Reincarnated into a Game as the Hero’s Friend - Chapter 3

Mazell Hearthing is, in a word, handsome. Just like his face, he’s a guy with a rare honest personality. I guess that’s also the reason why a lot of comments from players said that he’s a boring protagonist.

He was born with the skill [Hero]. Yes, it’s a skill, not class. He was able to get a special admission to this academy because of it.  At first, I was unsure of how to interact with him.

It’s not because he’s a commoner while I’m a noble. Being a commoner in this academy is not that rare. Plus I’m a noble on the outside only. My heart is still a commoner office worker from Japan.

Rather, it’s because I’m afraid that interacting with him will bring an unwanted change to the game plot.

But that’s the past. Now we are friends. I don’t remember how and why it happened, but I can say that we are quite close.

The more I know him, the more I think that he deserved his title of the protagonist. He got both a handsome face and a good personality. This pleasant charisma of his makes people able to quickly become friends with him.

Back when we barely knew each other though, I thought he was a quiet person. According to him, it’s because he minded his status as a commoner so he refrained from speaking with nobles like me. That’s why he’s grateful that I approached him first.

Looking at how we are now, you can’t tell that’s what he used to think. His communication skills are really great.

I do understand where he’s coming from. The opportunity for a commoner to know their own skill is few and people that can appraise skill are also rare. Not to mention that an appraisal cost a lot of fortune too.

Then there’s this guy, a commoner from nowhere, who got his skill appraised by recommendation from the royal family, then got special admission to this academy. He must have received a lot of stares from his surroundings.

I mean it’s not like the royal family can just announce ‘we searched for the hero from the oracle!’  to the public, right? I only came to know that because of the game while Mazell knows nothing. For him to feel out of place in this academy is not strange.

He also said ‘it’s hard for me to act normally…’ though from how he acts you can barely see it.

As for studying, this guy only needs to see or hear anything once to remember them. Damn, that made me jealous. I heard of people from history that have this kind of ability so I guess you can’t call it unrealistic.

As for me, mathematics aside, this academy taught social study and history of this world, so I need to study them from scratch. Fortunately, the science level of this world is low, since they can just do stuff that requires advanced science with magic.

Since I also have tons of experience in taking exams from my past life, I know plenty of study tricks, so I became one of the top students in this academy.

For the practical combat skill, be it his basic abilities or his [Hero] skill, Mazell is one of the top students.

[Hero] skill has the effect of class x skill + 1. Yup, it’s a multiplication. That’s why this guy’s strength is off the chart. Isn’t the protagonist’s plot device a bit too OP?

The seniors are not his match. Even teachers, if they are not careful, could be defeated by Mazell. Plus because of the +1 effect, Mazell can use every kind of weapon and magic.

No surprise, the other students envy him and it’s not only because of his skill and his communication ability but because of me too.

I heard some students are jealous of the fact that he and I became friends. Mainly because some young masters want to become friends with me, a talented young master from a count’s family and a hard worker (I just don’t want to die), but are too afraid since they have nothing on their name other than being a noble.

A student went too far, so I gathered all evidence of his misdeed and lodged a complaint to the royal family via my father. That guy got disinherited by his family.

Since the one that complained is a legitimate heir from a count household, and the country also doesn’t want to lose the man from oracle with precious [Hero] skill, they must have told the academy to launch a proper investigation.

Later on, that guy and his lackey attacked me and Mazell out of spite, and of course, we beat them to a pulp. Our action is a bit too much in the academy’s eyes, so we got suspended.

After the incident, my life at the academy has been pretty peaceful. But in a few years, this world will become chaotic because of the invasion of the demon king and the hero party will fight him.

I know that I can’t become a member of the hero party. My ability is far too lacking. All those achievements I got are only at the level of this academy. My opponents are nothing but people of my age group.

But this is not a game. I may be inside the game world, but my life and the people with whom I build a relationship here are all real.

There was a time when me and my friends from school went to take a trip to a seaside town. I wanted to come to see the difference between the scenery inside the game and the real thing, but I also enjoyed the trip. There was also a time we studied for the final exam together. We also went to the festival. We went from one stall to the other and enjoyed our food. I also made Mazell participate in hunting, a so-called ‘noble pastime’.

I wanted to visit Mazell’s hometown but unfortunately it’s located in a very remote area. I mean a village that is far from the capital, I didn’t have a chance to visit.

In the academy extracurricular activity, we created a party and fought with actual monsters together. It’s an activity to train our practical combat skills, or so the teacher said.  At night, we snuck out from the inn to drink. In this world where magic exists, the teacher probably noticed us but just let us go. Spending my life in the academy with great friends is really fun.

It’s not like that I have forgotten my objective of staying alive, but once in a while, I think that taking a breather with friends is important. I don’t want to become burned out like in my past life…Wait, did I used to be a shut-in without any friends….?

Anyway, I’m still diligent in my training, so it’s fine. I know after all that I’m a mob character. Usually, the most a mob character did is to join a unit and then get annihilated by a random monster, without even one battle cutscene. So I trained myself for the eventual battle in the capital by trying to desperately keep up with Mazell.

In other eyes though, I was judged as ‘an exemplary young noble who never stops working hard and the pride of the Zeavert Family’ and I heard that my name has even reached the ears of the royal family.

While balancing both my school life and training the event that I wish to but will never forget happened.

….It is finally the start of the game.