Mistaken for a Masked Monster - Chapter 155

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 155: Got a Problem?

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It was a sticky summer.

Final exams were just around the corner.

"Hey... Did you hear how much material is on the exam this time? It's ridiculously broad."

"The amount is bad enough, but every single topic is insanely difficult."

"Fuck. I thought midterms were no joke, but finals are on a whole different level."

Wails of despair echoed throughout the academy.

They were the voices of students drowning in worry.

Grandia Academy.

It was called the continent's finest educational institution.

As an elite academy, it became a vision of hell during exam season.

"And it's not just written exams. The practical exam is an even bigger problem."

"Ah... They said we have to fight faculty members and win for the practical, right?"

"This is fucking hopeless. How are we supposed to beat professors?"

"I'm not joking, I’m confident I'd get wrecked in five minutes."

"You'd last five minutes? I'm estimating three."

As if punishing them for their recent break, exam material came pouring down.

The students had no choice but to be crushed beneath it.

Even with tears in their eyes, they focused on their studies.

My companions and I were no exception.

"Fuuuck... Seriously, I just want to quit everything."

Caitlin groaned.

Maybe it was the stress.

Low-voltage electricity crackled through her yellow hair.

She kneaded her brow irritably, curses pouring from between her lips.

"At this point, aren't the faculty just determined to screw the students over? Why is there five times as much material as on the midterms?"

She looked seconds away from losing it.

Her sun-bronzed hand swept her bangs back in irritation.

If there was any consolation, it was that she wasn't the only one dying here.

"Um."

"It, it's difficult..."

The other two wore equally troubled expressions.

Golden and black hair spilled over their shoulders.

Ranne and Alice were wrestling with thick books as well.

We had gathered in the library of Grandia's main building to prepare for the finals.

"Hmm... Magical Calculus really is difficult! It was always one of my weaker subjects, but it seems especially bad on this exam!"

"I, I'm finding everything difficult, so... I've been cutting back on sleep and, h-having at it..."

"Ahem! At least we're fortunate! Sir Viktor is guiding us in our studies."

"That's right... H-he explains the parts we don't understand well..."

Everyone looked thoroughly exhausted.

The three of them were being crushed by their studies, quite literally.

I sat beside them, answering their various questions.

'They're all working hard.'

Studying together like this gave me a better sense of everyone's habits.

Ranne was the type to stubbornly brute-force everything through memorization.

Perhaps because of that, she was strong in subjects that required memorization, but her shortcomings showed in subjects that needed application or reasoning.

Alice was good at every subject across the board.

She didn't have any subjects she was exceptionally good at or bad at. She was simply solid at all of them.

She was the model student, you could say.

"Ugh... I feel like I'm going to throw up."

Surprisingly, Caitlin's grades weren't bad either.

She wasn't at the very top like the other two, but she apparently always ranked in the upper-middle tier on written exams.

'Honestly, she doesn’t look like she'd be good at written exams...'

As expected of a tenacious bastard, she must have worked herself to death where nobody could see.

Her notebook was several times more worn-out than everyone else's.

Watching them focus on their studies, I smiled warmly.

Their studious appearance was both admirable and youthful.

"You're all amazing."

It was a casual compliment.

Instead, the girls looked at me with expressions like they couldn't breathe.

"Hmm! Sir Viktor is truly different from the rest."

"W-we're in no position to complain..."

"Preparing for exams is hard, but compared to Sir Viktor, it feels like nothing!"

"Right..."

I was making textbooks.

Custom-made textbooks for every single Class E student.

Dozens of reference books and specialized textbooks were stacked in front of me.

"It's nothing much. I do it because I enjoy it."

I answered as though it were no big deal.

It was an honest answer, without any pretense.

If I wanted, I could skip this exam entirely.

As a direct assistant, I was treated more like faculty than a student within the academy.

'Well... It's not like I have anything to lose by taking an exam.'

Since the entrance exam, I had never once lost the top spot on written exams.

I was confident I could score a perfect mark even if I took the exam right now.

The only reason I was taking it was to coach the other kids.

'I've got to complete the quest.'

Ding!

[Sub Quest]

-Details: Raise every Class E student to B-rank or higher.

-Quest Deadline: Before graduation

-Penalty for Failure: None

-Reward: Character-exclusive item, 'Black Tuner’s Scales (S-)'

[Progress: 46%]

It was a quest that had been ongoing since I first enrolled.

Raising the Class E students.

The progress kept climbing.

The kids worked hard to keep up, so raising them was rewarding too.

Humming to myself, I kept my pen scratching across the pages.

"Ahem."

"...The thing I find hardest to believe is that this bastard ranks first in written exams."

A heap of reference books lay piled up.

Caitlin glanced at me with a sickened expression.

"The most childish, immature-looking kid here is first in practical exams?"

"Reality can be harsh sometimes."

"Don't you have any intention of moving up a class? Why do you keep staying in Class E?"

