I Became the Academy’s Weakest Strategist

A long silence filled the library.
The subtle atmosphere between Rommel and Erje was carried through the air, but a warm spring breeze soon dispelled the stillness.
The breeze heralding the start of spring ruffled Princess Erje’s hair, and coming to her senses, she parted her lips.

“…Rommel, how did you come up with such ideas…”
Princess Erje had read hundreds of books and considered herself well-versed in knowledge.
While her empty-headed brothers shunned books for swords and staves, she had spent entire days holed up in the imperial library reading.
Yet the Hammer and Anvil tactic that Rommel had explained was not covered in any of those hundreds of books.

The tactics Erje had learned from books were only about strengthening cavalry and better arming infantry.
The imperial scholars unanimously claimed cavalry was supreme and treated knights and mages as the elite.
Stroking their vain beards, they argued that the side fielding more cavalry and mages would win – theories far removed from the times.
Thus, Rommel’s Hammer and Anvil struck Erje as a fresh shock.

“Lord Rommel, may I know the name of the teacher who instructed you?”
Erje didn’t think Rommel had conceived the Hammer and Anvil tactic alone.
Surely, someone must have guided or taught him.
After Erje’s words, the perpetually sullen expression Rommel had shown her softened slightly.

“I had no teacher.”
Forming a slight smile as he looked at Erje, Rommel’s expression seemed to indicate her guess was mistaken.
“I conceived it all by myself.”
Rommel’s following words struck Erje with renewed shock.
No teacher meant Rommel had single-handedly devised and conceived everything.
As that realization sank in, Erje’s mind became filled with questions.

The first question she had for Rommel was why he had even thought of such tactics.
The empire considered producing knights and mages a greater benefit than strategy and tactics, and was indeed churning out numerous knights and mages.
Given the prevailing societal attitude, only Rommel seemed to be studying strategy and tactics.
But why?
He could have guaranteed success by taking up the sword or staff instead of researching strategy and tactics.

“You…”
Perhaps Rommel wanted to change the empire.
Outwardly robust but rotting from within, the empire faced threats from nomads to the north, barbarians to the south, and another empire to the west.
Yet the princess’s empire alone indulged in dreams of eternal peace and prosperity, refusing to progress.

Erje wished to transform the empire once she became empress, and the purpose she inferred for Rommel aligned with her own thoughts.
She did not want to miss this opportunity.
She did not want to be robbed by her two older brothers again.
She wanted Rommel by her side forever, as a partner to revive the empire together.

“If your curiosity is satisfied, I shall take my leave now.”
Scrape.
As Rommel pushed back his chair to rise,
“Wait a moment.”
“I have another appointment.”
Despite the princess’s protest, Rommel strode out of the library, leaving Erje to simply watch his back.

From their first meeting until now, he was an unusual man.
“Griff Rommel…”
Erje murmured his name, as if savoring its lingering resonance.
For quite a while, she gazed at the seat Rommel had occupied.
And then,
“What’s this…?”

Erje discovered the book ‘What is War?’ that Rommel had been reading, left at his vacated seat.
Carefully cradling the book in her arms like a precious toy she didn’t want taken away, Erje hugged it tightly with both hands.
As for why he had deliberately left the book behind,
Erje interpreted it as an invitation to engage in deeper conversation the next time they met.

“…I will study diligently.”
Though she still had duties as student council president, Erje resolved to invest all her time that night reading this book, no matter what.

“I thought I was going to die from the tension.”
Having left the library, I was still catching my ragged breath from the earlier events.
Not from physical exertion, but simply because I had conversed with a woman.
Had my graduate school habits not remained, I might have just stood there like an idiot, unable to speak properly.

“That was the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen.”
Of course, it was not romantic admiration at first sight, but simply admiring her beauty.
Her golden hair shining in the sunlight, distinct emerald eyes, refined speech, and elegant demeanor.
She looked like a true noble lady straight out of a novel.
Moreover, for her to interact with a loner like me showed such kindness and consideration.

“Her name was Edinburar Rose, right?”
The Edinburar Ducal Family.
A renowned family even I, barely interested in academy life, knew of.
A distinguished lineage devoted to the imperial family, producing capable knights generation after generation.
Come to think of it, I had heard rumors that the fourth daughter of the ducal family had enrolled in Montegro’s Knight Faculty.

“I heard she’s quite terrifying, though.”
According to rumors, Edinburar Rose was a cold and stubborn person obsessed with swords.
“I guess rumors are just rumors.”
But in our private meeting today, Edinburar Rose was nothing like those descriptions.
She listened attentively, responded, and showed a willingness to learn.
Someone capable of infinitely humbling themselves for self-improvement.
For the sake of learning, a ducal daughter had used honorifics with the third son of a viscount family.
Any third party observing would surely have found it strange.

Of course, I had no intention of pretending to know Rose personally after our private conversation.
The Edinburar Ducal Family was a renowned lineage in the empire, while the Griff Viscounty was a minor house in the outer regions.
Even setting that aside, I did not wish to be associated with those of high status.
It could unnecessarily entangle me in strange matters, and mishandling it could drag me into factional conflicts, giving me nothing but a headache.
If things went awry, it could even cost me my life – a minor nobleman like me survives better by keeping a low profile.

