Inside the officer academy classroom.

Liam was surrounded by the sons and daughters of nobles in the tiered classroom.

Ever since his match with Dolph yesterday, the nobles had been openly flocking to Liam.

"Liam, you were amazing!"
"He's a top-tier student, and he went up against Dolph, the top of the class, no less."
"As expected from someone with combat experience!"

Liam, being praised, wore a pleased expression.

"It wasn't that much. He was just weak."

His surroundings praised Liam even more.

Watching this from a distance, Wallace was disgusted by the nobles who were so openly fawning over Liam, a stark contrast to yesterday.

"—Clinging to the strong. What wonderfully honest people."

The ordinary cadets in the same classroom wore bitter expressions as they watched.

They were probably as exasperated by the nobles' change in attitude as Wallace was.

(To think they were mocking him as a country bumpkin just yesterday, and now they're acting like this.)

After his victory over Dolph, the nobles who had previously looked down on him had become Liam's entourage.

(Sigh—I miss the days at the junior academy.)

Kurt, Liam's friend, was there back then.

If he had come to the officer academy with Liam, he probably would have kept these fawning people away.

However, Kurt was the heir to Baron Exner, a family with a military tradition.

People from such families typically chose the officer academy as their final step in their training.

After graduating from the junior academy, they would prioritize attending university and obtaining the qualifications to become civil servants.

Choosing the officer academy last meant working in the military for at least four years after being assigned.

Because of this, Kurt was a university student and wasn't here.

(Come to think of it, he was quite dejected when he parted ways with Liam.)

Kurt had been quite depressed when Liam decided to aim for the officer academy first.

He probably wanted to enroll in the officer academy together, but Liam was an Earl—he couldn't stay in the military forever.

He was the current head of the family, not an heir, and needed to return to his base immediately.

Wallace looked at Liam, who was being fawned over by everyone around him.

"A novice with no combat experience trying to beat me is ten years too early."

Around Liam, who was saying such things, his entourage was confused, saying, "Ten years?" "Is ten years enough?" "H-He's surprisingly quick."

Then, into the classroom, came [Marie Sera Marian], who had cut her hair short.

Purple hair.

With a face that could be called beautiful and a good figure, she stood out particularly in the officer academy, which had many male students.

"Lord Liam, I heard!"

As soon as she entered, she approached Liam, her eyes shining, and clasped her hands.

"—Marie."

Ignoring Liam's clearly displeased expression, Marie began to praise him.

"They say you defeated a top-tier student in a simulator! As expected of you, Lord Liam! I, Marie, was so regretful yesterday that I couldn't witness your valiant deeds, Lord Liam, that I took my frustration out on an instructor. If you had called me, I would have rushed to your side immediately!"

Wallace sighed.

(Liam's knights are all eccentric, aren't they?)

Marie had also enrolled in the officer academy with Liam.

The reason was to obtain a knight's qualification.

However, Marie was a formidable woman who had obtained her knight's qualification two thousand years ago, even if her records were lost.

What would happen when such a Marie came to the officer academy?

—The officer academy, which occasionally received unconventional cadets, had thorough measures in place for such situations.

Separate from the general intake, they had prepared a class for these unconventional individuals.

It was a place to put cadets who not only had exceptional abilities but also seemed to have something hidden behind them.

It was also a class for problem children, and the instructors who taught there were all formidable.

In such a class, Marie refused to cut her hair on the first day and attended class with her long hair.

Naturally, the instructors told her to cut her hair, but Marie overpowered them, making them unable to stand, and even lectured them.

Marie's words were, "Are you really instructors of the Imperial Army if you can be defeated this easily? I don't know what I can learn from you," expressing her disappointment.

The instructors, unable to defeat her, couldn't expel her and were at a loss, so they consulted Liam.

Liam, who had also cut his hair into a buzz cut, told her, "Huh? Why am I a buzz cut and you're refusing to cut your hair short? Cut it already!" and the next day she reported back after cutting her hair.

There were cadets who heard the instructors grumbling, "What was all our effort for?"

In any case, Marie was thrown into a class with problem children and was in a different class from Liam.

Liam seemed to have lost his motivation with Marie's appearance.

"Is that so? That's a shame. Understood, Marie, return to your classroom."

"No, please let me praise Lord Liam more! I must convey to everyone how wonderful Lord Liam is, or I won't be satisfied!"

Her eyes were bloodshot.

Marie began to praise Liam to an extent that even those trying to become Liam's entourage were taken aback.

"First of all, it's natural that Lord Liam is wonderful, and this is inevitable—!!"

Seeing Marie suddenly start a speech, Wallace thought.

(Sigh—I miss the days at the junior academy.)

I like yes-men.

I love those dog-like people who praise me no matter what I do.

But seeing Marie in front of me, her eyes bloodshot with excitement as she praised me, I thought.

This is different—.

