Chapter 7.0 — The First Day

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After yesterday, I realized it was no longer safe for me to remain just a supporting character in the grand story of the capital—

No. From now on, I had to become a background extra.

A perfectly ordinary face in the crowd, existing solely to fill in the scenery.

That’s why, here at the academy, my primary goal is to blend into the background as much as humanly possible.

To that end, I’ve found myself some cardboard-cutout friends.

Albert von Grassel — third son of Count Grassel. Perfect background material, since he’s utterly terrified of women and any form of interaction with them.

Kurt von Lindegard — sixth son of Count Lindegard. Perfect background material, since he believes his life’s calling is to remain silent. He can sit beside you for an entire day without uttering a single word—an absolute treasure for crowd scenes.

And me—second child of Count Seido. Perfect background material, since I possess no distinguishing traits whatsoever.

My new troupe is assembled: together, we fill the background flawlessly.

Perhaps, someday, we’ll be granted an entire chapter dedicated to “our adventures.” That would elevate us to the rank of actual supporting characters. But that day is still far off.

The first day passed without incident: new acquaintances, role assignments—everything unfolded exactly as it should. My class has twenty-two students, each fulfilling their own narrative function.

The protagonist of this school story is Dor Northwind, first son of the Northern Count. Tall, fair-haired, with a serious gaze and a proud bearing. His manners are impeccable, and he wields a sword as though he were born with it in hand. Dor immediately drew the attention of every girl in the room, breaking several hearts before the day was over. He radiates that unmistakable “hero’s aura” that makes everyone else fade into the background.

The supporting cast of the school story:

Anna Lichtenwald — daughter of a southern baron; gentle, sweet, and always ready to offer the protagonist moral support.

Hans Rotfeld — Dor’s cheerful friend, almost always the butt of lighthearted mishaps.

Margaret von Stein — the combative girl who constantly teases Dor, yet secretly admires him.

Eric Gardner — the intelligent strategist, brilliant in theory but weaker in practice. Exists to highlight Dor’s strength with clever commentary.

Sophia Graves — the reserved daughter of a wealthy family, the classic “cool beauty” who will, of course, one day open her heart to Dor.

Thomas Wilmar — the simple-hearted good guy who supports the protagonist physically (carrying things, covering him in battle) but never steps into the spotlight.

And the remaining fourteen students?

They’re background characters who appear only when Dor needs an audience—or a crowd of extras—to confirm his greatness.

If you’d like, I can also give you a slightly more comedic “meta light novel” rewrite where the narrator breaks the fourth wall even harder, poking fun at tropes while still advancing the scene. That could make the humor land even sharper. Would you like me to prepare that version?

❖ ❖ ❖

“How was your first day at the academy?” Albert asked.

“Pretty normal,” I replied.

Kurt simply raised a thumb. That was his preferred method of communication.

“How about we go to a café and celebrate our first day?”

“Sounds good, but I’m broke.”

“My treat. So, shall we?”

Kurt raised his thumb again.

We headed to Café “Café” to order what they called “cakes.” The line was enormous. No surprise—it was the Festival of the First Bell, and everyone wanted to celebrate.

“Man, what a line,” I sighed.

“Yeah, looks like we’ll be here a while,” Albert agreed.

Normally, this is the point where a “scripted character” shows up to let the protagonist skip ahead…

But today, no clichés. We stood there for a full hour. Background characters don’t get shortcuts.

“Good afternoon, what will you have?”

“One cake and a hot chocolate each,” I said.

We sat down to wait.

“So, anyone catch your eye among the girls?” Albert asked.

Kurt thought for a moment, then silently raised his thumb.

“Haven’t seen the perfect candidate for my girlfriend yet,” I answered.

“I like Anna. She’s a nice, sweet girl,” Albert said dreamily.

“I think you’d make a good couple,” I nodded seriously.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

Kurt raised his thumb again.

Knowing the cliché, I was sure she’d give Albert a simple, cold “no,” and that would be the end of his background-character romance arc before it even began.

But Albert took my “perfect couple” comment far too seriously, and the very next day decided to ask Anna out. Kurt and I decided to watch the scene unfold.

He began his confession like a true background character: stammering “Uh… um… uh…” sprinkled with trembling hands and knees, eyes fixed on the ground, and keeping the perfect distance for a proper ninety-degree bow.

“W-w-would you… be my girlfriend?” he asked, more like a question than a proposal.

Albert nailed the role 100%.

