-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Glecia's Thoughts
***
People felt unfamiliar.
If interacting with people felt unfamiliar, then naturally, forming relationships with them would also feel unaccustomed.
It was through frequent conversations and regular meetings with others that one gradually became accustomed to social interactions. But if approaching people felt unfamiliar, that premise itself wouldn't even be established.
And the more introverted a person was, the more limited the people they sought out became.
Someone relatively familiar to them. Someone with whom they could already speak openly and converse without much worry.
And now, Glecia was the same.
She knew no one at the academy.
In fact, even outside the academy, she didn't usually meet people often.
She was accustomed to being alone and also found it comfortable.
Her hobbies, even before her trait was revealed, were primarily reading, indicating a preference for quiet spaces.
Watching people gather in small groups and move about after the entrance ceremony,
"...."
Glecia felt a little dazed.
'How do they all get close so quickly?'
In the past, her older sister had told her to get along well with all sorts of people. But that was easier said than done.
Approaching someone herself, or responding when someone approached her and spoke, both felt somewhat unfamiliar.
Just seeing so many people like this made her feel uneasy.
'Being with a lot of people is definitely uncomfortable.'
So her gaze naturally drifted to the distance.
Towards the C-Class, quite a distance from the A-Class where she was currently.
The person who had been with her, hadn't found her demeanor awkward, and had responded confidently and calmly.
—Han Cheonsung.
Looking towards the C-Class, she easily found him; his appearance certainly stood out.
His black hair and black eyes were distinctive compared to others, making him easy to spot.
She had only met him a few days ago, and an unusual relationship, one where she was to understand him, had been established.
Even while conversing, she felt more comfortable than she had expected.
Even if she remained silent and didn't say much, Han Cheonsung hadn't seemed awkward and had calmly accepted it.
She could once again feel that he was different from other people.
Of course.
If she looked at the man currently clinging to her, she couldn't help but feel that way.
"...Glecia. The entrance ceremony was quite boring, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
She replied curtly, giving him a glance.
What first caught her eye was the A-Class student uniform, the same as hers, along with bright blonde hair and distinct, handsome features.
—Leonhardt Lorient.
He had often spoken to her throughout the entrance ceremony.
With her Legendary Trait, she already knew this man's name. And upon actually meeting him, she could certainly feel an unusual extraordinariness.
However, strangely, the more they conversed, the more she felt he didn't live up to her expectations.
He clearly had a Legendary Trait and an unusual aura, yet...
'Did I expect too much?'
She thought to herself, her gaze still on him.
"Glecia, if you don't mind, would you like to look around the academy together? It's our first day, so I thought it would be good to explore it together."
And his current gentle, friendly demeanor towards her felt especially peculiar.
His trait and excellent looks—everything about him was far from ordinary, yet there was a feeling she couldn't quite put into words.
His voice was clearly filled with confidence, and his light blue eyes, as they gazed at her, even showed self-assurance.
"..."
As she silently met his gaze, his confidence felt too natural.
This man was confident.
However, for some strange reason, it reminded her of the man, Han Cheonsung.
Leonhardt and Han Cheonsung, both men, were confident.
But the nature of their confidence was vastly different.
Leonhardt now possessed conviction in himself, and even a sense of pride.
Perhaps it was natural.
He had a Legendary Trait, coupled with exceptionally striking looks. Even now, the gazes of other female students around them clearly showed that everyone felt a liking for him.
And Leonhardt, too, seemed to take it for granted.
No, he couldn't help but be proud. Because everyone saw him that way.
'I see.'
She unconsciously realized.
Why, despite seeing Leonhardt, a man whose every outward appearance was extraordinary and special, she felt no particular impression, no feeling at all.
The reason was simple.
'It's too obvious.'
Leonhardt's actions and demeanor had a 'reason' that made them only natural.
He had confidence, and solid grounds for that confidence were fully present in this man. To the extent that she could understand why he displayed such a confident attitude even towards her now.
Yes. For her, Leonhardt was too easy to understand.
That's why, on the contrary, she felt no interest.
"...Glecia?"
As she continued to meet his gaze in silence, he asked, sounding a little awkward.
At that, what little interest she had felt completely vanished.
This man was simply acting as was expected and natural.
That was, more than anything, different from the various questions she felt when looking at Han Cheonsung.
"Sorry."
