I Don’t Remember the Number of Regressions of the Villainesses Who Have Returned.

“Urgh…!”

I felt like a drunkard spewing hate speech and food waste on the street behind the dormitory mountain.

The only difference was that I hadn’t been drinking, and what I was spitting out was blood.

“Huff… huff…”

Perhaps because I hadn’t relieved the fatigue accumulated last night.

I coughed up blood almost as much as when burned by Aslan’s aura.

“Ptui.”

Though I’d been spitting for several minutes, barely able to breathe, clotted blood still swirled in my mouth like jelly.

“I never liked blood sausage…”

And now I was eating one of my own blood.

It’s maddening.

‘The penalty window says my accumulated fatigue disappeared, but where did it say pain was being added?’

Once blood stopped flowing back up his throat, I quickly dug up the ground to flip over the bloodstained dirt.

If someone saw these bloodstains, they’d think at least one person had died from the amount of blood.

Like that, after digging the soil as if hiding a murder scene, I leaned against a tree and fell into thought.

“What was it about?”

Topics I never usually thought about kept swirling in my mind.

“What kind of dream was it?”

Normally, whether it was a dream or a nightmare didn’t matter since I couldn’t remember anyway.

I’d never particularly cared about having nightmares.

But this time, something was strange.

It felt like a nightmare; my body felt sleep-paralyzed, but somehow, there was no discomfort.

Moreover, my memory of it was unusually hazy.

Like pouring white paint over a high-definition photo, visible but blurry as if obscured by fog.

“Hmm… maybe some fantasy good omen?”

Someone appearing in the dream to prophesy the future or reveal information I should know.

“That would be nice.”

I got up from the tree he was leaning on and moved my feet, laughing at its absurdity.

Having resolved my accumulated fatigue value and spent time in strange imaginings, the sun rising beyond the mountain was now visible.

Thanks to the fatigue that made me kneel and spit blood in the dark mountain that wasn’t even cool, it unpleasantly informed me that my early morning streak ended.

—–

Returning to the dormitory, I opened my notebook while changing clothes.

The opened notebook had dates marked with stars or checks to indicate particularly important days.

“It’s today.”

A mark on today’s date on my calendar.

“Can I finally go find the artifact?”

A test.

In the map moved to for that, if you go to a special area, there’s a monster that swallowed an artifact and is sleeping.

“For the current me who can’t even use aura blade, this is the easiest artifact to obtain.”

Since it’s the early part of the story, it’s not a high-performance artifact that would let me compete with Aslan, but it’s an artifact that is more efficient than my other options.

If my planned exploit works, even with my penalty, I might be able to use aura blade.

Aaron slapped his cheek and tore the page with today’s check mark into small pieces, which he then threw in the trash.

“Let’s do this.”

This is the only artifact that can be found in such an early stage.

Since later artifacts will be found by the protagonist’s group, this hidden piece is something I must obtain.

I clenched my fist tightly, going over the path to this hidden piece in my head several times.

“Hah!”

With a short breath, I got up sharply and left the dormitory.

——

“Good morning, Sir Aslan.”

“A cool morning without wind, good for swinging swords.”

I bowed while greeting Aslan.

Aslan had sweat visible between his hair strands as if having done morning training like yesterday.

“Good morning, Sir Mordred.”

I also bowed when I greeted Mordred beside him.

“Morning.”

Mordred waved his hand lightly.

“Good morning, Lady Arcana.”

“… Didn’t we greet each other at the dormitory?”

“Well, the more greetings the better.”

Since Arcana, who I’d met when leaving the dormitory, was also beside Mordred, I greeted her again.

It’s not bad to hear greetings multiple times anyway.

Like that, four people naturally gathered together.

Since there was still quite some time until morning assembly, we continued chatting in the classroom without issue.

‘Now… when will she come?’

At that time, I was fishing for something.

A very big fish.

“What? Are you guys now hanging out with each other?”

Nice.

The big fish he was aiming for was caught.

The big fish I was aiming for was none other than the Magic Tower Lord’s disciple, Ninian.

“We got closer because of something yesterday.”

Hearing Aslan’s light answer, Ninian pulled out a nearby chair and sat beside Aslan.

“Then, can I join too?”

Ninian asked permission with a bright smile.

