A Failed Knight Who Went to the Academy To Get Married

023 A Pharmacy for Someone

Trainne Dormitory Room.

Five male students were huddled closely together on the cramped floor, heads touching.

“It’s too small, I don’t think we can fit everything…”

“Just try to make it work with some perseverance…”

“Argh! The writing’s smudged! I have to write it again…”

Then Cat, sitting on the bed, chin propped on his hands, muttered.

“Knight School guys making a cheat sheet, huh.”

Muscle, standing beside him with his arms crossed, retorted.

“There were circumstances, so it couldn’t be helped.”

Only one week was left until the exams after returning from the Romer Empire.

It was such a precarious situation that without resorting to cheating,

the boys had conspired to commit such an act.

Train turned to Cat and asked.

“Is it really true that only I can see this paper?”

“If you’re curious, why don’t you pass it around to the person next to you?”

Prince Shiran then took Traein’s note without permission and examined it.

“Hmph. Impressive.”

Following that, the other male students started exchanging notes among themselves.

“Wow! Someone else’s note just looks like a blank sheet!”

“With this, I think I can do it!”

“It’s definitely the righteous outlaw Cat!”

For your information, Cat and Muscle decided to live together in Traein’s room for a while.

Originally, servants are forbidden from entering the academy.

But Traein is a newly ennobled noble without even a domain, let alone a house.

He had to go through some trouble to get permission for the two to stay with him.

Anyway, the boys were busily writing on their slips of paper when…

Suddenly, Elizabeth burst into Traein’s room.

The boys hurriedly hid their notes,

but Elizabeth noticed and suspiciously looked around.

“What’s with this atmosphere? Come clean with what you’re hiding, and do it fast.”

Then Cat spoke up without hesitation.

“They made cheat sheets.”

At that, the students erupted.

“Damn it, Cat!”

“How could you snitch on us like that!”

“That’s so low of you!”

Lizbeth punched the door, and it cracked.

“Hand them all over, you disgraces of the Knight Academy.”

The boys, cowed, handed over their cheat sheets, and Lizbeth tore them up on the spot.

“From now on, I’ll be personally supervising your studies.”

While the boys wailed in unison, Train muttered to Cat under his breath.

“Betraying us so lowly?”

“It’s all for the master, you fool.”

“To throw away the brotherhood between men like this, you’ve gone too far.”

With a sudden burst of energy, Cat stood up and delivered a powerful kick to Train’s lower half.

“I’m a woman, you dimwitted master!”

Writhing in pain on the floor, Train soon glared at Cat with resentment and asked,

“You’re a woman

“I’m twenty-two.”

“…What?!”

“Just so you know, Muscle is 110 years old.”

At that, everyone wore a dumbfounded expression.

It was shocking enough that Cat was a woman,

But they had always thought the two were of a similar age.

Even though it’s said that other species have different concepts of age, this was unexpected.

Lisbeth cleared her throat and said,

“Anyway, I’ll be straightening out everyone’s lax spirits from now on, so brace yourselves.”

While the students resumed their clamor,

Lisbeth stared intently at Train.

“Especially you, Train. You have to be the top student in the entire school.”

“…Right.”

The truth was, he had no intention of becoming the top student.

He’d rather not be a pawn in Princess Shia’s hands.

Just enough to not stand out was all the score I needed.

And so, I began to secretly hatch a plan to botch the exam.

***

A week later, the day after the final exams ended.

Instructor Eloi roughly set down the test papers on the podium with a smile.

“Congratulations! The Knight’s Department is in first place.”

The students, especially the boys, cheered in unison.

“Awesome!”

“Mom, I did it!”

“Now I can die without regrets…”

In some ways, the reaction was more intense than when Princess Shia was rescued.

The Spartan study sessions led by Lizbeth that lasted until 3 AM every day.

Those hellish days had finally come to an end.

“I’m proud of you all for finishing strong. As promised, there will be absolutely no homework during the vacation!”

The students cheered even louder.

Moreover, as expected of the class president, you’ve splendidly secured the top rank in the whole school.”

