“I really don’t have any idea what to call this. Were you born with God’s blessing…. Or was this some type of supernatural power…?”
The counselor looked puzzled.
However, I knew what caused this.
I could certainly force an ability that I originally didn’t have to become my talent using achievement points. Even if I didn’t have enough points to do that, the possibility was still there.
Therefore, I was currently in a state where I could have all the talents in the world. I was born possessing every aptitude in existence, so that it wouldn’t be impossible for me to get certain talents.
The counselor seemed dumbfounded.
“In this case…. I don’t know if it would be possible. Having an aptitude in both swordsmanship and archery wasn’t really a problem, but if this data is correct, then Reinhardt can use both black magic and divine power.”
I could both wield the power of darkness, as well as holy power. Of course, it would be impossible to be able to use both of them at the same time, but it was possible for me.
“B, by the way…. There has never been a case… that a child was granted a special admission only based on their aptitude a, and not on talent……”
The counselor seemed to think that this wasn’t a problem he could solve with his authority alone.
“Then he could be admitted to Temple, right?”
Daibun seemed to block out the details and only heard what he wanted to hear.
“Thi, this is such an unprecedented situation, but as this is such a special case….”
The counselor blankly nodded their head.
“Perhaps, I think.”
“Good for you, man!”
-Hits!
“Urgh!”
Daibun slapped me on the back and shouted.
That almost killed me!
In the end, it seemed it was just a delusion that I knew my condition best.
Through Daibun’s useless insistence, I could now see for sure what my condition was like.
I didn’t know something like this would happen.
* * *
“An aptitude for everything?”
“Yes, that’s what they said.”
Loyar’s eyes widened when I told her the inspection’s results.
It wasn’t over just with the counselor’s words, after that a professional wizard appeared to precisely check my talents. So after suffering for a while it was confirmed that the judgement on my aptitudes was true.
“Hey, isn’t that a lot more than we expected?”
That’s what she said, but I could feel the tremendous admiration in her words. Even the previous Demon King wouldn’t have been like that. Although I had no talent, I was born with the aptitude to acquire talents in any field.
This may just be a correction caused by being able to interfere with my body using this system, but that correction in itself was already a tremendous ability.
These aptitudes included even opposing aptitudes.
It was possible for a person who had no talent or aptitude for swordsmanship to become a master swordsman by training swordsmanship, however it would be very difficult.
One had to overcome this wall with effort.
But why would a person who had no aptitude for it train swordsmanship? Wouldn’t it be better to just wake up from those delusions?
No one could just have strengths. Even those geniuses who had many aptitudes and talents had also a good amount of inadequacies.
For example, if a person had an aptitude for divine powers, of course, they wouldn’t be able to use black magic. Conversely, a person who had an aptitude for black magic would not be able to learn divine magic. Some abilities rejected their counterparts.
But I didn’t have a single inadequacy.
Of course, I didn’t know if it was possible to give myself inadequacies, but like hell that’s going to happen. Am I crazy?
I went to Temple with the intention of paying the tuition for a semester, but ended up on a completely different path.
I’d have to return to the admissions office sometime later, but I’ve been told that they’ll most likely decided on granting special admission. I didn’t think much of it right now, but if there’s some guy capable of being good at anything, it would be rather weird to not let him enroll through special admission.
This was an unexpected windfall. Just because they decided to let me enroll through special admission we didn’t have to create a hole in the gang’s funds.
There was no more need to to leave traces behind by paying the tuition with their money. Everyone wanted me to have an environment in which I could completely focus on improving myself in Temple. Like this everyone would be satisfied.
No matter what happened later with the Rotary gang, it wouldn’t affect me.
“But you don’t look very good, though?”
I smiled at Daibun’s words.
“N, no, it’s nothing. This is great. Like this I can enter even without being part of the gang.”
But just as Daibun said, I wasn’t in such a good mood.
Originally, my plan was to gradually develop my talents over a semester and then I was planning to be exempted from tuition leading me to join the main story through said talent.
However, in terms of development, I might have a higher chance to enter the main story like this rather than as a simple scholarship student..
