I Became the Youngest Disciple of the Martial God

Chapter 145

Hector’s advice aboard the carriage faintly crossed my mind.

—I would personally recommend aiming for the third prince. I’ve heard that the fourth princess, Ferith, doesn't enjoy socializing.

It was... the opposite of something to brag about, but I was not very good at remembering people’s names. Once a name exceeded five letters, I started to get confused.

I was never really sure why. Maybe it was just the way I was born?

In my defense, Glenn’s name wasn’t the easiest to remember. It was too plain a name for a prince.

Hmm...

But it wasn’t just Hector. I was sure I remembered the name from somewhere else.

I thought hard for a moment—and thankfully, I quickly figured it out.

[5th Place: Glenn Scarlet - 81 Points.]

I’d seen his name etched into the rankings of the Tower of Trials, probably in the Room of Reflex.

If he ranked fifth among all the climbers, he must have been pretty good.

Then what was the behavior he’d shown on the train? Was he actually timid despite his ability, or was he just playing coy?

If it was the former, that’d be a relief, but if it was the latter...

“...I’m not going to have my head chopped off for treason or something, am I?”

“Did you do something wrong?”

“Not really, but I might’ve spoken to him a bit informally.”

“Students of Kartell Academy are essentially considered equals.”

“Phew...”

“Though that doesn’t mean anyone would be crazy enough to just casually speak informally to royalty.”

I frowned and pinched the bridge of my nose. Damnit.

Sellen looked at me and smiled. It seemed she found this situation amusing.

“You don’t need to worry too much. You saw Prince Glenn yourself, right? He’s not the type to throw around his authority.”

“Mhm...”

“Actually, this is perfect. Why don’t you keep an eye on the prince for me?”

“Keep an eye on him?”

“It’s nothing serious, just... observe his movements.”

I couldn’t believe what she was saying. “You’re asking me to spy on a member of the royal family?”

“You said you’d help.” Sellen shot me a sideways glance. “And I’m not asking you to go as far as spying. Just... stay close and observe him, that’s all.”

“Most people call that spying, Sellen.”

“...”

“All right, fine. What exactly is it that I should be doing?”

“...There’s nothing specific. Just act like you normally would. If you can get closer to him, all the better. And if anything strange happens, tell me.”

Strange thing...

I had a feeling that might not be as easy as it sounded.

“From what I saw of Glenn...”

“Prince.”

“...Prince Glenn, he’s already pretty strange,” I said, looking at Sellen. “Let me get this straight. A strange guy doing something strange isn’t technically strange since he was strange to start, so should I report when he does something normal? Or should I just report every single strange thing he does?”

“...You figure it out,” Sellen said coldly like the frosty person she was. After a moment, a hint of desperation crept into her expression. “Help me out, please, yeah? I have to take the same classes as Princess Ferith. I only have one body; I can’t spy on both of them at the same time.”

Even she called it spying!

But at least I finally understood why she needed my help.

“Then do you happen to know which class Prince Glenn is taking?”

“Of course, I looked into it in advance. He’s taking historical geography.”

Oh, what a perfect coincidence.

Thinking about it, Glenn had seemed to know quite a bit about the historical geography class.

Hm.

I pretended to think hard about it because I found Sellen’s reaction amusing... but in actuality, befriending Glenn wouldn’t be bad for me either.

After all, if I wanted to enter the Nameless King’s tomb, I needed a connection with the imperial family.

Aside from that, though, I was also a bit bothered about whatever secrets Glenn was keeping.

Surely the royal family aren’t members of the cult...

If by chance they were, the empire was truly doomed.

That would be a much bigger deal than Juan’s status as a high priest or even the possibility that Headmaster Alderson had been a cultist.

In this country, the imperial family didn’t just represent the pinnacle of power. They also had the symbolism and the legitimacy that came from inheriting the “Red Soul” of the Five Kings.

Even if the third prince had low political standing, that didn’t undo his symbolic significance.

“All right. I’ll do it, at least for now.”

Sellen breathed a sigh of relief and stepped back.

As if they’d been waiting, the other young heroes crowded around me.

“What was that? What were you guys talking about?”

“We were just talking about classes. She said she’d kill anyone who takes the same subject as her.”

Sellen glared at me for suddenly turning her into someone who’d threaten murder so easily, but I pretended not to notice.

“That aside, how was the welcoming party last night?”