Grumble.
“Should I go eat at the cafeteria…”
As the sun began to set and hunger started to set in, the evening was fast approaching.
Having spent the entire day cooped up in the library, skipping lunch, my stomach was rumbling more intensely than usual.

“Aish, I really went overboard with my rambling.”
It had been so long since I met someone with shared interests that I had babbled excessively.
Why, isn’t that one of the traits of loners?
Being unable to restrain themselves and rambling on when their interests come up?
I was exactly that.

Thud.
Lost in thought, I failed to notice someone walking in front of me and bumped straight into them.
“Oww.”
Let me apologize first.
Shoulder bumps without apologies are among the gravest sins.
“My apologies.”
“Apolo…gies? Hey, is that you Rommel?”
Hearing that familiar voice in front of me, I furrowed my brow.
“…Long time no see.”
“Seeing your ugly mug, I must have no luck today.”
Ptui.
The one furrowing his brow and spitting on the ground was Hans.
A fellow who had been bothering me constantly since enrolling at the academy.
For what reason, I knew not.
Whether because he saw me as an easy target, or if I had wronged him somehow.
It was one of those two reasons, but regrettably, I had not the slightest interest in Hans.
Had he been a girl, I might have shown a bit more interest.

But why was he spitting on the ground? What if someone steps on it?
If this were Singapore, you’d be arrested, you mutt.

“Today I’m in a good mood, so I’ll let you off. Get lost, you useless bastard.”
Oh, he does seem in quite a good mood.
Those two chins dangling from your jaw look happy too.
Look at them swinging away.

“Hey, the two-chinned monster can talk these days. Are your parents two-chinned too?”
“You little…!”
Unfortunately, Hans had one complex.
“A worthless punk who can’t use magic or swords!”

That complex was his double chin.
If you made fun of his double chin when he tried to pick a fight, he would go berserk.
Losing his senses from my insult and harsh put-down, Hans grabbed my collar and started shaking me violently.
But this mutt can’t lay a hand on me.

The Knight Faculty has a rule for its students to maintain knightly honor, so bullying the weak results in immediate punishment from the professors.
The moment this fool tries to hit me, I’ll go running straight to a Knight Faculty professor and report his misdeeds, dragging him to the faculty office.

“All mouth and no trousers.”
Look at him, he knows that too, just trembling without actually hitting me.
“Why are your hands shaking like that? For someone from the vaunted Knight Faculty, did you catch a cold I didn’t?”

“What did you say?”
“Look at your hands, shaking left and right. Ah, did you modify your right hand into an adult toy without me knowing? Congratulations, you’ll have a hot night.”

“You son of a…!”
Despite my taunts, all Hans could do was tremble, unable to cross any further line.
“Insolent brat from a rural viscounty…!”
“Aren’t you a viscount yourself?”

But as you can see from him, these central noble brats really have a bad case of elitism.
Whether because they think being nobles born in the imperial capital makes them superior, or if their heads are just empty, I don’t know.
They form their own little factions and monopolize all the positions among themselves.

The Lady Edinburar Rose I met earlier demonstrated etiquette that would make even Confucian scholars from the Joseon era admire her upbringing, but why is he like that?
And why does his chin look like that too?

“Don’t talk back!!!!”
Eventually, my taunts made Hans turn red and raise his voice loudly.
The good thing about these folks is that they can’t even swear creatively.
Calling themselves nobles, they try to swear with dignity, but utterly fail.
Let me show you the swearing prowess honed by 10 years in Korean PC bangs.

Having completely lost his senses, Hans tried to throw a punch at my face.
“You crazy bastard.”
Go ahead, get dragged to the faculty office.
I’ll spread all the rumors about a knight assaulting someone weaker.
Due to Hans’s incoming punch, I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Stop.”
Then a woman’s voice halted Hans’s actions.
“How dare a knight try to strike the defenseless? Release that person at once.”
With her red hair tied back in a ponytail,
A woman with distinctive cat-like slanted eyes and crimson irises pointed her sword at Hans, sweat trailing down her chin as if having just finished training.

“Who the hell are you?”
Having completely lost his senses, Hans dropped me to the ground and slowly approached the crimson-haired woman.
Though Hans had a double chin, his physique was quite large compared to his peers.
His height alone exceeded 2 meters.

“You violate the way of the knight.”
However, the crimson-haired woman defiantly raised her head to look up at Hans.
Despite the differences in weight, height, and gender, the woman did not falter.
Rather, she seemed to be imprinting her beliefs onto Hans before her.

“How dare you defy Lord Gorpin Hans!”
Angered by the woman’s unexpectedly strong attitude, Hans tried to swing his fist at her.
But Bang!
The woman blocked Hans’s punch with the wooden sword in her hand.
Flustered that his attack had been so easily deflected, Hans stepped back.
Thud!
Leaving the flustered Hans behind, the woman threw the gloves from her pocket into his face and slowly spoke, her gaze brimming with clarity and anger.

“Edinburar Rose of the Knight Faculty’s second year. I hereby challenge Lord Gorpin Hans, who has disgraced a knight’s honor and insulted the way of the knight, to a duel.”
“Se…Senior Rose?”
‘????’
The woman who had rescued me was none other than Edinburar Rose, the very person I had met in the library earlier.
‘Who are you?’