Episode 30: Genre Misunderstanding: An Extra's Survival Story

Episode 30: Because this is a Romance Fantasy, I guess

In the end, a training assistant was chosen—for Seria.

Would it be Flam? Portus? Caligo? Or maybe even Rel?

“Look, Seria. It may look like a butterfly, but at its core, it’s still fire. You either make it blaze from the outside or gather heat from within.”

“You need to consider why it took the form of a butterfly in the first place, Lady Seria. Understanding that comes first. Elemental matters come after.”

“If its form has changed once, maybe it can be changed into something else entirely. Lady Seria, don’t limit yourself to butterflies. There’s the flame element too. Or, like me, maybe you don’t need to be tied to a fixed form at all.”

“There’s tremendous potential here, Seria. If your butterfly isn’t just a simple projection but closer to a living entity, you could let it take center stage and focus on strengthening your body to develop new forms of attack.”

The answer? All of them.

This was the compromise the four men had come to.

As a result, Seria’s face grew more and more bewildered as she heard four completely different takes.

If at least some of the opinions were aligned, she could’ve blended them into a path forward.

But with everyone saying different things, she had no idea what direction to take.

What made it worse was that, even while giving advice, the four of them kept undermining each other.

If one said something was right, another would immediately say it was wrong.

If someone said, “This is better,” another would change their tune a minute later and insist, “No, that one’s better.”

Seria was kind by nature. But kindness didn’t mean stupidity.

Before even a full day had passed, Seria turned to the four men and declared:

“Just forget it, all of you.”

“Lady Seria?”

“You’re all saying different things! You’re too busy worrying about what the others are doing! I’ve just wasted a whole day for no reason! And we’re supposed to start for real tomorrow!”

In a way, this outcome had been inevitable.

Not one of them had ever taught anyone before.

They had plenty of enthusiasm, sure—but that was it.

If she’d been dealing with just one of them, maybe she could’ve managed, but with all four swarming around her, it was hopeless.

Maybe it was because they were facing Seria’s anger head-on for the first time, but the four men were left completely dazed.

Whether it was because they were simply flustered, or because they’d just been scolded by the one person whose opinion mattered most to them—whatever the reason, the shock was clearly real.

‘Yeah… I am not getting involved in that mess.’

The moment those guys started seeing you as a rival, life became ten times more exhausting.

That side of the story was romance fantasy.

This side—Abel just wanted to keep it in the superpowered action genre.

Even if that wasn’t possible, as long as he didn’t get sucked into that chaos, he was fine with it.

At least that’s what Abel thought. No—he was sure of it.

“Hey, Abel.”

“Hello, Abel.”

“…Hey.”

And then, right in the middle of all that, the sudden appearance of the twin princesses only intensified Abel’s unease

“What brings you both here?”

“We told you, didn’t we? That you’d be joining the war.”

“And that we’d be going with you.”

Hearing the twin princesses’ words, Abel recalled something from a few days ago.

They had mentioned wanting to go with him.

But nothing had come of it, and he figured the idea had fizzled out.

After all, they weren’t just ordinary noble daughters—they were princesses of the Winter Principality.

Equivalent to imperial princesses in an empire, or royal princesses in a kingdom.

They were direct members of the ruling family—among the highest echelons of society.

It wouldn’t have been strange for their homeland to flat-out refuse to let them go.

It made sense to assume their wishes would be overruled.

“You’re really going? You got permission?”

“Yup. We got permission.”

“The Principality didn’t stop you?”

“We talked about you, Abel.”

“…Sorry, what?”

They were supposed to be talking about permission. Why was he suddenly part of the story?

A creeping sense of dread began to rise in him—but before he could say anything else, someone else entered the conversation.

“Lord Abel? And who are those two?”

Seria, who had just finished giving the four men a scolding, was now walking over to Abel—only to spot the twin girls first.

“Ah, Lady Seria. These ladies are from the Winter Principality—wait a minute, what are you two doing?”

“….”

“….”

The moment Seria approached, Irshu and Tarshu ducked behind Abel.

No, not “ducked”—on second glance, it was more like they were on full alert.

Like baby snow leopards guarding their prey, trying not to let it get stolen.

Each of them grabbed one of Abel’s hands and stared Seria down with sharp, wary eyes from behind him.

Even Seria seemed to realize that this wasn’t just shyness.

Though she didn’t approach recklessly, she clearly kept trying to continue the conversation with Abel—that alone was proof enough.

“Are you ladies from the Winter Principality?”