Train jolted up in surprise.

“That can’t be right!”

Instructor Eloi shrugged his shoulders and replied.

“It seems the other instructors took pity on you because of the broken engagement and gave you generous scores.”

“But, is that even allowed? Besides, I roughly answered some of the history and magic theory questions.”

Clearing his throat, Instructor Eloi began to read Train’s exam paper without permission.

Q. Describe why the Kingdom of Altoria and the Romer Empire are still in a cold war state.

A. Because the royal families of both nations have nasty personalities.

“That’s clearly a failing answer!”

“Such a spirited response is unprecedented, so they gave it full marks.”

Q. Discuss the most efficient method to disable a magical barrier.

A. Smash it with a sword.

“That answer really shouldn’t make any sense!”

“Well, you do have a record of actually smashing Benheim’s barrier, so they must have given you full marks for that.”

Traine collapsed, clutching his head in despair.

To think that the questions he deliberately answered wrong to manipulate the score turned out perfect.

In the end, his cunning had completely backfired.

Amidst this, Prince Sirian muttered under his breath as he glared at Traine from the side.

“Talking bad about the royal family’s character? You’re going to tell Shia?”

“Do as you like.”

For the record, Prince Sirian didn’t believe Princess Shia’s declaration of annulment.

It seemed Princess Shia still harbored feelings for Traine.

Surely, it must be a temporary deception to avoid political issues.

Or perhaps that damned king had threatened her.

Instead, it was Traine’s behavior that was under suspicion of being odd.

Instructor Eloi, setting down the test papers, announced,

“Starting tomorrow, you’ll have a month-long break, so enjoy yourselves. And be careful not to do anything too foolish as knights-in-training.”

“Yes.”

“And as you all know, in five days, there will be a celebration at the palace for Princess Shia’s recovery.”

Instructor Eloi pulled out a bundle of letters from his pocket and flashed a sly smile.

“The princess has sent invitations to all of you personally.”

At that, the students began to cheer once again.

Only Train wore a somewhat complex expression when,

A familiar female voice echoed in his head.

‘What will you do?’

‘If you don’t keep your distance from Princess Shia, you’ll be increasingly swayed, won’t you?’

‘You have to save Lady Yuril, don’t you?’

Train whispered back to the voice of the magical tome Hwaran nestled in his bosom.

“It’s been a long time since you’ve spoken to me.”

‘It was my consideration not to disturb your studies.’

‘Do you even know how bored I’ve been?’

“For someone so bored, you sure snore loudly and sleep all day.”

‘Be quiet.’

‘Anyway, stop beating around the bush.’

“What are you going to do now?”

“What can I do? If I blatantly run away from Princess Sia, who knows what she might do.”

“Could it be that you’ve actually fallen for Princess Sia?”

At those words, Train’s heart began to race violently.

The confession from that night resurfaced.

– I love you. So be prepared for what’s to come.

Train shook his head vigorously in denial.

“Don’t worry. For now, I’m devising a plan to get on Princess Sia’s bad side.”

“That makes me even more worried.”

Just then,

Muscle suddenly entered the classroom, carrying a battered Cat in his arms.

The students stopped teasing Train all at once and turned to look at Cat.

Train asked in surprise,

“What happened?”

“Well, Cat got into a scuffle with a clerk at the Quetz pharmacy.”

Cat stomped her feet in frustration and exclaimed,

“That jerk called our master a loser who’s good for nothing but handing out leftovers!”

With a stern face, Jeez headed towards the classroom door and said,

“Guys, let’s go.”

Train asked Jeez,

“What? Where to all of a sudden?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Anyone who insults our hero class president is an enemy to us all.”

Hearing this, the other boys all stood up and followed Jeez.

Even Prince Shiran.

While the girls looked on with disdain, Train shouted,

“Calm down! Try to stop him, Instructor!”

Instructor Eloi scratched his ear and said,

“What was that? My hearing isn’t what it used to be.”

***

Quartz Pharmacy was an old apothecary located in the village in front of the Academy.

The academy had mostly procured its herbs from here.

