I Became an Academy Counselor - Chapter 17

Ophelia’s POV

“…Alright, that’s done.”

I’ve managed to somewhat fix Orca’s messy hair.

I’d like to tell her to wash up completely, but I held back.

With all the dirt and dust in her hair, I’m worried the bed will be messy if she lies down like this.

…Maybe I should try suggesting it.

“Orca, don’t you think it might be better to wash up now…? I’ll fix your hair again afterward.”

“…”

Sigh.

She doesn’t seem inclined to listen at all.

Her face, unable to accept her defeat, looks just like a sulking child.

No, with children, you can at least force them to wash if necessary.

Orca is much stronger than me, so I can’t even force her to wash, which makes it worse.

“Don’t be so gloomy… I’ll buy you something delicious. I heard shrimp is good these days, what do you think?”

“…”

I know her disappointment must be great.

She was beaten in close combat, which she prided herself on.

But I didn’t expect her to be this depressed.

Even trying to tempt her with her favorite food doesn’t get any reaction from her.

…Am I treating her too much like a child?

But she’s no different from a child who hasn’t grown up yet.

The same goes for Leo, who’s staring blankly into space next to her.

He seems even more shocked than Orca.

Well, he’s lost twice in a row now…

“…I’ll come back in a bit.”

Feeling that staying here wouldn’t lead to any progress, I decided to go outside for some fresh air.

Looking around, I see students who seemed a bit awkward before, but now they have gathered in groups, chatting away.

I wonder if they’ve become closer due to the competition.

I wonder if someday, the children I care about will be able to spend ordinary days like this.

Will I be able to see with my own eyes the scenes I’ve only seen in fan art and fanfiction?

Just imagining it makes me feel happy.

“Teacher Ophelia.”

“Principal, what brings you here?”

“…It seems you forgot. Didn’t I say I’d come find you later?”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, that’s right.

I must have forgotten while taking care of the students.

…Is it because I heard about it right after she got angry at Stella about the age-related comment?

The shocking scene must have made me forget unconsciously.

“…Greetings. I’ve heard many rumors about you.”

The third playable character I’ve met after Orca and Leo.

The one with the highest potential to reach the top position in this world.

The Second Princess, Stella.

I had spent a lot of time wondering how to react when I finally met her in person.

I even considered learning proper etiquette, thinking she might appreciate it since she’s a princess.

But I decided against it, remembering that Stella’s character always disliked such obvious pandering.

I had planned out how to respond based on our first meeting situation.

…But now that we’re actually meeting for the first time, I have no idea how to react.

The first meeting I had imagined was, well…

You know, something like…

Meeting in a slightly more traditional place, befitting a princess?

Or meeting in a situation where we had to maintain appearances?

That’s the kind of situation I had in mind.

I never even considered the possibility of meeting the princess while she had a lump on her head and kept watching the principal nervously.

How could anyone predict this situation?

…How should I respond?

“…Ahem. I’m sorry, but could we go inside the counseling room first? It’s… a bit… embarrassing out here.”

“Ah.”

However, seeming not to care about my reaction, Stella apparently wanted to move somewhere out of sight first. Well, I can understand that.

I was getting distracted by this lump on her head, so other students probably couldn’t help but stare either.

She already attracts attention just by existing, and now she has this strange lump on her head?

It would be stranger if she didn’t draw attention.

“I’m sorry, but that might be difficult.”

“Why, why?! That old hag isn’t the type to be stingy with money!”

“You brat. You called her an old hag again.”

“Huh?!”

She’s really asking for it.

She’s been inviting trouble with her own words since earlier, which is just like her.

She must have slipped up while protesting, unable to bear the embarrassing situation.

But no matter how embarrassed she is, I can’t let her into the counseling room right now.

“Orca and Leo are in the counseling room right now.”

“Ah, those two. What’s the problem with that?”

“It seems they’re quite upset about losing in their areas of expertise. I’m worried the situation might worsen if you enter, Your Highness.”

“…? Losing to me shouldn’t be something to be upset about. Shouldn’t they be proud instead?”

“Ahaha…”

That confident and arrogant statement.

It’s so like her.

But that’s exactly why I can’t let her in.

She’d probably provoke those two without feeling any guilt.

Leo might just dig himself a little deeper into the ground, but…

Orca might seriously try to kill her.

So, I can’t let her in.

As she said during the competition, we can’t have her get arrested for attempted regicide, can we?