Temple had two types of special classes.
The Royal Class, which one could enter through talent, and the Orbis Class, which one could enter through skill.
Students with exceptional talent entered the Royal Class.
Students who lack talent but gained outstanding abilities through hard work entered the Orbis Class.
There was a certain rivalry between these two classes, but that would come into play later. It would be only after a long time that the Orbis Class was mentioned.
Anyway.
Entering the main story meant that I would soon join one of Temple’s special classes, which will probably be the Royal Class.
There was a high chance that I would enter the Royal Class, because I was recognized for my potential talent and not my outstanding ability.
Originally, I planned to slowly enter the story by building my power for one semester and then climb to that position later.
However, I would end up entering the Royal Class right from the beginning.
That meant, that I would be together with the main characters right when the main story starts. I would bump into them without thinking much or planning to do so. If the story changed because of my actions, I would receive some achievement points, but the consequence of that would be that the story might bounce into weird directions, all the events would become unpredictable.
I would have to use the achievement points I received by changing the future to see how the future changed, I would gain nothing from that. I could get other benefits, but those achievement points are the most important to me right now, so I couldn’t just waste them.
That’s why I wanted to take that one semester to plan things out, but that opportunity got stolen from me.
“Phew….”
Therefore, I couldn’t help but sigh deeply thinking about the special admission.
Anyway,
I was pretty sure this development is happening purposefully.
* * *
What kind of novel was [The Demon King is Dead] you may ask?
Although it was a novel I wrote, it was more like part of my dark history though. It got the worst ranking and tons of bad reviews.
This was supposed to be a slice-of-life story that took place after the Demon King got defeated. The story took place in [Temple], located in the Imperial Capital Gardium, where people with immense power and wealth gathered.
Although they nurtured talents specialized in combat, teaching things like magic and marital arts, Temple, who was recognized as the cradle of all learning, also encompassed elementary, secondary and higher education.
The number of students, excluding the faculty, exceeded 100,000.
From elementary school onwards, they adopted a similar teaching system as universities. On could apply for classes one wanted to take. Therefore, there were a lot of kids who never ran into each other even though they were in the same class if they don’t take the same courses.
Even in a place like that, the main stage was the Royal Class, one of the two most important classes in Temple, the other one being the Orbis Class.
Those two classes were filled with the most talented of the Empire, the ones placed the most expectations on. Of course, they all held permanent scholarships. However, let’s keep the Orbis Class out of this talk for now. I won’t run into them anyway, for the time being.
Anyway, one of the two flagships of Temple.
Royal Class’ Perks.
Even if a course is already filled to capacity, one may still apply for said course. Even courses that go beyond one’s grade could be applied for, as consideration for the geniuses. Therefore, the Royal Class was inevitably the object of envy and jealousy of ordinary students.
In addition, Temple shoulders the cost to maintain a certain level of dignity as well as a luxurious dormitory exclusive to the students of the Royal Class.
There were many who tried to get into the Royal Class using their money and power. However, one could only enter Temple through money, however the Royal Class didn’t know status, rank or wealth. Only talent determined whether one could enter or not.
Higher education at Temple started with high school.
It didn’t end there.
Temple’s higher education, including the Royal Class, consisted of 6 grades just like elementary school.
That meant that a 6th grade Highschooler wasn’t that uncommon in this world.
Simply but, it was like graduating from middle school and then immediately attending collage for six years.
In realtiy, it was more like starting from the first year of high school and ending with the third year of college. Of course, it was possible to attend for three years and then graduate, but the education is usually completed after the sixth year. After that, there’s university, but that was more like a graduate school.
The Royal Class, that could be said to be the best of the best, divided the classes based on talent. The main character belonged to 1st year Class B of the high school section.
What was different about this was that the Royal Class, which selected people based on talent, divided the grades based on talents in the early stages of high school.
That meant between Class A and Class B of the Royal Class, Class B was the inferior class, which was made up of children with lower ranking talents.
Since the class was divided in order of talent, the members of the Royal Class remained the same even when they reached the next grade. Unless someone got eliminated or dropped out in the middle, or a person was added, the number of classmates didn’t change from the first year of high school until graduation.
Class B, who was the inferior group of talented elites, is where the main character appeared. He first got confused by his defeat-ridden classmates, endured humiliation and ridicule from the kids of Class A who were more talented and powerful and eventually they were able to overtake Class A with the power of love and friendship. That’s the kind of youth drama I was planning to write.
Not interesting at all? Sounds like it was no fun to read?
Of course, it was hella boring.
Stories about weaker students overcoming stronger students through hard work was rather common and nothing new. The Power of Love and Friendship? People are doing well on their own these days. If you let your classmates suck away your own life like carcinogens, they’ll think their hot shit after you cared for them and helped them grow.
I should have stopped writing right away after hearing what the person in charge told me.
Anyway.
It was now February.
The main story would also start with the new semester in the same year as the end of the Demon World War.
[You have been admitted to Temple Royal Class 1-A.]
And, the Temple Admissions Office judged my ‘infinite aptitude’ to be an advanced talent.
There was nothing really good about that.
Class A would be the place I’d receive my education in later.
* * *
“Are you worried?”
I was currently at Eleris’ scroll shop.
“I’d lie if I said no.”
I sighed.
“It’s nice that they think I have some crazy talent. Being able to get in through special admission is also good, but it seems difficult to actually meet these expectations as fast as they hope……”
I didn’t have to be around the Bronzegate Bridge all day, so I went to visit Eleris. The Rotary gang was also relieved of its financial pressure thanks to me getting in through special admission.
So until the entrance ceremony I was going back and forth between Bronzegate and Eleris’ scroll shop.
“I’m sure you’ll do a good job.”
Eleris gave me reassuring smile. Yeah, I could become anything. I knew that I was just nervous because I was nothing and hadn’t done anything yet.
Thanks to my aptitudes, which were judged as an advanced talent, I was able to bypass numerous procedures required for admission. If one had a highest-ranking talent, Temple didn’t simply admit the student, rather they just take them in. That was why all the sloppy parts about my identity and origin were just glossed over.
Rather, Temple itself became my guardian.
Things worked out incredibly well. However, even if things worked out somehow, there was a definite future, so thinking about my friends from Class A made my head hurt.
Above all else, living in the dormitory without Eleris, Loyar or Sarkegaar who were practically my guardians, was one more reason for my nervousness.
In general, there’s this widespread opinion that accidents did not happen at Temple.
However, as a writer, I mean, I did add in many incidents to happen. I was well aware how sloppy Temple was, or rather than knowing, I made it that way.
Eleris grabbed my hand while I was lost in my thoughts. The vampire’s low body temperature felt unfamiliar, but at some point that coldness started to feel like warmth.
“We will support Your Highness with all our heart. And even if you enter Temple, does that mean that you are banned from going out?”
“I’m not, but still….”
They wouldn’t ban me from going out or something.
If I wanted to see them I could come out and visit Sarkegaar, Loyar or Eleris.
“Anyway, are there any things you need to take with you?”
“I don’t have that many things. I would wear a school uniform most of the time anyway though.”
I would have to go to the dormitory tomorrow, so I had to take something there, but I didn’t know what I should bring because I’m literally in a position where I have nothing on me but my clothes.
As I filled out various forms before my admission, and was told everything I needed to know, I didn’t really think I need to take much.
“By the way, why did you want me to enter Temple?”
I asked the question I couldn’t find the answer to the other day.
Eleris didn’t want me to become stronger, but she still encouraged me to go to Temple. Eleris smiled at my question.
“Because I think if you were to stay close to humans, you would come to love them.”
This was a slightly different logic from Sarkegaar, who wanted me to get to know humans to use their knowledge against them.
Eleris seemed to want me to get to love them.
Well, I mean I didn’t feel any real love towards humanity in the first place.
“You might regret this later.”
Eleris laughed at my words.
“I’ll think about it when the time comes.”
The strangest one of the bunch wasn’t actually Sarkegaar, but Eleris. She brought over a trunk from somewhere.
