Reincarnated with an SSS-rank Tamer System: My Harem of Villainesses-Chapter 29 - Conflict in the Dining Hall

Adam walked calmly through the hallways toward the dining hall after having completed two classes in a row.

Although it would be more accurate to say that Piers was following him as he walked, trying not to pay too much attention to the constant stream of words pouring out of his new companion.

Piers had been talking about different topics since they left the last class: comments about the professors, gossip he had heard about other students.

Questions about the Shadowend family that Adam answered vaguely, without giving too many details. It was exhausting, but at least he didn’t seem to have bad intentions behind all that chatter.

When they finally reached the dining hall, Adam had to pause briefly to take in what stood before him.

The place was enormous, with high ceilings and wide windows that allowed sunlight to pour in from every angle.

There were dozens of long tables spread throughout the space, all occupied by students of different statuses who ate and chatted animatedly among themselves.

Unlike what he had expected, there were no visible separations between high-ranking, middle, or lower nobles; everyone shared the same space without any apparent issues.

The first thing that caught his attention was Ansel Stone sitting alone at one of the tables in the back while eating in silence.

The protagonist of this damned novel was clearly aware of the stares he was receiving from practically every angle, though he did a decent job pretending not to care as he focused on his food.

Adam didn’t care much beyond the initial observation; he simply headed to where the food was being served and took a plate before looking for a place to sit without having to interact with too many people.

It was at that moment that he heard a familiar voice.

"Adam?"

He turned to see Evelyne approaching him with a smile on her face, clearly happy to have found him among the crowd. "Do you want to eat together?"

Adam nodded without thinking too much about it. "Yes."

Evelyne noticed Piers standing behind Adam, watching her with curiosity, so she extended her hand as she introduced herself. "I’m Evelyne Ravenshade."

"Piers Hawke." He replied, shaking her hand enthusiastically. "A pleasure to meet you."

Adam clearly noticed how eager Piers was to make a good impression on Evelyne, though he refrained from commenting on it as the three of them looked for an available table where they could sit without being too cramped.

Once seated, Evelyne looked directly at Adam. "How did it go?"

"Fine." He replied simply as he began eating without giving the topic much thought.

But Piers decided that answer wasn’t descriptive enough, so he jumped into the conversation. "He arrived late to the first class because of the uniform issue, it was quite an entrance."

Evelyne blinked in surprise before looking at Adam with some amusement. "Really?"

"I had to speak with the headmistress first." Adam explained between bites without giving it too much importance.

And so a conversation began between Evelyne and Piers that turned into laughter and comments about the first day, while Adam simply limited himself to eating in silence, listening occasionally but not actively participating beyond nods or short replies when directly asked something.

It was at that moment that the system screen appeared in front of his plate.

[Hello, host. I just stopped by to inform you that you won’t be seeing much of me from now on... Sad, I know]

Adam frowned slightly as he continued chewing.

[The missions will be longer and more complex, requiring weeks or even months to complete. Your main objective remains the same: conquer the twenty villainesses. But first, you must discover who they are on your own]

[I will only appear at key or opportune moments to give you advice or assign specific missions. Consider it... supervised autonomy]

Adam processed the information as he watched the screen slowly fade away, leaving him alone with his thoughts for a moment before something else caught his attention.

Valeria Ashcroft was looking at him directly from a nearby table.

Her blue eyes met his dark ones, without any particular expression, simply observing him with a seriousness that seemed natural.

Adam stared back at her for a few seconds longer without truly realizing how much time had passed until he heard Evelyne’s voice trying to get his attention.

But she was abruptly interrupted when the sound of something crashing against the floor echoed from another side of the dining hall, followed by mocking laughter that immediately drew the attention of everyone present.

Adam turned his head along with practically all the other students toward where the noise had come from.

Ansel Stone was standing in front of his table while three nobles surrounded him with clearly amused and superior expressions.

Ansel’s plate was on the floor; all the food was scattered everywhere after having clearly been thrown on purpose.

"A commoner shouldn’t be eating in the same place as us," one of the nobles said in a mocking tone as he crossed his arms.

"You should be grateful they even let you enter this academy."

Ansel clenched his fists, clearly upset, but maintained his composure and replied, "I didn’t come here to cause problems. I just want to study like everyone else."

"Study?" another of the nobles laughed. "Please, a commoner like you has no place here, no matter how lucky you were to pass the entrance exams."

The situation was escalating quickly as some students began murmuring among themselves about what was happening.

Adam simply observed all of it with a neutral expression. ’I don’t remember this happening in the novel,’ he thought with some annoyance. ’Canon went to hell the moment I appeared here.’

Before the argument could go any further or turn into something worse, a new voice stepped in.

"Is there a problem here?" A young man approached calmly, placing himself between Ansel and the three nobles with an expression that made it clear he wasn’t asking out of courtesy, but rather because he had already decided the issue would end right there.

The three nobles who had been bothering Ansel immediately tensed upon seeing him; their expressions shifted from mocking to nervous in a matter of seconds. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"N-No, no problem," one of them stammered as he took a few steps back.

Adam heard murmurs coming from Evelyne, who clearly recognized the newcomer and was commenting something to Piers in a low voice.

"Do you know him?" Adam asked without taking his eyes off the conflict that seemed to be resolving quickly.

Evelyne looked at him in surprise for a moment before blinking, as if something had just clicked."Oh, right, you entered through other means, so you probably didn’t hear about him during the trials." She paused before discreetly pointing toward the young man who had intervened.

"He’s the one who ranked first in the academy’s entrance exams. Top one in both swordsmanship and magic and theory."

Adam observed the boy more carefully now, noticing details he had previously overlooked.

The way he moved with confidence, how the other nobles looked at him with a mixture of respect and fear, the way even his posture naturally conveyed authority.

The conflict ended as quickly as it had begun when the three nobles quickly apologized before walking away almost at a run, while Ansel simply nodded gratefully toward his savior before bending down to clean up the mess on the floor.

***

Hours later, Adam was walking through the hallways of the apartments designated for first-year students.

It was a huge and modern structure that contained everything necessary for them to live comfortably during the academic year.

Piers continued at his side talking about what had happened in the dining hall, until Adam finally had to ask something that had been bothering him.

"Are you going to follow me everywhere?"

Piers blinked in surprise at the direct question before letting out a light laugh. "No, nothing like that. It’s just that my room is in the same direction as yours. We ended up being neighbors, apparently."

And yes, indeed, when they reached their respective doors, it turned out they were literally right next to each other.

"That’s a good sign," Piers commented with a smile as he took out his key. "It means we’ll be able to help each other if we need anything."

Adam only sighed before opening his own door while turning slightly toward Piers.

"See you." He said so as not to seem rude, but he also wasn’t inviting the conversation to continue, so Piers simply nodded, understanding the message, as he waved goodbye before entering his own room.

Adam closed the door behind him and finally allowed himself to relax a bit as he looked around at the space that would be his home for the next year.

Nox came out of his hiding spot, materializing on the bed with a lazy yawn as he looked at him.

"First full day," Adam murmured as he let himself fall onto the bed beside the small dragon. "And too many things have already happened."

The system was right about one thing, and that was that things were going to be more complicated than he had anticipated.

But at least now he had a place to sleep without worrying about being ambushed in the middle of a dark forest.

It was a start.