<h4>Chapter 185: Aftermath (2)</h4>
"...?"
A pale face with no makeup, short silver hair that hadn''t dried, and the faint scent of shampoo still lingering in the air.
Sinir, amoner with nost name, just a first name. However, she is the one who holds the top spot in the Hot ss with overwhelming grades.
"...."
Vikir didn''t answer, just twitched one eyebrow.
It was a rather unexpected encounter, considering the time and ce.
Why would she be here, at this time, in this ce?
The question was soon revealed.
"You know too, hyung? This is a famous spot for the Milky Way."
Sinir smiled broadly and held out something to Vikir. It was a small can of beer.
Phew.
Sinir opened the beer and quickly brought the foam to her lips.
Sinir, whose white beard suddenly grew, grinned and handed Vikir a beer as well.
"Two cans, but I''ll get you a special one."
"...Thanks."
Vikir hesitated for a moment before epting the beer.
"I didn''t expect to see you here at this time of night. I thought I had the ce to myself. I alwayse here when I''m in a bad mood and look at the Milky Way."
Sinir suddenly seemed to be in a better mood.
Something had happened, it seemed.
But Vikir had something else on his mind.
''... This was a dangerous ce. I think I''ll have to change my meeting point with Sindiwendi.''
From now on, she thinks, ''If Ie to this ce, I might run into him from time to time.''
And the man thinking, ''I should nevere to this ce again.''
It was a rather ironic dream.
Just then, Sinir put down her beer can and took an interest in the owl sitting next to Vikir.
"An owl? How cute. Did you get a letter?"
[All-pam].
"Ahahaha, that''s an unusual cry."
Sinir gently stroked the owl''s round head.
Then she looked back at Vikir.
"Did you get a letter?"
"Mmm."
"To whom?"
"...."
Not knowing what else to call her, Vikir remained silent.
Then Sinir''s eyes narrowed.
"You''re a girl?"
The owl''s head had a greenish-gold ribbon in it, the color of Sindiwendi''s hair.
Vikir nodded silently, knowing that it was indeed a girl.
Sinir''s expression hardened slightly.
"Wow~ I see a rtionship on academy, hyung. You''re confident that your grades won''t drop while dating, right? Is it good to do CC? Well, who among freshmen doesn''t have a dream of bing a CC? ... ."
"It''s not like that."
Vikir briefly dismissed Sinir''sment.
Vikir''s adamant denial of a romantic rtionship caused Sinir to pause for a moment, then exhale.
It was an oddly relieved sigh.
"Hyung, if... this is a secret rtionship and you''re hiding it from me, I''m really disappointed. We''re supposed to be able to talk about things like this between us, we''re best friends. If that''s the case, do you need to tell me? really!"
...best friends? Vikir didn''t understand, but didn''t bother to ask.
After that, Sinir chattered and told many different stories to himself.
Vikir was a little surprised, as she wasn''t usually this talkative at school.
Sinir waved her half-finished beer wistfully, then spoke up as if she''d had an idea.
"Oh. Hyung, what is your rtionship with the president?"
When Sinir said President, she meant Student Council President Dolores.
If asked what his rtionship with Dolores was, Vikir could confidently answer with one word.
"Nothing."
"I didn''t think so?"
Sinir narrowed her eyes and elbowed Vikir in the side.
"If it''s no rtionship, why has the chairman been looking for you like that for the past few days?"
"?"
Vikir''s eyes widened as if he''d never heard of it before.
Why is Dolores looking for him?
He''s had too many meetingstely.
To the principal, to the president, to the ledger, to the director, to the president, to the so-and-so, to the so-and-so... ... I was just getting stressed out about why so many people were looking for it.
Even the crown prince said he would give me amendation.
" ... I don''t have time to study, let alone assassinate.''
Sindiwendi''sment that it would take a month to analyze the information was almost considered good news.
Sinir shrugged.
"I don''t know. Anyway, President Dolores has been secretly looking for youtely."
