Lunchtime arrived as class ended.

Numerous students flocked to the cafeteria for a meal.

However, among them, no one chose to eat with me.

In fact, nobody even attempted to approach me.

Before heading to eat, a few guys did approach me.

After class ended, three guys with colorful hair came up to me.

Curiously, they had red, orange, and green hair.

They appeared to be ruffians with slanted eyes and a troublemaker-like demeanor.

They didn't look like supporting characters but rather minor delinquents A, B, and C.

"Young Master Rudy, your self-introduction was truly magnificent."

"You exuded the dignity of a true high noble!"

"Indeed!"

The three of them came up to me and flattered. I looked at them with a smile and said,

"Get lost."

"What?"

"I said, get lost."

The ones I needed to avoid the most were not the main or supporting characters but these ruffians.

They ranked first on my list of people to avoid.

To some extent, I had to put up with criticizing and demeaning others like I did in class.

If I wanted to follow the plot, it was an inevitable action.

Compared to the villains that would appear later, this level of unpopularity was cute and could be washed away easily.

However, I absolutely couldn't be friends with these guys.

They might flatter me in front of me, but they were uncontrollable.

They were troublemakers who caused mischief and acted like ruffians when I wasn't around.

If they happened to harass the heroines or cause a major incident, it would be irreversible.

If I hung out with them, people would blame me more than these guys.

Even if I claimed, "I didn't do anything," nobody would listen.

If I was with these guys, anyone would think I was the leader.

Even I thought the same.

Let's say there were ruffians and a successful guy among them.

If the ruffians caused trouble and the successful guy wasn't present, what would people think?

They would probably assume the successful guy ordered the ruffians to carry out the deed.

So it was crucial not to get involved with them from the start.

Sigh...

I picked up a spoon and reluctantly shoved the rice into my mouth.

Eating alone was indeed a lonely experience, even if it was for survival.

In this world, the culture of dining alone wasn't as prevalent as in modern times.

Most people gathered together to eat their meals.

Yet, here I was, eating by myself in the cafeteria.

First-year students with red scarves around their necks glanced at me while murmuring.

It seemed that word of my actions in class had spread.

As a result, I felt even more miserable.

How could there not be a single friend among these numerous students to share a meal with me?

I wondered if I should try to find an extra character to dine with.

After hastily finishing my meal, I went outside and saw a woman drinking water in the distance.

She was a girl with plain brown hair, tied into two braids.

Compared to the vibrant hair colors of other Academy students, her hair color was unremarkable, but her pure appearance drew attention.

Her name was Luna Railer.

Luna was the daughter of a poor baron family.

Born as the only daughter in her family, she discovered her talent for magic when a wizard passed through her territory.

However, compared to the talents of other Academy students, her abilities appeared quite ordinary.

Her talent lay in magic theory, which would shine as she continued her studies.

Yet, in the beginning, her talent was not apparent.

Because of her low entrance exam scores, she enrolled in the Academy without receiving any support.

Coming from an impoverished family and not receiving any financial aid from the Academy, paying tuition was a heavy burden for her.

The act of drinking water was likely to fill her stomach, as she didn't have the money to buy food.

As someone with an abundance of money, I wanted to take her and feed her.

I felt pity for her, knowing her circumstances and watching her hold her starving stomach.

However, I couldn't do that.

Not until 'that incident' occurred.

The reason Luna Railer was the most challenging character to conquer was nothing special.

It was merely the fact that the related events happened too early in the story.

To conquer Luna, I had to pay more attention to her than to my studies from the very beginning.

I had to hover around her, gain her trust, and assess the situation.

If I devoted that much time to her, it would become too difficult to rank first in the midterm exams.

Of course, the early story related to Luna could be ignored.

Even without the protagonist's involvement, she could overcome the situation on her own.

Luna's main story would appear in the middle of the game.

In that story, I could build affection points and conquer Luna.

However, to properly conquer her, I couldn't ignore this part of the story.

It was a hidden story that occurred in the background but wasn't necessary to get involved in.

I planned to use that hidden story to my advantage.

Luna frowned and sighed, seemingly still hungry after drinking water.

"..."

Pitiful.

I turned around and headed for the school store.

"I'm so hungry..."

Luna was filled with regret.

She wondered if she had made a mistake enrolling here.

Her family was poor, but she had never experienced going hungry like this before.

"Still, I have to stay strong! Since I'm already enrolled...!"

She came to this place to revive her family's fortune.

It had been a long time since a truly talented person emerged from her family.

The Railer family could only trace their lineage back to Luna's great-great-grandfather, where their records were limited to a single line.

Now, their family was on the brink of collapse due to financial difficulties.

The family's territory was no more than a small rural village, so they couldn't squeeze money out of their subjects.

Of course, if they were as ruthless as wringing a dry squid for soup, they could have somehow extracted money from their subjects, but the Railer family head was not malicious.

