than I thought.

'Looks like healing Vihar is going to be harder than I expected'

DING DONG—! DING DONG—! DING DONG—!...

The academy's bells rang, signifying the end of the first class.

I didn't want to stay behind and risk getting insensibly enraged and lashing out at everyone so I left the class immediately.

People were still laughing as I left the class, calling me trash and whatnot.

...

After staying alone for some time, I finally calmed down and went to the next class, combat training.

I arrived at the training grounds. Students in my class were still laughing and pointing fingers at me. But I wasn't as affected since [F - Emotionless] was active.

Just like yesterday, we had to do sparring matches after the hour-long session of training. The only difference was that only the students that lost yesterday had to participate in the mock battle.

As such, I intend on resting for the rest of the class.

"First match, Arthur Kilvillain and Jacob Arseman"

Well, I had to compromise my rest for a little bit. I wanted to see if Arthur's mentality had changed since yesterday.

The match started.

Jacob, like yesterday, charged straight at Arthur.

That strategy definitely wouldn't work. Although this version of Arthur was weaker, he wasn't that incompetent as to get hit by such tactics.

But, what happened next surprised everyone.

CLANG—!

Jacob's attack connected, and Arthur was actually pushed back. No, he didn't even try to fight.

CLANG—! CLANG—! CLANG—!...

Jacob then proceeded to rapidly attack Arthur. In response, Arthur just kept blocking the attacks, not returning any strikes at all.

This continued until

"Ack!"

Arthur yelped as he let go of his sword and fell down onto the ground.

Seeing this, Jacob brought his sword down with the intent to kill. However, as Jacob's sword was millimeters away from Arthur's face, it was suddenly stopped in its track.

No, it wasn't because Arthur used his bullshit blessings or anything, it was professor Anna.

She activated her Seductress art, which made Jacob... pop a boner in the middle of the match.

Well, not just Jacob, almost every male students also popped a boner, except for me of course. Though I didn't know how well I would fare if I didn't have [F - Emotionless] active.

"Student Jacob! Why are you trying to kill your classmate!"

While professor Anna was reprimanding Jacob, and the other students were doubting Arthur's strength, I fell into deep thoughts.

What I did yesterday was supposed to ignite Arthur's competitive spirit, not whatever this was.

'Did my plans backfire?'

Well, there was one way to find out.

Walking in a certain direction, I 'accidently' bumped into Arthur.

"Oi, watch where you're going" I said in an haughty tone.

Instead of looking at me with rivalry or even hatred, Arthur just averted his eyes and hung his head down low while having a depressed look on his face.

'Not good', I grimaced.

I then started to formulate other plans to motivate Arthur again in my head, while not noticing the Imperial princess glaring daggers at me.