Chapter 7 Academy Debut of Mockery and Contempt
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Having finished my negotiations with the Duke Vermillion and secured my first foothold, I decided to begin attending school the following day.
I had my carriage directed toward the Royal Magic Academy.
The sway of the carriage transmitted the vibration of the cobblestones like a fetal heartbeat.
It was the highest institution of learning, where the noble children of the Asgard Kingdom gathered to refine their talents.
The massive stone school building looming before me glistened in the sunlight, flaunting its high pedigree.
Under normal circumstances, this is where a glittering, elite Academy life would await.
But now that my Mana had been proven to be “zero”—
To me, it was nothing more than an “uncomfortable place.”
As I stepped through the Academy’s main gate, the gazes of students dressed in elegant uniforms pierced through me with amusing intensity.
Upon recognizing me stepping down from the carriage emblazoned with the Grimlock family crest, I could hear them whispering to one another. It sounded exactly like dry leaves skittering across the pavement.
”Is that… the Grimlock heir…” one student muttered.
”The one who recorded Zero Mana at the entrance ceremony…” another added.
”Is it true he won the Duel against his brother and became the next head?” someone whispered.
”But, how could he, with no Mana…?” another questioned.
Admiration, contempt, curiosity, and fear.
Bathed in a concentrated fire of gazes filled with a chaotic mix of emotions, I kept my back straight and strode toward the school building with composed elegance.
(—Ah, give me a break. I want to run away right now.)
However, if I showed even a hint of weakness here, I would be devoured immediately by these hyenas.
I had to play the role of ‘Xenos, the next head of the Grimlock family’ to the very end.
I wore a faint smile on my lips and met their gazes head-on.
When I stepped into my classroom, the commotion that had existed until then vanished as if the tide had pulled away.
Everyone in the classroom noticed me, froze, and began watching from a distance.
The air felt leaden, heavy enough to shroud the entire room.
My seat was in the back, by the window.
Around it, a distinct pocket of empty space had formed.
It was as if an invisible wall had been built with me as the center.
After setting the shocking record of zero Mana on the first day and then being absent without notice for ten days, this was perhaps a natural reaction.
Outside the window, a sky of thin, overcast clouds spread out, and the greenery of the school courtyard looked somewhat lonely.
I sat down in my seat without speaking to anyone.
I took a random book out of my bag and opened to a page I had no interest in whatsoever.
I could feel the surrounding gazes, but I chose to ignore them.
After a while, the students seemed to give up, and they began to resume their conversations in small voices. The sound of chairs creaking and the faint rustle of turning textbook pages filled the room once more.
The morning classes were Magic History and Ancient Languages.
For me, it was a boring, yet peaceful time.
The problem was the afternoon Magic Practical.
The bell rang, and the students moved to the wide training grounds.
It was an open space where the scent of soil drifted faintly.
The instructor announced the day’s task.
”Alright, today’s lesson is the basics of the basics: Mana control! Everyone, concentrate the Mana inside your body into your fingertips and try to generate a stable ball of light! You will be evaluated on stability, not size or brightness!” the instructor commanded.
The students spaced themselves out, calling out “Yes!” with spirit, and began their training. Faint lights began to be born all over the training ground.
Some flickered with light the size of a basketball, while others stabilized tiny lights the size of a ping-pong ball.
It was a spectacle that starkly displayed the difference in talent.
The lights flickered in various colors—white, blue, pale green—perhaps reflecting the students’ individual Mana signatures.
In the midst of this, I was the only one standing by the wall.
The instructor approached me hesitantly and said with sympathetic eyes.
”Ah, Grimlock-kun1, since… the release of Mana will be difficult for you, please observe from here. Observing the flow of other students’ Mana is good study as well.”
”…Yes,” I replied.
Words mixed with pity and hesitation.
—The fact that there was no malice behind them made it all the more painful.
I just nodded and watched the students train in silence.
Beyond that gaze, there was a student emitting a particularly strong light.
My fiancée, Cecilia Vermillion.
She was generating a perfect ball of light without a single flicker.
It was a clear radiance, like a polished gemstone.
Her ability was head and shoulders above everyone else in the first year.
And, in the gaps between her training, she glared at me repeatedly with cold, piercing eyes.
A gaze of contempt, as cold as a winter lake, struck me.
(As I thought, is she unhappy with our engagement—being forced to marry someone like me with Zero Mana. She must have no emotions other than hatred.)
However, there seemed to be something else swirling deep within those pupils, beyond mere contempt. …Or so I felt.
It was a difficult-to-discern emotion—perhaps anger, or perhaps frustration—writhing at the bottom of her cold gaze. I met her eyes and raised the corner of my mouth slightly.
At that reaction, Cecilia’s eyebrows twitched.
The discomfort level was at its maximum.
But I didn’t let a hint of that inner turmoil show, crossing my arms and maintaining a haughty attitude, as if I were a noble “inspecting the training of my subordinates.”
The buzz of the training ground echoed in the back of my ears like background music from a distance.
Still, though.
The ‘Xenos’ in the game had used his overwhelming Mana and charisma to create a large entourage from the moment he enrolled.
Women who were infatuated with him, minor nobles trying to curry favor with his power….
But right now, not a single ant was crawling near me.
Like my Mana, my entourage was at zero.
Ironically, there wasn’t even a single daredevil bold enough to openly pick a fight.
