Dark Demon Couldn't Give Up His Greed for Knowledge
September's temperatures had begun to drop. A hint of chill filled Saint Marian's mornings, as though the indifferent world itself had turned beautiful things cold.
This was outrageous!
Dark had never imagined that a thirst for knowledge could be considered "greed"!
Had the Demon God Bloodline really gotten so shameless just to awaken?
What was he supposed to do now?
Should he keep reading this book?
Should he keep attending class?
Sloth and diligence.
The pursuit of knowledge and greed.
How was he supposed to strike a balance between them?
Was he studying too seriously?
Or spending too much time studying?
Dark looked up at the Cuckoo Bird Clock above the fireplace. It was already seven twenty.
"I've probably studied for sixty-five minutes, but I was only really focused for fifty of them. It was only after reading for a long time that I gradually began craving more related knowledge."
"When a desire grows strong enough that you can't be satisfied, it becomes greed."
"But most people would have a hard time reaching that point."
Dark had a realistic understanding of himself in this regard. He knew he wasn't someone who thirsted for knowledge.
Then, after the Demon God Bloodline entered its awakening phase, the threshold for triggering the Sin Index must have become incredibly low!
Suppose other people needed a desire level of 10 for it to count as greed.
He only needed a 9, or even an 8, or a 7, for it to count as greed!
So it wasn't that he couldn't study.
He just couldn't get too absorbed in it!
Ordinary classes and ordinary homework should still be within the margin of error.
Studying by choice and studying because you had to were definitely different.
To find out whether that was really the case, he'd need to run a few little experiments.
Dark took a deep breath. The Greed Index was at 7.
Foolish people would choose to take a step back at a time like this.
Clever people would try to find a method that worked for them.
[Pride +1]
(⊿)
Dark closed his textbook. There were already quite a few more people in the common room, but he'd been so immersed in his sea of knowledge that he hadn't noticed them.
After packing up his books, Dark slung his shoulder bag over himself and left the tower alone. He crossed a bridge and entered the castle.
The castle's interior was a labyrinth, but the Sorting Card would point the way.
The food in the academy cafeteria was varied, unlike last night's opening banquet, which had offered almost no vegetarian options.
Dark picked out a little simple food and ate a modest but decent breakfast.
Then he followed the Sorting Card's directions to find the classroom for his first lesson.
It was nearly eight, but most of the freshmen were only just arriving around then.
The Summoning Class classroom was a large lecture hall that could hold two classes.
Was the Noble House's first class of the year going to be held with the Knight Academy freshmen?
Dark quietly made his way to a corner at the far left of the back row, against the wall, and put his bag in the desk.
"Hey!"
He had only just sat down when Diana, who had a knack for appearing out of nowhere, came over as if she'd already decided he was hers. She was so shamelessly clingy.
Dark glanced at her face, smooth as a freshly peeled egg, and quickly suppressed the urge to pinch her cheeks.
"Good thing I caught myself in time!"
Dark held down his fingers and casually pointed toward the front row.
Diana had been about to sit beside him. Now, she looked at him curiously. "Do you want me to sit with her, Dark?"
Dark hadn't said a word.
Diana cheerfully answered herself. "She doesn't look very outgoing. Diana will go help her!"
Dark still hadn't said anything.
Diana had already run to the front row and started cuddling up to the timid-looking girl.
[Envy +1]
"I dodged the first day, but I couldn't dodge the fifteenth."
Dark fell silent.
Rose Floty was a little flustered as she tried to deal with Diana's excessive enthusiasm.
The girl had celebrated her birthday just half a month earlier. Before coming to Saint Marian Academy, she had never even set foot outside the castle.
Her parents had died at the hands of the Demon King Army. After that, she spent four years in an orphanage, until her uncle, a viscount, took her in when she was five.
Viscount Floty and his wife had been married for ten years without having children. They had planned to bring home a blood relative and raise her as their daughter. But just half a year after she moved into the castle, the Viscountess became pregnant!
And so Rose, who had enjoyed being treated like a "Little Princess" for only six months, became an unwanted burden all over again.
The Viscount and Viscountess couldn't send her back to the orphanage without losing face, so they simply left her in the castle to be cared for by the maids.
She never missed a meal, and they bought her books for her early education. She was taught every bit of proper noble etiquette, but that was all.
She was confined to her room in the castle. Sometimes, she'd see the Viscount and Viscountess playing in the garden with her growing cousin through the window, and her heart would tighten.
A person's personality was heavily influenced by their home environment. Rose gradually grew more introverted and fanciful, yet clearly timid, afraid to reach out.
And now Diana appeared before her like a ray of light, shining into her heart.
Rose was gradually won over by Diana, and the two girls became inseparable.
Friendships formed in childhood were pure, and precious in a way that was hard to regain as an adult.
