The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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As instructed by Stephanie, I closed my eyes, counted to ten in my mind, and opened them to find myself in a forest I had never seen before.

When I looked around, no one was in sight.

I had a feeling, and sure enough, the academy test couldn’t have proceeded normally.

“…Is there really no one here?”

Just to be sure, I called out to see if anyone was around.

“Ho-yeon? Are you there?!”

…To my surprise, Dokan was there. I perked up my ears and heard the footsteps of several people coming this way.

Maybe… it’s Anastasia and Iris.

The three seemed to have teleported perfectly, so why was I sent to this secluded place?

Well, at least it seems I’m not too far from them.

As I sauntered toward the direction of the footsteps, I was able to meet up with Dokan’s group.

But what’s with that guy? Why is he speaking casually in front of others? I never gave him permission to do that.

“Ho-yeon!”

He looked quite flustered as he called out to me, probably thinking something went wrong since he couldn’t see me after the teleport.

“Don’t worry, as you can see, there’s no problem. By the way, I don’t think I ever told you that you could speak casually with me.”

“…Ah, that’s because, considering it’s a test and all, it might be better to talk without formalities and look for ways to survive.”

So that’s why he wanted to drop the formalities, to not get wiped out while keeping up appearances. It made a certain sense.

In that moment, a dark suspicion arose that he might be using this as an excuse to naturally flirt with another girl… but there’s no way that was true.

Dokan had been very serious about the test, so I doubted he’d do something like that.

“…So, is that okay with Anastasia and Iris too?”

Even if he dropped the princess’s way of speaking, I didn’t plan on throwing my manners out the window. After all, there were others around.

“Yes… but I’m more comfortable with formal speech…”

“I… I agreed to what that guy said. Uh… yeah.”

It seemed everyone else agreed too.

“Then let’s decide what to do right away. First, I’d like to find a water source and a place to stay. Anyone have other opinions?”

No one voiced any objections. It wasn’t like anyone had said anything wrong, and Anya didn’t seem to have any specific knowledge about camping, so she stayed quiet.

Even if I was being quiet because Dokan was right, why was Iris shaking like a leaf?

In the end, we decided to follow Dokan’s lead.

“Alright.”

“…Huh?”

“We have to hold hands. If we were to get separated in a place like this, it’d be a hassle.”

Isn’t that a given? Instead of risking a fall that might attract wild animals or surprise attacks, it’s better to avoid the situation entirely.

Just as I was about to grab Anastasia’s hand, she startled and pulled back, preventing me from grabbing it.

“H-Ho-Yeon…! Even so, you shouldn’t just grab a guy’s hand like that…!”

…Is that so? I know holding hands among friends can be a bit cringe, but given the circumstances, it can’t be helped.

“In a situation like this, you can’t be picky.”

I advised her, trying to reach for Iris’s hand, but at that moment, she seemed to hide behind Anastasia.

So we ended up splitting into two teams, which is fine.

I felt Dokan’s bewildered gaze on me, but I didn’t particularly care.

To be fair, he isn’t really a brother, but still, I’m going to teach this guy about camping.

With that mindset, I took Dokan’s hand and led him on.

“Ho-yeon, where are we going now…?”

“Follow me. I heard water flowing over there.”

While I was keenly listening, I could hear Dokan’s group’s footsteps but also the sound of flowing water. It was just a small stream, but it should suffice for drinking water.

“Ho-Yeon… Did I mishear? Even though I have pretty decent hearing, I don’t hear anything…”

Anastasia seemed anxious. To be fair, if someone suddenly bolted out claiming to hear water, I wouldn’t believe them either.

But I surely heard it.

Out of everything, I was confident that I wouldn’t mishear something.

“There’s no need to worry. I’m sure I didn’t mishear.”

Once I made that declaration, Anastasia started following me too. Hmm, I thought she would believe in me.

As we headed straight toward the sound of water, a valley soon came into view.

From what I could hear, it was just a stream, but it looked much bigger. It was large enough to wash our bodies in.

“…Wow, it’s real?”

“Of course. Why would I lead you to a strange place?”

She must have thought I had misheard. Anastasia should trust me just like Dokan.

She had followed along pretty well.

“…Well, it seems we’ve solved our drinking water situation.”

Dokan seemed pleased that one of our immediate problems had been solved. Naturally, if you had someone as capable as me on your team, you’d be happy.

“Give me some praise.”

“Uh, huh? So suddenly?”

Dokan seemed perplexed. If I did well, shouldn’t I get praised for it?

“Quick.”

After playfully tapping his leg with my tail several times, he finally praised me.

“Ho-Yeon… you are…”

Anastasia was looking at me with a rather complicated expression for some reason. She must have been envious of having a friend like me.