“It’s because of your insensitive way of speaking that we can’t let you in.”

“Ugh?! You, you hit me again! How dare you strike the body of a princess!”

“This is the only way to make you listen.”

“Urgh…!”

“We can’t have students getting hurt. …How about my office? There shouldn’t be anyone there.”

“Ah, if it’s there…”

“You heard her? Go fix that rotten mindset of yours.”

Stella looked at the principal with a sense of injustice, but there was nothing she could do.

The principal is the current Emperor’s teacher, after all.

She can’t win in terms of ability, and she knows her father’s personality too well to think tattling to him would help.

Of course, as the Emperor, he would obviously say his daughter was completely in the wrong.

Knowing this, even as a princess, she can’t carelessly defy the principal.

“Now, Your Highness. Don’t be too angry…”

“…I’ll hit you again later.”

“Sure, I’ll take as many as you can give. If you can manage it.”

Yet she continued to make threats, showing that unbreakable personality of hers.

This is going to be troublesome…

***

“…So? What do you intend to do with me?”

“Hmm, well…”

“Let me tell you, I am perfectly normal. …It’s best not to believe too much on what that old hag says. She is old, after all.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

As soon as we entered the principal’s office, Stella declared to me out of the blue.

Saying she was perfectly fine.

As if the world was hers now that the principal had disappeared saying she had business to attend to, she sat down confidently in the main seat.

…It seemed more like she left the seat because she thought her presence might affect the counseling results, rather than actually having business to attend to.

But Stella probably doesn’t care about such things.

What’s more important to her is that the person who could control her has disappeared from sight.

“Honestly, that old hag… She’s always been like this since I was young. Saying my personality needs to be tempered a bit, and whatnot…”

I smiled mockingly as I watched her complain while she leaned back in the principal’s chair with her head tilted.

Although it wasn’t described in detail in the game I played, I could tell what kind of relationship they had just by looking.

She must have been constantly restrained from acting as she pleased whenever the principal was around, so from Stella’s perspective, it must have been quite annoying.

“I agree with the principal’s opinion, though.”

“…Hmm?”

“That personality of yours, I certainly like it… But it does need to be tempered a bit.”

The problem is, that her personality really does have issues.

Or more precisely, it doesn’t suit her abilities.

She has a tendency to look down on anyone she hasn’t acknowledged.

And because that threshold is so high, she doesn’t help anyone except those she’s known for a very long time or those whose abilities she personally recognizes.

Of course, this was probably the game company’s way of setting limitations to cover for the game’s constraints…

As a result, she doesn’t draw out her abilities to their full potential.

I remember discussions in the community about how she only gives her ability to at most three people when she could give it to many more.

They said if she had generously bestowed her ability without holding back, she would have always ascended to the emperor’s throne.

When I used a mod to remove the enhancement limit, I quickly turned it off again.

It became too strong and not fun anymore.

So why did she give her ability to the students?

This was a special situation.

She was certain the gap between students wasn’t large, so she just threw it out there for her own benefit. If she had felt the gap during enrollment was big, she wouldn’t have even dreamed of giving enhancements while choosing who to give them to.

…That’s just speculation though.

The prevailing opinion was that the game company did it because they needed to show off her ability. I think the latter is more credible too.

“I’m sorry, but all of that old woman’s attempts to correct me have failed.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Fasting, and whatnot… All of it failed. Even if I were put under hypnosis, I’m confident my personality wouldn’t change.”

“I see.”

“Mm. I’ve lived like this my whole life, you see.”

She exuded confidence as she told me she was sure her personality wouldn’t change even under hypnosis.

“Then, what if I said I was going to hypnotize you?”

“Didn’t I just say? I’m confident it won’t change even if you use such things. I won’t fall for mere tricks that just divert attention.”

“How impressive.”

“…What’s with that half-hearted response? I thought you might be somewhat capable since you corrected that brute, but I guess you’re useless too. I’m confident I won’t even fall under hypnosis in the first place.”

Hmm, a half-hearted response, she says.

Then what kind of response should I give to not be half-hearted?

I smiled at the blankly standing Princess and said:

“Then, Your Highness, since when did you think you haven’t been falling under hypnosis?”

How cute.

She had already been under hypnosis since entering the principal’s office.

————–

TL: 

Hello guys, just a quick reminder that Chapter 16 had editing errors and half of the story was missing. It has now been fixed. -Mhoki

Regicide means “a person who kills a king”