Academy's Drunk Fighter-Chapter 15: The Training Begins (1)

What a kind person—letting me use her fridge for free.

As expected, game stories have nothing to do with reality.

They turned someone this nice into a strict rule-stickler in the core FM? Like hell I’d believe anything the official synopsis says.

Originally, I’d only planned to share some food, but that’s not enough to repay this now.

I’ll definitely pay her back for this favor someday.

Nom.

“That... is it good?”

“Ah, yes. Compared to what I’ve had before, uh... it’s decent.”

I don’t know why she’s looking at me like I just shocked her to her core, but honestly, the curry porridge wasn’t bad at all.

Compared to that monstrosity I shoved into my mouth back in my last life—the random food trash rolling around my room—this was gourmet.

Plus, the weeds I plucked from the front yard gave it a strangely pleasant crunch.

Munch, munch.

“I-I see...”

Her face now looked like she was staring at a pitiful kitten, pity practically oozing from her eyes.

“Well, thank you for letting me borrow the fridge.”

And just like that, my daily routine now included visiting Noah’s house in the morning to eat before heading out.

By the way, as I was leaving Noah’s place, I heard her shouting behind me like she’d just remembered something.

.

.

.

.

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The Next Day.

I opened one of the curry porridge containers I had pre-packed at Noah’s house yesterday.

“...Did it spoil a bit?”

There was this faint sour tang, but hey—it’s not summer yet, so I doubted it’d go bad in a single day and just ate it anyway.

Since it’s porridge, I get full quicker than with normal rice.

It’ll probably wear off fast later, but hey, being able to save on food costs with such a small amount is already a win.

Still... I do want to eat a meal made by an actual chef someday.

“If only that were possible...”

After finishing up the meal, I stuffed a few of the chocolates I’d made last night into my bag and headed for the Academy.

When I looked into buying a new bag, the prices were ridiculous, so I ended up grabbing the cheapest one I could find at a discount store. Still, it wasn’t that bad.

“Kinda loose.”

The straps kept sliding off my shoulders because they’re too narrow, but I managed to hold them tightly and made it to the front gate—where I spotted Noah and that same student I saw last time.

I was probably older than both of them in real life, but maybe it was the lower eye level... my palms were getting sweaty.

‘Hope I can make it through today too...’

As I stood at the gate, the girl slowly peeked into my bag.

“You brought chocolate again? Didn’t you have a bunch last time too?”

“Ah... I just... really like chocolate.”

“Yeah? Well, as long as it’s not alcohol or anything.”

“Riiight~?”

I could feel Noah watching me, but I gripped my bag tightly for no reason, and she just sighed lightly and looked away.

“You’re good to go!”

“Thank you, I’ll be going now!”

“Ah, Esha—?”

“Yes!!”

Noah called out just as I turned.

Was I busted? Maybe bringing chocolates twice in a row was pushing it.

“Hey... if you’re free, wanna eat together sometime?”

“Eat... together?”

Totally unexpected.

It’s been so long since I ate with someone else.

It made me feel a bit uneasy... and I didn’t particularly like the idea either, but still—this was the first person to show me genuine kindness in this world...

“Yeah, sure...!”

“Okay! Then I’ll see you at the cafeteria later, alright?”

“You two get along well, huh~?”

“Uh...”

The girl who’d been watching us giggled warmly as she looked back and forth between the two of us, which made me super self-conscious—so I ran off to class right away.

[104]

“Whew.”

Crunch.

I’d been so tense earlier I hadn’t even thought about eating chocolate.

[Current Intoxication: 1%]

Just barely clinging to the edge, I popped one to maintain my intoxication level.

And then came that familiar warmth spreading through my body.

“Haaa~”

Mmm. The way tension just melts away feels so damn good.

It’s like getting hit with a sedative.

This never happened in my past life... Maybe it’s one of the effects from either the Alcoholic Curse or the Drunkard one.

That’s when I heard voices behind me—people whispering.

“Uh... hey, what are you eating right now?”

Who dares interrupt my state of mental bliss?

I turned to look at whoever it was trying to snap me out of it—and saw some student.

Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.

No clue who it is.

Never saw her in the game, either. And unless a main character showed up all the time, I never remembered their names.

Noah and a few others left an impression, but the rest? Not at all.

“Who are you?”

“Ah... I’m in the same class as you?”

No, I meant your name...

Luckily, she seemed to realize what I meant and quickly introduced herself.

“My name’s Kirie Yuuka.”

“Yuuka...?”

Sounds like she weighs, like, 100 kilograms.

Ugh. Mass demon. Black hole...?

No wait, that’s from a different game.

I shook off the weird mental image and kept the conversation going.

“Oh, this? It’s just regular chocolate...”

“Ho... does it have something weird in it or anything?”

“Wanna try one?”

I mean, I had been eating a lot of chocolate lately. It made sense for them to be suspicious.

“This...?”

The girl—Yuuka—took the piece I offered, looking uneasy, and stared at it for a moment.

“Are you seriously gonna eat that?”

“I dunno, it looks sketchy.”

Watching them hesitate after accepting it started to piss me off.

How dare they doubt my chocolate?

“If you’re not gonna eat it, just give it back.”

“Ah, no! I’ll eat it!”

And in it went—straight into her mouth.

Crunch.

The sound coming from outside confirmed that she had, in fact, eaten the chocolate.

A brief silence, then another student asked,

“You okay?”

“Uh... yeah. It’s just regular chocolate?”

And her response was... normal.

As expected—it was normal chocolate.

I’m not an idiot. I made preparations so I wouldn’t get caught.

One-third of them are normal chocolates. The rest are laced with booze.

I wanted to make more, but once I passed a certain point, my concentration started slipping and I couldn’t keep going. Still, the important thing is, nobody figured out the alcohol part.

Which means: crisis averted.

For the record, I don’t have a way to tell which is which.

You just keep eating until you get caught.

This time, I just got lucky.

Yeah, I was lucky.

After that, I turned down anyone else who asked for one.

“What? But you gave her one!”

“If you want some, go buy your own.”

How dare they try to snatch up the fruit of my labor—my liquor-infused masterpiece?

No means no.

Besides, the amount I brought today was just enough to get me through the week.

If I start handing them out like an idiot, I’ll have to make more. No thanks. That crap takes effort.

“Th-Then how come you’re so strong?”

“Strong, you say?”

Am I strong?

Not really.

When I fought Yoon Siwoo, I barely scraped by with 5% intoxication and got in a few hits... but then I passed out from his glowing sword attack.

Even if I fought these kids here, I doubt I’d win easily.

“Yeah! You held out against the number one student!”

“Exactly. That’s why we thought maybe what you’re eating is some kind of performance enhancer.”

“Ah.”

So that’s why they wanted the chocolate.

Well, I guess from the perspective of these obsessive self-discipline types, seeing me shamelessly scarfing down chocolate made it look like some secret weapon.

I don’t care about weight, I look like a weak little girl on the outside...

...and the sad part is, that’s not inaccurate.

“Uh... maybe if you just go all-out, something might happen?”

So I offered them the best advice I could give.

I mean, in stories, even final bosses go down if the protagonist fights seriously. There’s no reason you can’t do it too.

This isn’t a game. It’s real life. So who’s to say it’s impossible?

“If it were that easy, we wouldn’t be asking you.”

“Well, I dunno then...”

If I could read their traits, I could’ve given them some proper advice. Too bad I can’t.

If I could, I’d basically go from “student” to “commander” or “instructor” in a different genre...!!

Sometimes I do see floating text in front of me, but that just seems to show my current status, so it’s useless.

[You are currently hungry.]

[You are currently sleepy.]

[You currently have a stomachache.]

That kind of stuff.

Distracting, and pointless.

“Uh... hmm.”

Still, the students were looking at me like they really wanted advice, so I racked my brain—scraping together every memory from my past and present lives—and gave them this:

“Give up on the things you need to give up on.”

“...?”

“Huh? What does that even mean...?”

Some things just can’t be done.

What’s going to happen will happen.

Can a human lift a mountain on their own? Slice the ocean in half?

Well... here, maybe. But not in their case.

I knew it the moment I saw them.

That same sensation I had when I went up against the number one—this is impossible.

The quality of their traits, their starting point, their growth rate—you can’t compete.

Forget second place, you won’t even come close.

You don’t even feel anger at that kind of gap. Just numb acceptance.

“So I’m saying, don’t even look at mountains you can’t climb.”

“......”

They all suddenly looked super depressed.

The mood turned... bad. But whatever, not my problem.

I wanted to pass around some liquor-chocolates to lighten things up, but I’d definitely get reported for that. So, nope.

BAM!!

“Haha! How’s everyone doing, students!!”

And then, bursting through the door, came a red-haired woman.

Same as always—Philia, the instructor... wait, no—professor.

“What’s with this gloomy atmosphere?”

She immediately caught on to ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the vibe and asked what was going on. Then she shouted:

“Yeah, sure! You can’t win with normal methods! But I’m not normal! I can make you stronger!!”

Ah. I don’t like where this is going.

“Starting now, we begin special training just for you!”

For some reason, her red hair looked exactly like one of those military caps I saw in the army...