Originally, it was a shop run by an elderly couple, but it had been closed for a few weeks after they retired recently.

The male students who arrived in front of Quartz Pharmacy began loosening their shoulders en masse, like gangsters.

Traine, having given up on stopping them, sighed and said,

“Guys, please, tone it down a bit.”

Then Jeez shouted,

“Everyone heard that, right? The class president says it’s time to show them what we’re made of!”

Led by Jeez, the students swarmed into the pharmacy.

These guys were clearly just teasing Traine.

Perhaps it was the stress built up from studying for exams.

I thought it would be nothing serious and was about to leave them be when—

A needlessly loud commotion came from inside the store.

“What on earth are those kids doing…”

Just as Traine was about to enter the store—

“Argh!”

Jeez was suddenly thrown out of the store.

Startled, Train rushed over to Jeez and asked,

“What’s going on! What happened!”

“That clerk… incredibly strong…”

When Train looked inside the pharmacy,

For some reason, all the other male students were also down.

And amidst those fallen male students stood a young female clerk.

A white headscarf over her black hair, and an apron,

Her face seemed strong for her small frame.

She was quite pretty, but there was something off-putting about her.

While Train was still dazed, the clerk glared at him and said,

“Are you a customer, or are you a thug like these guys?”

Train took a deep breath and forced a smile before replying,

“I’m sorry. It seems my friends got a bit carried away.”

“Then, would you mind helping me clean up?”

Traine helped Prince Shiran to his feet.

“Are you okay?”

“Tch, that guy’s definitely stronger than a manticore.”

Traine swallowed dryly.

From noble mtl dot come

It’s an exaggeration to say he’s stronger than a magical beast, but…

“Don’t come back here again.”

The clerk grabbed both male students at once and flung them out.

At first glance, despite appearances, his strength seemed truly monstrous.

After sending Prince Shiran outside, Traine said to the clerk,

“I’m really sorry for all this.”

The clerk crossed his arms and sneered.

“Your underling gets beaten, and you bring a mob. What are you, a gang leader now, ‘hero’?”

“It’s a misunderstanding! I definitely didn’t order this!”

“Even your excuses are pathetic. So much for rescuing a princess only to get dumped.”

Traine took a deep breath and asked again, more cautiously.

“Do you dislike me by any chance?”

“If you have no business here, please leave.”

“Then, as a token of my apology, could I possibly buy just ten mana potions?”

Train is no longer a pauper.

Ever since he was forcibly made a baron, he’s been receiving 10 gold every month.

He didn’t have much use for it right away,

and he wanted to reconcile with this clerk if possible.

“It’s 3 gold per bottle.”

“What? That expensive? They sell it for 1 gold at the academy.”

The clerk stared at Train’s face for a moment before speaking.

“Relying on potions will gradually ruin your body.”

“I know, but my magical power is so critically low that sometimes I need to-“

“It seems you have a particularly severe disability in your magical power, so it’s not good to overuse it.”

The clerk took out a small wooden box from the shelf and handed it to Train.

“Instead, I’ll give you this. It’s tea leaves that help with the natural recovery of magical power.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“There’s also an awakening effect, so please don’t overuse it.”

“How much is it?”

“Thirty silver coins.”

Train scratched his head once and then took out his wallet from his pocket.

One gold coin for a hundred silver coins, that is, one-tenth the price of a magic potion.

Selling a cheaper product while worrying about Train’s body to this extent.

Was it possible that they didn’t dislike Train that much after all?

As Train handed over the coins to the clerk, the door to the store opened and a customer came in.

“Just one mana potion, please.”

“Fifty silver coins.”

Train stood dumbfounded until the customer exchanged the coins for the potion and left the store.

Fifty silver coins meant half a gold coin.

In other words, a price six times lower than what was offered to Train.

It seemed they really did detest Train terribly.

The clerk, standing there dumbfounded, snapped at Train.

“If you’re not buying anything else, get out.”

“Yes, no…”

“Don’t you ever come back.”

With that, the clerk shoved Train out the door.

Then, with a bang, the door slammed shut.