Fingel

Biodata

Background / History

Promising student and the loss of Eve

Fingel entered Cassell with an A-Rank bloodline and placed third in the entrance rankings. His professors had high expectations for Bronze Throne, but mathematics was his weakness. Eve, the highest-ranked entrant, tutored him in calculus at the library every Tuesday and Thursday evening 60.

He previously served in the Executive Department, where he knew Ye Sheng and Shide Aki. His memories of Aki include her cooking fried eggs for the team while she was an intern 74.

Fingel blames himself for losing Eve, believing that things might have been different if he had not been drunk that night. He remains emotionally attached to the Eve personality program accessible through Norma, visiting her holographic projection in Cassell’s underground server room 60.

Meeting Lu Mingfei

Lu Mingfei first encounters Fingel sleeping on a bench at Chicago station and gives him a military ration. Fingel introduces himself as an eighth-year senior, attributes his delayed graduation to failed classes, and immediately asks for another ten dollars. Nono intervenes before he can extract money from the freshman 18.

After their arrival at Cassell, Nono assigns Fingel to escort Lu Mingfei to Room 303 and help collect his uniform and student ID. He witnesses Lu Mingfei’s defensive barrier during the Day of Freedom and mistakenly identifies it as Realm of Dust 19.

As Lu Mingfei’s roommate, Fingel becomes one of the principal promoters of his campus reputation. His sensational account of the Day of Freedom brands the freshman an “S-Rank Demon King” 21.

Laurent’s surveillance assignment

Elizabeth Laurent hires Fingel to protect Lu Mingfei from romantic approaches by specified individuals and women connected to the Gattuso Family. Zero is explicitly exempted. Elizabeth transfers him US$100,000 for the assignment 59.

Concerned by Lu Mingfei’s prolonged absence, Fingel visits Eve and learns that he and Zero survived the Kui Gate Project, along with Professor Mans’s entire team. Their trust in one another reminds him of his own losses. Eve tells him that he is projecting his past onto them, and he subsequently asks her to monitor suspicious contacts around Lu Mingfei 60.

Fingel later avoids Ye Sheng and Aki’s engagement ball because he does not want his presence to revive painful memories. He nevertheless sends an anonymous congratulatory message, adding a warning not to let Aki cook alone—a detail recognizable enough to reveal its sender 74.

Constantine’s awakening

During Constantine’s awakening in the Ice Cellar, Fingel enters the damaged Library complex and activates Bronze Throne to force his way through a melted doorway. He then lifts a two-ton emergency isolation door and throws it at the approaching Dragon King 85.

Constantine melts the door and sends the molten iron back at him. Fingel rolls aside but suffers burns to his back as the Library catches fire. He remains conscious on the lawn as the Dragon King moves toward Amber House 85 86.

Novelist and campus bookmaker

Fingel turns Lu Mingfei’s relationships and dragon-slaying exploits into material for the paid serial The Dragon-Riding Girl Is Being Ridden. Alongside writing, he directs forum headlines, promotes romantic betting pools, and suppresses a thread in which blacklisted women discuss pursuing Lu Mingfei 107 127.

His attempts to hide the manuscript eventually fail. Lu Mingfei catches him writing obscene scenes using his likeness, and their struggle snaps Fingel’s laptop before he can save his work. Fingel locks away the remains after Lu Mingfei threatens to eliminate any chance of data recovery 156.

At the end of Lu Mingfei’s freshman year, Fingel revises his chronicle’s title to “A year in the life of the godlike Lu Mingfei.” A conversation about the 2000 Academy Star prompts him to praise Eve’s achievements. Lu Mingfei suspects that Fingel has deliberately remained at Cassell, but Fingel gives no explanation before Zero arrives to take Lu Mingfei away 175.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and heavily built, with broad shoulders and large, rough hands; capable of moving with unexpected agility despite his bulk 18 19.
• Grooming: Introduced with tangled hair; later described with a stubbled face 18 60.
• Clothing: Wears a greatcoat at the station and carries a battered duffel bag when arriving at Cassell 18 19.
• Sleep-deprived appearance: His reversed sleep schedule leaves him pale, with noticeable dark circles 127 139.

