WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Unleashed a Gossip Gallery in Another World ◈
Chapter 61: Academy Vacation Special Class (4)
──────
“Professor Moria.”
“...”
“Um, are you listening to me?”
How much time had passed since Professor Moria grabbed my arm as I was trying to leave her office?
“Please, say something.”
“Could you let go of me?”
“...Why?”
Professor Moria had dragged me back into the room and seated me on the sofa. I was starting to feel afraid.
“Um... I don’t want to go to graduate school.”
“What?”
“I never planned to keep attending the Academy in the first place, so Father and I agreed that I’d take the special class...”
Professor Moria blinked after listening to me for a moment.
“Huh?”
Then, as if I had denied an obvious fact, she tilted her head.
“That won’t do.”
Still gripping my hand even more tightly, Professor Moria stared wide-eyed as she muttered.
“We need to submit your graduate school application now.”
“What application?”
“A graduate school application, Student.”
That was right. It was already past midnight and nearing dawn, but Professor Moria and I kept repeating the same endless conversation.
“Like I said, I have no intention of going to graduate school...”
“Why don’t you want to go to graduate school?”
“I mean, sigh...”
After thinking for a moment, I finally voiced the truth in a quiet tone.
“A graduate school application is an order stripping you of human rights. You can’t sleep properly, you get paid peanuts, and you work like a slave.”
Yet Professor Moria only looked puzzled, even after hearing the truth Academy professors were so desperate to hide.
“You can sleep here.”
“What?”
“My office is spacious. I’ll buy you a bed. Do you have a preferred design or brand?”
That was when I realized.
“No, that isn’t the problem...”
“I can treat you well.”
I could no longer communicate with the person who had been so easy to talk to just moments ago.
“You’ll get the Empire’s four major insurance benefits and a salary.”
“Professor...”
“Not just for this incident. I can list you as a coauthor on every result we get while researching together in the future.”
Professor Moria kept tightening her grip, as though afraid I might pull away, and fired off questions without pause.
“You’ll have plenty of free time, too. We can spend all day debating together, so why?”
“...”
“Why don’t you want to go to graduate school?”
I had already told her why, yet she kept asking. It seemed normal conversation was no longer possible.
“You’re still young, Professor, with such a bright future ahead of you. Taking someone like me on as a graduate student would be...”
“Are you planning to go to Lugnox instead of me?”
Suddenly, Professor Moria’s expression turned chilling.
“I’m a scholar on Lugnox’s level, you know?”
“Professor, please calm down first.”
“No, actually, I could make Lugnox look like nothing. I can prove it, too.”
A vicious aura began pouring from her entire body, and I hurriedly shook my head.
“...I’m not interested in Professor Lugnox.”
“That’s strange. Then why are you refusing?”
Professor Moria stared at me with an expression that said she genuinely did not understand.
“Was debating with me bothersome?”
“Th-that’s...”
“No, it wasn’t. You enjoyed it too.”
She leaned forward slightly and fixed her gaze on me.
“I enjoyed it too. It was my first time speaking with someone on my level, and I never expected that person to be a student.”
“...”
“It was the same for you, wasn’t it? I didn’t force you. We agreed to debate together.”
With a chilling expression, she repeated herself.
“We fucking debated together.”
“...”
“Answer.”
By then, all I could do was break out in a cold sweat and say the words.
“Please spare me...”
A brief silence followed.
“...All right. I’ll spare you.”
“Th-thank...”
“Sign here instead.”
Professor Moria released one of my hands, took something from her bag, gently brushed the paper with her hand, and held it out to me.
[Aca■emy Gra■uate Program Ap■lication]
What entered my view was a document with a filtering spell applied, though it was obvious what it was.
“Just write your name here.”
“Professor, this is a graduate school application.”
“It isn’t. Sign it.”
“Let’s have a wonderful graduate school life together...”
Professor Moria was completely unreasonable now.
“Professor, my hand’s losing circulation...”
“I won’t let go until you sign.”
“...No, sigh.”
I let out a quiet sigh and muttered.
“What could possibly be so good about a student like me, who hasn’t even received a basic education...”
And right after that.
“Professor? I said my hand’s losing circulation.”
“...”
“Professor? Professor Moria!?”
Professor Moria, who had gripped my hand so hard it had turned dark from the lack of circulation, began trembling as she looked at me.
