Enrico picked up a sheet of paper and began examining the ranking of the best students at Della Corona Academy. The list contained thirty students, the same number of members as Class S at Astrong Academy.
'As I thought, she's the best student at the academy.'
Giulia's rise to first place had caused a few changes. The levels of the other two students were also slightly higher than they had been in the original story. However, since the difference wasn't very significant, Enrico suspected that she hadn't reincarnated very long ago.
"Yumeha, did you find out when she became number one?"
"She took first place as soon as she returned from vacation. She probably trained a lot during that period."
Yumeha was helping Enrico gather information in Virelle's office. The teacher was sitting in front of them, calmly drinking coffee after authorizing their visit.
The two had gone straight there after saying goodbye to the others and arranging a time for his date with Valença, who had returned to the dormitory to get ready.
Yumeha was observing Giulia's image as if evaluating a potential new candidate for a place in her master's heart.
"Master, you already have me and other girls. Have you become interested in her too, by any chance?"
"No. What I want is to prepare myself to face them in the elimination round. I need as much information as possible because they've certainly grown stronger. That's why it's better to investigate their pasts and find out how they might develop."
Noticing her master's seriousness, Yumeha nodded. From his expression, it seemed obvious that he was telling the truth. Even so, she began considering those three students a potential threat to Enrico's safety.
"Were they your enemies in the past, Master?"
The two had already discussed how they should talk about the future without risking someone discovering Enrico's secret. The solution they found was simply to refer to the future as the past, since, to him, those events truly belonged to the past.
"We could say they were difficult opponents for Astrong's students during the battle between the academies."
Virelle raised an eyebrow.
"If that's the case, all you need to do is crush them until they understand that there's an insurmountable wall standing in their way."
"I'll do that, Professor Virelle."
The answer made Virelle smile in amusement. As one of Astrong's teachers, she didn't like knowing that her students had faced so many difficulties defeating students from another academy. Therefore, she was pleased by the possibility of Enrico taking on that confrontation and demonstrating the institution's true strength.
"Which students fought against them?"
"Kai, Valença, and Camila. They lost the first battle and only managed to win later, with considerable difficulty."
An almost sinister smile appeared on Virelle's face.
"I'll make them train even harder tomorrow."
The two students in front of her silently prayed for their companions.
"Now I understand why Master was having so much fun watching their fights."
Yumeha understood why Enrico had followed those confrontations with such interest. He hadn't merely been enjoying the students' provocations; he had also been evaluating each one's level and the possible changes to the future.
After putting away the papers, Enrico reached a conclusion. Giulia had probably reincarnated no more than two months ago. That would be the amount of time she needed to surpass Matteo, considering the considerable difference between the top two students.
'She used to be in second place, but it seems that has changed.'
[Enrico, I managed to obtain some information.]
'Really? What did you discover?'
[It seems that five reincarnated people came to this world on different days. However, you aren't one of those five. Among them, only two seem to know the original story. Giulia apparently read up to the halfway point, while the other one didn't get past ten percent of the story.]
'Five?'
Great. Now Enrico had five new problems to solve.
After all, those people could have completely different personalities, goals, and ways of acting. Giulia, for example, seemed like someone he might be able to form an alliance with, considering the calmness she had displayed even when she was irritated.
'The positive side is that three of them don't know the story. In that regard, they're like protagonists who have arrived in a new world without knowing what awaits them. The other two, however, could pose a threat. Before trying to form an alliance with Giulia, I need to observe how she'll act during the battle between the academies.'
[Also, from what I saw, those three who don't know the story come from worlds completely different from yours.]
Enrico became curious when he heard that.
'Interesting. Even so, I still have to be careful with the other two.'
[At least you were lucky enough to be the only one who finished the entire story and knows all the events.]
'Lucky? I wouldn't say that... Do you know why they reincarnated here?'
[Five elemental gods are competing over something. To settle their dispute, they decided to hold a game involving humans. Whoever manages to get the farthest will be chosen as the winner by them. We could say they came up with this idea after observing you.]
'How nice! So these constellations are watching me too. Could you send them a message and tell them to go to hell?'
Enrico began to understand the situation better. Apparently, those gods were making his life difficult simply to enjoy the competition.
Putting the insults aside, he realized that all five reincarnated people had probably arrived in the world during the same week, and that gave him an advantage.
Enrico was already ahead of them.
'The problem now is preventing Giulia and the other reincarnated person from stealing the opportunities that belong to the main characters.'
It wouldn't be easy for them to do so, because Enrico had already taken advantage of practically every important event in the first year. The only exception was the dungeon hidden in the warehouse, which he intended to explore.
Kai had already reached an excellent level, and if he continued evolving at that pace, it wouldn't take long for him to reach the same level of strength he had possessed when he entered the dungeon where the warehouse was located.
Meanwhile, Enrico was still considering the best decision: taking only the protagonist, gathering the other companions, or entering the dungeon alone.
'I need to work even harder. If I evolve faster than the other reincarnated people, I can reach the important places before they do.'
Enrico would need to adapt his plans and refine them during training. At least now, he had a better idea of what he might encounter ahead.
'Wait... This also means they don't know there's a sixth reincarnated person.'
He began reconsidering Giulia's behavior. During the battle, she seemed to be observing the main characters' reactions while demonstrating her abilities.
'Her intention seemed pretty obvious. She wanted to see how the characters would react to her power. That's dangerous...'
If that situation really was a competition between five people, in which only one could win, Giulia would be taking a considerable risk by revealing so much of her abilities.
Unless she had some hidden card up her sleeve, perhaps she was trying to eliminate one of her four opponents before even learning their true abilities.
'Even so, it's still dangerous. It's already clear that this girl is a little crazy, but what if one of the others is even worse?'
[She might end up dying if that hypothesis is correct. What's your other speculation?]
'That she's looking for someone.'
Enrico had countless things to consider, and all of it was the fault of those constellations, who were actually gods. It seemed that all they wanted was to complicate his life.
'The worst part is that I have to thank them and curse them at the same time, because they give me rewards that can help me.'
[Exactly. In fact, the five you told to go to hell are upset.]
'Tsk. I sincerely apologize.'
[That doesn't sound sincere at all.]
Deciding to put that matter aside, Enrico turned his attention back to Yumeha.
For now, he needed to talk to her about his date with Valença. Since it would be their first date, he wanted Yumeha's approval, as he considered her his future first wife.
'I went from difficult thoughts to other problems. How wonderful.'