It was already known throughout the Academy that I had been officially decided as the successor to the Grimlock family. Zero Mana, yet heir to a prestigious house.
Everyone was simply bewildered by how to treat my strange, unbalanced existence, keeping their distance. As if looking at a rare beast that was too dangerous to approach.
(Well, that’s fine. If they want to keep their distance on their own, that’s convenient for me. There is plenty I can do under the surface without standing out.)
Just as I had reached that conclusion and was turning my thoughts to future plans—
The silence was abruptly broken.
”Is the heir to the Grimlock family here!”
A booming voice resounded from the entrance of the training ground.
At that voice, which resembled a thunderclap, the movements of the students who were training stopped, and everyone’s gaze gathered on the speaker.
Standing there was a male student with green hair and a towering, hulking physique.
The thick chest and bulging arm muscles were clearly visible even through his uniform.
Just by him standing there, it felt as if the air in the training ground was shaking.
On his shoulder, the crest of the Royal Guard, serving the royal family, glittered.
The silver lion reflected the sunlight and shone dazzlingly.
He didn’t care about the silence in the training ground at all, stomping inside, scanning the students, and eventually locking onto my figure standing by the wall.
The gazes of the entire class pierced into me all at once.
The big man walked up to me with footsteps that sounded like tremors, stood akimbo, and looked down at me.
His shadow stretched long at my feet.
Following behind him was a blue-haired student with an air of a sharp tactician, and behind him, the first prince of this country, Liam Asgard himself, stood by with an amused smile on his face.
I saw the prince’s golden hair sway in the slight breeze.
It seemed the prince’s lackeys had business with me directly.
”You’re the one, Xenos Grimlock,” the big man demanded.
The big man—
Aldrick Stonewall, asked as if to intimidate.
His low voice vibrated directly against my eardrums.
(“No, I’m not,” I wanted to say, but I held it in.)
He wasn’t the type to appreciate a witty joke.
(Ah, a troublesome one has arrived.)
A named character makes his entrance.
Even so, a power-type character has quite a presence when they exist for real.
Honestly, it’s scary.
Plus, I hate being the center of attention, and I want to run away right now.
Alarm bells were ringing in my heart, but I maintained my stylish “composure” without panicking.
A big shot has to be like this.
—余裕だ (Composure). Composure is essential!!
I slowly lifted my face.
And, like a cool villain, I returned his gaze with a composed smile.
”Hmph, indeed, I am Xenos… but excuse me, who might you be?” I replied coolly.
—
Summary:
Xenos arrives at the Royal Magic Academy following his negotiations with the Duke Vermillion, facing intense scrutiny and isolation due to his reported lack of Mana. During a magic practical training session, he is approached by Aldrick Stonewall and the first prince, Liam Asgard, who have come to confront him. Xenos attempts to maintain his composure and act the part of an aristocratic villain despite his internal desire to flee.
—
Trivia:
- Xenos is currently acting under the assumption that his ‘Zero Mana’ status makes him a target for ‘hyenas’ at the school.
- Xenos recently won a duel against his brother to secure his position as the next head of the Grimlock family.
- Cecilia Vermillion’s engagement to Xenos is portrayed as a source of frustration or resentment for her.
- The training ground environment is noted for the scent of soil and an open, airy feeling.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Vermillion – A prestigious, wealthy Duke house in the kingdom allied with the Grimlock family. Elick and Cecilia’s family name.
• Grimlock – The military noble family to which Xenos and Gaius (his father) belongs.
• Xenos – A man who acts as the protagonist of his own calculated path, concealing his true ability of Magic Seal while posing as a coward to ensure his survival and long-term planning. A student known as the ‘Zero of Defeat’ who possesses zero Mana and is treated as a social pariah. Despite his reputation, he is a calculated and manipulative individual who hides his true abilities to clear the game. A young male noble who has been named the next head of the Grimlock family. He possesses zero Mana, a fact that has made him an outcast at the Academy. He uses a facade of haughty aristocratic confidence to mask his internal panic and anxiety. A young noble who has recently seized his family’s headship. He possesses no Mana but commands a powerful extradimensional familiar and uses strategic intelligence to maintain political standing. The protagonist and reincarnation who possesses memories of a game script. He manipulates those around him while maintaining a facade of incompetence.
• Cecilia – The eldest daughter of the Vermillion Duchy and Xenos’s betrothed in a strategic political marriage, she is a noblewoman with flaming red hair and exceptional magical talent. Possessing a disdainful, intense personality, she treats Xenos with cold, piercing contempt. Beneath her outward focus on status and power, she watches him with complex, conflicted emotions of disappointment and anger.
• Liam – As the kingdom’s First Prince and a game protagonist, he leads with authority and a calm, amused demeanor, often observing others with cold detachment. Despite his composed exterior, he harbors deep suspicion toward the Grimlock family, viewing their war-continuation stance as a threat. He actively rallies allies at the academy to oppose the faction while skillfully mediating within his own circle.
• Aldrick – A character previously involved in a failed duel negotiation with Xenos. A male student with green hair and a towering, hulking physique. He is a member of the Royal Guard, signified by the silver lion crest on his uniform. He is physically intimidating and serves as an enforcer for Prince Liam. A massive, muscular man and aide to the Prince, known for his physical prowess and his role as a vanguard in combat.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply