January 5^th, year 788 of the Imperial calendar

It was the first day of the new school year.

Today, every 1st years were ordered to arrive at the academy's stadium at 9 A.M sharp. As such, I painstakingly woke up at 8 to prepare for the day.

Luckily for me, the Academy wasn't very strict with its dress code. I just had to dress properly and make sure that the insignia the academy gave me is visible on my clothes.

==

[Avaron academy's insignia] (Grade - G artificial artifact)

The insignia of Avaron academy. It is imbued with communication and identification technology. It will stick to any pieces of clothing or equipment that the user want it to. This artifact is removable and reusable.

==

Interestingly, all of the insignias that Avaron provided were artifacts. This goes to show how wealthy Avaron and the Empire as a whole were.

Looking at the insignia on my hand, I decided to just stick it on my favorite white shirt.

After leaving Alicia at the inn, me and Krista departed for Avaron academy on the carriage viscount Irene Nightshade prepared for us.

Apparently, it was customary for nobles to go Avaron by carriage on the first day. 

Although I was technically a noble, my rank wasn't high enough to justify going to the academy by carriage. However, I didn't want to use the transfer gate and make a fool out of myself by puking all over the gate station.

Getting off the carriage, I saw Avaron academy in all its glory for the first time. It was like a small city.

Apart from the main building that was the academy, there were parks, stores, and other facilities all over it. 

'Just how much did they spend on this'

It wasn't one of the Great academies for nothing.

Well, the main building of Avaron was painted in white and gold. I didn't know if it was a symbolical thing or not.

Although, judging by the fact that Kirion academy was in painted red and black, it probably was.

I pushed through the crowd of people to get to the stadium. Avaron academy had 5 whole stadiums, each of them were massive even by the richest nobles' standards. However, the opening ceremony would be held at the biggest one, which was named 'Veritas'.

As I was walking towards Veritas stadium, people looked at me funny.

Was it because of me wearing 3 sunglasses? Or was it because there was a bird, who also happens to be a Celestial, on my head?

High society is truly absurd.

At the entrance to the stadium, the guards scanned the insignia on my shirt and let me inside once they confirmed that I was a student.

As expected, the stadium was massive. It it had over 60,000 seats, which were arranged in a half-circle around a raised platform in the middle.

As such, it felt kind of empty with only about 2000 1st years, 8000 seniors and a couple hundreds of teachers and instructors inside.

Luckily for me, I got to sit at a pretty obscure corner of the stadium, far away from where most people were.

Krista found Raun and Amelia near the middle row of the seats and decided to sit with them. Thus, I had some quiet time for myself.

---

***

After 15 minutes, lights in the stadium suddenly went out. The only thing illuminated was the podium at the center of the raised platform.

A man who looked in his 50s with unkempt gray beard walked up to the podium.

"Greetings, students. I'm Alan Heritas, an S rank, and the headmaster of Avaron academy" He said as he reached the podium.

The headmaster then cleared his throat before he began to read lines from the piece of paper he brought with him.

"Oh, students of Avaron, you shall be the shield of the Empire

 Defend our borders from those malevolent Void fiends just like the heroes of the past.

 Oh, students of Avaron, you shall be the sword of the Empire

 Reclaim our land from..."

4 sentences into the speech and I started to get really bored. Glancing around the stadium, I was sure that almost everyone was the same as me, judging by their sleepy looks.

Even the headmaster looked bored as well. I guess making the same speech every year was not fun, even for him.

I wanted to sleep through the speech but I realized that I couldn't, which was very strange. It was almost like someone casted an anti-sleeping spell or something like that.

Well, if they knew beforehand that students were going to fall asleep during the speech, why didn't they try to make the speech more interesting instead of wasting their time doing whatever this was?

Thus, I had to sit through another 20 minutes of this absolutely tiresome speech.

"... and so, students of Avaron, let's all bring glory to the Empire!"

It was finally over.

The headmaster then glanced around the stadium, only to find that almost everyone had a look of drowsiness plastered on their faces.

However, his gaze froze at my general direction for just a split second, before he continued to look around again like nothing happened.

I scanned behind my back, there was absolutely no one behind or even near me.

'Strange', I thought. But I didn't pay much attention to it.

'Maybe it was just a coincidence'

Headmaster Alan then started speaking again after glancing around the stadium for 5 more times. Seriously, did he do this every year?

"Well, that's it. I've done my obligatory speech, go to your class now"

Well, that was blunt. I didn't expect someone of high position to do that but who am I to complain?

Ignoring the noisy chattering of students, I went out of the stadium and made my way towards my classroom.

---

***

In a dark room deep inside Avaron academy, a figure was seemingly talking to himself.

