WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 9: Sorting Out the Pecking Order

──────

Javert Droit.

Grandia Academy’s head professor.

The woman sat quietly, lost in thought.

“...”

Loose red hair.

Leaf-green eyes bloomed beneath it, though she made no move to brush the hair aside.

Gazing into the distance, Javert recalled recent events.

The subject of that memory was a certain boy.

‘Viktor.’

A smiling mask.

A boy who hid his face behind a grotesque mask.

‘He definitely... didn’t avoid my gaze.’

During the entrance ceremony, Javert had deliberately met Viktor’s eyes while lacing her stare with killing intent.

She wanted to see how he would react.

Yet instead of cowering in fear, the mask had simply stared back at her.

Its wide, torn grin had seemed to mock Javert.

‘He was calm.’

No, was that really enough to explain it?

An unpleasant pressure weighed on her.

A hollow breath escaped her lips as Javert recalled her assignment.

-Professor Javert. Starting this semester, we will assign you as Class E’s homeroom professor.

-Please keep an eye on student Viktor. If you find that he is connected to the Cult, or notice anything suspicious...

Viktor was certainly strange.

Despite how much he had made her skin crawl, she had sensed no Demonic Energy from him.

Nor had she sensed any trace of sorcery.

That was what made him even more suspicious.

‘If it wasn’t Demonic Energy or a curse... what was that feeling?’

As an investigator, Javert had executed hundreds of members of the Cult.

She had developed a strong resistance to energies such as Demonic Energy and curses.

But the aura Viktor gave off was different.

It was fundamentally unlike what she sensed from the Cult.

Even so, she could not easily cast aside her suspicions.

‘There are plenty of suspicious points.’

Every stat except his theory grade was E-rank.

And yet, he had shown overwhelming ability in the practical exam.

He walked around radiating an ominous aura of unknown origin.

Until a month ago, he had lived in the countryside, then suddenly applied for Grandia Academy’s entrance exam.

‘If he’s a commoner, and from the countryside at that, he couldn’t have received a proper education anywhere.’

Yet that boy had taken first place in the theory section.

With a perfect A+ score, no less.

Objectively speaking, it would have been harder not to be suspicious.

‘The problem is, there’s no proof...’

There was no physical evidence, only circumstantial evidence everywhere.

As the person in charge of the investigation, Javert found that troubling.

The woman pondered without changing her expression.

‘Should I test him for now?’

She checked the paper in her hand.

It was a chart listing the Class E students’ rankings.

Along with their rankings, each student’s stat grades were recorded as well.

There were exactly twenty-eight names. At the very top was the boy’s name.

‘Keeping him at the top instead of the bottom will make him easier to watch.’

It had been Javert herself who moved Viktor from last place to first.

She had placed him where she could keep a closer eye on him.

Of course, Javert had not acted alone.

The faculty meeting had approved it.

-Adjusting student Viktor’s rank...

-I think it’s fine. There’s also what he showed in the practical exam.

-This isn’t a grade skip. If we’re only changing his rank within the class...

The faculty seemed to accept it without much difficulty.

They might have felt differently if it had been another student, but they had all just rewatched the footage of Viktor’s practical exam together.

‘His original ranking, last place, was nonsense to begin with.’

The movements he had shown during the practical exam.

It had been teleportation, with no understandable principle or foundation.

Honestly, he would not have looked out of place even in Class A.

It was a mystery.

What was the foundation of Viktor’s abilities?

How could he perform like that with such a frail body?

‘Whatever he’s hiding behind that mask... I need to find out.’

Before she knew it, she had reached the classroom.

Without hesitation, the woman opened the door and entered.

“Nice to meet you, everyone.”

Waiting inside were the students of Class E.

Among them sat the boy in the mask.

Keeping a straight face, Javert calmly greeted them.

“I am Chief Investigator Javert. Starting today, I will be your homeroom professor.”

Even as she spoke in a lifeless voice, the woman kept her eyes fixed on Viktor.

Just then, the boy turned around and met her gaze.

That ominous mask remained the same.

It was smiling.

* * *

I found it hard to hide my confusion.

The red-haired woman stood before me, calmly introducing herself.

“I am Chief Investigator Javert. Starting today, I will be your homeroom professor.”

