Chapter 11 (1/2)

Smack! Smack!

A light flashed in his eyes. A well placed blow landed deep in the sides, making it difficult to breathe.

“We’d better stop now. Or we’re going to be late.”

“Che, f.u.c.king lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

“He was born lucky.”

“Is he? I guess it is a miracle that such a dips.h.i.+t of a n.o.ble managed to squirm himself into the Campus.”

“We’re quite lucky too. Where else could we beat up a n.o.ble like this?”

“You call that a n.o.ble? I heard his s.l.u.t of a mother made that thing to climb out of her job as a pub wh.o.r.e.”

The group disappeared, continuing to chat amongst each other. Isaac turned over to see the sky. As he watched the dotted clouds leisurely move across the blue sky, Isaac muttered to himself.

“Ah, f.u.c.king h.e.l.l.”

The past year of peace had gotten to him. He enjoyed the boring and uneventful days. He loved to ponder about what he should do to pa.s.s his time. He relished in taking his time on the cafeteria menu.

“Oi, are you alive?”

“You said you’d watch my back.”

“Ahaha. Kids these days are quite scary, you know.”

Mazelan helped Isaac get up on his feet apologetically. When a new wave of students came with the start of another year, Isaac found out why n.o.body had bothered him until now. One reason was because Mazelan was always with him, but the real reason was because no student had the courage to attack a student who had received special treatment from the Duke Corduroy himself.

As the Campus was isolated from the outside word, there was no way anyone could receive news from the outside unless it was an emergency, and that included Isaac’s past. But new faces came with new information, and the freshmen of the Campus had revealed Isaac’s situation at home.

Violence between students is punished. But Isaac was not a.s.sociated with any of the schools. So Isaac was not protected by the rules.

Man I feel like s.h.i.+t. Let’s s.h.i.+t on Isaac.

Shouldn’t we be careful? I heard his brother is in the College.

The word is they treat him like he doesn’t even exist. In fact, they are instigating it in secret.

Really? Then let’s go. Haha hoho!

At first it was petty hara.s.sments like a shove here and there, but after 6 months without repercussion, Isaac had turned into the Campus’ punching bag.

Isaac had considered murder in retaliation, but that was not even an option. When an act of violence is found out, expulsion is the final and immediate action. When Isaac, who isn’t in a school attacks another student who is enrolled in a school, the act of violence checks out. But when other students. .h.i.t Isaac, no matter how bad it is, the act does not go through. It was extremely unfair treatment, but they didn’t tell him to survive without a reason.

With the continued bullying, Joon-young’s frenzy which had been calmed by the peaceful days had begun to resurface.

“At this rate, I think I’ll starve to death before anything else.”

He had been using the student’s cafeteria but the hara.s.sment also happened during his meals. Students would ruin his meals by flipping his plate and the cafeteria would refuse to refund it or give him a new plate when it happened.

“The students can’t enter the port, so don’t go around too much and stay there. There’s a kitchen in your residence, so you can cook there as well.”

“No. I can’t stand being like this.”

“Hm? Then what are you going to do? I’m sorry, but I’ll be graduating soon, so I can’t visit you much more.”

“Have you heard this phrase? Men rule the world, but women rule over men.”

“… You? Seduce someone? With your status? The girls in Campus have really high standards you know.”

Mazelan truly was brusque with his words.

“You want me to get you a perfume?”

Gonzales was confused at such a sudden and unexpected request.

“Yes. You should be able to buy a bottle with this ring.”

The only thing Isaac had in possession was his mother’s ring. It was his mother’s wedding ring that had been given to Isaac when his mother died. The ring was well-crafted with a small gem imbedded in it. As long as Gonzales didn’t get scammed, he should be able to buy what Isaac requested.

“Getting it isn’t the problem but…”

Gonzales finished his question with a stare. What is he planning with a perfume for girls?

“I need to survive too.”

Gonzales’ confusion deepened with that answer. What has perfume got to do with survival?

“I’ve been telling you this whole time. Just join me on the s.h.i.+p. Don’t look down on the sailor’s loyalty.”

“Thank you for your words, but I have my own dreams too.”

“Administrator in a small city?”

“A petty dream right?”