Rather she summoned it here with a snap rather than bringing it over.
“What’s this?”
“These are plain clothes you can wear. You can’t just wear your uniform all the time.”
It seemed like she didn’t want to send me off empty handed. Eleris then took off her necklace and put it around my neck.
“This is….”
“Do you remember that I called myself Tuesday?”
“Ah, I do.”
I didn’t really understand what it meant, but was it something about that seven nights something?
“I believe you have forgotten about this as well, so let me explain. There are seven vampire clans who call themselves the Houses of the Seven Nights.”
“Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, like that?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Those were pretty simple names.
“Each Family specialized in the magic type of the corresponding element.”
“There’s elemental magic based on the days of the weak?”
“Yes, the Monday and Sunday clan disappeared a long time ago, so it didn’t get handed down which type of magic they held, but Tuesday is fire, Wednesday is water, Thursday is wood, Friday is metal and Saturday is earth.”
(T/N: To carlify, this is based on the Hanja of the words for the days of the week. Each day except Monday and Sunday have a type of element in their name as mentioned by Eleris here. 月曜, 火曜, 水曜, 木曜, 土曜, 日曜)
While I still could kind of understand the power of the moon, I couldn’t even imagine how vampires could use something like sun magic. Since Vampire Lords could withstand sunlight, maybe it wasn’t that strange that that clan could use solar magic.
“This is an heirloom of our clan and the symbol of our house, the ‘Flame of Tuesday’.
The necklace Eleris gave me held a small golden pendant studded with a blood drop like ruby.
“Eleris, then, does that mean…. They call the heads of a clan Vampire Lords?”
“That’s how it would be, but….”
Eleris seemed to be one of the most powerful Vampires and yet it still wasn’t easy for her to stay out in the sun, even though it’s not to the point of impossibility.
“So, why did you give me this necklace….?”
“If this ring harbours the power of the Dreadfiends, what do you think this pendant could do?”
A pendant harbouring the power of a clan that specialized in fire magic.
“It will enable me to use fire magic, right?”
“Of course, it would only work within the confines of Your Highness amount of mana. It’s a little different from Sarkegaar’s ring. You’d be able to summon flames just by using mana, no need for complicated chants.”
I didn’t understand it fully, but just hearing her explanation just made me realize what a ridiculous item this was.
Magic was a power only geniuses could use. This thing enabled even an idiot to summon flames if they have enough mana.
Scrolls were only one-time use items, but with this I’d be able to permanently use this magic.
A great treasure, indeed.
“Do you want to try it out?”
“Hmm….”
By using the Flame of Tuesday I could use fire magic. My mana level was at 9.9 as far as I could remember. I knew that this was quite high for someone my age.
I held the pendant in my hand and imagined flames in my head, just like Eleris told me a second ago.
-Flare!
Then a Flame appeared in front of my eyes.
“This is how it works.”
“But only this much?”
I didn’t expect something of the leven of a fireball to appear, but this was just on the level of a lighter flame. Did I actually have as much mana as a rat maybe?
“Your Highness isn’t able to make full use of your mana yet. If you learn powers related to magic sensitivity or magic control, you would be able to create more powerful flames with the same amount of mana.”
So in the end that’s all I could do with this powerful treasure due to my lack of ability.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“There might be some emergencies in which Your Highness wouldn’t be able to do anything, so having this would be advantageous, right?”
I didn’t really know what I could do with a lighter flame though.
“Still, something like the symbol of your clan…. Can you just give me something like that?”
“If I gave you something of similar value to what Sarkegaar gave you, wouldn’t the chances increase that you’ll stand on my side in the future?”
Eleris spoke while laughing jokingly. Sarkegaar and Eleris both gave me their family’s heirlooms.
It was quite funny.
Sarkegaar, the one that wanted war, gave me something that would help me live a peaceful life in the human world.
The pacifist Eleris, on the other hand, gave me an item related to destruction.
“Also, it would be rather shameless to proudly wield that place’s items while deciding to betray them.”
Eleris seemed to want to relinquish all the responsibilities and obligations she held as a Clan Head as well as the last member of the Tuesday Clan with this. It seemed like Demons couldn’t let go of their families even while betraying them.