I felt a bit guilty towards her, but I couldn’t help but feel a little victorious as I checked the water quality.

There was no smell at all, and the floor was so clean that I could count the individual grains of sand.

It was a bit awkward with the strange bugs, but it’s actually a sign of clean water if bugs live there.

“Yeah. This water is safe to drink. Dokan, it’s safe.”

It looked like it was at a level where we could drink it without any issues.

By the way, Iris hadn’t said a word since earlier.

Whether she was thirsty or not, the moment she heard that it was safe to drink, she started gulping it down. But every time our eyes met, she immediately looked away.

I couldn’t think of any reason for her to avoid me, so why was she doing that?

The only time we met was during the first day’s lunchtime, so maybe there was some bad rumor spreading about me that she was avoiding.

I had forgotten while hanging out with Dokan, but this was an academy filled with nobles who were as shady as they come.

Plus, I had arrived in a somewhat rough manner, so there wouldn’t be good rumors flying around.

…Let’s check that later. For now, we need to focus on the test.

It’s not that I was scared to find out what rumors were being spread about me.

—

To be honest, I had no expectations for Ho-Yeon at all.

Firstly, her father was a martial artist far removed from camping, and she had said she learned it all just from watching someone else.

Hearing that a novice learned from secondhand experience made me feel like I would have to do everything myself.

But she was so capable.

She found the water source on her own, and using branches and leaves, made a shelter too.

Plus, I didn’t know how she did it, but when she called over small animals, they came right to her and let themselves be caught.

It was overwhelming when she suddenly grabbed my hand or demanded praise, but since she would sulk if I didn’t comply, I had no choice but to act as she wished.

Although it bothered me a bit how Anastasia looked at her like she was trash, I tried to overlook it.

By the time the sun was setting, she had even made a fire, and by the end of the first day, everything we needed had been taken care of.

Fire, shelter, drinking water, food.

It was all done by Ho-Yeon alone, and I realized I hadn’t really done anything.

Normally, I’d be trying to score some points by doing something… but while that was nice too, it felt a bit off to let her do everything.

“…? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

“Hmm.”

Ho-Yeon showed a reaction that made it seem she noticed everything and resumed cooking the rabbit.

As the rabbit cooked, a mix of the good scent I had smelled before wafted out. It was surely the scent of the shampoo Ho-Yeon used.

Did she wash up before she came? But if she had, she would have done it in the morning, and considering she was moving around, she should have sweat too. So how did that scent last?

…But since this is a fantasy, maybe there’s a shampoo that holds its scent for a ridiculously long time.

In hindsight, I hadn’t managed to score any points with the heroines, but it was still four days, so I had plenty of time.

“…Dokan-kun, is it okay if we talk for a moment alone?”

While I was lost in thought while staring at the fire, Anya suddenly asked to speak privately.

“Sure.”

I had no reason to refuse on my end, so I readily accepted. Although Ho-Yeon shot me a sidelong glance, she didn’t directly intervene, so I followed Anya out of the shelter.

After we had walked some distance from the shelter, Anya spoke in a small voice.

“Don’t you feel sorry for Ho-Yeon?”

Suddenly asked if I felt sorry, I was at a loss for words. Was she talking about assigning all the camping duties to her?

But she took the initiative to lead, so I hadn’t done anything wrong.

She probably thought I was being irresponsible for letting a girl do all the work, considering her conservative views on gender roles.

“…Ho-Yeon wanted to do it herself.”

Ho-Yeon was the one who insisted on stepping up, and she was doing better than I was, so there was no need for me to interfere.

Rather than risk messing it up, I figured it was better to leave it to someone who was actually capable.

“…Are you sure that’s what Ho-Yeon really wants…?! Ugh… never mind. It was a mistake to expect anything from you….”

Huh, something felt off with the conversation.

I wanted to ask her what I misunderstood, but Anya didn’t seem interested in continuing the conversation. She had already turned to head back to the shelter.

For some reason, I felt like I lost points there.

…What the heck.

With a complicated mind, I returned to the shelter.

The rabbit that Ho-Yeon had cooked looked delicious, but I had no desire to eat.

“…You don’t want to eat? Does it look bad…?”

“It’s not that, but I’m just not that hungry.”

“Then that’s no good. Come on. Ah, eat.”

“No, I appreciate the thought, but…”

“Ah, eat.”

She said that and tore off a piece of the rabbit’s leg, bringing it to my mouth. With that, I couldn’t refuse, and when I took a bite, it was just as tasty as I expected.

Anya’s gaze on me became even sharper.

But ultimately, until I went to bed, I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong.