Although the position was titled Disciplinary Committee member, which sounded as if it were only responsible for maintaining basic academy discipline and order, the actual scope of affairs that needed to be handled was far broader and more complicated than the title suggested.
From investigating incidents involving the theft or unauthorized use of magic items, down to resolving seat-hogging disputes in the library or even spats caused by line-cutting in the cafeteria...
As long as it involved student conduct standards or friction that could affect the normal operation of the academy, it could theoretically fall on a Disciplinary Committee member's head at some point.
Just listening to Yelena softly introduce this massive yet tedious work list while leading the way made Greg's scalp tingle with anxiety. He wished he could turn around on the spot, dive straight back into the dungeon, and resume his simple life of doing nothing but fighting monsters and figuring out how to survive.
However, at the thought of Headmistress Olivia's face with that wicked smile, Greg had no choice but to suppress every urge to go on strike.
He knew full well that since that troublesome, willful woman could mobilize Vivian to keep an eye on him, she definitely had a way to drag him out of the dungeon and make sure he could never return to his happy home.
He didn't want to take that risk.
So he had no choice but to bite the bullet and, with a face full of utter despair, follow Yelena, whose energy had suddenly spiked, toward the location of their very first assignment.
To an outdoor resting area in the academy's Central Courtyard to handle a student dispute.
As the two approached the area surrounded by meticulously trimmed hedges and white benches, the sound of an argument was already clearly audible.
And after getting a clear look at the figures of both parties involved in the dispute, Greg's eyebrows twitched slightly.
What a... familiar combination.
“What do you mean, 'that's your glove'? I clearly just picked this up off the ground! According to the rules, unclaimed property belongs to whoever finds it first, so this is mine now! Get it?”
A crisp female voice filled with obvious impatience and self-righteousness rang out.
It was Victoria.
Her long gray hair was slightly frizzy in the sunlight. With one hand on her hip, she raised an item high in the air with her other hand.
It was a high-quality, pure-white long dress glove for ladies. Craftily embedded across the back of the fingers and wrist were several tiny yet perfectly cut pale blue gems, refracting delicate glints of light under the sun.
“I... I'm really going crazy! You foolish, ignorant, rude commoner! How many times do I have to tell you?! Throwing this glove at you is... is... is—”
Standing opposite Victoria was a noble girl wearing a second-year uniform, her brown hair swept up into an intricate bun, her face flushed with clear rage. Her chest heaved violently in anger as she pointed a finger at Victoria, her voice turning somewhat shrill with excitement:
“It's initiating a Duel of Honor with you! It's formal etiquette for nobles to resolve disputes! It's not trash I discarded for you to pick up off the ground! You rude country gray-haired raccoon!”
Sandwiched between these two fierce maidens, pink-haired Silvia stood at a complete loss. Her pretty little face was filled with anxiety and helplessness as she looked back and forth between Victoria and the noble girl. Opening her mouth, she seemed to want to mediate, yet had no idea how to interject in a quarrel where neither side was on the same wavelength.
Taking in the scene, the memories belonging to a player instantly flooded Greg's mind.
He immediately remembered that this was indeed an iconic event from the early stage of Act Two's storyline.
While roaming around the academy, players had a certain probability of triggering a conflict with this arrogant upperclassman noble student, who would throw a glove at the player to initiate a duel.
And the game would present the player with several choices at this point:
1. Accept the duel (defeat the opponent head-on to gain reputation and EXP).
2. Decline the duel and mock the opponent (reduce reputation, potentially causing subsequent trouble).
3. Pick up the glove and say, “Thanks, I just happened to be short a glove” (drastically reduce reputation, but gain the item Noble's Gemmed Glove, which can later be sold for a sizable amount of gold coins).
Clearly, this gray-haired brat had chosen option three without hesitation, treating a duel invitation like garbage collection and claiming ownership of the glove with absolute confidence.
Fair enough. That was very Victoria.
When Greg had played the game in his past life, he too had picked this option, experiencing the fun of infuriating a noble lady while making some extra cash on the side.
However, he remembered that in the original game, after selecting this option, the scene usually ended with the player walking away with the glove while the noble girl stomped her feet in anger on the spot; there was no follow-up plot involving Disciplinary Committee members stepping in to mediate.