Personality

Fingel is shamelessly opportunistic about food, money, and gossip. He uses Lu Mingfei’s meal card to purchase a large lunch for himself and retains debts to News Department members as leverage over them—even after receiving enough money to repay everyone 24 60.

He habitually exaggerates ordinary interactions into romantic scandals. His envy of Lu Mingfei’s popularity produces theatrical accusations and wrestling matches, while his fear of Nono or Zero can turn bluster into immediate deference 24 29 136.

His intrusive behavior coexists with genuine concern. He orders his photographers to suppress an image of Lu Mingfei, warns his roommate about dangerous attention, and acts on his surveillance assignment rather than merely collecting the payment 23 59 61.

Privately, Fingel remains burdened by grief and guilt over Eve. His refusal to attend the engagement ball reflects his reluctance to expose others to that past, while his confrontation with Constantine shows that his habitual avoidance of responsibility does not prevent him from acting in an emergency 60 74 85.

Abilities & Skills

Word Spirit: Bronze Throne

• Produces a dull bronze sheen across his skin upon activation 85.
• Enables him to force open a heat-deformed metal door and lift and throw a two-ton isolation door 85.
• Does not prevent him from being burned when Constantine redirects molten iron at him 85.

Journalism and public-opinion management

• Commands the News Department’s photographers and paparazzi 23 59.
• Uses Nightwatch Forum moderator privileges to pin sensational reports and promote betting pools 37 127.
• Orders traffic restrictions on unwanted discussions, including a thread involving women on Laurent’s blacklist 127.
• Adjusts betting odds based on his observations of Lu Mingfei, Zero, and Nono 131.

Surveillance

• Coordinates field operatives using binoculars, a cuff microphone, and an earpiece 61.
• Uses Eve’s access to campus cameras to track people approaching Lu Mingfei and send screenshots to Zero 74.
• Practices lip-reading, though his reconstructions include imaginative embellishment 131.

Writing

• Authors a paid, restricted-circulation fantasy serial starring a female version of Lu Mingfei at “Cassell Dragon Rider Academy” 107.
• Reworks campus relationships and actual dragon-slaying operations into melodramatic romantic plots 127 139.
• Defends the work as an objective “biography” when Lu Mingfei questions him, while refusing to let its subject read the unfinished manuscript 139.

Mathematics and wrestling

• Tutors freshmen in mathematics, including limits, despite having needed Eve’s calculus tutoring earlier in his student life 60 103.
• Uses wrestling holds during his frequent scuffles with Lu Mingfei 29.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Brass library key — Worn on a faded braided cord; allows him to enter the locked north entrance for his visits to Eve 60.
• Laptop — Used for forum work and fiction; broken during his struggle with Lu Mingfei over the manuscript 127 156.
• Binoculars and communications gear — Used to oversee News Department interceptions and observe campus encounters 61 131.
• Two-ton isolation door — Improvised projectile against Constantine; melted and redirected before it could hit him 85.

Relationships

• Lu Mingfei — Roommate, close friend, publicity subject, and frequent target of teasing. Their shared life includes fighting games, wrestling, and repeated disputes over Fingel’s invasive reporting 21 29 66 156.
• Eve — His former calculus tutor and beloved companion. He continues confiding in her personality program and insists that he remains faithful to his girlfriend 60 131 132.
• Elizabeth Laurent — Employer who pays him to obstruct specified romantic approaches to Lu Mingfei 59.
• Zero — Lu Mingfei’s partner and a recipient of Fingel’s surveillance reports. She is exempt from Laurent’s restrictions 59 74.
• Nono / Chen Motong — A senior whose threats readily secure his cooperation. He calls her the “red-haired witch” and later stalls her outside Room 303 to delay a confrontation with Zero 18 19 136 140.
• Ye Sheng and Shide Aki — Juniors he knew through the Executive Department. He stays away from their engagement celebration but sends a personal congratulatory message 74.

Notable Quotes

“Hello? You’ve reached the office of the News Department chairman. For gossip tips, press one. For photo deals, press two. To borrow money, please hang up.” 59

“If back then, if I hadn’t been drunk that night, … maybe I wouldn’t have lost you.” 60

“Her name was Eve. She ranked first on admission, had A-Rank blood, and ranked first in her Executive Department internship too. … Academy Star was probably the least noteworthy of her honors.” 175