Gonzales shook his head. He could never beat Isaac in an argument.

“But this ring’s going to sell for quite a bit. Do you need anything other than the perfume?”

“You’d be struggling to buy a perfume if you meet the wrong merchant on the streets. I think you should ask your daughter for this.”

When would a sailor ever buy a perfume? From a sailor’s point of view, the price of that small bottle of fragrance was equal to a great night out in the pubs.

“Hm. I guess I can ask her for that. Well, I’ll give it to you on the next trip.”

“Thank you.”

“No need for thanks.”

Gonzales took on Isaac’s request without a problem.

“Now it begins.”

Isaac muttered to himself as he watched the supply s.h.i.+p sail away. The Campus, which is isolated from the outside world, needed some sort of resupply in order to preserve itself. Isaac chose Gonzales as his supplier.

The way Gonzales treated Isaac was one thing, but the biggest reason was his current financial status. He was an officer of the Empire’s navy back in the day, but he invested his entire savings to open a small inn next to the port. Sadly, without anything to stand out from the rest along with the compet.i.tion from existing inns, Gonzales’ inn suffered quite the financial crisis.

They did make a little earning thanks to Gonzales’ connections, but he was the father of two daughters and two sons. As they grew up watching other children enter the Campus, they naturally grew up wanting to go to the Campus themselves. When a commoner wishes to join the Campus, they first needed to register to a private school to prove their talent. This meant he had much to pay for, but little to earn it with.

Gonzales had no choice but to work as a sailor again while leaving the inn to his wife. He managed to become a deckhand of the supply s.h.i.+p using his connections as the Empire’s naval officer, but it was not enough to feed 4 children. He was the perfect candidate for Isaac. There was no way he could refuse once he tasted the money.

One of the first things Isaac noted was the strictness of the Campus. He couldn’t tell if the Campus was a school or a military camp. All students were to be awake and a.s.semble at 6 o’clock. After a roll call, they would perform Drill & Ceremony and a jog around the school field. He wondered why a medieval school required such training but accepted the reasoning that it was meant to help the students stay fit.

PR Note: “Drill & Ceremony” were not especially clear in distinguis.h.i.+ng between a regular noun and a proper noun.

But what truly confused him was that the clothes, food, and even their school items were commissioned by the school. All it did was restrict the freedom of the students in the middle of their p.u.b.erty, but their excuse was to train their patience as part of their curriculum; as such, they restricted their freedom to the level of a military camp.

Isaac abused that fact. From Joon-young’s point of view, all the students in the Campus were diehard scholars. There were many private schools spread across the Empire, but only the most talented from those schools could join the Campus. n.o.bles were an exception, and they used their lineage to skip past that stage and enter the Campus directly.

When in the Campus, students are expelled after receiving 3 failing grades, no matter their lineage. This forced the students to study with their life on the line. Isaac wondered how much of a monster the students in College would be when even the students in Campus were at this standard, but looking at Mazelan didn’t really help Isaac figure out what their standards were for entry.

But no matter how much you restrict the students, girls would never be satisfied with wearing the same clothes every day. They would all be eager to show off their beauty with accessories like ribbons, hairbands, bracelets, rings, and necklaces.

A girl’s vanity was the perfect target for Isaac. The ratio between boys and girls always changed in the Campus, but on average, it was 2:1; at times, it was even 10:1. The girls were always at the centre of attention no matter where they went, but even within the girls there was compet.i.tion fierce enough to shame the men’s fight for power.

“That Eliza. How do I get back at her?”

Selina stomped her way to the library, each step a product of her jealousy. As a 3rd year in the 3rd Magic School, her graduation was coming soon; that also meant it was time for marriage. She had recently been decorating herself in hopes of finding a suitable spouse to take back to her manor. In all honesty, she was hoping she could seduce a male student of the College, but she had little opportunity to meet them in the first place. And unlike her extreme vanity, she was well aware of her own place. A daughter of a Viscount was a common sight in the world of n.o.bles, and even dreaming of a prince from the College was a farfetched one.

So she had little choice but to look nearby. With some confidence in her appearance, she picked and compared many of the male students until she found the perfect candidate to be her spouse.