"I have no intention of moving up. None. Just like my parents, none."

"You fucking bastard, stop emphasizing things like that."

"No... What's wrong with saying there's none when there's none?"

It wasn't like I could say there was when there wasn't.

I'm the kind of person who can't lie.

What? I lie all the time?

Ngme.

(It means Ranne & Grandia Academy: The Märchen.)

Ngme. Ngme. Ngme.

(RanranRanneranne&&&GranGranGrandiadiaa AcaAcaAcademymymy:::TheThe MärMärchenchenchen meansmeansmeans.)

Anyway.

We often held study sessions like that.

"It's nearly time for class. I'll be getting up now."

"I, I have a Class E group lesson too... I'll get going."

"Hmm! Good work today as well!"

"Go on. Shoo, shoo."

After wrapping up the meeting, we headed to our respective classrooms.

The Class E classroom felt more subdued than usual.

Or perhaps quiet would be the better word.

Everyone was seated and focused on preparing for their exams.

"Boss! You're here!"

"Your advice helped us a lot again!"

"Thank you as always! We'll repay you with even better results!"

Even so, the kids greeted me respectfully the moment I appeared.

I encouraged them with a few words, telling them to keep at it.

The classroom was peaceful.

'...There is one thing bothering me, though.'

Glance.

I looked toward the farthest corner of the classroom.

A blue-haired girl sat there.

'Rin Glacia.'

The former top student of Class A, a genius called the best of this generation.

She was the strange girl who had suddenly transferred into our Class E.

It felt as if a winter-like scent brushed against the tip of my nose.

'I have no idea what she's thinking.'

She was one of the few people whose thoughts I couldn't read.

Her inner world was unusual from the start, making her hard to understand.

I thought back on what Rin had said when she transferred into Class E.

"I want to be in Class E too."

"I won't interfere."

"If you want, I can lend you my strength."

"So let me stay in the same group as you."

It had been an incomprehensible declaration directed at me.

Still, unexpectedly enough, Rin seemed determined to keep every word she had said.

She kept such a low profile in the classroom that she was barely noticeable, without making any suspicious moves.

'Didn't she have some kind of objective...?'

The girl only stared at me quietly.

She didn't ignore the other Class E students, either.

Whenever the kids spoke to her, she seemed to try to answer them sincerely in her own way.

I had even seen her teaching someone swordsmanship before.

"You just do it."

"Yeah. I just reached out my hand, and it worked."

...Of course, I wasn't sure whether that had actually helped.

Geniuses couldn't understand the frustrations of ordinary people.

Blue eyes blinked.

'She's just sitting there again today.'

That was her usual vacant expression.

Her unfocused gaze.

Apparently, Rin was always like that whenever I wasn't in the classroom.

Then, once she spotted me, she would stare only at me until class ended...

'...What is she really thinking?'

For now, she behaved herself, so I hadn't done anything about her.

Like it or not, she was now a member of Class E.

I had no intention of kicking her out or pressuring her now.

'I just hope she gets along well with the other kids.'

With that thought, I entered the classroom.

Just as I was taking my seat...

"Is this it? The classroom where the first-year failures gather?"

A voice suddenly rang out.

Someone opened the Class E classroom door and stepped inside.

When I turned toward the sound, I saw a blue-haired man standing there.

He wore a neat uniform.

Blue hair and somber blue eyes.

He was a young man who looked remarkably like someone.

'Valteric Glacia.'

Rin's older brother.

He was also a faculty member at Grandia Academy.

One of the figures representing the Glacia family, a prestigious magical house.

He had suddenly entered the Class E classroom.

Step. Step.

The young man walked forward without hesitation.

He headed toward the corner seats, stopping in front of someone.

"Reject."

"..."

Naturally, that someone was Rin Glacia.

Valteric looked down at his younger sister.

Yet his gaze was nothing like a family member's warmth.

It was the look of someone unable to bear the filth and worthlessness of trash on the roadside.

"How dare trash like you stain the family name?"

"Brother..."

"I told you not to call me that."

"...My apologies, Sir Valteric."

It was merciless treatment.

Valteric didn't care about the eyes watching him.

To him, his younger sister was nothing more than a reject born with the Glacia name, yet incapable of using even a trace of magic.

"What are you doing among failures like these? You wished to be demoted to Class E? Has even the little intelligence you had left finally become warped? How dare you carry the Glacia name and do something like this?"

"..."

The atmosphere in the classroom turned ugly in an instant.

It seemed Valteric was deeply displeased by Rin's transfer to Class E.

Creak. Creak.

Seething cold covered the classroom, and white frost began to form over the desks, chairs, and floor.

The Class E students held their breath.

"Urgh..."

"The cold all of a sudden..."

The Class E students instinctively shrank under the pressure.

Of course, I couldn't just stand by and watch that happen.

"Oops."

A thick specialized textbook flew through the air.