"Then that''s why she came to the archery range, to find me."
"Eh? Why didn''t you see her?"
" ... We crossed paths."
I can''t tell her that I turned into a dog, hid, and then ran away to avoid being neutered, so I give her a quick aside.
Sinir nodded and drained the rest of the beer.
Phew.
The burnt barley scent of the ck beer spreads across the night sky.
She leaned against the railing, propping her chin with her hand, looking somewhat helpless.
"I envy you."
"?"
Vikir folds his arms and shakes his head.
Sinir smirked, wiping the beer foam from the corner of her mouth with her thumb.
"Hyung, you''re always like that."
"?"
"Not asking first. It''s my style."
Vikirughed softly at Sinir''sment.
Born to be a hound, bred to be a hound, Vikir is not used to questioning anyone.
It was a hound''s virtue to stand still and wait for his master to speak first.
Are you tired of people always approaching you first and making noise?
Perhaps Vikir''s attitude struck a different chord with Sinir.
"The reason I said I was jealous... ... I just said that because I was jealous of my hyung."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. We''re in the same ss and there''s a huge gap between us."
Sinir looked back at Vikir with a puzzled gaze.
A first-year student who ranked first in his ss and had already published three or four research papers that would shake up the academic world.
A monstrous irregr, far beyond the level of a typical undergraduate.
For example, the level of a first-year undergraduate student is as follows.
-Professor: Today''s lecture is on how to eat salmon deliciously~.
-First-year undergraduate student 1: Wow, what''s wrong with salmon?
-First-year undergraduate student 2: Is salmon edible or not?
-First-year undergraduate student 3: What is flounder for?
And then by the end of the fourth year, it''s a little different.
-Professor: Today I''m going to lecture you on how to eat salmon deliciously~.
-Fourth-year undergraduate student 1: ....
-Professor: ....
-Fourth-year undergraduate student 1: ....
-Professor: What are you doing, you''re not going to catch salmon.
First and fourth years are worlds apart in terms of the depth of subject matter covered.
But Vikir was already far beyond the level of even this fourth-year student, and had reached the level of a graduate student, or even a professor.
And what about his practical grades?
Vikir, who had been suspected of being a Beginner, let alone an Expert, revealed his hidden Expert level skills.
It was a level that was unimaginable for someone from amoner''s background, one that was on par with, and perhaps even better than, the greatte-period experts of the Seven Families.
"Written and practical. You''re a man to be reckoned with, hyung."
"...."
"I hear you''ve already been meeting with celebrities a generation or two above you. Everyone''s jealous."
Vikir was annoyed by it, but to others, it seemed like it was something they needed and wanted.
But Vikir knew better.
"...."
Money? Power? Honor? All of those things will be worthless rubbish when the Age of Destruction begins.
When that happens, all existing order will crumble and all values will be overturned.
As a great writer once said, ''an era in which survival bes a cheap joke'' will soon arrive.
"It''s all for nothing."
At Vikir''s words, Sinir shakes her head again.
"You''re not of this world, sometimes."
The words made Vikir''s chest heat up a little.
Sinir smiled again.
"The way you talk, you sound so old – no one would ever think you''re 18! Then, why don''t you leave this world and go into hiding somewhere?"
With a clink, the empty beer can crunches.
Sinir ced it in the palm of her hand and drew on her mana.
Crunch!
A white-hot me bursts forth, melting the beer can.
It soon takes on a new appearance thanks to the mana of the iron attribute.
A rabbit with a pocket watch, an borate metal figurine, rests in Sinir''s palm.
"By the way, did you hear the rumor?"
Sinir said, fingering the rabbit.
"This time, I mean, among the ssmates of the ss of 20, a royal family member whose identity was hidden entered the school."
"Isn''t that just gossip circting in the stock market?"
"...Hmmm, well, what do you think?"
Sinir replied in a somewhat questioning tone.
"If it''s imperial blood, it''s probably not normal talent, since it''s descended from the first emperor who was a great prophet, right?"