"Teros, did you see that boy at the corner of the stadium?"

As soon as he said that, a rat crawled out of his suit. However, it started speaking, indicating that it was no normal rat.

|Hm? Who?|

Sighing, the figure, whose identity was Headmaster Alan, spoke in an annoyed voice.

"The boy that was wearing 3 sunglasses. Didn't you find something strange about him?"

|Hmmm... Ah! That one? He had a Celestial with him, I almost forgot about that|

"So that's what it was..." Headmaster Alan muttered.

"Teros, do you know the identity of the boy's Celestial?" Alan continued.

|Of course I do. She's Lyra Myrsky, the successor of Vihar - the God of the Storms|

The Headmaster hung his mouth open in surprise.

"Successor? Why did a Goddess make a bond with a mortal?"

|Hm? She hasn't transcended to godhood yet|

"And why is that? She's the successor of a God, right?"

|Well yes, but it's more complicated than that|

Teros then continued with a somewhat sad tone.

|That poor girl, she couldn't become the Goddess of the Storms just because she refused to acknowledge that her God was already dead|

"Her God is dead?"

|Yes, but that was a long time ago|

'...Interesting'

Headmaster Alan then went through the files of 2000 first years, trying to find information about the student who made a bond with the Celestial closest to godhood.

"Theodore Gray..."

"Even his background is intriguing..."

After stroking his beard for a while, Alan called his secretary over to his office.

"You called, headmaster?"

"Yes. Rosa, transfer the student named Theodore Gray to the vacant spot in class 1-1"

The secretary, Rosa, looked at him in surprise.

"Sir, are you sure? I thought that spot was reserved for Duchess Bytros' son?"

"I don't care about that talentless brat, and I'm sure the Duchess also doesn't either since she sent him here instead of Kirion. So just do what I say"

Rosa then respectfully bowed to the headmaster left the office.

Being the only one left in the room, the headmaster sat down on his chair and inspected Theodore's files again.

'I hope you'll show me something interesting'

---

***

I was in class 1-3, sitting in the last row.

This was where I was going to spend all of my school years in, getting stronger while staying away from every kinds of troubles. Although, I would have to find a way to slip in one of class 1-1's lessons 2 months from now if I wanted to ⌈accidently⌋ save Raun.

BAM—!

A loud noise, accompanied by a small shockwave swept across the room. Except for a couples of students, everyone was pushed back, including me.

Standing behind the podium at the front of the classroom, a woman in her late 30s, who I presumed to be our homeroom teacher, looked at the students who weren't pushed back in satisfaction.

"Now I have everyone's attention, let's take attendance"

Taking out a small piece of paper, she started to call out names.

"Rank 8, Vekin Svos"

"Present"

"Rank 19, ..."

...

"Rank 1021, Ben Dover"

"Present"

"Rank 1384, Theodore Gr—"

"Is student Theodore Gray here?"

Interrupting the teacher's roll call, a woman in her mid-twenties opened the door to the classroom and asked for me.

"Head secretary Rosa, what are you doing here?" The homeroom teacher asked

"It's just the headmaster's order, don't think much about it" The woman, Rosa, replied.

"Uh, I'm here" I raised my hand in confusion.

"You're student Theodore Gray?"

"Yes" 

"Alright, from now on you're with class 1-1"

She then left the room immediately after, not caring that her abrupt words had just caused an uproar in the classroom. Even the homeroom teacher was surprised.

Everyone kept talking about how lucky I was, or that I secretly had a connection to the headmaster, and things like that.

However, I, the target of their discussion, was in deep thoughts.

'Why?'

I was in no way special, at least not as special as the prodigies in Arthur's class. Why would they transfer me to 1-1? 

I calmed myself down, this time without the use of the skill.

'I'll just have to make the best out of this situation then'

Although the chances of me dying if I got into class 1-1 was much higher, I could minimize that risk by staying as a background character and not standing out.

Well, one good thing that came out of this situation was that I didn't need to figure out a way to slip into that event to save Raun anymore.

---

***

I stared at the door with the words '1-1' written on it, making sure that I wouldn't accidently go into the wrong classroom.

Been there, done that, don't want to experience it ever again.

The classroom's door looked like the gate to hell to me. The protagonist being the targets of many schemes and plots devised by jealous nobles and competitor was bad enough, but he also had to attract the attention of those bastards at the Darkest Night organization.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. But, I still managed to gather up the courage to open the door.

However, my nervousness instantly turned into panic when I saw who was standing behind the podium.

"You must be the new student. I'm your homeroom teacher, Anna Ferde—"

SLAM—!

I slammed the door shut and clutched my chest, panting heavily. 