“I just have one thing to ask.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“If I use this, just this little flame comes out, but what would happen if you were to use this?”
I was just able to produce a flame the size of a lighter flame. The simplification of the magic chant would be a tremendous thing for a wizard, rather than someone as ignorant as me.
So how much power could this little thing exert in the hands of someone like Eleris?
“I don’t know, because I’ve never used this before.”
One could tell just by looking into her eyes that she was lying.
It seems like there were some painful memories resurfacing in her, but I saw that this pain only briefly passed by her eyes. Eleris told me one last thing, looking straight into my eyes, holding my shoulders.
“Your Highness, this is by no means a good item.”
Eleris didn’t seem to appreciate this heirloom called Flame of Tuesday.
“…….”
“It’s an object that responds to darker emotions. The more malice you hold against someone the greater the flame would be.”
This seemed to be something I should be careful about while using.
An object that could sense its owner’s emotions, especially hostility and malice. It was an item that completely fit the preconceived image humans had of demons.
“I hope you’ll understand why I offered the Flame of Tuesday to you.”
She didn’t want me to hurt anyone, but she was worried about me so she gave me something like that.
If something happened at Temple, I should only use this if I was in a life-threatening situation.
That’s what Eleris meant.
Eleris was afraid of me, but she valued me just as much.
“Thank you, I plan to never use this until I graduate.”
Eleris smiled brightly, as this was what she wanted to hear the most.
She really was the weirdest one.
* * *
The Heirloom of the Dreadfiend clan.
The Heirloom of the Tuesday clan, which was part of the Seven Nights.
I was the only heir to the Darklands, the Demon Realm that got unified as one nation, so it wasn’t so strange for me to hold these items.
Still, a beggar-turned-Temple student was now in possession of two great relics of the imperial level.
That definitely was suspicious.
The ring, of course, was a camouflage item, so it had transparency and dematerialization magic properties on its own, so it just looked like an ordinary metal ring, and Eleris put an old looking metal case around the exterior of the pendant that otherwise looked precious. It certainly seemed like the better option to put a normal looking casing around it than camouflage magic that might get detected. So in the end all I had was what looked like a worn-out ring and pendant. To be honest, I’d believe it if someone told me these things were picked up by a beggar wandering around.
Since I received some amazing items from both Eleris and Sarkegaar, I had the thought that Loyar might give me something as well, but then again how could I expect anything great from someone wearing rags, chilling around a bonfire all day? She should just take good care of herself and eat well.
That was what I thought, but….
“……What is this?”
“Pocket money.”
Loyar handed me a bag of gold coins to use at Temple.
Loyar told me to tell her if I needed any more money, because the issue of the admission fee got solved anyway, and Temple would only pay for some of my living costs.
Loyar was the most important instance to me in the long run.
It seemed that their progress of spreading their power to the mana trains was going smoothly.
Tomorrow, I’d finally move into Temple’s dormitory.
Of course, it wouldn’t be good for me to continue living here, but I was exhausted just thinking about moving into an environment I knew nothing much about, filled with major characters.
It wouldn’t have been so bad just living at Eleris’ place.
I couldn’t fall asleep that night, maybe because I was just thinking about all the trouble this would bring.
However, I made a promise.
I was going to do the things I set out to do and I would do them well.
I felt it in Charlotte’s case.
It wasn’t such a bad thing saving someone who was supposed to die.
As a result, I could save people who died because of my karma. If you asked me, I believed this to be a good thing.
This was a slice-of-life story.
But even slice-of-life stories were written by people who were talented in that field.
So the biggest reason for this novel’s failure, the reason all the readers who kept going until the middle of it fell away, was…
I didn’t have the talent for writing these kinds of stories until the very end. As the events and materials I had planned out were depleted, my writing lost its way and as a result I lost my motivation to move the story forward.
Therefore.
I just flipped the table.
This crazy novel only came into being because of the author’s lack of ability to create any more events.
…In the middle of that story…
…I made Gates suddenly opened.