Twitch...
I didn’t think I would ever forget what she muttered next.
“...You were the one who came on to me first.”
* * *
That dawn, at the Academy dormitory.
“Haaah...”
Having miraculously escaped the professor’s office, I finally let out a sigh and leaned against the wall after reaching the dormitory.
“I really thought I was going to get dragged into this...”
Professor Moria had kept trembling after muttering those last words, then let go of my hand.
My hand was so slippery from sweat that gripping it tightly had become her undoing.
‘I tried to avoid enrolling at the Academy and nearly ended up in graduate school...’
I would never go to a professor’s office again.
If I kept refusing, Professor Moria would eventually give up.
Even if she tried to throw me out of the special class, it couldn’t be helped.
Three years at the Academy would still be better than graduate school.
‘She isn’t writing anything on the Gallery, is she?’
That thought suddenly crossed my mind, so I opened the Gallery. Fortunately, Professor Moria was not there.
(Author: Witch of the West)
[Mage Gallery Eraser: What do young people like these days???]
(Author: Witch of the West)
[Mage Gallery Eraser: What could a young boy possibly want so badly that he could never refuse it?]
(Author: Witch of the West)
[Mage Gallery Eraser: You crazy bastards, not brainwashing or aphrodisiacs, fuck. If I were going to do that, I would’ve long since...(Rest omitted)]
Instead, I only saw posts uploaded by a familiar username in the Mage Gossip Gallery.
‘She really never changes.’
She had always been a woman who liked children.
‘That’s why I leave her alive.’
Still, I intended to keep warning her.
She was always kind to children, but there was no denying she was a crazy bitch who could change at any moment.
Gossip Gallery Eraser: I’m watching you.
ㄴMage Gallery Eraser: Fuck off, idiot lol
ㄴGossip Gallery Eraser: You’ve been getting awfully rude lately, haven’t you?
ㄴMage Gallery Eraser: You still think you’re hot shit?
ㄴMage Gallery Eraser: Sorry, but you’re not all that anymore lol
I quietly left a comment, then raised the corner of my mouth with an incredulous expression at the same cynical reaction as always.
‘She sure talks big.’
Gossip Gallery Eraser: Someone would think you beat me in a duel lol
ㄴMage Gallery Eraser: Just fuck off already
ㄴMage Gallery Eraser: I’m busy planning my future, so I personally blocked you. Later.
The result of needling her out of spite was getting personally blocked by my personal slave.
‘I was going to ask her a little about Professor Moria...’
I had only planned to give an appropriate warning and ask about Professor Moria, so it was slightly disappointing.
“Haa...”
Still, it didn’t matter much.
‘...Well, it’ll work out somehow.’
I had survived far worse crises. There was no way my fate would end over something like this.
“...?”
I was heading to my room with my exhausted body when I spotted something in the distance.
‘What are these?’
A mountain of lunch boxes piled outside my room.
[Noble Ladies Gossip Gallery]
[Anonymous: The lunch box got cold....]
[Anonymous: (Today’s TIP) When a lunch box gets cold, don’t despair. Just make a new lunch box.]
[Anonymous: The first person to give Elrod a lunch box <<< should be declared a public enemy of the Noble Ladies Gossip Gallery, right?]
[Anonymous: I left a lunch box outside Elrod’s room hehe]
[Anonymous: Hey, Noble Ladies Gallery user who said they left a lunch box outside Elrod’s room. Didn’t the dorm supervisor take it away earlier? lol]
Sure enough, when I checked the Noble Ladies Gossip Gallery just in case, the crimes of the illegal dumpers remained in plain sight.
‘Why are these crazy bitches staking their lives on lunch boxes?’
Disgusted, I looked around before speaking to Sepi in my pocket.
“Sepi.”
“...”
“Sepi?”
A moment later, Sepi poked her head out of my pocket.
“...Yees?”
She rubbed her eyes sleepily and tilted her head.
“Were you sleeping?”
“Yaaawn...”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
I had called because Sepi’s sleeping pattern differed from a human’s, but I hadn’t expected her to be asleep right now.
“It is Sepi’s greatest delight to respond to Master, so no problem!”
Sepi answered energetically upon seeing me.
“Search Sepi Wiki for Academy and lunch box.”
“Understood?”
I smiled fondly, stroked Sepi’s cheek, and gave the command.