'W- why is she here?'

If I didn't have [F - Emotionless], I would probably have broken down into a full-blown panic attack.

"What are you doing?" Anna opened the door again and asked me with a stern voice.

"It's nothing, sorry for the trouble" I replied coldly. [F - Emotionless] was truly useful.

"Is that so? Go to your seat then"

"But remember, do that kind of thing again and you'll be punished" She continued.

I gulped at her words and scurried to the lower left row of seats.

Everyone was staring at me weirdly. I didn't know whether it was because I slammed the door shut on the teacher's face, or it was because of me looking very ridiculous by wearing 3 sunglasses. Whatever the case was, their evaluation of me was surely dropping nonstop.

Seeing that I have settled down for a seat, Anna continued with the orientation. However, I could not pay attention to what she was saying at all, as my mind was in total mess.

The novel 'The holy swordsman' had two version. In the first version, Arthur - the protagonist, killed the Evil God at the cost of 90% of the continent's population.

The second version, which was called the 'Remake version', was pretty much the same as the first one, albeit with minor differences until the half-way point of the novel.

One such differences was the existence of Anna Ferden, who was considered a rare talent as she reached rank A+ at only the age of 25. In the first version, the homeroom teacher was supposed to be a man in his 30s who occasionally gives advices to the protagonist. However, Anna replaced him in the second version.

Another difference was that Arthur got too complacent in the beginning and depended on his connections and the Holy knight captain a bit too much.

As a result, he became significantly weaker than his original counterpart and had to watch his harem die in front of his eyes one by one. And by the half-way point of the novel, around 80% of the continent was taken over by the Void fiends.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't know how the story would end since Marcos died before he could finish the novel. However, judging by the fact that the Void fiends basically had domination over the continent half-way through the novel, it probably wasn't a good end.

Each and every of my and Marcos' plans were based on the first version.

I was always aware of the possibility that this world was based on the remake version instead of the original one. However, I had subconsciously ignored it.

Now, I would have to face reality and scrap all of my previous plans.

I could not let the plot go as it is. As such, I would need to find the perfect opportunity to execute the first step of my newly formed plan: Strengthening Arthur.

"Alright, the orientation class is about to end so let's take attendance" Anna's loud voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Rank 1384, Theodore Gray"

"Present" I lethargically said.

"Rank 1000, Amelia Helot"

"P- present"

"Rank 209, Tim"

"Present"

"Rank 182, Jacob Arseman"

"Present"

"Rank 132, ..."

As she read out names, I couldn't help but notice the huge disparity in rank between the whole class and me. Well, Amelia's rank was almost as low as mine but she was a healer, and a Saintess at that.

Some students seemed to have noticed this too and looked at me weirdly, they were probably wondering how the hell a rank 1384 student like me got in class 1-1.

Not caring much about all the wild theories being formulated inside their heads, I waited for Anna to finish the roll call.

"Rank 16, Raun Serus"

"..."

"Is Raun Serus here?"

"Late on the first day, huh?" Anna muttered as she wrote Raun's name down on a notebook.

Well, I expected this. In both versions, Raun was late for the orientation. Anna then made him clean the toilets on the first floor for a whole month as punishment.

Interestingly though, almost every other important characters were ranked 10 or higher. They'd have to be strong enough to be the protagonist's companion after all

"Rank 10, Krista Nightshade"

"Present!" 

Krista Nightshade, the girl with blonde hair and blue eyes spoke enthusiastically. Despite having a nasty scar on her left eye, she was still considered a top-class beauty with her attractive yet innocent face.

"Rank 9, Marie Holftman"

"Present"

Marie Holftman was the protagonist's childhood friend. Lush green hair, jade green eyes, and pointed ears, it was plainly obvious that she was of Elven descent. Needless to say, she was an absolute beauty, worthy of being in the Hero's harem.

Well, she was a worrywart, only towards Arthur though. I was glad that she wasn't what Marcos would call a 'Yandere', otherwise all of my plans would fail before they even started.

"Rank 6, Ria Pyrian"

"Present"

Responding to the roll call was Ria Pyrian, daughter of duke Freywright Pyrian, and another member of Arthur's harem. As expected of her phoenix bloodline, she was a top-class Fire mage with red hair that swayed like flames and amber eyes.

Well, to me, she was extremely cool. Mainly because of the black eyepatch she wore on her right eye. No, her right eye was not cursed or damaged or anything like that. She just wore it because she thought it was cool, and it indeed was very cool.

"Rank 5, Lucy Fertilus"

"Present"

Lucy Fertilus was a girl with long black hair flowing down to her waist and blood red eyes. She was the 8th daughter of the Vampire duke, Alucard Fertilus, and she also was the same person that I and Alicia saw in the alleyway about a month ago. 