Marie, excited and with bloodshot eyes, was spouting things like, "Lord Liam is already a complete being!"

—I love people who fawn over me, but when it reaches this point, it's off-putting.

This one, and also Tier, the chief knight.

Even if I stumbled clumsily, she would probably praise me, saying, "As expected, Lord Liam!"

When it gets to that point, it doesn't feel like praise, but rather like being mocked, which is strange.

—It becomes hollow.

"Lord Liam is a wonderful person!"

"—Is that so, good for you. Marie, return to your classroom."

"Why, Lord Liam!?"

"Class is about to start, isn't it?"

"Ah, that sort of thing—"

"Just go back!"

"Y-Yes!"

Does she have any self-awareness as Liam's second knight, to be late for class while praising me?

While she is certainly capable, these people have many absent-minded aspects.

After watching Marie leave the classroom with her shoulders slumped, the people who had been fawning over me also moved away.

They were probably put off by Marie's extreme flattery.

Just as I was about to gain an entourage, Marie interfered.

That Marie is truly useless.

She doesn't know how to praise moderately, so I look like an idiot.

Ah, the mood I had just moments ago is ruined.

Silently leaving the classroom was one of the cadets who had been surrounding Liam.

Looking nervous, the cadet slipped out of the classroom and began to move as if to escape, when Marie, who was hiding around the corner, called out.

"Class is about to start. Where are you planning to go now?"

The cadet's eyes widened in surprise, but he immediately took out a knife from his inner pocket and tried to stab Marie.

As she grabbed his arm, Marie quickly threw him to the floor and pinned him down.

"What are you thinking, bringing a knife?"

"L-Let go!"

Grabbing one of the struggling cadet's fingers, Marie calmly bent it in the opposite direction of the joint.

"Ah!"

Seeing the cadet suppressing a scream, Marie smiled.

"Just a little more than a civilian. —Why did you approach Lord Liam?"

She bent another finger, but the cadet didn't answer.

As he tried to escape, a large man in black, wearing a mask, slowly emerged from the floor.

Marie wasn't surprised by his appearance, but the cadet was clearly flustered.

It was [Kukuri].

He was a subordinate who protected Liam from the shadows.

"Marie-dono, it's problematic if you act on your own."

"Kukuri, whose orders are these? Does the Barkley family only have assassins of this caliber left?"

Then, Kukuri chuckled.

"—No, this person is from the Lawrence family. Not an assassin."

"A pawn of Dolph."

As Marie bent another finger, the Lawrence family operative disguised as a cadet grimaced in pain. He couldn't hide his agitation that his employer had been identified.

"Yes. It seems they've gone to the trouble of preparing a false identity and sending him to the officer academy. All of this person's identity is fabricated. He's one of the people planted to make Dolph the top student."

"I see, I understand."

He was an individual who gathered information and sometimes spread rumors to benefit Dolph.

Although he seemed to be involved in rough work, it was merely child's play to Marie and Kukuri.

Kukuri complained to Marie.

"I was observing him because he approached Lord Liam to gather information."

"He approached Lord Liam with malicious intent. For that alone, this person deserves death. Don't you think so?"

Kukuri showed a troubled gesture.

"I agree, but we have our own circumstances. His objective wasn't assassination, so we were letting him play along. Well, it can't be helped now that it's come to this. We'll reveal this person's identity and hand him over to the military."

"Oh, you're not killing him?"

"We could kill him, but then Dolph's wrongdoings wouldn't be exposed. Well, killing is always an option."

As Marie released the assassin, Kukuri grabbed him and they both sank into the floor.

Although the assassin tried to scream, Kukuri covered his mouth, preventing him from calling for help.

Seeing that, Marie headed towards her own classroom.

"—The officer academy also has many enemies of Lord Liam."

All assassins who approached Liam were eliminated by Marie and Kukuri.

Several weeks later.

Dolph, unlike Liam, was in a rage as his entourage had left him.

"Damn it! They're all mocking me! It's all the fault of my incompetent subordinates!"

All the cadets Dolph had planted at the officer academy were caught.

Their expulsion was decided immediately, but naturally, calls for Dolph to take responsibility also arose.

However, as Dolph was a noble, he was spared from expulsion.

Instead, graduating as the top student became impossible.

In the military, he was almost certainly removed from the fast track to promotion.

"What do I do? What should I do?"

The Lawrence family was a family with many military personnel, and Dolph's actions had caused trouble for his relatives as well.

Therefore, he was being criticized by his relatives and couldn't expect any help.

"—It's all Liam of the Banfield family's fault. I was supposed to be a man who would rise in the military and become a marshal in the future."

He had worked hard for that, but all his efforts had gone to waste.

Dolph hated Liam even more.

"I will never forgive you, Liam!"

Enraged, Dolph vowed to take revenge on Liam through any means necessary.

Brian: (´・ω・｀) "It's tough. The second knight of the Banfield family is so bad at praising... it's tough."