[The Hated Hero and the Childhood Friend-Saintess Go to School]

The time to take the first class had finally come.

I knew this was kinda late, but the language used in this world was not Japanese.

The reason why I could talk just fine with everyone was that I shared Barrett’s memories.

The same went for the writing system.

The texts in each and every subject consisted of characters that looked like writhing, dying snakes lined up tightly and neatly. The characters were neither hiragana nor kanji, but strangely enough, I could read them.

After breakfast, I returned to my room, stuffed the writing utensils in my bag, and then I was ready to go.

Incidentally, during the morning training, I had promised to go to school together with Tayte and that we would be meeting up at the entranceway of the dormitory.

“““Have a good day, Young master Barrett.”””

“Mhm. I’m off. Please take care while I’m away.”

“““Yessir!”””

I left my room, being sent off by my three maids.

When I arrived at the entrance of the dormitory, I found Tayte was already waiting for me.

“Sorry. Looks like I’ve kept you waiting.”

“P-please don’t mind it, I simply came early because I was looking forward to it too much…”

Certainly, it was still 10 minutes earlier than our appointed time.

I’d come early on purpose as I was afraid to make her wait, but to think Tayte would arrive even earlier than me. And it was because she was looking forward to it, she said… cute, much?

“Okay, let’s get going, shall we?”

“Sure!”

Going to school with a cute girl like Tayte… what a wonderful school life.

While feigning composure, but inwardly jumping with joy, I, with Tayte beside me, made my way through the long tree-lined road leading to the academy from the dormitory ground when a beautiful sight come into view, making me widen my eyes without me knowing.

The academy was surrounded by trees, one side of which was dark green trees. Beyond them, I could see Academy Lake, its surface glittering brilliantly in the sunlight.

Academy Homeville.

This Astor Academy, which was called so, appeared less like an academy and more like a first-class resort.

As Tayte and I were walking along the tree-lined road with such magnificent scenery as the background, our topic of conversation ended up leading to the subject of today’s class.

“We’ll be starting with element examination, right?”

“Yes. The class division will be based on the examination result, but… I’m sure our results will turn out the light element.”

It was only to be expected considering I was chosen by the Holy Sword whereas Tayte was the Saintess.

Or rather, I already knew the results would be as such from the original storyline.

Incidentally, the result of the examination of Raul, the protagonist of the web novel【The Rise of the Weakest Holy Swordsman】, also turned out the light element, so he would be in the same class as us.

The original Barrett found it unpleasant.

From the beginning, he already held Raul in a not-so-favorable light on the account of him being a commoner. However, his harassment intensified when he discovered that Raul had the same light element as himself. Especially during the mock battle, which was the first lesson after the examination results were released and the classes were assigned. He gave a vicious beating to Raul, who couldn’t handle the Demon Sword well yet

“……Mm?”

Just now, ominous words passed through my mind.

Gave vicious beating…?

Who did?

To whom?

The answer to those questions was simple—the former was me whereas the latter was Raul. Yes—I gave a vicious beating to Raul (at least in the original storyline).

“…………”

“Barrett? Is something the matter?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing…”

Tayte asked in wonder when I suddenly fell silent.

I brushed it off somehow, but… that was right. If things proceeded according to the original storyline, Raul and I would be the first to fight in today’s mock battle. Even if I lost on purpose, Raul’s infamy wouldn’t disappear, and doing badly would only worsen my image.

What to do…

“I must say, it is nerve-wracking, isn’t it?” Tayte suddenly said.

“Nerve-wracking? The mock battle?” I asked.

“That is not what I mean… Did you forget? The knights are coming to visit today.”

“Ah.”

I completely forgot about it.

The big shots from the kingdom’s order of knights would come to observe the first mock battle of the new academic year.

This would be the first turning point for Raul.

In the original storyline, I (Barrett) gave a vicious beating to Raul and showed off the strength of the Holy Sword in front of the knights who had come to observe the mock battle. However, among them, one particular knight, who held the title of Holy Knight, saw through Raul’s potential and took him as a disciple.

In other words, if I beat Raul black and blue—not that it was necessary to go to that extent—it should trigger the Event where the Holy Knight saw through his potential.

In that case, it wouldn’t be a problem even if focused on testing how much power I could draw out of the Holy Sword during the actual battle.

“Hey, Tayte.”

“Yes?”

“In today’s mock battle… please support me—”

“Of course!”

I got an OK.

With Tayte’s support, I couldn’t lose.

I felt bad for the Protagonist Raul, but today I would be fighting with everything I had.

I was really looking forward to the mock battle.