…
It was hard not to admire the reflection in my pocket mirror, "Wow, I did a really good job, didn't I?"
Grant rubbed his temples, "So you have a creepy uncle side to you too. But… why are you a man now?"
A giggle escaped from my mouth as I discreetly held Grant's hand, "I think things would get too boring and I'd feel too jealous if you shared a dorm with anyone else. I mean, what could go wrong with this plan?"
He gently rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb and my gaze traveled up to his softened eyes, "I'm just glad you're back," he whispered.
The amount of willpower I had to use to prevent myself from jumping on him right then and there drained me. A small smile managed on my mouth as I released him so I could step ahead into the lecture hall.
A diminished aura activated behind me. It looked like with this, Grant would definitely go unnoticed no matter what he did, so there was no more need for him to worry about people recognizing him anymore. If anyone looked directly at him, they wouldn't be able to focus on him and naturally glaze over his existence.
But before I could take a step into the hall, I felt someone crash into my back. With one of my off-balance at the moment of impact, I fell forward. Someone's high-pitched cry was let out as that person toppled me to the floor.
"???"
We landed in a risky position in which my back was on the floor and a girl was sitting right on my waist. My face darkened.
A flat chest and a skimpy skirt in which I could see her underwear clear as day— green hair and green eyes…
'Ah, fuck. It's Camellia.'
The green girl was tripping and wiggling while trying to raise herself from my waist, 'This situation…' If I were a normal guy, I'd be ecstatic, but this scenario was terribly annoying and frankly, disgusting. It looked like she was doing this on purpose.
I shoved her off, and she 'unintentionally' spread her legs for the world to see her 'conveniently' worn thong. Her long hair fell over her face as she slowly got up, "You're one of the honors students, aren't you? Watch where you're going, stupid!" Something snapped in me as I saw her upper arms press her flat chest closer together.
'I should've made an uglier male form,' I clicked my tongue and cursed in my mind.
Camellia was known in the game to be a playgirl, utilizing the tactic of being a tsundere to charm guys as an attention-hogger. She was the hero party's alchemist and healer, as well as the primary harem member to cause drama. I knew very well how to deal with someone like her.
"Fuck off, bitch," I spat, getting up to slick back my messy black hair.
Camellia froze. She was about to say something, but I just walked away. I didn't want to associate myself with a person like her because I was simply not interested in allowing her attempts at seduction.
Many eyes fell on me as I approached a seat in the back of the lecture hall. Guys from around the room were burning holes into the back of my head with their gazes. They were definitely jealous, and many of them probably set their targets on me. I was briefly second-guessing my decision but figured that nothing mattered because I could overpower anything that came my way in this empire.
After sitting somewhere in the back with Grant, I lifted his fingers to play with while we waited for class to start.
His fingers were rough and calloused, while mine were flawless and soft. A smile grew on my lips as I rubbed them. I looked up and caught him looking at me tenderly.
'He's been giving me that look an awful lot lately,' I thought, tilting my head. I quickly released his fingers as a familiar outrageously handsome nerd came up to us.
"Heyy!! Fellow honors student!!" the brown-haired dork beamed, unable to read the room, "Wait, give me a second… uhh… Anthony! It's Anthony, right?" a goofy grin grew on his face, "Mind if I sit here?"
'Yes, I mind,' I thought, but held myself and responded, "The seat is yours."
Grant peeked over from beside me, "And you're Tom, correct?"
"Oh, hey! I didn't even see you there, haha. Yep, that'd be me!" he pushed up the bridge of his thick-ass glasses. Getting a better look at him now, he had a long 2000s surfer dude haircut. His annoying fashion sense covered up his obviously nice face, but I didn't bother to comment on it.
Grant just smiled at him.
At that moment, our homeroom teacher entered the hall and the chatter died down.
Needless to say, he was a man of lofty stature. The teacher was yet another outrageously handsome man, being a chiseled, well-kept, classily dressed blondie. If the hero was a wolf, the teacher would be a golden retriever. He cleared his throat and said loudly, "Hello, and welcome to your first semester at Eldom Academy!"
The corner of Grant's mouth twitched. He muttered, "Why are there so many…"
I noticed this and held in a laugh.
The teacher continued, "I will be your homeroom teacher for the next four years. You may address me as Professor Doo-Fas," he smiled charmingly.
'...'
"..."
'Like, doofus?' I thought, struck in place by Professor Doo-Fas' parents' horrible choice of last names. Looking around, it seemed like I was the only one who picked this up. I fell speechless while settling back into my seat, 'Doofus…'
"With that being said, I encourage everyone here to be curious and seek help when they need it…" Doofus began his spiel of things to be expected in the class and such. I generally tuned him out. It seemed like the girls in the room were tuning him out too with how much they were giggling and squealing over their new attractive teacher.
I never had a homeroom in my previous life, but I understood the general idea. Here, it was a sort of study period where people sought help from their peers, worked on personal projects, and everything relevant. It seemed like a pretty free class.
What caught my attention, however, was the door leading to an open space outside. With training dummies set up, it appeared to be a free practice area for swordsmanship and spells. Not like I was going to use it, though. If I accidentally released even a bit of my powers here, my magic would probably be recognized immediately and I'd be targeted on the spot.
Professor Doo-Fas droned on and on about the same things the entire time, so my hands discreetly wandered to Grant's hands to twiddle with for the rest of the spiel.
…
As the period came to an end, we were dismissed to our next class.
While I could alter my attendance in the academy, it was impossible to change the system's random schedule assignments, so unfortunately, I only shared my homeroom with Grant.
As Grant and I parted to go our ways, I began the long walk to my next class… with someone tailing me.
Turning around, I met Tom's eyes, "...?"
"Oh, Anthony! Looks like we're going in the same direction!" Tom smiled.
I grunted and continued on my way, but he kept sticking to me, "I don't believe I properly introduced myself to your friend back there. What's his name?"
"Grant," I replied dryly.
"Grant! Holy. What a badass name. Say, it looked like you two already knew each other back there. Are you friends? Where did you come from?"
I didn't bother to reply to so many questions and just kept walking.
There was a reason why I was trying to keep my distance from this guy. I wasn't being an asshole because of his boisterous personality and lacking fashion.
This man right here is Tom Cliff, the hero's sidekick in the original story, his primary informant, and someone who turns on Grant later in the story, kickstarting the great war between the elves and the humans for total acquisition of each other's territories.
Needless to say, he wasn't on the side of the humans. Tom had a reason for growing out his long ass hair and wearing big ass glasses— he was a spy from the elven kingdom and was used as a plot device to further the relationships between Grant and the four sexy female leads from how depressed Grant became after finding out he was lied to for so many years.
Why Tom and three out of four of the harem members were here together in this academy was something beyond me as they were all supposed to meet in different areas, but I decided to roll with it as an after story.
As I headed into my swordsmanship class, I noticed Tom following me, and fell a bit speechless, 'What a shitty situation,' I thought.
…
The class was settled in a large space that was half a football field wide with an open ceiling and dirt to make up the middle of the grounds. Chairs were settled on the cobbled floor to the sides, and mobile training dummies were set in a corner. All of the students sat on the chairs and watched while the instructor entered to sturdy herself in the middle of the grounds.
I wasn't surprised when she came in.
Florence, the fourth harem member.
…