Dark, who had unwittingly set these events in motion, was glad to see it.
"Now that Diana has a new friend, she shouldn't bother me anymore, right?"
He tilted his head slightly, letting the wind brush across his cheeks, then looked out the window in the direction it came from.
Saint Marian's signature Princess Lilies had bloomed.
Professor Sarah Sylph, the first-year Summoning Technique teacher, stepped into the classroom a second before the bell rang.
The classroom had been particularly noisy with the excitement of the new school year, but it fell silent in an instant.
It wasn't that the freshmen had stopped talking. As Professor Sylph entered, the Wind of Silence swept into the classroom, and every sound vanished!
Most Noble House students had received an elite education before starting school, and realized at once that Professor Sylph had used a Silence Card!
But many of the Knight Academy students had no idea what was going on.
Robert, who was sitting beside Victor, even screamed in terror, his face and neck red as if he'd been boiled.
When Professor Sylph reached the lectern and lifted the silence, Robert's scream suddenly rang out!
"Ah—"
w(Д)w...
"Broheim, since this is the first class, I'll hold off on deducting your points for now."
Professor Sylph brushed the strand of pale golden hair that had drifted in front of her eyes behind her long, pointed ear and spoke with a cool expression.
"Before class, I'll go over the school rules. I'm sure most of you haven't read them yet. I'm Sarah Sylph, a half-elf and a Summoning Class professor at Saint Marian Academy."
A class at Saint Marian Academy lasted ninety minutes. The first began at eight in the morning, followed by a half-hour break. The second ended at eleven thirty. In the afternoon, classes began at two, and there was only one lesson.
The academy used a credit system. Like Hogwarts, it had an Academy Cup—not merely an honorary title, but an actual Holy Grail!
The Marian Holy Grail was said to have been a Magic Guidance artifact ever since the academy was founded. Because it could grant wishes, it was also known as the Wish Cup.
The house with the most credits among the four houses would win the Academy Cup. The Wish Cup would grant every student in that house, from first through sixth year, one chance to make a wish.
The Wish Cup was inscribed with the words: "The greedy will have nothing."
Dark Demon's Familiar Had a Serious Problem
When Professor Sylph mentioned the Wish Cup, both the Noble House freshmen, who were trying to look composed, and the loud-mouthed Knight Academy freshmen couldn't help discussing it.
Robert had learned nothing from his earlier embarrassment. His voice was the loudest in the Knight Academy, and his neck had turned red with excitement again!
"Victor, Victor, did you hear what Professor Sylph said? If we can get the Wish Cup, every one of us can have a wish come true!"
"Don't get too excited, Redneck. The professor said it would give us a chance to make a wish. She never said it would come true."
Victor was also very excited, but he was clearly thinking more carefully.
Meanwhile, Diana was the loudest person in the Noble House. She excitedly chattered to Rose, then decided that wasn't enough and bounced over to Dark. "If we get the Wish Cup, I'll wish for a super-duper Candy House with chocolate walls, candy lights, a gummy bed, a cake roof, candy-cookie carpets, and pudding cushions! And it has to be this huge!"
Watching Diana happily describe the Candy House, Dark almost caught her enthusiasm...
When no [Greed +1] appeared in his field of vision, Dark quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Then he reminded her with a smile, "Diana, the greedy will have nothing."
If the Wish Cup could grant absolutely any wish, it wouldn't be left at Saint Marian Academy for the students to compete over.
Judging by the inscription, most of the wishes it could grant were probably trivial.
Otherwise, Dark would have wished for his Demon God Bloodline to be removed!
And for that lousy system to get lost already!
This time, Professor Sylph didn't use a Silence Card. She waited until the freshmen's chatter gradually died down, then lightly tapped the desk and said, "Besides deciding who wins the Academy Cup, credits are Saint Marian's hard currency. You can use them to buy anything you want on Traveler Street, or trade with any student or teacher at Saint Marian. Of course, every transaction you make will be recorded by your Sorting Card, and the academy will only recognize credits earned through legitimate transactions. Finally, does anyone know how to earn credits?"
Professor Sylph placed both hands on the lectern and sternly surveyed the classroom.
As a half-elf, Professor Sylph had inherited the elves' ethereal beauty and long lifespan. Her appearance showed no trace of age.
Though she always looked stern, she sometimes showed a vulnerable side in private.
That, in turn, had become part of her appeal.
In Duel! Saint Marian Super XX Academy, Professor Sylph was the most popular professor among players.
Of course, she was also a romanceable character.
If she hadn't made such a stern, rigid first impression, lowering some people's affection for her, Dark's Primordial Force might have erupted again.
Then it wouldn't be a question of whether he should go to class, but whether he'd live through it. =.=!
Yet when Professor Sylph asked her question, neither house's freshmen responded. It seemed they, like Dark, hadn't read much of the school rules.
Before you continue