What?

What the hell?

It was confusing enough that my rank had suddenly been boosted.

Why had she suddenly appeared too?

‘Homeroom professor? Chief Investigator Javert...?’

Fuck.

I realized something was going seriously wrong.

‘Professor Rafael was the homeroom professor in the original story...’

The story had gone off course.

There could only be one reason.

The fate of every transmigration story, the butterfly effect.

The cause was me.

‘Was making too much of a spectacle in the practical exam what came back to bite me?’

I had been careless.

Things had been fine when I played the original game, so I’d assumed they would be fine this time too.

I had missed something important.

I could not treat reality with the same mindset I had used when playing a game.

The people in this world were not NPCs that followed a program.

They were people who could think for themselves, feel emotions, and draw conclusions.

‘So they can get suspicious too.’

Well, my report card must have made no sense to them.

What I’d done in the practical exam had come back like a boomerang.

“...”

“...”

My eyes met Javert’s for a moment.

A strange tension settled into the silence.

‘Javert...’

She was also a character who appeared in the original story once the player fulfilled a certain condition.

That condition was learning Black Magic.

From then on, Javert would monitor the player.

Among the faculty, she was especially prone to going ballistic over the Cult.

If the player pulled any bullshit with Black Magic, she would tear them apart on the spot.

‘...Am I under suspicion?’

Not directly, though.

I had not received a warning or a threat.

If she had already reached a firm conclusion, things would not have been allowed to drift along like this.

‘She isn’t certain.’

She was suspicious.

That was only natural.

There would be no way to prove that I wielded Demonic Energy.

‘How are they going to prove I use something when I don’t actually use it?’

I was innocent.

A student with no connection whatsoever to Demonic Energy.

The abilities I used were bugs. They had nothing to do with the Cult.

There was nothing to fear.

‘Tch, it’s still a pain in the ass.’

There was a concept called the devil’s proof.

Proving that the devil existed was easy.

You just had to show someone the devil.

But proving that the devil did not exist was impossible.

‘Proof of nonexistence... It’ll be hard for me to prove my innocence. Unless she drops her suspicions, I’ll keep being watched.’

Behind my calm mask, I thought it over.

I organized my thoughts and searched for a solution.

The butterfly effect.

I was not about to panic just because of a mere butterfly effect.

I had to accept the current situation and look ahead with a cool head.

‘...Huh?’

While I was racking my brain, an idea suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘No, wait...’

It was a truly brilliant idea.

I almost smacked my forehead on the spot.

‘Isn’t this actually a total win?’

Javert had been assigned to monitor me.

A way to put her to incredible use had just come to mind.

She might prove even more useful than the Mask of the Evil God and the Robe of the Evil God.

‘Is this what they call a blessing in disguise?’

A crisis was an opportunity.

The corners of my mouth were already shooting toward the sky.

Thankfully, the mask hid my expression.

‘I’ll put you to good use later, Professor.’

It was enough to make my mouth water.

There was nothing to fear.

They would not know that I had noticed their suspicions.

Instead, they would believe they were in control of the situation.

‘This is how you set the board.’

There was no need to shrink back just because I was under suspicion.

Acting unnaturally would only invite more suspicion.

I would be shameless about it.

I would act like an ordinary student.

‘Javert is strict about the rules she sets for herself.’

If someone violated those rules, she would not forgive them, even if that person was herself.

She was incredibly rigid, just like the character she had been based on.

In other words, all I had to do was walk the line of those rules.

Of course, it would still be better not to do anything that would make her dislike me.

Maintaining a good relationship with my homeroom professor would be best.

‘Anyway... this is a game I can only win.’

I confidently met Javert’s gaze.

I was seated in the very front, so only a few steps separated us.

I gave her a casual greeting.

“I look forward to working with you, Professor.”

“I look forward to working with you as well. It seems the top-ranked student happened to be sitting in the very front.”

Javert answered as if she knew nothing.

After getting the students’ attention, she continued with a simple introduction.

She covered the upcoming curriculum and various aspects of academy life.

I listened attentively, my eyes shining.

“Grandia Academy’s curriculum is demanding. First, the Freshman Welcome Test is scheduled for one week from now, and in fifteen days, the first midterm exam period will begin...”