She gave a curt reply.
"Ahaha. No, it's fine. Nothing to be sorry about. I was just a bit sudden, that's all. I understand why you'd respond that way, Glecia."
Gazing at Leonhardt, who responded smoothly, she simply continued walking.
Following the crowd that was leaving, one by one, towards the exit.
Swish.
Lightly passing Leonhardt, who seemed a little surprised, she felt no reason to speak to him.
If she felt no interest even seeing him this close, then that was simply the end of it.
'Compared to my sister, this man is ordinary...'
Although Leonhardt's trait was Legendary, just like her sister's, it was simply 'the same.' Even with traits of the same rank, people are divided in countless ways within that.
For her to reach the same level as her sister, she didn't feel this man was particularly necessary.
"..."
So she found herself watching Han Cheonsung, walking in the distance.
He already seemed to have befriended someone, laughing and conversing, and her direction naturally shifted from the exit towards where Han Cheonsung was.
A man with a lowly Common rank. Yet so different.
And the man who had casually uttered words that she couldn't understand.
A few days ago, she had felt such a unique quality from that man, to the extent that she sensed her sister's shadow in him. She now had a reason to understand that man.
Swish.
Swish...
As she tried to catch up to Han Cheonsung, her pace naturally quickened.
***
Swish.
Matching his pace with Glecia, who had given him the absurd answer of 'Just because,' they naturally began looking around the academy.
Since he and she wore different student uniforms, they stood out to people. But they still needed to explore the academy.
Lectures would begin tomorrow, and they couldn't just not know where the classrooms were.
Thud.
As he first stepped into the C1 Class classroom, he was more surprised than anything by the sheer scale of the room.
'It's even bigger than a university lecture hall?'
The classrooms within Grand Royal Academy were much larger than the university lecture halls he had attended in his original world.
Inside the classroom, there seemed to be various tools of unknown purpose, as well as equipment necessary for classes. It was all simply fascinating.
"Even for C-Class, the classroom is really spacious."
"It is."
He glanced at Glecia, who echoed his words, and slowly looked around the classroom.
Although he saw some students wearing the same uniform as him inside the classroom, he felt like it was only now sinking in.
This was the place where he would spend a lot of time in the future. Looking at this classroom, his heart swelled with excitement.
'It's only now... that I'm truly beginning.'
Having been dropped into this world without knowing why, nearly three months had already passed.
It truly felt like he was only just beginning now.
His true life in this world called Grand Royal Academy...
"..."
Lost in those thoughts, feeling a little excited, he noticed people's attention slowly focusing on them.
As the frequency of furtive glances increased, he couldn't help but become aware.
And primarily, the target of those gazes wasn't him.
It was the gazes pouring towards Glecia, right beside him.
'These curious gazes will completely change once the grades come out...'
For now, they had only been assigned to classes. People were giving them curious glances, but he knew those gazes would soon turn into envy, jealousy, and awe.
—The Class Difference.
As time passed, the moment they experienced the unbridgeable gap in traits and received preferential treatment, it would very naturally escalate into conflict between the classes.
Grand Royal Academy was more cutthroat than he had imagined.
Grades weren't classified by class performance.
Instead, the classes, categorized from S to D, were evaluated as a whole, and the results were starkly displayed.
In other words, quarterly grades were released as 'overall rankings.'
Students would be evaluated each time on their standing among the nearly one thousand students in this batch.
"..."
Thinking about that, his excited feelings seemed to calm down a little.
Glecia, however, calmly surveyed the interior despite receiving their gazes. He knew just how much she would be among the top ranks.
In truth, it wasn't something he could consider someone else's problem.
How his first grades would turn out... he had to worry about that too.
"Glecia. I think we've seen all there is to see in the C-Class classroom. Shall we go to the A-Class one?"
He said, bothered by the various gazes, and Glecia nodded.
Swish.
She turned first and headed out of the classroom, and as he matched her pace, he steeled himself.
—A-Class.
And specifically, A1 Class.
Just as the C1 Class students had looked around their C1 Class classroom, the A-Class students would be no different.
Then... he would naturally encounter them.
Students with all sorts of monstrous traits, including Leonhardt, the protagonist of this world.
'Don't be intimidated.'
Even as he walked, he hardened his resolve.
That the moment he lost confidence in himself, everything would be over.