Seeing this, a question suddenly arose.

‘Usually, don’t you ask permission before sitting?’

Well… I guess someone at the Magic Tower Lord’s disciple level can live without caring about such things.

Thinking again, this was a medieval class society.

“I don’t mind.”

Mordred’s approval.

“… I’m not in a position to grant Lady Ninian permission.”

Arcana shrinks under others’ gazes and lowers her head.

“I have no objection.”

I, too, gave a similar answer to Arcana while avoiding directly indicating permission, approving her seating.

“Then… please take care of me?”

Though it was sudden, Ninian naturally melted into the atmosphere while chatting about ordinary things.

‘Well, objective achieved.’

Though I didn’t expect it to be this simple.

My only goal before coming to the Academy was to build relationships with the main characters.

Even shallow ones are fine. Just approaching to greet and being greeted back is enough.

A relationship where they don’t ignore my words and remember me even if they are hazy in their minds.

That was my first goal.

Originally planning several meetings disguised as coincidences since someone like me, a fallen noble, couldn’t approach such people…

“It’s peaceful.”

“Indeed.”

I never expected such a comfortable atmosphere in less than a week.

“What’s the first period?”

“I believe it’s swordsmanship class.”

I and Arcana couldn’t join their conversation and sat like decorative screens having small talk.

We wanted to join their conversation since we were sitting there.

But there was a reason we couldn’t.

“Certainly, the Gore coast area…”

“That place is rich in magic stone resources…”

“Then how about trying the Riadon jungle area?”

Place names and explanations I absolutely couldn’t understand.

Once they fell into their own conversation, Arcana and I just-

“Hmm, if it’s the Riadon area, our merchant guild…”

Arcana just waited for words related to herself to come up.

‘… I’m the only fool here.’

I was the only one who didn’t know what they were talking about.

‘Still, let’s think positively since the first goal was achieved anyway.’

Even if I couldn’t join their conversation, the goal was achieved by being able to sit beside them without issue.

So don’t feel disappointed.

Those guys talking with information only I don’t know are the bad ones.

At that moment, I heard the sound of the door opening behind us.

-Slide

“Alright, everyone take your seats. I’ll take attendance.”

Turning my head, I saw the homeroom professor tapping the podium while opening the attendance book.

Morning assembly time had come.

—–

Morning assembly ended with the delivery of simple announcements.

I moved to the announced class location with Aslan and Arcana who would attend first period swordsmanship class together.

“So what was that conversation earlier about?”

I asked Aslan, feeling like I needed to know what they had been laughing and chatting about without me.

“Nothing special. Just talk about material supply routes.”

‘…That is special.’

I wonder what the standard for “nothing special” is to a Duke’s family.

It was a moment that made me curious.

“Did you know from the start, Arcana?”

Wondering if I was the only one who didn’t know, I asked, but the answer that came back was.

“I figured it out partway through. Since my family has been merchants for generations, I have important continent place names memorized, so when Sir Aslan and Sir Mordred mentioned those regions I could roughly piece it together.”

“……”

Realizing now, isn’t Arcana not just physically capable but smart too?

For a moment, thoughts of being stupid for not memorizing a few place names passed through, but thinking again.

‘It would be weirder to recognize place names that weren’t even in the setting guide.’

This is a world where it’s hard to even get maps of your own country.

How would I, a fallen noble, know important continent place names.

“But we seem to be gathering quite far today.”

Seeing my face amid his mental victory, Aslan, perhaps feeling awkward, naturally brought up a different topic.

I also affirmed Aslan’s words to avoid awkwardness.

“That’s true.”

We were now moving past where Gwen had rushed at Aslan.

“Seems like quite a big class today.”

“That’s likely.”

To Aslan’s prediction, Arcana and I nodded.

Aslan turned his head to look forward and quickly stopped his steps.

“Huh? Why are you here?”

I, who had been chatting with Arcana, turned my head forward at Aslan’s bewildered voice.

There, a blue-haired woman was visible fixing her collar while leaning against a tree.

A red-eyed woman creating a neat yet noble atmosphere just by standing.

It wa–

“Master-nim?”

“”……””

Silence.

‘…Wait.’

“Aaron? What did you-”

“Sir Aaron?”

Shit, what did I just say?