Male Lead, Don’t Push, Pull!

To be honest, I wanted Franz to be expelled.

But in order to do that, they would have had to reveal that he had been violent towards me and Daniel on the mountain.

But by erasing the fact that me and Daniel were there, it seemed like that was all the punishment Franz would get.

They didn’t seem to want to escalate it any further.

“It’s a shame,” I sighed, “But it is what it is.”

I decided to leave it at that.

“So, Kyle, what’s the atmosphere like in the class lately?”

“Murderous. Lionel is on a discipline spree. He’s been scolding everyone but the freshmen, saying it’s the first time he ever had an incident like this in a courage training.”

“Hmm….”

This is going to make the mood even worse. I don’t want anyone to blame Kyle for this.

That evening, I wrote a letter to my dad.

It was ten days before I heard back from him.

***

Late in the evening, Franz trudged through the streets.

His destination was the swordsmanship department’s training ground.

‘Sweep the training grounds every day.’

Sweeping the training grounds was a chore reserved for new students. But now it was all Franz’s responsibility. He wasn’t even allowed to attend his classes.

He would spend a year as the swordsmanship department’s cleaner.

Franz’s face turned bright red with humiliation.

‘And to top it all off, they just call Kyle a victim.’

He wasn’t the only one. The two other students who were with him were also excluded from the case.

Only Franz had been punished excessively.

‘I can’t let this happen to me.’

Franz arrives at the training grounds, planning to ask other classmates for a plea for mercy.

But the place was unusually noisy.

“Why is it so noisy?”

Franz had always been a slow cleaner, ashamed to be seen by others. He cautiously peeked into the training ground.

There were a lot of people inside. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the entire swordsmanship department was there.

And Franz soon realized what all the fuss was about.

“What’s all that?”

Nearly ten workers were carrying huge wooden boxes.

They opened the box to reveal dozens of brand-new swords, shields from the next box, and armor from the one next to it.

“Ooooooh.”

The students stood around exclaiming as each box was opened.

That wasn’t the only surprise.

“There’s some corrosion on the ceiling, let’s fix that too.”

People even came out to repair the aging field. At least about a dozen people showed up. Franz, frozen, just stood there and watched.

Then someone walked up and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Franz.”

“Lionel?!”

“Hey, check this out.”

Lionel held up the sword he was carrying.

In his hand was a sword that was far different from the one he used for practice at the academy. It looked like it had been made by a very famous craftsman.

Lionel grinned and showed it off.

“It kills, doesn’t it? It’s mine.”

“Senior, what the hell is going on here?”

“An anonymous benefactor has stepped forward. For Kyle Ygritte.”

“What?! Who and what is appearing?”

Franz asked, looking dumbfounded, and Lionel gave him a quick shrug.

“A benefactor has appeared in front of Kyle. The new swords, the workers to repair the training grounds…. They were all sent by the benefactor, so we’re all excited.”

“Why the hell would anyone want to give Kyle….”

“Kya, look at this. This smooth blade. It’s like it was made by a master craftsman.”

Lionel was very excited about his new sword.

He wasn’t the only one; the unexpected surprise delighted everyone but Franz.

“You should thank Kyle for this. We’ve got a big new addition to our department.”

“Senior! That guy… !” Franz began complaining.

“Hey, haven’t you come to your senses yet? You’re old enough to know better, and to be honest, you’re to blame for all the fuss.”

Franz bit his lower lip. Lionel patted him on the shoulder.

“Get your mind back on track. Okay? And then clean up. Oh, and when the students are gone, put those boxes away properly. I’ll check on them tomorrow.”

Lionel hummed and left.

All alone, Franz stood there shaking.

And I watched it all from afar.

“Hehe.”

I was just checking to see if the presents had been delivered, but what an interesting sight.

I’m glad I asked Dad to do this on purpose.

Watching Franz wallow in his humiliation made me feel like a weight lifted off my shoulders.

Kyle received an amazing donation from an anonymous benefactor today.

Of course, I know who that anonymous benefactor is.

It’s none other than Rosiere.

I wrote a letter to my father and got him to sponsor the Swordsmanship Department in Kyle’s name.

The anonymous donation served several purposes. In fact, I had initially considered using Titania’s name instead.

It was not uncommon for a mother to provide sponsorship to an academy for her child.

However, with Titania’s current image in the Empire, this seemed counterproductive.

I also didn’t want to do anything that would make her look better.

The next patron I thought of was my own family.

The House of Rosiere, which controlled the Empire’s military business, trusted Kyle completely and backed him.

‘Not a bad picture.’

But for now, I thought it was important to give Kyle the impression that someone higher than Rosiere was standing behind him.

The emperor, for example – The most powerful man in the Empire.

“Who on earth has made this enormous donation?”

“Well, I don’t really know. It was probably an individual who volunteered to help out their family members, like some of the other entries.”

The workshop leader responded to the student’s question with a stern look.

In fact, I had deliberately provoked that reaction.

I’d purposely made it sound like he was a relative of Kyle’s when I’d put in the request for the work.

After all, workers don’t really care who they’re working for as long as they get paid. They wouldn’t expect it to be a prince because he’s just Kyle, not Kyle Ygritte.

But these students are different.

Students here at the Department of Swordsmanship, and even more so those who are part of the Arene Academy, know that Kyle is the emperor’s son and the prince of the Empire.

Then the students will naturally come up with thoughts like this:

Isn’t that anonymous benefactor actually the emperor?

The interpretation is that while he may not be able to publicly support Kyle, he cares deeply about him.

Of course, the emperor hasn’t done anything, it’s all my doing.

If the emperor hears of this rumor, I don’t care.

In the first place, the emperor should have known that Kyle had entered the Academy without concealing his imperial family name, and that various rumors might circulate about him and his family.

Even if he wanted to pursue it later, it was better to keep it to ourselves.

“Hmph.”

Hopefully people realized by now that they shouldn’t mess with Kyle. Because Kyle has a whole country behind him!

“Kyle, thank you so much!”

Well, judging by the joyful gratitude that’s still bubbling up, I don’t think I have much to worry about now.

If Franz’s common sense wasn’t completely extinct, then he will try to save himself. 

Though my honest guess is that he won’t make it through a year of being a cleaner before then.

“Hehe.”

I’m also glad to see that Kyle and Daniel are much closer than before.

‘Not a bad start,’ I thought to myself.

***

Kyle’s popularity within the Swordsmanship Department has skyrocketed since the incident with the anonymous benefactor.

It was all thanks to him that those old, dull, cracked iron swords were replaced with shiny new ones, and those old scraps of metal that were good for nothing else were turned into shields that could stop a dragon.

Of course, the Swordsmanship Department was one of the two biggest departments at Arene Academy, along with the Magic Department, so it was well funded.

However, with such a large number of students, the rate of depreciation of equipment was also high.

Items that were once brand new could not be replaced in time to prevent them from becoming worn and shabby.

That’s where Kyle came in as a savior, bringing new life to the worn-out equipment and the old training grounds.

“Did you guys hear? Kyle fought an orc that night and won.”

And when word spread that Kyle had even managed to knock out an orc, Kyle’s skills were once again in the spotlight.

Suddenly, Kyle was the perfect centerpiece of the swordsmanship department.

Franz lasted less than a month before asking for a leave of absence. He couldn’t stand the cheerful atmosphere where everyone wanted to befriend Kyle.