I really could not get used to this.

I had heard of freshman welcome parties, but a Freshman Welcome Test was a whole new kind of nonsense.

I did not know who had come up with it, but it was a truly shitty name.

“That concludes the orientation.”

Javert finished her thirty-minute speech.

Then her green eyes suddenly settled on me.

“Then... student Viktor?”

“Yes, Professor Javert.”

“Before we finish, I would like to hear the aspirations of our top-ranked student. You are now in a position to lead the class, so please give your fellow students a brief introduction and share your thoughts.”

Top-ranked student.

At Grandia Academy, rankings were not just numbers.

They determined the hierarchy within a class. The top-ranked student effectively commanded the class.

Put simply, it was like being class president.

“Of course.”

Without hesitation, I stood up.

Then I strode to the podium.

I could feel hostile stares burning into my back.

They did not seem pleased.

‘As expected.’

It looked like my classmates did not think much of me.

They had probably checked my stats.

Besides the rankings, the entrance hall had listed every student’s stat grades.

-Is that him? The guy whose stats are all E-rank, but he still took first in our class?

-His name’s Viktor, so I guess it is. He looks frail as hell.

-Fuck, this is ridiculous... I got pushed below someone like that?

All E-rank stats.

Forget being first in the class, I looked like someone who should never have been admitted in the first place.

This might have been the lowest-ranked class, but they were all elites who had been called gifted from a young age.

That meant their pride and their abilities were not lacking.

-The scores are obviously rigged. Perfect scores in theory and practicals?

-Isn’t it obvious? There’s no explanation except that he got in through connections.

-Admissions corruption? That bastard’s fucking disgusting.

This was why I had aimed for last place from the beginning.

Then nobody would have said a thing.

-He doesn’t have any muscle definition. Looks like a body that’s never trained a day in its life.

-If I threw a punch at him, he’d probably piss himself in fear.

-Hey, keep it down. He might hear you.

-Fucking bastard. When should we stomp him?

The students whispered among themselves.

They acted like they were only talking to each other, but they wanted me to hear.

They deliberately raised their voices enough for me to catch it.

‘So damn sneaky.’

Well, it was not hard to understand.

A commoner from some backwater village.

All E-rank stats.

The sort of trash they normally would not even make eye contact with.

And that trash was the top-ranked student in their class?

‘How could they not throw a fit? They can’t help but put pressure on me.’

Their murmurs reached my ears.

I tapped the mask with my fingers.

With enemies all around me, I stood there with a smile as my shield.

‘Well... do I really need to react nicely?’

That thought suddenly came to me.

Come to think of it, this class was the same.

If a situation went beyond expectations, quickly adapting to the changed situation was also an ability.

That was survival.

‘The plan has already fallen apart.’

I had been pushed into the position of top-ranked student.

There would be no hiding in last place and living a life where I picked only what I wanted.

The point was to look ahead.

Instead of whining, think and move forward.

‘This is a good opportunity.’

Since I had taken this position, I might as well become the top-ranked student properly.

If I kept crawling around weakly, they would only mark me as a joke.

Academy life would become tiring if people looked down on me.

I needed to show enough presence that my classmates could not touch me.

“Hello, everyone. My name is Viktor, and I have the honor of meeting you as the top-ranked student in our class.”

If staying quiet was impossible, I would become the loudest one here.

So no one could raise their voice at me.

I met the eyes of the classmates who had been whispering since earlier.

“You there.”

I covered my mask with one hand.

I tapped the screen of my status window a few times.

Ding!

[Set Effect Active]

-Mask of the Evil God ×1

-Robe of the Evil God ×1

[Would you like to increase the intensity of the granted ‘Intimidation’ effect to its maximum?]

My breathing settled coldly.

I lightly clicked YES.

“Instead of whispering behind my back like cowards, why don’t you come say it to my face?”

I smiled brightly.

The innocent expression and crude words created a jarring contrast.

The next moment, [Intimidation] activated across the entire class.

Thuuuum.

Pressure seemed to bear down on their shoulders.

Pupils widened. Faces drained of color.

“I can beat the shit out of you, after all.”

““...””

Since things had come to this.

I would make sure to claim the top spot in this class.

Footnotes:

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