Chapter 26.2

Just then, the front door of the classroom slid open and an old professor entered.

At the same time, the classroom, which had been abuzz, became quiet.

"Nice to meet you, ladies and gentlemen."

The white-haired old man, with the air of a scholar about him, looked at the audience.

His serious gaze did not shy away even in front of the likes of the imperial family and the high-ranking aristocrats.

"My name is Benjamin Estill, and I will be teaching the 'History of Empire' course this semester. As you study the past with me, you, as our future aristocrats, will learn to take pride in the empire and prepare for the future of the empire. Understood?"

Apparently, the goal of this subject was to build up the culture of the nobility within us.

The professor's tone was imbued with confidence as he spoke to the class.

"Today is the first class, so I'll just introduce the table of contents and give a brief orientation."

Oh, it looked like the first class would end early.

Under the desk, I could see Jihye clenching her fist in victory.

However, the professor, who was so full of enthusiasm, did not stop blabbering on until the end of the class.

A brief introduction to the table of contents, followed by a summary of the contents by subheading and an explanation of each reference, was indubitably a task that had been done once or twice before.

The pitch of his voice was monotonous, like a song to put one to sleep.

Hye-rin concentrated while squeezing her thighs together, and Jihye continued to doze off throughout.

***

"Uhhh... how could there be such a boring lecture on a Monday morning…? Isn't it not worth waking up at all!"

Jihye shook her head to and fro with her wide-open eyes.

I had no choice but to agree with her.

The history books in the library were interesting because they read like fantasy novels, but somehow this class didn't seem to be all that interesting.

Academy classes were divided into weekday mornings and afternoons.

It was common to apply for one morning and one afternoon class.

My timetable was as follows:

Monday: Imperial history (morning), elementary attribute studies 1 (afternoon) Tuesday: Mana management 1 (morning), sex education (afternoon)

Friday: Physical training 1 (morning), killing practice (afternoon)

Except for the Friday classes, all my classes were theory-oriented.

Only practical lectures would be waived by passing the practical tests.

The classes I looked forward to the most were 'Sex Education' and 'Murder Practice'.

I didn't know what I would learn in the former, and the latter was likely to cause not a small change to my values.

I wondered what lectures Minho, Ayoung, and Amer had applied for.

Classes usually ended around 3:00 PM.

After school was free time.

It was seen as good to take a break within the confines of the ecliptic, and it was normal to do club or research activities, and it was not a bad idea to be engrossed in training and sparring.

"Anyway, I think falling asleep in the first class is a bit of a stretch."

I threw a statement toward Ji-hye as a joke.

"I wasn't sleeping! I was just resting my eyes!"

"Sure, sure..."

"They're different!"

Hyerin, who heard my words, was startled and closed her mouth, which had been slightly open to yawn.

I laughed at the sight of her walking in a forced calm manner with her muscles tensed and a strange expression on her face.

"Why… why are you laughing!? You are so strange..."

"That's right! I couldn't help it because of my attributes in the first place. Are you discriminating against people based on their attributes?!"

"Assuming it's because of your attributes, what about Hyerin then?"

"I didn't sleep earlier...!"

After we ate lunch together and exchanged flirty nonsense, we entered our second classroom.

Perhaps because this was a class that all the first-year students took, the actual classroom was very spacious.

We gathered in class, just like in the morning.

How long would we sit like this?

In the future, I wondered if we would all gradually disperse as we did club activities and started group assignments.

The professor of 'Elementary Attribute Studies 1' was an elderly middle-aged man.

He appeared in the class wearing a white lab coat.

It seemed that research was his main job.

He introduced the grading method and the table of contents and added a bit of substance to what he said.

I wanted the afternoon classes to flow similarly to the morning.

This was the case until the professor looked over the register and suddenly called out the name of one of the students.

"In this course, we can see how much difference there is in talent depending on the presence or absence of attributes and ranks. Let's see, um... student Esna?"

"Yes···?"

A well-groomed schoolgirl with grey hair hesitated while getting up from her seat.

"Seeing that you as a student don't have a surname, are you a commoner?"

"Yes···."

"Looking at the list here, you are a non-attribute. Is that right?"

"That's correct."

"Eh. Tsk tsk."

A chilling silence enveloped the classroom as the professor shook his head and clicked his tongue.

"Since you joined after paying the expensive tuition fee, it seems you have a lot of money. What do your parents do?"

"They're in commerce..."

"I see. Take a seat."

As soon as Esna sat down with a frown on her face, he continued.

"Let me explain to you the harsh reality. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, but the sooner you realize it, the better. I'm saying this all for you."

ᅳIn this world, attributes were everything.

The professor of 'Elementary Attribute Studies 1' was an attribute supremacist and discriminated against non-attributes.

"As you go up in the grade, the gap in power by attribute will continue to widen. Not only will this be the case between attributes and non-attributes, but also be based on the rank of the attribute. Even if you put in enough effort, these advantages will never be overcome. That student from now on should focus on liberal arts classes and networking at the academy."

At his words, some nodded their heads, and some frowned at him.

I quickly looked at the faces of some people I knew.

Amer was expressionless, and Jihye was rather looking at my response to the information.

Choi Ji-hoon of the [Sun] Attribute seemed to be enjoying the lecture, while Min-ho of the [Light] And Ah-yeong of [Life] were frowning as expected.

Also surprisingly, Hyerin, with the mythical [Earth] Attribute, nodded her head as if the professor's argument was natural.

I was worried that Minho would come out saying he was against it.

But the backlash came from an unexpected spot in the class.

"I can't agree with that."

As a low, thick voice echoed through the room, all eyes turned to the source of the sound.

One student calmly rose from his seat.

The professor looked at him and murmured.

"...Student Nicholas Bondrania, right?"

"That's right."

Nicholas Bondrania.

He was the overall best in the academy entrance exam, a member of Bondranian royalty, and a cold, white-haired handsome man.

"Hmm... You're against this...? Then would you please step forward for a moment?"

The professor spoke rudely to Esna, a commoner, but used honorifics with Nicholas, a royal.

Nicholas walked slowly towards the podium.

"And······."

The professor looked around the classroom and soon found the spot where black hair was gathered and took a closer look.

He met my eyes eventually.

"Can student Jung Jihoo please step over here for a moment?"

"Yes."

At his call, I got up from my seat.

——————

T/N: Loved the review on NU VLADISLAKA! Many thanks. Will work on releasing some bonus chaps for this story every so often to match the growing readership. The release rate is 1/day just because the patron subs for this is half as many as the infinite coins project, but upping this number is always on the table. Thanks for your continued support everyone!

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