“Looks like another butterfly effect has kicked in.”
Still, since he was the one who had come, Greg didn't mind lending Victoria a hand within the bounds of the rules.
After all, that gem-studded glove looked like it was worth a lot of money. Once it succeeded, squeezing some benefits from this gray-haired brat under the guise of a profit split wouldn't be something she'd refuse.
So, to make this plan go smoothly, the first thing to do was to pretend they didn't know each other well.
Greg quickly sorted out the current situation.
In the minds of the vast majority of people at the academy, his relationship with Victoria was still stuck at the stage where they had formed a grudge during the entrance assessment and couldn't stand the sight of each other.
As for his later rescue of Silvia, the academy news had referred to him only as "a freshman" to protect the victim. Aside from the Headmistress, the outside world didn't know whom he had saved, so naturally no one knew that he and Silvia had already interacted plenty of times in private.
Greg's eyes quickly swept across the scene.
He noticed that Victoria also seemed to have sensed someone approaching, her peripheral vision darting toward him and Yelena.
Calmly and discreetly, Greg raised his left hand and made an extremely covert gesture toward Victoria.
A flash of clear confusion crossed Victoria's eyes, but just a second later, her gaze suddenly cleared, revealing an expression of sudden comprehension.
She nodded imperceptibly to signal that she got it, then immediately refocused her eyes onto the noble girl opposite her, acting as though she hadn't noticed the arrival of the Disciplinary Committee at all.
As they drew closer, Silvia also spotted Greg.
The pink-haired girl's eyes lit up instantly, an unhidden delight washing over her face. She subconsciously wanted to come over and greet him, her small lips already parting—
“Silvia!”
Quick on her feet, Victoria grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her back to her side.
Stumbling from the yank, Silvia turned her head. Her round pink eyes overflowed with even greater confusion, looking like a pink rabbit suddenly grabbed by the ears as she glanced between Victoria and Greg, totally baffled by the situation.
Greg felt an urge to laugh inside, but he had to keep a serious face.
He could only hold it in, pretending he hadn't seen Silvia's adorable, inquiring eyes at all.
“W-We are the Disciplinary Committee! M-May I ask what happened here?”
Taking a deep breath, Yelena plucked up her courage and was the first to speak, stepping into the dispute in the sternest voice she could muster.
Her petite body straightened up as best as it could in an attempt to project a bit of authority.
“You took way too long to get here!”
The brown-haired noble girl, having a stomach full of pent-up rage with nowhere to vent, turned her target immediately upon hearing the question. Complaining in a tone dripping with dissatisfaction, her finger pointed at Victoria once more,
“Listen to me, it's this fellow who—huh?!”
Mid-sentence, her gaze swept past Yelena and landed on the blond figure behind her, her voice coming to an abrupt halt.
Clearly, she recognized Greg, but had not yet received the latest news that this former Duke's son had become a Disciplinary Committee member.
If this had been a few months ago when facing Greg Sass while he was still the son of Duke Sass, this noble lady whose background wasn't top-tier would certainly have started offering obsequious smiles by now.
However, things were different now. The news of Greg being publicly expelled by his family and becoming a laughingstock had long spread across the academy.
In her eyes, a useless trash who had lost his backing was nothing to be afraid of.
After a brief moment of shock, what replaced it was a feeling mixed with superiority and contempt.
She sized Greg up from head to toe, particularly the armband representing the Disciplinary Committee on his arm, her lips curling into a twitch as she spoke in an openly sneering tone:
“Heh... Disciplinary Committee? Since when does a guy like this... someone kicked out of his family with a ruined reputation, have the right to wear the Disciplinary Committee armband? Is the Student Council out of people to use now? Or have the standards dropped to this level?”
The mockery and targeted spite in her words were unsparing.
Heh-heh, even a tiger gets bullied by dogs when down on its luck. Even a minor villain like this who probably didn't even have a name in the original game dares to step out and stomp on me.
Greg rolled his eyes in his mind.
Still, he wasn't particularly angry.
After all, he'd be able to get his revenge with interest in a moment anyway.
For now, let this clown jump around a bit more.
However—
“P-Please watch your words!”
Rate on N.U.