“Oh, it was amazing. The meat practically melted in my mouth. And the band’s singer was absolutely beautiful—”

I tuned out Karis’s rant and looked around.

I’d thought everyone was here, but when I looked again, a few were missing.

“I don’t see Hector or Evan.”

“Huh? I thought Sir Hector was with you.”

“Me?”

“You two are sharing a room.”

Evidently, my mysterious roommate was Hector.

I shook my head and said, “No one came to the room last night.”

“Really? He said he was tired and left a bit early.”

“Mm.”

He was right. No matter how timid he was, a prince was still a prince.

No one would dare to mess with him. It’d take an idiot whose ego was bigger than their brainless head.

Before long, we arrived at the Theory building and entered room 108.

“...”

As soon as the door opened, my expression scrunched up involuntarily.

For a moment, I thought I had walked into a Southern tavern.

The foul stench of alcohol clouded the room, and the air was thick with the pungent smoke of countless cigarettes.

Were they not even bothering to ventilate?

Even with my sight restricted by the foggy condition, I could see that the room was structured with tiered seating, and at the very top, about a dozen students were seated.

Judging by their faces, decaying from all the alcohol and cigarettes, I assumed they were the so-called “intimidating upperclassmen” Glenn had mentioned.

As I was staring at them, they looked over and smirked.

“Cough, cough...”

Even though Glenn was coughing from the smoke, they didn’t bother to open a window.

Crazy bastards.

No matter how timid Glenn was, he was still royalty. I seriously could not understand their behavior. How had they even gotten accepted to Kartell?

What was even more surprising was that Glenn didn’t say or do anything. He just sat at the front of the class and hunched over.

Everyone here was officially out of their minds.

To me, the upperclassmen were crazy, Glenn was crazy, and even Professor Alec, who was letting this happen, was crazy.

But I wasn’t crazy, so I did what any normal person would do.

I went to the window and flung it wide open.

“Oh...!”

Glenn looked at me, wide eyed and mouth agape.

The stench and the thick smoke were finally able to escape.

Much better.

“...”

I turned around. The moment I saw a large guy sitting at the top shooting me a glare, I felt a desire to whip out my best buddies “Etiquette” and “Decorum” and give them a nice greeting.

However...

Class would start soon, so I shouldn’t turn this place into a bloodbath.

Today was my first day too, so after summoning the superhuman force of will needed to crush that desire, I plopped down next to Glenn.

“Luan...”

“What.”

“Um... never mind. Do you... want to borrow my notebook?”

“Thanks.”

Evidently Glenn just had an extra notebook and pencil. I took them just in case there was anything worth noting down.

But...

“...Hm.”

I glanced at the clock. It was currently 9:10 AM.

Class should have started ten minutes ago, yet the professor was still nowhere to be found.

We waited a little longer in case he’d been stalled by something, but...

Nobody entered the room even after 30 minutes.

“Is he always this late?”

“H-he’s unusually late today.”

Meaning he comes late often.

I’d known things wouldn’t be easy... but it felt like I was already off to a rough start.

I sighed and placed my elbow on the table, resting my face on my palm.

“Erm...”

Glenn’s complexion did not look good. I had noticed him squirming in his seat for a while now, so... “Need to go use the restroom?” I asked.

“N-no...”

“Go.”

“Um, but...” Glenn’s gaze darted back for a quick second.

Was he worried about leaving me alone in the same space as those guys?

I’m not a kid who needs to be taken care of.

Or maybe I looked surprisingly weak or something?

“I’ll be fine, really. Besides, the professor should be here soon, right?”

“...I guess so.”

After hesitating for a moment, Glenn rose from his seat.

“Th-then, I’ll be right back.”

By how he dashed away, he must have been holding it in for a while.

I waved goodbye to his retreating figure, and then...

Screech.

As soon as Glenn was gone, I heard the sound of chairs scraping and noticed a number of bodies approaching me.

“Aren’t you a new face?” the biggest guy said as he leaned in closely. He resembled a bear.

That’s one ugly-ass face.

“You look like a freshman... am I right?”

I nodded my head. “Probably.” Even though I was a transfer student, we were probably all considered freshmen, right?

“‘Probably?’”

The ugly-ass bear burst into laughter.

But it didn’t last long. In a flash, his smile vanished and he glared at me. “You, white-haired twerp, which family are you from?”

“...”

※The coming chapter contains disturbing scenes that might surprise readers, so please keep that in mind. Enjoy reading!