And of course, she was included in Arthur's harem.

"Rank 4, Max Vermillion"

"Present"

Ah, one of the main antagonists of the Academy arc, and the future infamous Void contractor, Max Vermillion. He was the son of Marquess Dave Vermillion.

Max had a handsome face rivalling that of Arthur's, with dirt blonde hair and brown eyes. Even when in class, girls kept stealing glances at him. However, he didn't care about receiving the affection of anyone other than his crush, who was also the reason for his jealousy and hatred towards Arthur.

"Rank 3, Sylvia Ecertold"

"Present."

A cold response could be heard in one of the front rows.

Snow-white hair, fair skin, lavender blue eyes, and a pale blue scaly tail unique to those with pure draconic bloodline. She, Sylvia Ecertold, was Max's crush, and the reason why he was so hell-bent on humiliating Arthur. She was also duke Evanos Ecertold' illegitimate child, nicknamed 'the monster of the Ecertold duchy' for her absurdly high talents and aptitudes for Water, Ice and Star magic.

She was beautiful and mesmerizing, even to me. She could have been much more charming if she didn't always have that cold and expressionless face. Well, that apathetic face of hers would soon vanish once she joins Arthur's harem.

"Rank 2, Eleanor Salvant"

"Present"

Eleanor Salvant, better known as the second Imperial princess, was an attractive young woman with white hair much like Sylvia's and deep red eyes. The two feathery wings protruding from her back was the indication of her Angelic ancestry.

Because of her Angelic bloodline, she had the highest possible affinity for Light magic. And instead of Mana, she uses Aether to cast her spells.

Aether was an energy source that could only be manipulated by people of Demonic or Angelic descent. However, it was 5 times more potent and efficient than Mana. The only downside was that the Aether's density in the atmosphere was 3 times lower than Mana's.

Well, you might have noticed a theme with Arthur's harem by now. That's right, they each represented an element.

Ria was Fire, Sylvia was Water and Ice, Krista was Darkness and Void, Eleanor was Light, Marie was Wind, and Lucy represented Blood.

As to who was supposed to be the Earth element? Well, she wouldn't appear for at least a few weeks.

"Rank 1, Arthur Kilvillain"

"..."

"Is rank 1 Arthur Kilvillain present?"

"..."

Anna frowned, clearly not expecting two whole students to miss their first class.

Just as she was just about to write Arthur's name down on her notebook, the classroom's door slid open.

Soon enough, two figures emerged from the opened door.

The first one was Raun, with his clothes all dirty and tattered, and his face swollen.

The other figure was a tall youth with a well-built body, attractive face, masculine jawline, short pitch black hair and brilliant bright golden eyes. His presence was strong and overwhelming. However, there was still a certain gentleness to it.

His looks instantly made almost every girls in the class blush.

His clothes were also dirty, just like Raun's. However, even the tattered clothes failed to subtract from his handsomeness by even a little bit.

BAM—!

Anna slammed her hand on the podium, spreading a small shockwave across the whole classroom, pushing back everyone back. Only a few students managed to hold their ground, but they still looked frightened by the shockwave nonetheless.

'Seriously, what's with teacher sending shockwaves to intimidate students?' I thought as I had experienced it twice already, and in the same day at that.

Despite that, Arthur still calmed talked.

"Excuse us! We ran into some troubles on our way here so we were late"

Taking a look at Arthur, Anna couldn't help but be surprised by how calm he was. After all, even the one nicknamed 'monster of the Ecertold duchy' was somewhat affected by her shockwave.

Well, she was not the only one that was surprised. As the so-called 'monster of the Ecertold duchy', Sylvia Ecertold, was also looking at Arthur with interest.

Noticing Sylvia's usual expressionless face turning into slight interest as she looked at Arthur, Max couldn't help but grit his teeth in anger and glared hatefully at Arthur. After all, he couldn't even gain a bit of Sylvia's attention, but a mere commoner did? Unacceptable!

Not caring about the reactions of some of her students, Anna nodded in satisfaction. She put away her notebook and decided to spare Arthur this one time.

"Very well, go to your seat. But remember, I won't be so lenient next time"

"Thank you!"

Bowing in gratefulness, Arthur pulled the still shocked Raun along with him to his seat. He chose the seats at the upper-right corner of the classroom.

I sighed in relief. Arthur and Raun probably fought some upperclassmen together and thus came to class late. And Arthur had just attracted the attention of Anna, Sylvia, and Max. It went just like it did in the novel.

That meant all I had to do was to wait for a chance to execute my plans.

Well, that chance came sooner than I expected.