[Search results: 1 result (Academy/Miscellaneous)]
[Student Council President Celine user edited document (r387)]
The search results immediately appeared before my eyes.
‘They’re really staking their life on Sepi Wiki.’
Paying my respects to Celine, who had already contributed enough to make my head spin despite Sepi Wiki having been created only recently, I quietly checked the document.
----------
12. Miscellaneous
• Although its exact origin is unknown, there is a legend that if someone receives a lunch box for the first time after enrolling at the Academy, they will end up with the giver.[239]
[239] Naturally, there is no clear evidence.
[239-1] Since exchanging lunch boxes tends to foster mutual affection anyway, it should be regarded as a custom rather than a legend.
----------
Only then did I realize the meaning hidden in the countless heart lunch boxes outside my door.
‘I should buy my meals from the campus shop for a while.’
Thinking that, I opened my door with a completely exhausted expression.
“...Huh?”
Inside the comfortable-looking room, things that absolutely should not have been there came into view.
“Ah, pardon me.”
“...”
“This does not seem to be my room....”
I stared blankly at the women I saw as soon as I opened the door, then hurriedly shut it and scratched my head.
“Huh?”
I began backing away with a completely stunned expression.
[Elrod Durgel]
After all, my name was written clearly on the nameplate of the room filled with women.
“This is my room... isn’t it?”
* * *
Creeeak...
How much time passed like that?
‘Did I hallucinate because I’m so sleepy?’
After checking several times that this really was my room, I opened the door again with a bewildered expression.
“...”
But the women standing near the door were still inside.
“Um, excuse me.”
“...”
“Everyone, I’m sorry, but...”
I even pinched my cheek, felt a slight sting, and spoke with a bewildered expression.
“This room... was assigned to me.”
There was still a chance this was merely a misunderstanding.
Unlike the regular dormitory, where men and women were separated, this annex was provided only to special-class students and students of high status. It was mixed-gender, so perhaps they had mistaken the room...
“Elrod Durgel.”
“Yes?”
“Are you the person in question?”
As I broke into a cold sweat while thinking that, a calm voice came from ahead of me.
“Of course I am! That’s why I came in here...!”
I was certain these people were intruders and was about to get a little angry when...
“Please lower your voice.”
“What?”
“I am Roanna Esterion, an Imperial Palace Maid.”
A stern-looking girl put a finger to her lips and whispered quietly to me.
‘Looking again, they’re Imperial Palace Maids?’
Only then did I realize that every stranger occupying my room was an Imperial Palace Maid, and my mouth fell open.
“Apologies for visiting at such a late hour.”
“Um, well...”
“But given the circumstances, we ask for your understanding.”
The person speaking with me at the front was Lady Roanna, Imperial Palace Maid, whom I had often seen in the Gossip Gallery.
Despite that stern expression, I remembered her as someone with two personalities, going wild in the Noble Ladies Gossip Gallery just like Dorothy, my family’s maid.
‘Then I can’t just throw them out.’
The problem was that Lady Roanna was the daughter of a marquis.
Ordinary maids were usually commoners, but Imperial Palace Maids were a privilege reserved exclusively for daughters of high nobility.
Thus, even though the Academy did not place much importance on status, I could not casually mistreat Lady Roanna, whose status was higher than mine outside the Academy.
‘I thought I was going to die catering to her at the Imperial Ball, too.’
The same went for the maids standing quietly behind her, all of whom were at least daughters of count families.
To survive as the second son of a count family in a status-based society, I couldn’t afford to fall out of favor with women like these.
“What brings you here?”
“...”
“If such noble ladies have come to my room in the middle of the night, something serious must have happened, right?”
So I suppressed the anger rising in my heart and spoke with the gentlest expression I could manage.
“My, my...”
“This is even more than we expected...”
“Hehe...”
The maids began whispering behind her.
‘What the fuck is going on?’
I was reaching the limit of my patience again, etiquette be damned, and wondering whether I should get angry when...
“First, I apologize for entering your private space without permission.”
Lady Roanna, standing at the front, carefully closed the door and bowed to me.
“But... we had no choice.”
As she stepped slightly to the side, the other maids moved aside as well.
Swish...
The full sight of the room was revealed.
“Oh.”
I quietly took in the sight.
“Oh?”
Then I opened my eyes wide with a blank expression.
“Hello... Sir Elrod.”