“Albert, you’re a fairly handsome guy,” Anna replied with a sweet smile, “but the very thought of us dating makes me sick. Between being with you or with an orc, I’d choose the orc. I’m pretty sure he kisses a hundred times better than you.”

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Albert, of course, ran off to his dorm in tears, while Kurt and I strategically retreated to the café to recover from what we’d just heard.

“I don’t even want to imagine what happened to Albert’s self-esteem after that.”

Kurt just shrugged.

“I don’t know… do you think we should check on him?”

Kurt shrugged again.

“Yeah, I agree—better to drink hot chocolate for him instead.”

❖ ❖ ❖

On my way back from a productive café visit, I noticed the capital felt livelier. The number of people on the streets had multiplied, and the beggars had vanished entirely.

Thanks to me, people in the capital no longer feared going outside. The One-Eyed Dragon—the hero who freed the city from constant terror.

Of course, Rein told me the newspapers weren’t run by Hugo, but by some Rotfeld. So I’ll find him and print: The One-Eyed Dragon utterly defeats Rotfeld. What could be more humiliating than reading about your own defeat in your own newspaper?

I was also growing curious about what Freya was doing with all the disinformation. If she’s planning something against Hugo or Rotfeld, I’ll have to move fast so the Dragons don’t take all the credit. Maybe they tricked and used me, but fighting them outright just feels… wrong.

As for the Raven, I fought him again. A strong opponent—he can transform his body into a flock of crows. In my world, I’ve seen a character with a similar power… or maybe magic.

I want to learn to turn my own body into slime. That would look insanely cool in battle, right?

Still, no matter how much fun I’m having now, I’ll eventually have to track down those spheres. I already have one—it’s ranked nineteenth in power among them all.

“Tonight at the café. Ten o’clock,” said a man passing by.

If that’s an invitation to a date, then he’s the only person in the capital with any creativity. More likely, he’s a quest-giver who’ll hand me a job worth a lot of money.

Of course, I can’t rule out the possibility of a trap—luring in a background character just to beat the information out of him, then kill him outright.

Well, that’s a problem for future me. For now, I’d better focus on perfecting my role as a background character.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Sis, I’m home.”

“Welcome back, Yami. Lunch is on the table,” my sister called from the bedroom.

“Got it.”

Stepping into the kitchen, I was greeted by the unbeatable aroma of Mother’s casserole. On the table sat a fresh green salad—and in a glass, something oddly familiar.

The dark fizz instantly gave it away—was that… cola?!

“Sis, what’s in the glass?”

“It’s cola. My students love it, so I decided to buy some and see what all the fuss is about.”

I see. So there are more transmigrators here than I thought. One opened a café, another started producing goods from my world.

Knock knock.

“It’s open!” my sister called.

The door swung open—Rein entered with a colleague in tow.

“Good afternoon, milady,” he greeted.

“Lunch is on the table, I’ll be right there.”

Rein stepped into the kitchen, his colleague following.

“Enjoy your meal, Yamazaki,” Rein smiled.

“Thanks. What brings you here so early?”

“They let us off an hour from patrol, so we thought we’d drop by for a bite.”

“I see.”

They washed up and sat down. We began eating. A moment later, my sister emerged from the bedroom in a new dress.

“Well? Can I wear this to the conference tonight?” She struck a few poses to show it off.

“Wow, you look stunning in that,” said Rein.

“That dress perfectly highlights your everyday beauty,” I added.

“Thanks, Yami!” she said, blushing slightly.

Girls don’t just want to hear they look beautiful now—they want to hear that their already high beauty has reached its peak at this very moment. That way, you avoid the awkward follow-up: ‘So I wasn’t pretty on other days?’

“So you’re saying, Rein, that in my other dresses I looked… ugly?”

“N-no, no, I meant that this dress suits you best.”

And just like that, Rein dropped in both my estimation and hers. His colleague was probably thinking, ‘Just shut up before you dig yourself deeper.’

The rest of lunch, he stayed silent.

Rein and his colleague left for patrol, my sister for her conference. I was alone at home—which meant I could head out for that quest from the mysterious man.

I left the house and made my way to the café.

❖ ❖ ❖

Arriving around nine, I was surprised to find it closed. No one was around. I decided to wait a few minutes.

After five minutes, the waitress who usually served me finally opened the door. She glanced around nervously, as if checking for tails.

“Come in,” she said, opening the door wider.