"...."
"You shouldn''t stand out too much at the beginning of the semester, so you''ll have to keep your talents hidden, so it''s worth it to get in. Perhaps you''re looking to recruit someone to work with you? I think so."
"...."
"But you wouldn''t be able to hide your skills until the moment of truth, like if your close friends were in danger during a test."
"Enough."
Vikir dismissed Sinir''s words again.
"I''m not royalty."
"...I never said you were royalty."
"?"
Vikir scratched his head.
Sinir merely smirked.
It reminded Vikir of a certain scene.
''Come to think of it, Sinir, this woman was a mystery to me before.''
Vikir remembered before the regression.
After graduating from the Academy, Sinir lost contact with all of her ssmates and predecessors.
She disappears from the world, from history, forever.
Before the regression, the Highbro, Midbro, and Lowbro, who had grown quite a bit older since graduating from the Academy, would often have conversations about "what Sinir is doing now?" and "she''s probably doing well somewhere, since she didn''t miss out on being Head of the Hot ss for four years," and "where did shee from and where did she go?".
We would reminisce about the amazing grades and records she had set when she was a student at the academy.
...When Vikir was thinking about this.
"Hey. What are you doing after midterms this time?"
Sinir asked again.
"We have a week off after midterms. Do you have any ns then?"
"I do."
"Like what?"
"Back and lower body, and archery training."
" ... Not workouts and training."
Sinir stuck out her lips with a sullen expression.
Then she spoke.
"Come over to my ce when you''re free. Let''s have a meal."
Sinir''s invitation was a bit of a surprise.
Vikir raised one eyebrow.
Come to think of it, Sinir had made a simr offer to Vikir once before.
It was back when he was volunteering at an orphanage.
Dantalian''s act of collecting donations for the parentless children, and Sinir and Vikir''s conversation went something like this, with Sinir asking him if he didn''t want to donate.
"hyung. You don''t donate?''
''... I don''t have any money.''
He said he didn''t really have any.
Vikir had decided not to ept any support from the Baskervilles.
However, it was not currently receiving financial support from Sindiwendi.
He didn''t want to arouse any unnecessary suspicion with his cover as amoner.
Anyway. Sinir was a bit puzzled at the time.
''Money? Why don''t you have any money? You''re a student at the Academy, aren''t you being a bit harsh? The poor kids here don''t have parents, and we should be helping them.''
''There is no need for parents.''
"Huh?
"They have to navigate the world on their own. Parents are only functional during childhood, when help from others is essential, but otherwise they are unnecessary.''
Vikir''s thoughts were the same then as they are now.
Why do I feel sorry for children in orphanages?
They have everything they need to survive, except that their parents have been reced by state institutions.
They get the nutrients they need and the education they deserve.
It''s a much happier and morefortable life than being raised as a hound in Baskerville.
The world is full of pain, something to be fought and ovee, and parents are just the initial guides to help with the first tutorials in that long fight.
Vikir sees parents as merely functional, and that''s a natural value in the Baskervilles, where he''s lived his entire life, and in the Age of Destruction, where he''s lived half his life.
But those who have lived through war and those who have not cannot understand each other.
Vikir realized that he might seem a bit strange to those who had not yet lived through the Age of Destruction.
So he had no expectations.
...However.
"You have toe, okay?"
Sinir looked at Vikir with a seriousness he hadn''t seen before.
Instead of her usual curious and bubbly demeanor, it was heavy and wistful.
She was looking at Vikir as if she understood and empathized with him.
As she had in the past.
"Now, if you''ll excuse me, it''s almost time for my shift!"
Sinir dropped something in front of Vikir and walked toward the rooftop exit.
''She''s got a part-time job, at this hour?''
Vikir tilted his head.
But Sinir just smirked and waved.
And then.
...bang!
The rooftop door mmed shut.
"...."
Vikir turned his head to look at the object Sinir had set down in front of him.
There was a rabbit with a pocket watch, scurrying about in a hurry, staring at him.
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