Apparently, Her Highness Princess wants to keep her relationship with me a secret (what does she even mean by 'her relationship with me'?) - 4-1

4-1

*Changing Combat Arts to Martial Prowess.

The man I revere as “His Excellency,” Dan Westminster, —for better or worse, is both famous and infamous in Roman.

Though the weather wasn’t cold, he wore a thick brown coat, gazing sharply at me. His deep indigo hair cascaded to his waist, and his eyes glimmered like twin blue suns.

“Gentlemen and Gentlewomen. The reason I, Dan Westminster, have come to your classroom today, is to personally convey through my very mouth, the details of the extracurricular lesson that begins tomorrow.”

The Westminster family is a prestigious lineage known for their academic achievements.

This very school I attend was founded by His Excellency’s ancestors, who poured vast wealth into its establishment. The Westminsters have devoted themselves to learning from a young age, studying abroad in academic cities around the world and bringing their knowledge back to Roman—a merchant family that earned their noble title through unwavering dedication.

“Not only Class 2-C—this will be a grand extracurricular lesson involving all second-year students. Now, as for why a busy man like myself is personally visiting each classroom…”

Yet within the Westminster lineage, His Excellency has always been a black sheep.

Instead of choosing an academic city, he pursued his studies in the most dangerous region in the world—the Casdia Territories. After returning to Roman, he invested in incomprehensible fields and repeatedly suffered spectacular failures. The name Dan Westminster became synonymous with a fool lacking foresight.

“It has been five years since I became the headmaster of Westminster. The art of martial prowess, once a tradition that struck fear into other nations, has become nothing more than a child’s game. Our pride is gone. The glory of the past has long since faded. At this rate, Westminster will lose its place among Roman’s Four Great Schools. That is what I think looking at the present way of things.”

But he isn’t hated per se—If anything, he’s simply… exasperating.

Currently, His Excellency serves as the headmaster of Westminster, is a position granted more out of pity than merit. But the radical reforms he had put in, have earned him the contempt of many students studying here.

“Therefore, I will give you the opportunity to reclaim the pride which we feel of our martial prowess.”

And now, that very Dan Westminster himself stood before our class, declaring:

“Departure is tomorrow. Before the day ends, form teams of four with those you trust.”

Another one of the headmaster’s pranks had started. Everyone thought that.

When students become second-year at Westminster, they are to participate in many off-campus activities. The first year after enrolling is kept for gathering strength and skills; so that, when they become second year, they are able to unleash it all, exploding themselves into greater heights. That was why, His Excellency’s words were obvious to put it in one aspect. Yet the words coming out from person to person vary greatly in weight.

By evening after school hours, I found Harold clutching his head in his room.

“We’re screwed, we’re screwed, Itose! Four-person martial teams? That damn headmaster’s done it now! There’s no way for us barons, one in these two sections, to put together a team of 4!”

Just the other day, Harold, who had just achieved his 400th consecutive victory, thrusting his head and his big muscular body on top of the bed, as he continued to wail covered up in his bedsheets.

“Yeah… I suppose so myself.”

I sank onto the mattress, letting my body relax.

“What are you so calm for, Itose?! Isn’t this a life-or-death matter for you too!”

“Nope, I’ve already received an offer. Moreover, I’m in a team with three already.”

“Hah!? You’re joking, right?!”

During class, the recruitment battle had begun. Since the team selection can’t cross class boundaries, so everyone scrambled to gather the strongest members possible.

We decided to take His Excellency’s words in as worse as it can be possible. No matter what others speak about him, he is the most notable figure in all of Westminster’s history. Moreover, his power and influence knows no bounds. In other words. It is very possible that anyone who failed the headmaster’s extracurricular lesson would not advance to the third year.

As always, I am a rather infamous figure in the class I was in. Thus, I expected to be a last-minute filler—an outcast as always, taken into the group just to fill its number requirements. Thus I was just keeping a watchful gaze at the ongoing recruitment battle going on. However, surprisingly, I received an offer to join their team. Moreover, not only from one, but multiple at that.

“Itose, you–! Ahh, now I see. Looking at how you became a meat shield for Earl’s daughter in the last match, they probably think you’ll be easy to use huh.”

“Probably so.”

Right now, my current reputation goes like: a baron’s son who will do anything just for money.

It seems, yet another rumor had sprouted surrounding me.

“You, why the hell are you smirking…?”

“Well you see, isn’t it always better than the ‘Itose the Sugar Mama enjoyer,’ don’t you think?”