I Got Reincarnated as a Villainous Noble, and When I Tried to Create an All-Male Academy to Avoid a Bad Ending, for Some Reason the Gender Ratio Reversed? - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Villainous Noble Who Became Way Too Popular Right After Enrollment

It was the day of the entrance ceremony.

I sat in the carriage with a wry smile on my face.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around this ridiculous situation—a gender ratio of 1:99.

“Ol-sama, you seem a little pale…”

“Do I?”

“Yes. Did you not sleep well?”

“There’s the entrance ceremony today.”

I hadn’t been able to sleep last night because I was too nervous.

“Please don’t worry. I’m sure most of the new students, myself included, feel nothing but respect and gratitude toward you.”

“…Yeah.”

That was exactly what was making me so depressed.

If I were alone, I would have let out a huge sigh.

But right now, I wasn’t alone in the carriage—my fiancée was here too.

Fran sat across from me, smiling with her usual graceful poise.

She looked calm and composed, but she was the very person who had created this whole situation.

“Ol-sama, may I confirm one thing before we arrive at the academy?”

She leaned forward and locked her eyes firmly on mine.

I wondered what this was about, but I nodded anyway, and Fran slowly opened her mouth.

“Romance is forbidden at the academy.”

“…Yeah.”

“But we have already promised our futures to each other.”

“…Yeah.”

“In other words, our relationship goes beyond mere romance.”

“Yeah…………………………huh?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, she firmly grabbed my hand.

Then, in one smooth motion, she intertwined our fingers.

“So even if romance is forbidden, nothing changes. I will act as your wife with all my heart.”

“Wife? Not as your fiancée?”

“I will act as your wife. Is that all right?”

“…………………………”

“Is that all right?”

“Instead of wife, as fiancée—”

“—Is that all right?”

“…Yeah.”

Overwhelmed by her intensity, I nodded in a very villain-like way.

Most things in life can be gotten through just by nodding.

—Is that really true?

The grip Fran had on my hand was incredibly strong.

There was no way I could shake it off.

※

While I escaped reality by staring out the window, the academy’s main gate came into view.

“There sure are a lot of people.”

New students had already gathered in front of the gate.

I could see uniformed students swelling with anticipation.

If you took just that scene alone, it looked like any ordinary entrance ceremony.

Unfortunately, it was anything but ordinary.

Nearly every student in front of the gate was female.

“Everyone looks so full of hope.”

“…Yeah.”

“It’s all thanks to the wise Ol-sama.”

“…Yeah.”

Is she teasing me?

At this point, I was starting to think she really was.

Fran kept praising me to the skies.

It felt almost fanatical.

No, she’s definitely teasing me.

After all, nothing I’ve done so far has been the least bit wise.

“It’s time to get off.”

When the carriage stopped in front of the gate, I took Fran’s hand and stepped down slowly.

Her pale blue skirt fluttered lightly, and I almost found myself staring in admiration.

That was the moment I noticed the air around us change.

“Is that…?”

“It can’t be… our savior…?”

Murmurs spread like ripples, and countless gazes turned toward us all at once.

No one approached us directly to speak.

But we were definitely being watched.

Looks of expectation.

Looks of gratitude.

Looks of adoration.

And looks that sized me up.

The types of gazes varied, but every single one was focused on me.

—I’m being stared at like crazy.

The stares didn’t let up even after we entered the school building.

On the way to the auditorium, the attention never stopped.

And every time we passed someone, I heard the same things.

“…That’s him.”

“I can never thank him enough.”

“…A true hero.”

“…Wonderful, truly wonderful.”

“If he isn’t married yet, then I—”

“I would love to apply to be his bride.”

This really does feel kind of religious.

If they’re going to worship someone, I wish they’d pick the saint instead of me.

There are plenty of churches in town, after all.

Also, I don’t remember ever becoming a hero.

I’m just a villainous noble.

And there was one more thing I wanted to say.

“Fran?”

“Ol-sama is my husband. Mine.”

She seemed jealous of the voices drifting from afar.

Her grip on my hand tightened painfully.

It honestly hurt.

Why am I even holding hands with Fran in the first place?

Before I could dwell on that question, she pulled me firmly toward the auditorium.

The entrance ceremony was being held there, and the new students were already lined up by class.

But the sight was bizarre.

Almost everything in my field of vision was female.

No, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say all of it was.

There was only one other male freshman besides me.

And the bigger problem was that the one other guy—

“New students, quiet please.”

As Fran and I joined the line, the academy head standing on the stage spoke.

The head of the Royal Magic Academy—Pales Luma.

Long ears, petite build, youthful face.

At first glance, she looked like a child, but she was undeniably the one who ruled this academy.

—An elf.

A familiar race from anime and manga, said to live over a thousand years.

The head stood on the stage with a presence far more commanding than her appearance suggested.

Her sharp eyes turned toward me for a brief moment.

“Starting this year, this academy enters a new era.”

The head’s voice echoed through the auditorium.

“Privileges based on status, gender, or family background have been abolished. Only one thing will be evaluated—results.”

A stir ran through the crowd the instant she said that.

The expressions of the students around me seemed to shift.

“This year’s incoming class is almost entirely female. So I will say this clearly…”

She took a deep breath and continued.

“You have all been oppressed far too long. I was too. Looked down on because I’m a woman, forced to bend my will because I’m a woman, denied chances to grow because I’m a woman. That was this country’s policy, its common sense. But starting today, it’s different!”

The head swept her gaze across the entire auditorium.

“Work hard. Produce results. And carve your own future. That is what you can do.”

Her feelings, her resolve, reached every new student through her words.

It was heat.

Burning, searing heat.

A cry from the soul.

“From now on, you will be expected to act with your own will. Don’t conform to those around you. Don’t worry about what others think. Seize your future with your own will, your own choices!”

The head let out a soft breath and said,

“That concludes my remarks. Do your best.”

The moment she finished, applause suddenly rose from somewhere.

It spread quickly and soon enveloped the entire auditorium.

The head looked briefly surprised, then showed a shy expression.

“Now, finally, let us hear a few words from the person who led this reform.”

She said something completely unexpected.

“Huh?”

The person who led the reform?

What… I have a really bad feeling about this.

“Top student—Orufusen Starz Island. Come forward.”

The instant my name was called, a shiver ran down my spine.

My bad feeling had been spot on.

“Ol-sama?”

“Why am I being called up front?”

“Because you are the top student, Ol-sama.”

Fran answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“…Yeah.”

I muttered expressionlessly, but inside I wanted to clutch my head.

Sure, it’s common for the top student to give a speech at entrance ceremonies.

But what even is “top student”?

What ranking?

There wasn’t any entrance exam.

I only had an interview with the head.

Wait, does that mean I ranked first in the interview?

That’s totally just teasing at this point.

No matter how much I thought about it in my head, I didn’t have the courage to say it out loud.

And there was nowhere to run.

Feeling every gaze in the room on me, I steeled myself and stepped forward.

“—!”

The moment I did, applause broke out.

No, it wasn’t just applause.

It was thunderous cheering that far surpassed the response to the head’s speech.

And I hadn’t even said a word yet.

—This is wrong.

When I reached the stage, I saw people in the audience crying, not just clapping.

This had completely turned into a religion.

The cult kind.

What on earth did I do wrong?

Thinking back on it, I opened my mouth.

The words were squeezed out with all my effort.

“…I’d be happy if… we all get along from now on.”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

In that instant, a wave of frenzy crashed over me.

Sweet screams from the women filled the entire auditorium.

—This academy is insane.

Faced with that utterly bizarre scene, I found myself missing my graduate school days in the science department.