Someone who should have been even less likely to be there than the maids sat awkwardly on my bed.
“...Princess!?”
As I recoiled in shock...
“We are obligated to accompany Her Highness wherever she goes, so we had no choice.”
“...”
“Please forgive us generously, Sir Elrod.”
Lady Roanna had already moved beside the Princess, clasping her hands as she began explaining.
“No, I understand that...”
That explained why the maids had gathered here in small groups.
“Then why is the Princess in my room?”
But I still had no idea why Princess Ruabel, who should have been under special protection, was sitting on my bed.
“I will explain now.”
Lady Roanna spoke quietly once more as I stood there dumbfounded.
“Princess Ruabel is currently at risk of expulsion.”
The Princess, who had been coughing with a pale expression, stiffened at those words.
“She has always been frail.... Sadly, she has not had the leisure to properly focus on her studies.”
“Cough, cough...”
“As you can see, in this condition, it is difficult even for Her Highness to attend classes.”
Lady Roanna looked at Princess Ruabel with pity, then continued explaining while looking back at me with a stern expression.
“Still, if she attends the vacation special class, she can barely fulfill the credits required for graduation, but...”
“...”
“Whether Her Highness can survive one month under Professor Moria’s demanding standards is uncertain.”
A brief silence followed.
“And Sir Elrod, you know this as well.”
“Yes?”
“Because of imperial regulations, Princess Ruabel cannot properly fulfill her role as proxy for the Emperor’s authority until she graduates from the Academy.”
As Lady Roanna spoke into the silence, the expressions of the maids around us darkened.
“Therefore, this matter concerns Princess Ruabel’s...”
“...”
“No, it would not be an exaggeration to say the Empire’s future may depend on it.”
Only then, after looking over the maids’ faces again, did I begin to understand the situation.
‘Come to think of it, every maid in here belongs to Princess Ruabel’s faction.’
Once Princess Ruabel began exercising the Emperor’s authority, a full-scale war of succession would begin in the Magnesia Empire.
And the maids gathered in this room were all core members of the recently rising Ruabel faction.
“Sir Elrod, we heard what happened in yesterday’s special class.”
As I narrowed my eyes and looked over the maids, Lady Roanna suddenly addressed me again.
“I heard you performed brilliantly. Brilliantly enough to surprise even your genius younger sibling.”
As expected, the maids’ information network was not to be underestimated.
“And we know that you did not leave Professor Moria’s office until dawn.”
“Ahaha... That was...”
“You do not need to make excuses. We have no intention of holding you responsible or threatening you.”
It was chilling that they knew information which had not even leaked much through the Gossip Gallery.
“I can say with certainty that even the imperial intelligence network has never seen that strict Professor Moria react so favorably to anyone.”
As I looked at her with needless wariness, Lady Roanna muttered quietly.
“This must be proof that Professor Moria favors you.”
“Uh... That...”
“Therefore, I will make this request not as Lady Roanna, Imperial Palace Maid, but as a representative of the Princess’s faction.”
She wore a serious expression and called my name.
“Elrod Durgel.”
Then came a statement so unbelievable that I doubted my ears.
“Will you secretly serve as the Princess’s private tutor for the next month?”
I stared at her blankly for some time before asking without realizing it.
“What?”
I turned my gaze toward Princess Ruabel, who was still sitting on the bed with a frail expression and coughing.
“...Me?”
Only I knew why the corners of her lips were trembling ever so slightly, unnoticed by anyone else.
(Author: Princess Ruabel)
[Anonymous: Original Fiction Episode 1 - The Princess’s Secret Night Tutoring]
(Author: Princess Ruabel)
[Anonymous: Original Fiction Episode 2 - The Princess Falls Asleep During Night Tutoring]
(Author: Princess Ruabel)
[Anonymous: Original Fiction Episode 3 - Secret Midnight Training (🔞)]
“That cra...”
(Author: Princess Ruabel)
[Anonymous: Original Fiction Episode 4 - A Shameful Night Walk (🔞)]
(Author: Princess Ruabel)
[Anonymous: Original Fiction Episode 5 - The Princess’s Humiliating Declaration of Defeat (🔞)]
(Author: Princess Ruabel)
[Anonymous: Original Fiction Episode 6 - The Beginning of a One-Person Dynastic Revolution (🔞)]
“...No, the Princess?”
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