While worrying about the future of her family, Luna encountered a wizard passing through their territory.

The wizard told Luna she had a talent for magic and gifted her a magic tome.

The tome contained difficult content, which was beyond Luna's beginner level in magic.

However, since it was a gift for her, she cherished it as a treasure.

She hoped that someday, she would be able to use the tome...

"But before that, I might die from hunger..."

Luna clutched her hungry stomach.

She had some money from her family, but she had to save it.

You never know when you'll need money...

So, Luna decided to have only dinner today.

"At least it's good for dieting! Hehe!"

Luna tried to think positively, but it didn't ease her hunger.

"Excuse me...?"

As Luna turned around, she saw two female students standing behind her.

"Who... are you?"

The scarves of the two girls were green, indicating they were second-year students.

"A first-year student asked us to give this to you."

The senior handed Luna a bag containing bread.

It was a basic bread sold at the store.

Though wealthy commoners might snub such ordinary bread, for hungry Luna, it was like a lifeline.

Luna looked back and forth between the bread and the seniors with wide eyes.

"Who gave this...?"

Luna suddenly started to feel anxious.

Her friends had gone to have lunch, and she had slipped away, saying she had something else to do.

Could it be that one of her friends saw her like this and gave her the bread?

But that didn't make sense.

In that case, her friend would have given it to her, not asked unknown second-year seniors to do so.

"Did they say who asked you to give it to me?"

"Uh, it was a student over there... Huh? Where did they go?"

As Luna asked, the senior pointed to the back, but there was no one there.

"Um, what did they look like?"

She had to find out who it was.

There was no benefit to rumors spreading that she had no money.

"It was a boy... Blonde with slightly slanted eyes? Something like that."

"A... a boy?"

Luna had made a few female friends at the academy, but she had never even greeted a boy.

She had grown up in a rural territory and had no immunity to boys.

Her father was overprotective, and there were few kids in the countryside.

Thus, she had never even thought about talking to a boy.

Which meant that the person who gave her the bread was not someone she knew.

"We'll be going now."

"Ah, thank you!"

Luna came to her senses and bid farewell to the departing seniors.

Then she looked at the bread in her hand.

Bread given by a stranger.

"Who could it be?"

Luna took the bread out of the bag and put it in her mouth.

"It's delicious."

And with the bread in her cheek, she smiled a happy smile.

***

In my dorm room, today was an incredibly exhausting day.

I stayed up late studying for tomorrow's classes and woke up early to attend them.

Despite this, I still had enough energy physically.

However, the fact that I had spoken so many cringe-worthy lines in front of many people kept haunting my thoughts, mentally exhausting me even during other classes.

"I can't avoid studying."

Being tired is one thing, but I can't put off studying. I glanced at the timetable the academy had provided.

Tomorrow's classes include Imperial History and Magic Practice.

While history is a general education course, I should prepare for the magic practice beforehand.

My magic abilities are exceptional, but I've never used magic properly.

Just as having good tools is useless if you don't know how to use them, I need to practice handling magic in advance.

I opened a magic theory book and looked at the basic spells, which were almost identical to the game.

In 'The Academy's Top Wizard,' magic was divided into three levels.

Beginner, intermediate, and advanced magic.

It could be simply divided into these three categories.

If further subdivided, magic could be divided by attributes. Beginner magic had four attributes: fire, water, wind, and earth.

These were the basic elemental spells. With intermediate magic, one could learn specialized spells like space magic and more detailed attributes like ice and wood.

However, advanced magic was slightly different.

Instead of learning new specialized attributes, the size of the magic significantly increased.

There were spells that could control nature itself, like summoning a typhoon or making it rain, and spells that could engulf an entire battlefield in flames.

Advanced magic was nothing short of a catastrophe.

A catastrophe that could destroy an entire village without a trace.

"For now, let's start with the basics..."

I looked at the basic spells I could use.

Magic that could be used without drawing a magic circle, utilizing the mana within my body.

There were also methods using magic circles, but I couldn't use them yet due to my lack of knowledge about magic.

"Let's start with this."

A spell caught my eye as I skimmed the book.

"Ignite."

As I said the word, a small flame appeared in my hand.

It was the most basic fire attribute spell.

Since my fire attribute magic proficiency was the highest, I could use it quite easily.

"Wow..."

I stared at the small flame in my hand.

Not only was the sight of the flame in my hand amazing, but the feeling of creating it was fascinating too.

It felt like something inside my body was flowing towards my hand to create the flame, similar to the sensation of drinking water.

As soon as I thought about stopping the magic, the flow I felt in my hand ceased, and the flame went out.

I practiced using the fire and wind attribute magic I could handle, getting a feel for using magic.

After gaining some sense of it, I lay down on the bed with a satisfied smile.

However, I would come to regret it the next day.

Why did I sleep?

I should have remembered that the Magic Practice professor was a real eccentric.

I should have stayed up all night studying.

***

Here are two chappies.