“Yes, they’re princesses from there. I hear they enrolled this year just like us.”

“Hmm… that’s strange. I didn’t hear anything about that.”

“Well, that’s because aside from lectures, they’ve barely shown themselves!”

Suddenly, Caligo raised his hand like he was making a school announcement and declared loudly.

And then he smirked at Flam, Portus, and Rel like he was saying,

“I beat you all to it.”

As expected of romance fantasy. It’s the kind of genre that can turn even a perfectly fine prince into a complete fool in an instant.

Abel shook his head and continued introducing the princesses.

“Ladies, this is Lady Seria. She came from the Kingdom of Ascal with me. Seria? These two are… um.”

Irshu and Tarshu… how am I even supposed to tell them apart? If their energy feels identical too, I’m out of luck.

As Abel mumbled and struggled, the twins took the lead and introduced themselves.

“Irshu.”

“Tarshu.”

The two princesses standing on either side of Abel each gave their names in turn.

From Seria’s perspective, they looked identical, sounded the same, and even their auras were indistinguishable—it felt like looking into a mirror split down the middle.

“Wait a moment. Lord Abel, are the princesses from the Winter Principality going with us too?”

“That seems to be the case.”

“It’s dangerous, though.”

“Well, even those men are going to that dangerous place, aren’t they?”

One’s a prince of the Empire, one’s the son of the southern Republic’s Prime Minister, and the other two are basically offspring of their respective heads of state. If they can go out to fight the Supremacists, there’s no reason these princesses can’t.

Even Seria, having asked the question herself, scratched her cheek awkwardly, as if realizing it didn’t quite sit right.

Honestly, she wasn’t even sure why she reacted that way.

“…Nice to meet you both. I’m Seria.”

She reached out her hand first, but Irshu and Tarshu still didn’t let down their guard.

They kept eyeing Seria and Abel, suspicion written all over their faces. Abel, seeing this, subtly stepped aside. Only then did Irshu reach out and take Seria’s hand—no, more like just her fingers—and gave them the faintest shake.

It was obvious that the tension between them was real. But they’d only just met—why were they so wary?

And it wasn’t like the Kingdom of Ascal and the Winter Principality had any political friction or contact. If Seria were from the Kingdom of Ragem, maybe it would’ve made sense, but that wasn’t the case.

‘Ah… maybe it’s because they’re from different elemental types?’

That had to be it. It was the same with Flam and Portus, after all.

Seria had flame-based powers, even if her form had shifted. The twins had ice-based abilities.

Abel remembered hearing that unless people were extremely close, elemental users of opposing types often didn’t get along easily.

If they ever had to act together, it would be better to keep those three separated. Their abilities would weaken each other—forget synergy, it’d be a net negative.

This thought would later become a major factor in how the team rosters were decided an hour later.

***

If too many people moved in one group, it’d be like announcing to the enemy, “Hey, we’re here to get you.”

So the Academy gave strict orders: for this mission, form squads of four or five. That way, even if ambushed, the unit wouldn’t collapse easily.

They were told to build balanced teams that could handle both offense and defense, and support each other properly.

As a result, students grouped up with those they were compatible with, preparing for the coming mission.

Abel had originally considered working alone, so this was a bit of a letdown. But it would be foolish to be stubborn when there was a chance they might encounter someone like Julien again.

With that in mind, he wrote the twin princesses—who had asked to team up with him from the beginning—onto his squad list first.

They were quiet, didn’t assert themselves, and were an enormous help in battle. Ideal teammates. Plus, they counted as two members in one go.

‘Now, who should fill the last spot?’

If Lumine had joined, she’d have been perfect for that empty spot.

While Abel was thinking this, a completely unexpected problem landed in his lap.

“I’d like to join your squad too, Lord Abel.”

“Lady Seria?”

Seria, who clearly should’ve joined the other four, boldly asked to join Abel’s team instead.

This threw not only Abel into chaos, but also the four other guys into complete panic.

“Lady Seria! Lord Abel’s squad has ice-element users! That won’t help either of you!”

“Lord Caligo’s right. That water guy and I can at least sort of work together, but fire and ice? That’s literally the worst possible matchup.”

They had all assumed Seria would naturally be with them, so this was a total bombshell.

Abel, too, couldn’t make up his mind. If Seria, the central figure of this romance fantasy, joined him, there’d be both good and bad consequences.

And so, on the day the ability-users secretly slipped out of the Academy—

‘What the hell is happening now.’

Abel was forced to leave together with Seria and the twin princesses, under the sharp glares of the four other guys.

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