I stepped inside. Waiting for me were two girls in black suits with cloaks and hoods, and at the main counter stood a young man with his back to me.

“Tonight, the moon will be dyed crimson, and the streets of the capital will once again burn with the flames of battle,” he declared with theatrical gravitas.

The speech was maximum cringe—especially since he hadn’t even introduced himself. If you’re going to say stuff like that, you need a name or alias that strikes fear with a single syllable.

Sure, his outfit was stylish, and his pose was textbook “cool quest-giver hero,” but the effect was ruined by the wine stains on the table and the glass in his left hand. Who even taught him NPC etiquette?

“The cult will strike back tonight, so please, I beg you… help us, Chief.”

“Chief…?”

The mysterious young man turned—and I realized it was my old friend Otto. He dropped to his knees and bowed low. I mean, I love being elevated to god-tier status, but this was overkill.

“Get up, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

He shot to his feet, apologizing profusely.

“Chief, please help us. We thought we could handle the traitor ourselves, but we’ve been cornered,” Otto explained.

“I see. And what exactly do you need from me?”

“The main problem is that most of our girls can’t control their mana properly. It’s like it won’t respond to them.”

“I get it. Someone’s poisoned them with malignant mana.”

“There are only eight members still in decent condition, including us.”

So my organization hadn’t collapsed—in fact, it had grown stronger. They just had problems right now. Fine, I’d help them. And maybe, just maybe, Freya would let me be their boss again. After all, I founded the group.

“I’ll help. But where’s Freya?”

“She’s at headquarters with the others. But the traitor is probably planning to assassinate them. Please, save us!” Otto pleaded, eyes brimming with tears.

Perfect moment to say:

“I’ll save you, just like I did eight years ago.”

“Chief…”

“I am the One-Eyed Dragon, Lord of Dragons, undefeated in sky or on earth! Tonight, the moon will be dyed crimson not by death, but by my rebirth as a Dragon!”

And there it was—the perfect quest from Otto: save the organization from assassins. Hopefully, the reward would be worth the effort.

If you’d like, I can also give this a more over-the-top comedic rewrite that leans even harder into the “mocking RPG tropes” vibe, with exaggerated narrator commentary and sharper punchlines. Would you like me to prepare that version?

❖ ❖ ❖

We set out for the headquarters. I decided not to change out of my everyday school uniform—because in situations like this, it adds a certain cool factor.

We leapt from rooftop to rooftop, darting from alley to alley, until we reached the most elite district of the capital.

We stopped in front of a long, massive building. At first glance, it looked like a shopping mall… Wait. It was the shopping mall from my own descriptions.

“A shopping mall?”

“Yes, Chief. Through the basement of the mall, we can reach the secret manor.”

The girls with Otto cracked the door open so we could slip inside. The interior was pitch-black.

One of them conjured a flame in her palm, giving us just enough light to see.

“This way,” Otto said.

We descended into the mall’s basement, where a long corridor stretched ahead. We walked for about two minutes before reaching a door.

“From here on, we need to be careful,” Otto warned.

The girls eased the door open. Otto peeked inside, then gestured for us to enter.

Beyond the door wasn’t a room at all—just another long corridor.

Caw!

On my first day as the true Lord of Dragons, I was about to face a worthy opponent.

We moved through the dark hallway. Outside the windows, night had already fallen, though it was only around ten in the evening.

“Just around this corner is Louise’s room.”

“Perfect.”

We reached her door. All that was left was to open it—but I knew there was an ambush waiting. If I opened it carelessly, I’d probably get hit, or take an energy blast straight through the window.

“Are you going to open it, or just keep holding the handle?” Otto asked.

At his words, I flung the door open—impact and… nothing. No ambush.

We stepped inside. The room was empty. Louise was gone.

“Interesting.”

“Where could she have gone?”

“All right, I’ll search here for clues. You check the other rooms. If anything happens, shout,” I said.

They nodded and left. I began examining the room—it was fairly spacious. I looked for any hint, any trace that might lead me to Louise.

Whoosh!

I jumped aside. A blade struck the spot where I’d been standing.

“Knew you wouldn’t be able to resist pulling off that rare but incredibly annoying villain cliché,” I said.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but I’m impressed by your skill,” came the reply.

“You see, beggar—no, Raven—I’m the protagonist of this arc. And maybe this will surprise you, but everything that’s happened up to this moment… was already written by me.”

LET THE CLIMAX OF THE ARC BEGIN!

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《END of Chapter 7.0 - The First Day 》